Happy New Year

12-26-06 We'd like to thank all of our customers for their continued patronage and understanding as we wind down our business. We keep saying we are selling our inventory and then will close the doors, but it seems like the decals are reproducing themselves, a never ending supply of decals. They will eventually run out, but we still have thousands of decals to sell.

Have a great 2007!!!

Still Lots of Decals!

10-11-06 We still have many decal sets left in our inventory, thousands of them, so we expect to be selling decals for at least another couple years. The Online Ordering System has been a huge success with only a few glitches that we had to fix. It seems that most people have had no problems when ordering. Please remember that we do update the site when an item is sold out, so you'll need to refresh your pages each time you are in the catalog. If you do not refresh your page, you might think an item is still in stock, when actually we've updated the page and it is no longer available.

We thank you for your continued business and wish you best of luck with your decaling!

Online Ordering a Success!

2-15-06 The Secure Online Ordering system is a hit! We've processed hundreds of orders placed through the web site since we launched the system back in January. There were a few quirks and minor problems, but it seems we have it all worked out. We decided to go through all the work to make this happen (and it was alot of work!) to cut down the phone calls to the office, and it seems to have worked.

We thank you for being a Champ customer and the best of luck with all your modeling projects.

New Secure Online Ordering, Updated Web Site!

1-3-06 Happy New Year!! As we continue to sell down our huge inventory of decals, we are thinking of ways to make life easier for us, and ordering more convenient for our customers. We have just launched our new web site, which includes an SECURE Online Ordering system!! We think you will love the ease of ordering. You can now order online and know that your credit card information is safe. There are instructions listed on our Prices page, but we think you will have no trouble figuring it out.

The phone seems to be the item that keeps us most busy, and some days we can't get anything accomplished because we are answering the phone. We hope that this Online Ordering system will help to keep the phone calls to a minimum so we can get all your orders out as quickly as possible.

We are still winding down our decal business and will eventually close up, but we still have a huge volume of decals. We have been selling down for at least 4 years now, and still have have lots to sell.


Some missing items now listed Online

3-1-05 We just now added some missing Heralds Sold Separately to the Online Catalog. These were Heralds listed in our "Roundhouse Sale" pages in previous catalogs and for whatever reason, they were forgotten in our Online Catalog. We've listed these in their appropriate railroad categories or the Miscellaneous Railroad section. Check it out and see if there is anything you've been looking for.

The Truth...once again!
Have you ever played that game where someone whispers a secret in someones ear, then they pass it on, and on, and on? By the time the secret gets back to you, it's not even close to what you started with.
That seems to be the case with Champion Decal Co..

Several years ago, Rich Meyer decided to sell down his decal inventory and go into semi-retirement. We published our Final Catalog and explained what we were doing on page 2 of this catalog. Despite the explanation, many of our customers are under the impression that we are either out of business, have very few decals left, or have sold out to another company. Rich passed away in September of 2003, and that really propelled the rumor mill.

The truth is that we are continuing to sell down our inventory, but we are not out of business, nor are we almost out of decals. We expect to have a very good supply of decals for at least 3 years. It is true that some decal sets only have a few left and it is a good idea to purchase any obscure railroad decals you may need while they are still available. For the more popular railroads, we have many, many decal sets left.

We are not selling the company either. With all the pre-lettered models on the market, there are not as many modelers interested in decaling as there used to be. With business down, there is not many buyers willing to purchase the business for what it's worth in terms of research material and inventory. We'd rather sell down the inventory and reap the benefits of our own hard work.

We receive many emails from customers wondering if we have "anything left at all" of certain decal sets. We hope that our customers will start using our Online Catalog for decal availability. These pages are kept current. As soon as we sell out of something, we will delete it from the Online Catalog.


Richard L. Meyer
1927-2003


After what seemed a brief struggle with cancer, the owner of Champion Decal Co., Richard L. Meyer passed away in his home September 6, 2003. Rich just turned 76 years old and was looking forward to retiring from the decal business. He bought Champion Decal Company from Max Gray in May of 1963, who started the company in 1940. Champion Decal Co. was one of the first decal manufacturers. Rich had a reputation for his fine decals, attention to detail and his love for the model railroad industry. He was a very giving man who loved his family, friends and most of all, God.

What's Next?
The doors of Champ will remain open and we will sell down the inventory as Rich had planned. This should be several years as we do have a very large stock of decals to sell. Connie Meyer, his wife, is now the owner of Champ. We are a family business, so his death has affected us all very deeply. We will continue as best we can. His presence is felt by us every day and we miss him very much.

Some changes include ceasing any new orders for Champ RePrints. With additional duties, Kim just can't handle printing any custom work or any Champ RePrints. Although our current catalog states that April 2003 was when we'd stop printing decals, we still have a supply of decal paper and we plan on using that paper up. We will print up additional sets of certain popular decal sets. Projects that Rich had in the works may or may not be completed, we just don't know at this time.

We appreciate all the kinds words, prayers and encouragement we've received from many of you. This all happened so fast that we still can't believe that he is gone. He's not gone far, however, his spirit lives on in all of the decals he has printed that remain on thousands and thousands of model railroad cars.

Sincerely,

Connie Meyer, his wife
Kim Whittemore, his daughter

 

 

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Champion Decal Co., PO Box 1178, Minot, ND 58702
701-852-4938 (Tues,Wed.Thurs., 10:00am to 3:00pm)
FAX 701-852-9429 (24/7) or champ@minot.com