With Loomis stopping it's blank sales, has anyone found any clearance sales?

Also, will they continue to warranty their existing blanks?

Thanks.

-TH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2009 10:10PM by Tony Hill.

If people who are selling the blanks are smart, teh prices will go up.

I highly doubt you will see a "clearance". I have been steadily building my inventory as time and blank availability have permitted. Already there are certain models that are discontinued and completely unavailable. If there is a particular blank(s) that you are interested in, you best get them while available. G Loomis isn't in a position to need to clear stock before making this change ... quite the opposite.

To answer your question, I have been told that they WILL warranty the blanks, in full ... although totally discontinued models will be replaced with the closest production model, at G Loomis' discretion.

You will see clearance sales. What were once priced $600, will now be $1000.

Its kinda like putting your house on the market with an ungodly high price and if it sells, great - huge profit. If not, so be it, it will one day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2009 11:22PM by kevin knox.

Hmmm... Sorry I asked!

-TH

Most likely, prices will drop, not go up. We watched the same thing happen to Fenwick blanks, All Star Blanks, Fisher blanks, etc., and each time the prices dropped once the blanks ceased being manufactured. The idea that the value of Loomis blanks is going to increase once production stops may be attractive to some, but it's not going to happen.

Warranties will be honored, but not with replacement blanks - finished rods will be offered at Loomis' discretion.

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Seems like a different situation than those you mentioned,Tom. I don't profess to have the industry knowledge that most here do but it seemed to me that All Star had a glut of domestic made blanks on hand when they moved their ops offshore. They became available in large numbers at reduced prices.... There appears to be a limited number of available Loomis blanks available now with what I see written here by several builders-waiting weeks or months for particular models. Supply and demand drive the price for everything I can think of. As items become rare with only a limited number available-coins, cars, antiques-their prices go up. I can't see there being trash cans full of Loomis blanks at next years show. I'm sure somebody can explain to me where my logic took a wrong turn.

Chris

Rod blanks aren't collectable in the way that antique cars or coins are. They're too utilitarian in nature.

There will be discounted Loomis blanks at the Expo next year. Just how many I can't say. But the big picture comes down to what people are willing to pay for products that cannot be replaced. For instance, let's say you have a choice of spending $100 for a Loomis blank that will only be replaced under warranty claim with GL2 finished rod, or a getting a St. Croix SCV (or similar) and knowing that those models are still in production and will be replaced with the same model under warranty.

The old Fenwick Boron X blanks still retain a cult following - they were always very popular. But when they were discontinued they dropped rather than increased in price.

None of us can really say what will happen, but I have a gut feeling that based on rod blank history Loomis blanks are not going to become collector's items. I hope they do - I have a couple hundred here and many of them are original IMX and GLX. But I'm not holding my breath - I've seen this play out before.

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Prices may rise due to market anticipation of a scarcity with a continued demand contributing to increased pricing/sales and increase in value.

Prices may well then decline at a later time as demand levels and then erodes due to more acceptable product substitution in the market with a resulting lowering of demand for these particular blanks.

In addition, since production will cease, the introduction of new users into the supply/demand chain for this blank will diminish and sales will typically be confined to former users; a very limited market.

My suggestion is that if you just have to have a Loomis blank in your hands, get them right now at current prices because with production ceasing, selection will decrease and asking prices may be all over the place until the market sorts out where the value is. Given the Loomis Reputation, the leveling of value may take a while.

I cannot believe that anyone really believes that the Loomis blanks they have or buy now are going to be warranted by identical blank replacement in the future. Wake up people.

The reason that Loomis is getting out of the blank business is so that they will not have to stop rod production to run blanks for the custom builder. Do you really think they are going to halt rod production while the manufacturer builds a replacement blank for somebody that has sent in a warranty claim? No way. You may get something, but it will not be another rod blank and it may not be the same model rod as the blank you have now. The day Loomis announced that they were stopping blank sales the value of a Loomis fell by half. Few consumers are going to spend top dollar on a product that will effectively have no ironclad warranty as of the end of this year, if not already.

Replacement blanks are not likely to be offered.

...............

I would not be "hustled" into buying much of anything at full price. Each year fishing rods (especially
fly rods) are re-invented, and there is a certain amount of truth to these marketing claims. Compare
the "best" rod blanks of five years ago to the "best" blanks today and observe the progress. The niche
left by the exit of G. Loomis will be rapidly filled by other quality blank makers.

I got lucky about a week ago. I stopped by the Cabelas in KC on a whim, and they were having a sidewalk sale out front. There was a Loomis IMX F1088-3 (8 wt, 9', 3 piece) marked down to $117, and everything was being sold for 25% off of the listed price. I had just ordered a similar Dan Craft blank that day, but I could not pass this one up.

For some perspective on what could happen with Loomis blanks, look at the current pricing for new Shimano 50 MGs. Prices on @#$%& for a new reel are a few dollars higher than they were at the beginning of 2008 before anyone knew they were being discontinued. I could buy them for $190-$200 shipped early last year and the previous 2 or 3 years (I've bought a new one every year for the past 4 or 5 years). They are going for $200-$210 shipped now. Prices rose because of supply scarcity and the reels popularity. Another important thing and similar to Loomis, Shimano didn't come out with a new 50 MG.

It all depends upon what builders do. If they choose to hoard, prices will go up. If they are scared away by a lack of warranty and don't buy en masse, prices will go down. My bet is on the latter.

Rick



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2009 03:39PM by Richard Glabach.

One big difference - reels are far more difficult to damage. Rods are easily broken.

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I think certain models will have definite value while others will simply fall flat. It will be on a model to model basis as to the worth of the blanks. It will take a long while as well. All one has to do is go out to some of these piers in florida where some of the old salts carry harrington rods and occasioally a blank or two and yes they'll sell em, but for what I consider beyond top dollar. 2-300 for these old glass blanks, and upwards of 5-700 for the finished rods. I've seen it personally. It is a niche market with only a few models these guys care about, but my point is that these rods/blanks do change hands every so often.

I think the differnece here is that harnell/harrington no longer exists while loomis will remain.