Tuesday, July 29, 2008
WEEKEND WARRIOR CONFIRMS SHUTTING DOWN
RV Industry News:
By Greg Gerber
PERRIS, Calif. -- Weekend Warrior Trailers Inc. is shutting two Perris factories and has laid off about 250 workers, owner Mark Warmoth said Monday.
The company, like the entire recreational vehicle industry, has been battered by the declining economy and the slumping residential real estate market, he said.
The absence of home price appreciation, which often yields equity that can be tapped for the RV purchase, has cost the industry about 40 percent of its peak business, Warmoth said. Another 10 percent or more has vanished as consumer confidence has waned, he said.
Weekend Warrior, Warmoth said, was ill-prepared for the market to fall off after a boom that lasted more than a decade.
"I expected to be here for my customers forever," he said. He described his company as "still open, but in trouble."
Owners will still be able to get replacement parts, which are sold by other companies, he said.
It's been a rough year for Weekend Warrior -- three executives resigned in April, and the company let 100 people go in March.
Warmoth said earlier that he was expecting the company's sales for 2008 to fall about 25 percent from last years' $155 million, which was itself a 25 percent drop from 2006 sales.
By Greg Gerber
PERRIS, Calif. -- Weekend Warrior Trailers Inc. is shutting two Perris factories and has laid off about 250 workers, owner Mark Warmoth said Monday.
The company, like the entire recreational vehicle industry, has been battered by the declining economy and the slumping residential real estate market, he said.
The absence of home price appreciation, which often yields equity that can be tapped for the RV purchase, has cost the industry about 40 percent of its peak business, Warmoth said. Another 10 percent or more has vanished as consumer confidence has waned, he said.
Weekend Warrior, Warmoth said, was ill-prepared for the market to fall off after a boom that lasted more than a decade.
"I expected to be here for my customers forever," he said. He described his company as "still open, but in trouble."
Owners will still be able to get replacement parts, which are sold by other companies, he said.
It's been a rough year for Weekend Warrior -- three executives resigned in April, and the company let 100 people go in March.
Warmoth said earlier that he was expecting the company's sales for 2008 to fall about 25 percent from last years' $155 million, which was itself a 25 percent drop from 2006 sales.
