I plan to attend the NMRA national convention in Novi in July. Since I will be staying the whole week are there any recommendations of good hobby shops I should try and visit? I plan to do some layout tours and MAYBE an op session or two as well as visit with some people I know in the area.
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While I don’t know any hobby shops in that area, I would recommend you stop and say hello to one of the vendors – Spring Creek Model Trains. They are wonderful people who like to talk to modelers, even if you’re not buying anything.
Yes, I have done business with Spring Creek in the past and agree they are good people.
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In Michigan, the Train Barn (Kalamazoo) and the P&D Hobby Shop (Fraser) come to mind…
Hobby Recycling in Wyoming, MI (SW Grand Rapids) is surely a must, especially for quality used and NIB stuff. Absolutely loaded. It is quite incredible but plan on spending at least an hour. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Like the store in Kalamazoo, it’s moderately across the state from Novi, about 105 miles NWN of Novi on I-96. Kalamazoo is about 40 min. south on US-131 (4-lane, divided).
Be aware that stores everywhere tend to favor railroads from their regions. I’ve had a moderately hard time finding Espee stuff in Michigan, the state where I grew up - particularly motive power, cabooses and passenger equipment.
John
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The train Barn in the Kalamazoo/Portage area closed down over a decade ago, and a few years ago all the stock and display equipment was sold off.
Train Barn model shop’s 5th anniversary box car
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In the Metro Detroit area, there are only two real hobby shops which handle model railroad equipment any more:
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Nankin Hobby- On 9 Mile Road in Farmington, Washtenaw Avenue in Ypsilanti and Fort Street in Southgate - the original Nankin Hobby on Ford Road in Westland has given up on model railroad equipment. The Ypsilanti branch is about two aisles and according to their estimates, model railroad stuff represents less than 2% of their annual income. The Farmington one is about 4 miles from the Convention hotel, and is the most train-oriented of them. Which isn’t saying a lot.
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Great Lakes Hobby & Train in Utica (on the surface level Van Dyke street, south of M-59). Over 37 miles from the Convention Hotel. Good selection of all scales (and non-scales), plus DCC.
Aside from Great Lakes, to visit a real train department, you’d have to go up to Flint (about 60 miles up I-96 and US-23) to visit Rider’s Hobby on Linden Road.
Sadly, P&D Hobby has been gone for a few years (one of the two partners passed away and the other struggled along for a couple more years before closing). A real shame, too, since they were one of the few places that supported two-rail O scale. They also had a good book selection, a good parts selection, and a pretty decent-sized staff.
There used to be a lot more hobby shops in the Detroit area, which I’ll reminisce about in another topic.
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I thought P&D Hobby Shop closed its store. It looks like they are still online.
There is also a Rider’s Hobby Shop in Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, there are very few hobby shops left in Michigan. Great Lakes Hobby is fortunately near my daughter’s house so I visit it often. I just hope they stay in business.
My other daughter lives in Iowa and I make sure to visit Lombard Hobby Shop either on the way to her house or on my drive home, but this is near Chicago.
I was in that shop about four years ago. I would guess, at least at that time, that the floor space devoted to MRR was 20% or less. I gave it a 4 out of 10. They had nothing that drew a second look. They might have changed in the interim, but the likelihood is small. By all accounts, it was a general hobby store. I think that I hit up the Rider’s in Grand Rapids at the same time with similar results. There was a small store in Mt. Pleasant at the time that beat them both. It is now kaput.
John
I’m so old that I remember Joe’s Hobby Center in Dearborn on Wyoming and the Train Clinic on Hubbell and Grand River in Detroit. I still miss Joe’s.