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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Center Stage Miniatures Files for Bankruptcy - No Surprise - The Shoe Falls Upon Deaf Ears

As I've posted in the past, Center Stage Miniatures was having some major cash flow issues. As in no cash and no flow.

Previous posts are HERE and HERE and HERE.

I was informed by someone with knowledge of the whole fiasco that Center Stage recently filed for bankruptcy. I thought they had filed back in November, but apparently the official petition was filed last week.




706 creditors. Ouch.

Kickstarter. Success can be a killer.




10 comments:

  1. Too bad the "Wandering Wizard" didn't file for bankruptcy...might have finally been some closure there.

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  3. For many people the problem is not with getting the money, the problem is with handling the money.

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  4. What a shame. They made a helluva good minotaur though.

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  5. I wonder if the molds from Mega Minis are part of the assets being distributed. If somebody knows a buyer who can make good use of them, they are likely being liquidated by court order to pay creditors.

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    1. I can answer this question.

      The casting molds and associated intellectual property are listed in the Debtor's Schedule B and valued at $69,000. The miniatures inventory itself is valued at $35,000. This represents the lion's share (by far) of the Debtor's assets. (I would caution you, though, to take these valuations with a grain of salt. No one really knows what this property is worth until it goes to market.)

      In any case, the Chapter 7 trustee, Sheldon Stein, will sell all this property as soon as he can get around to it. Unless he can find a private buyer immediately, he will probably hire an auctioneer to liquidate it. As you surmised, the bankruptcy court will have to approve such a sale after providing notice to creditors and holding a hearing.

      Anyone interested in purchasing the molds or inventory should reach out to Mr. Stein at 216-696-7449. He offices at 50 Public Square, Ste. 400, Cleveland, Ohio 44101.

      Once the property is sold, Mr. Stein will review the filed and scheduled claims. He will then distribute the cash to the claims that are determined to be valid. This could easily take a year or more.

      Finally, if you participated in the Kickstarter, the 341 meeting of creditors is scheduled for May 26, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. at the H.M.M. US Courthouse, 201 Superior Avenue, 6th Floor, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. You may want to attend. The Debtor's sole owner, Matthew W. Solarz, will have to attend and answer questions both from Mr. Stein as well as any creditors present.

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  6. Too bad it all shook out this way. Back when CSM first got on the scene I was really excited for them, especially as they are pretty close to where I live. At one point I was hoping to visit their operation.

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  7. Oof. Way back when, I think before Kickstarter hit the scene really big, CSM was going to produce a Swords & Wizardry Miniatures boxed set a la the old Grenadier boxed sets. It was advertised on the S&W forums, around... 2009/2010 or so? Anyway, I went in on that but after a long while it was cancelled, and our money was supposed to be kept on account to provide us all individual minis as they were produced. Well, nothing came out of that and after another long while I bailed out and actually got my money refunded. Evidently, all these Kickstarter shenanigans came about after that.

    I'm very happy I got out before then.

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