Tech & Biz

Brio Toy Trains Head toward Bankruptcy

by Jordan Yerman | February 17, 2009 at 06:31 am

755 views | 16 Recommendations | 9 comments

The war on childhood continues... this time, the economic downturn has reached beyond arcades and struck deep...

Brio, purveyors of those brightly-colored wooden trains on wooden tracks, connected with magnets, is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Brio has not done much product development in the past ten years, and thus was particularly vulnerable to the tightening of family purse-strings: those train cars are seen more as nostalgia than a "now" toy: it has a srong brand identification, but not necessarily with today's children.

"Brio is in a serious situation and the board deems that the group will shortly face an acute liquidity shortage," the Swedish company, which also makes children's furniture and baby carriages, said in its 2008 earnings statement.

"Due to the lack of profitability, one-off costs and the existing need for refinancing, the board deems it necessary for Brio to receive a capital injection of a minimum of 300-million kronor [$43-million dollars]," it added.

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Paschen

at 07:08 on February 17th, 2009

They have been around for ages.

Lerchenau

at 10:00 on February 17th, 2009

It's sad to think that this might happen - another one of your childhood memories gone down the drain of time...

Lerchenau has contributed a photo to this story.

toxi

at 11:22 on February 17th, 2009

Oh this would be really sad to see them go. I thought their latest Network trains line was fantastic and my kids felt so too. But I also heard from shop assistants that a lot of parents seemed to think this whole range was *too* modern and hence didn't probably get the sales the company was hoping for... go figure! :(

toxi has contributed a photo to this story.

mtammas

at 20:06 on February 19th, 2009

Little children still love these trains! Every time I'm in the local toy store, the Brio display is surrounded by kids. Maybe it's their parents that think this toy is out of style.

Tina china (not verified)

at 23:47 on February 26th, 2009

I love and believe their nice toys ,their quality and management. Hope they can recover from this storm very soon.

emmanuel (not verified)

at 01:19 on March 4th, 2009

Incredible, but clearly the last "new products" that were so expensive were not designed to ease cash flow especially now...

I've been collection about 10 years of Brio catalogue and this is a pity that they left away basic but strong product they've been producing juste because competitors and china had better leverage than they could achieve (clearly they didn't try enough...).

There has always been a need for high-end toys, but a market vision is what they have lost over time to competitors and copy cats...

PIM of SPAIN

at 01:55 on March 4th, 2009

Trio has gone the same route as Marklin the German toy train builder. Marklin has been around for over 100 years, lack of innovation and too much complacency caused their down fall, very sad for many train lovers. Like GM!!! Who is next???

amylou54871 (not verified)

at 15:02 on April 8th, 2009

Does anyone know about toy trains being included in the most recent stimulus package? A friend told me that you can get a $400 reimbursement for the purchase of toy trains. I thought he was kidding. If so this is insane! I can think of better ways to spend my tax money.

Tolcoi (not verified)

at 01:29 on May 4th, 2009

This would be a real shame. My 2 year old son is just getting into BRIO trains and he (and we) love them. High quality products (yes, expensive) but they create hours of entertainment, they are extremely difficult to break and they encourage skills in children such as dexterity, imagination, organisation and patience.

This would be a great loss.