C>A>Robinson closing their doors after 76 years!

Todd Tuckey

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C>A>Robinson closing their doors after 76 years!

Sadly, another distributor bites the dust in California...leaving just the Betson Corporation (who continue to claim that 2009 was their best year ever, with 2010 being even better) to serve the California vendors. Todd from TNT Amusements


.A. Robinson to close in California: C.A. Robinson & Co., the 76-year-old distributorship in California, has made the difficult decision to close the business. Play Meter spoke with Sandy Bettelman, Vice President and Secretary, about the impending exit of the company from the coin-op community. Bettelman said, "The company was established in 1936. We've seen many new innovations over the years and helped new companies get started. It's been a lot of fun; we've had a good run."

The announcement of the closure came on Nov. 8 at a meeting with employees. Bettelman said concern for employees kept the company in operation: "We were advised many yeas ago to shut down the business, but we kept it open for our employees. We are actively assisting our employees in finding other jobs. Some distributors have called to ask about our employees and we hopefully can get them new positions. Some of our employees have been with us in excess of 30 and 40 years."

The company is liquidating inventory and collecting accounts receivable, a process that Bettelman said could take about three months to finalize. A strictly skeleton crew will be on hand to move out remaining inventory.
 
I read that yesterday. That is a drag but I have to say that from the way they treated the company I work for in the past it doesnt surprise me that they are closing.

Still sad to see though. I have lots of fond memories of the CA office in San Francisco.

Matt
 
Wow, not surprised though. I purchased my first game from them back in 1982. A really nice Defender machine for I think $300 maybe $350. :001_ssad:
 
From Replay Magazine's website:

C.A. Robinson Closes Its Doors
(Posted November 10, 2010 -- 10PM)

Effective Monday, Nov. 8, Southern California's prominent games distributor C.A. Robinson & Co. joined a host of other industry wholesalers that left the jukebox and games business over the last decade. After assembling staff members at their familiar place of business on Pico Blvd. in L.A., owners Ira and Sandy Bettelman advised that they were closing the business down and that the short time remaining would be devoted principally to equipment and parts liquidation.

"Aside from moving the remainder of inventory and collecting receivables, our priority at the moment is helping our employees find work elsewhere," Sandy Bettelman told RePlay. "We have some who have worked here for decades and we want to do what we can for them and their families."

There will only be a skeleton crew on hand beginning Monday, Nov. 15, Sandy said, adding that inventory is already under control and that some others in the business have expressed interest in the parts. Shortly afterward, the door will be locked.

The Bettelman family, by the way, also owns the property, which is a rather extensive setup on Pico that includes the showroom and offices in combination with a large warehouse. They intend to put it all up for sale. The brothers are not only leaving the distribution business. . .they are disposing of their route and arcade operation called Sons Amusement. "I can't speak for Ira, but as for me, I'm retiring," Sandy stated.

Economic conditions in the distribution business, as well as in the state and nation, motivated the decision. "Five years ago, one of our financial advisors said we should shut down, but we kept it all going because we didn't want to hurt employees unless we absolutely had to," Sandy said. "But there comes a day when you have to make those hard decisions and that day came Monday."

The removal of C.A. Robinson & Co. from the Southern California coin-op map leaves Betson in Buena Park as the only full line dealer/parts supplier left in the territory. Trade scuttlebutt wondered if anyone from outside the territory might now be interested in opening a branch there. A more detailed report will appear in RePlay's December issue.
 
I was lucky enough to buy all their NOS parts by Atari, Sega, Konami, Nintendo, Taito, Williams, Bally, etc. I was there for a good 5 hours today getting the first load.
I have to go back in a couple of days for the rest.
Be prepared for a lot a treasures to be offered. I have 100+ NOS monitor glasses.
First up for grabs will be and NOS Burgertime and NOS Tapper monitor glass, once I get everything inventoried. I think this buyout is 5000+ parts.
This buyout pushes me over the 50,000 parts mark. Yikes!
 
I was lucky enough to buy all their NOS parts by Atari, Sega, Konami, Nintendo, Taito, Williams, Bally, etc. I was there for a good 5 hours today getting the first load.
I have to go back in a couple of days for the rest.
Be prepared for a lot a treasures to be offered. I have 100+ NOS monitor glasses.
First up for grabs will be and NOS Burgertime and NOS Tapper monitor glass, once I get everything inventoried. I think this buyout is 5000+ parts.
This buyout pushes me over the 50,000 parts mark. Yikes!

If you find any exidy hard hat stuff please contact me. I know it's a long shot.
 
No inventory will get tossed. All the pin parts were sold to one person yesterday and I got all the vid stuff.

No hard hat stuff. Sorry.
 
No inventory will get tossed. All the pin parts were sold to one person yesterday and I got all the vid stuff.

No hard hat stuff. Sorry.

Good for you -- glad the stuff wasn't scattered to the wind.
 
They sold off a lot of games at their open house last month - I was there for that.

Not surprising that they closed. They were not bad at repairing vids but as far as pins were concerned, the talent was long gone.
 
There were over 50 games for sale, all kinds. They went for next to nothing. I posted a thread on this when it happened, before and after.

Some were $1.

They had some pins for sale, that I think were not sold. Demolition Man, Hyperball and some others. Might be gone now.

I got the smoking deal, about a month ago, though. STTNG ...
 
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