Modelzone
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| Subsidiary (of WHSmith plc) | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Fate | Acquired by WHSmith, maintained as specialist brand |
| Predecessor | Model Aerodrome |
| Founded | Brighton, England (8 November 1937) |
| Headquarters | Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom |
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Number of locations
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10 (through WHSmith) |
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Area served
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United Kingdom |
| Products | |
| Parent | WHSmith plc |
| Website | whsmith |
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Footnotes / references |
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Modelzone (often typeset ModelZone and Model Zone) is a scale model brand owned by British retailer WHSmith, under which scale models and related products are sold in selected WHSmith stores and online.
Prior to administration and the subsequent acquisition of the brand by WHSmith in 2013, it operated as a retail company through a chain of high-street stores and a distribution arm, Amerang; when Modelzone entered administration in June 2013, the company had 47 branches and 385 employees, and was the UK's largest model retailer. On 28 August 2013, administrators announced that the company would cease independent trading during September 2013 and the remaining 18 shops would close at that point. In October 2013, WHSmith announced that it had acquired the ModelZone name, with plans to use the brand to sell products through existing WHSmith branches; 10 of its shops had begun to carry products under the brand name by the end of November 2013, with WHSmith also using the Modelzone name to sell online by December 2013.
Originally incorporated as Model Aircraft (Bournemouth) Ltd on 8 November 1937, the company started with one store in Brighton in the 1930s. When this was sold after about 40 years under the same ownership, the store was bought in order to be "a showroom for the importers of many prestige model ranges". Following success at this store, the new owners then began to purchase other shops, in Crawley, Eastbourne, Guildford and Maidstone, and brand them as Model Aerodrome. During the mid-90s a computerised stock control system was implemented, and in 1995 and 1996 respectively, the company opened stores in Croydon and Plymouth. In March 1999, after the opening of their eighth branch in Bluewater, Kent, the company expanded its range to include Scalextric and Corgi products, and with this expansion of their product line, changed their name to Modelzone. They then eventually acquired a number of stores formerly owned by the Beatties chain of model shops (which had closed when its parent company, ERA Group, placed it into administration).
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