I have an idea for a new how-to book that I’ll let you have…I’ll give you my Swiss Bank account information later…How about a book for how to start and operate a hobby shop? With the downturn in the economy, I have seen a couple of hobby shops go away. With a little instruction and guidance, maybe some would still be around. Ya never do know, this might inspire a few more hobbiest to get involved. The ideas could be applied to any type of hobby shop too. I know you publish a bunch of great hobby magazines and I could see where this might be a benefit for any one of them. Do you need that bank account number yet? 
[8-|]
I suppose my credentials are limited. Although, I’ve owned two businesses of my own, I have multiple business degrees and I’m currently seeking my pre-law degree, I’ve worked as a electrical engineer in the power industry for over 20 years, I guess my credentials aren’t that great. That’s why I think THEY should write the book, not me.
Actually, if we’re talking real how to books, I’d love to see all of E L Moore’s articles collected together in a single book. There is a wealth of scratchbuilding information in there that is just as useful today as then. Plus how to have fun and not take things too seriously.
The other would be an updated collection of “Railroad You Can Model” articles.
Yeah, Moore was a good writer who knew how to have fun and thought you might like to, too.
Ed
This is another topic that has been beaten into submission. The answer always ends up being that to make a million in a hobby shop you need to start with two million. Now what was your bank account number and password?
Folks,
you may not like this, but a hobby shop is just like any other retail business and has to be run by the same set of rules, so actually there is no need for a separate book on how to do it. There are plenty around …
The reason, why so many hobby shops fail, is quite simple. Less spendable income reduces the customer base, while at the same time the cost of working capital eats away the already meagre margins, which have dropped due to the massive competition from internet shops.
I doubt, that in the current economical climate, any bank would turn out a loan to someone attempting to start a hobby shop.
No kids,no future !
The only significant difference between your LHS and an Internet only hobby shop is overhead.
The LHS shop guy and the Internet guy bought have to stock inventory and maintain a profit margin between cost and sale price. If an Internet guy can discount items, so can the LHS guy.
The difference is overhead. The LHS has to pay rent and utilities. The Internet guy doesn’t have these expenses.
Incidentally, what do kids have to do with this issue?
Rich
Many years ago MR did a piece on owning a hobby shop, interviewing an owner(s?) and laying out the pros and cons. WOW, that was a terrific article and frankly would apply to most any small business. Some of the points I recall were:
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often stuff you don’t like personally will sell like hotcakes. Don’t stock just what you like.
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honest help is hard to find, as are honest customers.
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folks will spend the big mr dollars online, and come to you to fix them or explain them.
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overhead must be paid every month - and not just when business is good
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owning your own business can often turn into a 24/7 job.
I would love to see an updated article on the subject…
When is the last time you saw kids in a hobby shop ?
The experts are the owners of hobby shops for years that had to close down. They had to charge list or close to it to survive & couldn’t compete with on line sites. Add to that the fact that modelers are an aging group plus few kids have a daily contact with a real RR & would rather play video games.
Thomas engine is full of false hope…The kids don’t graduate to model railroading. Their interest ends when they realize engines don’t have eyes.
The industry is catering to the market of older & more affluent modelers by releasing more detailed & more expensive products. Can’t blame them for that.
If the publishers thought they could open a profitable hobby shop they would have the biggest one in Wisconsin.
John, I understand your point, but my answer is, lots of times, especially if the LHS has taken the time to put up a layout. Kids are as fascinated as they have ever been by trains, real or toy or even expensive models. And, Thomas Trains has only whet their appetite for more. The opportunity to run one’s own trains electrically on a layout trumps video games every time for my grandchildren.
But the whole issue of kids vs the model railroading hobby has been debated ad nauseum on these forums, and always without resolution one way or another.
The issue being debated here, and the real cause of the demise of the LHS is the Internet and the on line hobby shop. Without the traditional overhead associated with a LHS, the Internet guy has little in the way of margins to cover except the cost of inventory. That’s quite an advantage over the LHS guy who has to cover rent and utilities out of his sales receipts.
Rich
I can write this book in one word, and that word is “don’t”.
LOL
IIRC, there are quite a few among us, who have actually run a hobby shop. I bet that they are much more than any one else of us in a position to tell us, where the pitfalls of that business are. I have already made a remark as to the economics of that business.
Why are there hardly any kids to be seen in hobby shops. IMHO, there are two basic reasons for this. Railroads, and thus model railroading, have long lost their position as the main technical fascination in our society. The times, when nearly all boys dreamed of a career as an engineer are gone by, being replaced finally by computer, computer games, those instant reward thing our hobby cannot compete with. Furthermore, the products sold in hobby shops have also reached a price level which is beyond the reach of a teenage kid. A loco, with all the detail it now offers, with DCC and sound, has only little in common with the toys of the 1940´s and 1950´s, which were not as cheap as we think they were.
It is a grown boy´s hobby now, with grown- up “toys”.
That does not mean our hobby is dead - we had this discussion many times before, without any result, so we should not see a remake of it here.
“Bis repetita non placent” , Julius Caesar said once.
Model Retailer (Kalmbach) has done a “how to open a hobby shop” publication. I don’t know if it is still available; cost was $99 fourteen years ago when I was putting together my shop.
Some observations: Even with the best of business plans, they fail where the location is subprime, the customer base is projected, not apparent, and alternatives for what disposable income there is are more attractive. You could locate in a strip mall ( lowest cost), but no traffic stops there because you are on that busy thoroughfare. Problem is, it’s too busy! You see all us folks writing on the various hobby forums and think- gee, with all that interest, there must be willing buyers! Problem is, they are buying on line at prices you may not be able to meet and pay the rent. That $200.00 HO train set does look attractive- but would be abandoned in a New York minute for the latest IPAD by a kid. The train goes round and round, but the kid is communicating with his friends on facebook and playing interactive war games, with new scenarios every day. I wish it would be otherwise too, but if wishes were gold, bums would be rich! Cedarwoodron
Yeah, but the fact of the matter is that on line Internet hobby shops are successful, and the point of this thread is whether a local hobby shop can be successful. Kids and their IPADS aside, a LHS cannot make it with all of the additional overhead whereas all kinds of Internet hobby shops are successful.
We are mixing apples and oranges here when we talk about kids and model railroading. That is not what is killing the local hobby shop. It is the Internet.
Rich
The internet certainly hurts an LHS.
Getting back on topic, I can’t think of any new how-to books that I think need making. I’m more of a video guy, myself. I’d like to see a multiple DVD set of building a high quality layout from design to finish. Dedicate a disc to each major step and don’t chop it up with editing for time.
-Ed