With the new forum coming soon, I thought this would be a good time to ask a few questions. I’ve been reading the forums with interest for a couple of months and have learned a lot from everyone both on positive and negative subjects. I finally signed up to the forums a few days ago, hoping to give helpful information where I can. When the new forum arrives, I may begin with a fresh start with a more appropriate user name or this could be my first and last post.
Here’s the deal: I own a LHS. One reason I wanted to join the forum is I sometimes see misinformation posted here concerning hobbyshops, distributors and manufacturers. A lot of folks read the forums, and although I realize not everyone believes everything they read, I’ve been concerned about the level of wrong information or misunderstanding at times. Thought I could post in relative obscurity and make comments or answer questions as needed.
Turns out that’s hard to do, so I’m blowing my thin cover and seeing what you think of the idea. Are there LHS owners on the forum already? Would my comments and explanations be welcomed?
And maybe Bergie can answer this: I do not want to walk the fine line between being a shopowner on the forum and doing anything that would appear to promote my shop. This forum, as I understand it, is certainly not for advertising and I would not want any of my posts to have that appearance.
Even by accident. I would somehow like to post without folks knowing which LHS this is, to avoid the promotion thing altogether. Not sure that can be done however. I don’t want to do anything on here to help or hurt my store.
Been a model railroader and railfan long before I got this LHS, and I would like to participate on the forum if I can be of help at times. Any thoughts?
I think there are already a few forum members who own, run or at least work in the hobby business. I’m happy to see that kind of participation. Owners who are active participants in the hobby, including discussion groups like this one, are going to be more in tune with us and that will help the hobby overall.
So, welcome. (I didn’t know Plasticville USA had a hobby shop!)
Yes, there are other members here who own or have owned hobby shops. They will probably chime in sooner or later too. I’m sure your input will be welcomed by many.
I wouldn’t think there would be a problem, unless you’re clearly attempting to use the forum as a promotion base for your store. There are other members who are LHS owners, and I suspect that MRR manufactures monitor this forum all the time for ideas/feedback.
To be on the safe side, I suggest you don’t tell us the name of your store or where it is. That should put any doubts to rest.
So you moved very quickly from Nutsville to Plasticville huh!
Where exactly is your LHS located in the real world or should I say non-virtual world?
I prefer to send my business to the LHS, keeps the $$ local in the economy and I get the one-on-one interaction that you cannot get with an Internet buy!
I think this is a good example of why LHS owners should participate in these forums… they can get a better understanding of the needs of the modelers through these discussions. I don’t believe the LHSs in my area have a clue because their stock is erratic and knowledge obscure.
So I order about 80% of my stuff online.
I think it would be great if “Grandson of Sam” would let us know his thoughts and ideas from a LHS point of view so we all could help keep our LHSs healthy.
Just my [2c]
Peter
p.s. there are some members on here that push businesses so much you would think they were part owners or something…
I think anyone with an interest in model railroading should be welcome to this forum. Everyone has something to offer and advice from an owner of a LHS could prove to be very helpful to some of us.
Tom
As long as you make it open knowledge that you own LHS, I am sure people would only be glad to talk with you. More so, I’d really enjoy to hear the opinion of LHS store owner in all those discussions like “LHS’s are dying”.
It’s the people who come in register and start posting hidden adverts like “I am just an old dude, and I bought my Tower 55 at and I love it, what about you!” that are not welcome on these forums.
I really don’t think Bergie will mind, as long as you don’t blatently advertise items of yours. It sounds as if you have no plans of doing so, so everything should be A-Okay.
Bergie’s opinion is the one that counts, but if it were up to me, and you had forthrightly admitted your position and agreed not to promote your business, I would say what took you so long? You might lend credibility to those who claim to have owned and operated businesses, particularly LHS’s, and put to rest some myths of a different sort that seem to crop up every so often.
stop being so shy and take a look around! between this and the other magazine forum, we have everybody: owners, producers, retailers, consumers, authors, world class modelmakers, and grumpy old men.
the first three are easy to spot; they always talk of “growing the hobby” and “paying more for the service is worth it”. the rest either confess or tip their cards when we rile them.
concerning your opinion: we need to hear it. if you don’t tell us who you are or where your shop is, we’ll never know.
specific services, or hot items for sale tend to get mentioned when part of a discussion, and manufacturers let us know when to start sending our money in. many members have links to their specific forte.
moderators help us remember where the boundarys lie.
if you have something to contribute, well, let’s hear it.
I am fully in agreement to have LHS folks being part of the forum for a number of reason:
Can give us the real facts about running the shop and margins. Some people on the forum
have the opinion that all LHS owners gouge the customers.
Can give product reviews based upon their customers feedback that we might never see on
this forum n greater numbers. ( More inputs, better chance of accuracy )
Can provide feedback to the manufacturers based upon forum comments and reactions. They
provide, or can provide, a vital conduit between the customer and the manufacturer.
They in turn can get a feel for what “we” the customer wants to see stocked to be a “happy
camper”. This in turn can make his/her business more profitable.
forum in greater numbers.
Grandson Of Sam just a suggestion. But if you start a small non profit website where you give out for free advice etc to show others how to do things, I think that would go a long way to showing others your intentions.
I fix computers from time to time but I give away free info even though it costs me. Why? Because i care more about peoples safety then I do about raking in the money.
I also give my book away for free.
All of the stuff on my website is free simply because I “put my money [or lack of] where my mouth is”.
I like helping people, simple as that.
I don’t help by saying ‘pay me first’, I help by simply giving it away. Simple really.
Seems the more I give away the more I get in return.
So start a small website with some good info for beginners and old timers alike. I think your actions will show more than your words where you are at.
But that’s just me.
Google has a free website offer called googlepages that gives you 100MB for free [as a suggestion only].
I think your point of view would be quite welcome, especially since you’ve very clearly stated that you don’t intend to promote your shop on the forum. So, for my part at least, glad to have you aboard!
Tom [#welcome]
