If anyone’s ever in Halifax, N.S. I highly recommend Maritime Hobbies and Crafts, 1521 Grafton St., right across from the public library (with the statue of Winston Churchill strolling along puffing a cigar).
Husband and wife run, open since 1946 at one location or another. It used to be in the Scotia Square mall, but there’s a phone company office there now.
The new premises are much better, better atmosphere, more room, more stock.
The train section is in the back, down the stairs. Lots of models and craft supplies, R/C also.
The owners are a great pair to talk to, he has an HO layout at home, is using SuperTrees, etc.
A good, old-fashioned hobby shop!
A good hobby shop is like a well stocked music store to me, lots of goodies to gawk at and maybe try out.
Bobbye Halls is my all time favorite shop. My grandparents used to live near there, and no trip to grandma’s house was complete unless we went to Bobbye Halls. Amazing store. I have a BB Rock Island Bulk Head Flat car kit that was purchased there years and years ago. I was said to learn that she had passed away.
Mrs. Hall sold me my first Blue Box locomotive when I was a kid and we first moved to Dallas (my dad always said we moved to Dallas so we could get a house so I could set up my trains). I managed to go there with my daughter on a visit home shortly before the store closed. I always held it up as the standard to which I compared all other stores. I have only seen a couple that really stacked up to that one. The best part was she always knew where everything was and whether she had what you were looking for.
There was a similar great place when I was in college in Lubbock. I really felt at home there. Heck, I hung out there a bunch. Even got to go play with the owners layout at his home a few times. I miss that store too.
Now that I’m married, it’s kinda like going to a well-stocked candy store…with a nickel to spend. The excitement of finding some unexpected treasure (like a new engine or book) is tempered by the reality of the many months it will take to squirrel away the money to buy it. “Well, if I skip eating lunch every day, and keep wearing the shoes with the holes in them, I can get it in six months!!”
the hobby shop is a different place. The Mom and Pop stores just have that atmoshere about them. You can walk in, the owner greets you at the door, you drool over some models, get your supplies and spend more time talking to the guy at the register, owner, or the locomotive desk. (might be just me about the loco desk. that’s were the high end models are on display and where you bring in the lionel models for work) than you did shopping. I have two lhs, one has a great selection of engines, experienced staff, but is in a strip mall that is right by a 4 lane road. The other has limited selection, is very small but has a wise modeler running the show who will add you list from walthers to his weekly order and will help you buy a model that will run forever. Both great places.
Man the last time I was in a hobby shop around here I was arrested. You remember that topic. I grabbed a guy by the throat after he left because he actually punched his little 7 year old boy in the chest in front of me in the hobby shop for accidentally knocking something down. After I left him go he called the police. Ya real nice hobby shop atmosphere.
When I enter the store, I am met by a demure young lady who removes my coat (if I am wearing one) and then hands me a snifter of brandy and a fine cigar which she proceeds to light. I am then lead to a nice recliner where I am handed the latest issue of MR. I am then asked if I would like any of the complimentary hors d’oeuvres so generously provided by the shop.
As I sit perusing the latest issue of MR, the gentle strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major can be heard over the store’s Dolby Surround Sound System, adding to the relaxed and refined ambience of the establishment. After a discreet interval to allow me time to enjoy the brandy, the cigar and the MR, the owner approaches me with a list of the latest items he has just received and which he knows from past experience will interest me. As he approaches my easy chair…
The %$)*&^ cat starts dancing on my head, the dog starts licking my face and I wake up to a shrieking voice telling me to get my worthless keister out of bed.
If retailers were smart they’d locate the hobby shop beside the women’s clothing section of the department store. Then when the poor hapless guy gets dragged along by the missus to go clothes shopping they could wander over and shop for trains…
I miss so much Bob Smith and the Hobby Center in Richmond, Virginia. It was a hour away from home at the time. I could use the hobby store as a escape from my job. You could go in and talk to Bob who was a expert on anything related to model railroading. He had such an incredible knowledge of the C & O. His modeling knowledge would not be surpassed by anyone. You could go in and “shoot the bull” with Bob or talk about any model railroading problem that you had. You can just talk about anything in particular and Bob could speak with an expertise that was amazing. O how I miss those days. That store closed because the owner raised the rent above rationality. I miss the personal touch of a Bob Smith. I miss his knowledge of the hobby. No internet chat room or this bulletin board can ever recreate my relationship with Bob Smith and the other staff of the Hobby Center in Richmond. It is like losing your wife or your best friend. I am still grieving.
A good LHS is like a good hardware store. Even if you don’t think you need anything, you should always go in, because you always need something.
I was at Maine Trains in Chelmsford, MA, yesterday. Gerry used to work on 1:1 scale railroads, and knows everything about past and present New England railroading. He’s a Brit, and also worked for the railroads there, so he knows about Olde England railroading, too. The shop is small, but has an in-store HO layout. The space is used efficiently, with narrow aisles and packed shelves. There is a constant turnover of items, so I always take time to browse through the store.
If I’m in a hurry, I don’t stop by. I want to spend time there every time I walk in. I’m not the only one. There are usually lively discussions going on. Yesterday, another modeller answered his cell phone. It sounded like his wife, from the side of the conversation I heard. He closed with, “I can’t talk know. I’m very busy.” Then he went back to browsing the structure kits.