M B Kleins in Baltimore days are numbered. It is no surprise that they were moving, in fact they released that info last year. Here is just a few things from todays release on the move:
Internet Sales
We will be concentrating heavily on this aspect of our business, since current trends mandate that we do so.
Retail Sales
We will be condensing and limiting our stock because fewer people are shopping our retail store.
G Scale
We will be eliminating this scale, except for track.
O and O27
We will be cutting back considerably with just some sets, track and some accessories available on a regular basis. We will place orders for new releases, but will not stock them in our retail store.
I realize that markets are changing but this growing trend I feel is not good for the hobby. From going in there on a regular basis it is like pulling teeth to get the heads of the HO and N scale departments away from the computer and wait on anyone. It would almost seem that they don’t want contact with people at all. Seems a little rough on the large scale hobbist, almost like the general manager hates large scale.Sorry if this seems like a rant but as a loyal customer this just appears wrong that everyone is now just an email address and a charge card number. Anyone care to suggest some shops that have good customer service looking for new customers?
Railfan23, I am not from your area so perhaps my opinion gleaned from one visit to MB klein is unfair, but I am not really surprised that retail trade has dropped. I had heard so much about the store on this forum that when on business near Baltimore last summer I decided to make a side trip and visit the store. There seemed to be nowhere to park close to the store. The neighborhood felt, to say the least, rough. I was verbally threatened as I walked from my parking space down the road to the store. The parking metered space I was able to find had a short time limit as I remember. Once I got to the store it was great. Well stocked, with loads to look at. But I have to tell you, that I would not go out of my way to go there again. Perhaps with better local knowledge I would have had a better experience.
Who knows, now they are moving to a better location, maybe the retail business will pick up. I bet the location was a large reason for the retail business slowdown.
I heard about the move and the retail store will still be open so its not like we are loosing the shop as in closed…I suspect they have thousands of on line customers and I am numbered in those thousands.As far as the large scales I doubt if their sales even came close to the HO and N Scale sales and why carry items that may not be selling?
M.B Klein has been around as long as I can remember and always had mail order service available before computers took a chunk out of that market.
IMHO its not the end of the old ways but,a combination of old and new for a brighter future…
That part of Baltimore is a bit rough around the edges. I dont see a need for them to maintain a store in that particular neighborhood. I would actually prefer that they get off of that street and out of that area entirely. Move it to Catonsville or over to Owings Mills near the subway where it is safer and close to local distribution assets like UPS.
I think that there is a BIG increase in Companies not willing to deal directly with the public. We are indeed just a number or a email address to them. However there are companies like Rapido that will take a few minutes to answer and communicate with me and that is a big plus in my book.
There is a trend towards parking people behind a computer monitor and just supply adequate air and water to maintain these cubicle plants… uhh… workers and managers…
What happens when there is no one to actually work shipping, recieving, counting houses and actually greet and work with public people via telephone or the front counter?
You tell me.
Makes me really appreciate my two outstanding stores in my area.
I’ve used M.B. Klein both online and in store. Both times they have been “supoib”! Hopefully the move will perk up business, as while the people there were certainly very helpful, it was cramped and definitely in one scary part of town (The whole freeway nearly on top of the store thing was a put off as well). At the old store, the large scale section did take up quite a bit of room, and the lack of sales in that area is understandable.
I think that the move and business changes will be a boon to them and the hobby. They will still be there, resourceful as ever, in an area where you don’t have to slip your trains into a grocery bag.
#1, Have you priced “prime retail” space anywhere lately? Some of the prices are, to say the least, insane! It has GOT to be a better location then where they were. As a young man (we were indestructible, wern’t we?) I didn’t mind driving there, parking underneath the JFX, walking past the bums and buying trains. but as I got older I went less and less. I’m sure a lot of other folks fell into the same situation. It just was not worth the aggrevation when there are/were a lot of good shops in the “burbs”.
#2 Look at the proximity of money. There are a lot of folks along the 83 corridor with increasing amounts of expendable income. Pretty much an untapped area too. True, Yorktown Hobbies is there, but have you been there lately? Rediculous prices on old stock. This store really wants to sell boats and planes, and could care less about trains. So this leaves the general area with only the Great Scale Train Show at Timonium 4 times a year (at which Klein’s is a vendor) Look at the money in the rest of the general area. Around the Baltimore area there are a lot of stores within 30 minutes of the Beltway. Where else could they really have moved and not been on top of a fierce compettitor?
Kleins will do well in thier new location, after some “adjustment period” life will go on![swg]
I laugh when I see the descriptions of the “part of town” where Kleins is. People definitely have their percetions and prejudices.
The current location is within 1-2 blocks of at least 5 city Gov. buildings including City Hall, Police Dept Headquarters, Fire Dep Headquarters, City Court. The parking lot has alot of activity (can be hard to find a spot during the week) - and is used by Court Sheriffs while on duty.
One side of the parking lot is across the street from an employment agency for Homeless people. So it is not uncommon to see one - but I’ve never had a problem with one.
For me Kleins is a good place to see in item in the flesh and get great discounts. If I can get that - fine.
The employees of Kleins are just like people anywhere else. Everybody is different. It would make sense that the employees now concentrate on computer screens since Kleins shifting to more of an internet mail order outfit. Sometimes you have to be assertive to get customer service - again everybody is different.
Location - related to 1 above.
If the move resulted in more foot traffic I say go. Make sense that it would be more accessible to Timonium.
Well, the problem is having a retail store is VERY EXPENSIVE…most people don’t appreciate how expensive it is…there are fitout cost, rental bonds, trading stock, POS system, staff running cost etc etc and for most businesses, just to set one up will cost around $350K easy. How I know? I used to have 4 outdoor stores in shopping centres.
I think I have tried to adapt to the changing market place as much as I can but running an online store to a certain level is NOT easy either! People thought having a business is easy but it’s not and people don’t appreciate how hard it is until they tried it themselves! Someone even once asked me that why don’t I just sell him something at like 75% off the retail price because I don’t have a shop and I don’t have any overheads. I mean sometimes having an online store may even cost more than a physical store because afterall, it’s a World Wide Web and you are just an IP address in infinity!
Anyway, the hobby market and most other industry may be except the clothing industry has changed one way or another and all I can suggest is that may be you should adapt too…it is sad to see any business close but I have said it too many times before, it’s not loyal customers like you that’s causing these problems, it’s those new generation internet savvy yappies who got infected with ‘Rock Star Syndrome’ that’s killing the whole hobby industry. I don’t you if any of you ever experienced it but most people online these days just don’t see you eye-to-eye because you are just another computer on the other end of the computer.
This sounds like a business adjusting to changing market conditions. A business making a decision that they think will be good for business. Go figure. I never understand all this handwringing over LHSes closing shop or moving to online sales. Doesn’t it ever occur to anyone that the reason businesses are moving to e-tailing is because that is what their customer base is telling them with their dollars that that is what they want. If most of their customers wanted the old fashioned bricks-and-mortar shopping experience, that is what they would have stayed with. Obviously they are reacting to the buying habits of their customers. No business can please everyone. A smart businessman will put most of his resources where it will atract the most customers. Online shopping is here to stay folks. Deal with it. Does that mean that all the bricks-and-mortar stores will close shop. No, at least not in the near term. There are plenty that are still doing it the old fashioned way and very successfully. Will there be fewer such stores in the future. Probably. It isn’t the end of the world when a small business closes shop. It is the normal part of the business cycle and not just for hobby shops. As long as there are customers who want a product, there will be businesses that will cater to them.
AH, NORTH AVE. Used to live on Eutaw Place near North, Kliens was great back then about 20 years ago. So is the area as bad as they say now, know that house prices doubled since I left but out here in Calif. they went up 6 times but most of the hobby shops have vanished out here too. Live in the bay area and really have two great shops but both a long ways from where I live. When I moved here there were two close by and dozens within a short ways.
I don’t want to be negative, especially about a long-established shop like MB with an almost legendary reputation, but my two experiences have not been positive and I do not plan to repeat them, no matter where the store is. In my one personal visit, I bascially was not waited upon because the staff were too busy on the phone / computer (note to Klein - wake up! You should have had people in a back room dedicated to this). I gave up in frustration and left without spending a dime although I entered the shop with a list and a budget of about $75. In my one attempt at mail order, first my e-mails were not returned in over three days (this was shortly before they were truly internet-enabled), then when I phoned, I was told they were too busy with retail customers, could they call me back, but they never did. Once again, I was TRYING to spend money with them but was not able to do so. From what I’ve seen, it is amazing to me that they still have a business and it goes without saying that I do not understand the source of their reputation. These folks desperately need to set priorities and allocate resources, moving alone will not resolve these problems.
PS: Current location is not great but did not bother me. Might not want to take a young child there.
Well, I don’t think it’s as straight forward as that. If everyone knows what’s good and what’s bad then everyone will be a millionaire by now. The basic simple Demand & Supply economic still rules and there is still no sure-way a business can tell what will work and what will not and that’s for multi-billion dollar businesses despite spending millions on market research not to mention small mum & pop hobby stores.
As a basic common sense, we all know what we want, we want the best stuff for nothing if we can but unfortunately that’s not good for business.
All I can say is, the market is still in changing phase and only if we ha
I am quite surprised about how people have received bad service from Klein’s. I typically am down at their store at least once a month if not more. Generally people are jumping to help me either get stuff from the back or from upstairs. Granted a majority of the time I am there is on a week day around lunch time or near the end of the work day since it is on my way home from work up I-95. Rairly am I down there on the weekend since it is out of my way in that case.
However I am disappointed to see them reducing instore stock size down. When the store said they were looking for 10-20K of retail space I was hopeing to see some a fair amount of stock set up in Aisles. There is alot of misc items that I buy when I am looking around the shelves. In this case I may start to do more of my business with them online. In the end I still think there is no replacement for the brick and morter stores. In the end time will tell… I hope it is a good change.
I can’t say this surprises me. I’ve done both walk-in and internet/phone business with MB Klein in the past. The last time I picked up the phone, they were strongly suggesting we conduct the transaction via their web site.
One of the things nobody mentions when the subject of the LHS comes up is inventory “shrinkage.” That’s sort of a nice way to talk about shoplifting. One of the Bay Area stores I used to frequent (Just Trains) went to a computerized inventory system about a year or so ago. The lady who owns the place commented on her web site how surprised she was at the amount of inventory that disappears. It’s to the point where she may need to reorganize her store to keep smaller stuff behind the counter. That may not sound like much, but hers is a 2 person operation as it is. If suddenly more stuff becomes accessible only with an employee, she may need another person at least part of the time. Employees are expensive, especially for a small shop.
When a place like MB Klein is looking at the books, part of the liability from storefront sales is due to theft. If inventory is disappearing from the internet/mail order end, it is either one of the employees or one of the employees inadvertently shipping something additional.
There are a lot of factors that lead into a decision like this, few of them emotional on the part of the business. MB Klein has been around for a long time and had various “looks” over the years. I’m sure they thought this out before deciding how to proceed.
Love Just Trains, also they have the best sidewalk show and sale in the fall, but back on subject, don’t forget about all the other expences a lhs has, just the savings in a light bill would pay for setting up an internet site.