Larry's Hobby in N. Houston

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Was in the store today for the first time in about six months as I live 80 miles away. They had downsized the train dept. to about half the size it used to be. The clerk said they had too much wasted space and the rent was going up but I would say they have halved their stock from the last time I was in. Another sign of the times I guess.

They also used to have a large layout in the front window that was gone. I asked what they did with it and they said “you don’t want to know.” Short story: they trashed the layout because “nobody wanted it.” I guess we all think our layouts are worth a fortune with all the work and expense we put into them. Reality is that most people don’t value much what they have no investment in time and money.

2

We visit Houston a bit from central TX. I find Papa Ben’s, near 610 on Richmond(??) a pretty decent all train hobby store. Pretty good for advice and some reasonable inventory. There’s another muiti-hobby shop SW of there a bit, not so good in my opinion. One in Spring, right by 45, is not so hot in my opinion.

I’ve come to use LHS’s only a bit, like mine nearby in San Antonio, but as they may not have what I want I rely 90% on web providers, in my case mytrainstuff.com (MBKlein) or Walthers. Far from my preferred approach of the 60’s of some great LHSs that met almost all my needs.

3

I agree, I was there a few weeks ago, very disappointing. Papa Ben’s has downsized also. I would love to Houston Roundhouse come back.