Yesterday I went to Mansfield with my son and I stopped by the Model Railroad Scene hobby shop and visited with the owner…It was rather refreshing to talk about the hobby and the hobby business in general.
The icing on the cake was when he allowed me behind the counter to look over his MT car stock.I suspect I will be spending more hobby money in his shop in the coming months because of that courtesy.I hate playing the pointing game(this car?" No,2 cars over,the KCS boxcar".[xx(] ) with the man/woman behind the counter.
Guys,I am beginning to rethink my thoughts on buying on line because I will not have to make a large order to help cover shipping costs and waiting 3-5 days for my order to arrive…I can now buy 1 or 2 cars,a single building and other such like items.Of course orders for high dollar items will still be made at discount unless a deal can be struck…I am willing to work on the price.
Maybe I have forgotten what a hobby shop was until yesterday.It was like stepping back in a more relax time when hobby shop owners wasn’t all business.
I would really love to support my local hobby shop more often than I do but the bottom line is that the prices are too high and stock is not very fresh. I wil usually buy my track from there but then again a couple of times when I went in they did not have the amount of track I needed.
i have visited other shops in the area that were a bit further of a drive and before going the inventory that I wanted was in stock according to the website which was updated the previous day. After making the drive I out that they had neither of the rolling stock I wanted, no track so I had to settle for different stock.
I really try to support hobby shops but it is so much easier to shop online and if you order early in the week you should have it by the weekend.
Local hobby shops are nice if you have one within a reasonable travel distance, but when the closest is 80 miles away and hardly ever has anything new it’s not worth the trip.
Without the Internet, the next nearest hobby shop would be 250 miles away, so mail order is what I have to rely on in most cases.
We are fortunate in that we have 4 hobbyshops in our metro area.I tend to spend the bulk of my hobby money with them.There are times when I will order online but the one rule that governs my online purchases is that the “shop” I am ordering from must be a real B&M shop with a real street address.
Sometimes that great discount you get online disappears with the shipping charges some shops charge.
Guess I was lucky to have a shop that specilized in S scale, too bad he didn’t embrace the scale side, cost him his business depending on high rail/AF, collector customers. Frankly, I can’t recall the last time I was at my local LHS, maybe if he would carry any S be it track or RTR it might peek my interest.
Online S providers provide fantastic deals, and have frequent inventory clearence sales to rid themselfs of stale stock.
The Model RailRoad Scene is a nice shop! The owner is friendly . I Live close to Mansfield but have not been there in a few years. What was the city like? Did the GM plant closing have an effect you could see?
My hobby shop mainly has athearn cars that aren’t in my era. There’s also some over-priced b-manns and a couple atlases that I don’t need. There are plenty of plastruct styrene sheets, as well as brass and wood of all sizes. also a decent selection of model master paint, though the polly scale has been there so long it’s startign to go bad (found out the hard way). I do enjoy buying the little stuff I need straight off the shelves or ordering it from walthers through the LHS or from the manufacturer (yet again, through the LHS). However, for the big stuff (mainly locos), I still go online. My LHS is a very nice thing to have thoguh, and as I usually have cash, the LHS is easier anyways.
I am VERY fortunate to have a great LTS close. It is nice to go in there and BS about the hobby and other things. The customer service/support is awesome. The place is stocked very nicely, and does not leave much to be desired. If he does not have it, he will get it very quickly.
As far as getting stuff cheaper online, I get a 10% discount at the LTS, so it is a good deal for me (although I know that a lot of stuff I can get even cheaper online). I feel that it worth the little bit of extra to have a shop to walk in to, and have the great customer service. If I have a problem with something, I just take back to the shop, and let them handle it, which they are more than happy to do.
The last count I saw was that Wycliffe Bible Translators have identified 843 languages on this earth. Everyone, I am sure, has a word ‘no’ in it–and that includes this one. When I find something overpriced I say ‘no’; based upon my last experience with a Chevrolet I would class them as overpriced; Chrysler Motor products would be overpriced at ‘free’–who can afford to keep fixing them?
I sense that if your LHS hung a sign out front advertising everything as ‘free’ you would go inside and inquire about a ten dollar incentive to take the merchandise off his hands.
I like my LHS; due to recent financial embarrasment–read that as ‘broke’–I have not been able to give him the financial support of late that I would like to give him. Three or four years ago I was spending a hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars a month on the hobby. I still enjoy visiting his store even if it is solely to replenish my supply of magazines. I enjoy shooting-the-breeze; I enjoy browsing. The equipment is there–I can pick it up and examine it up close–in the case of locomotives he has a test track that enables me to see them run–I have only purchased one defective locomotive and he exchanged that with no-questions-ask–I was told later on that the problem was a loose wire–he has even opened up kits enabling me to examine the instructions.
Why is it that we are treated to a continuing diet here on the forum of bellyaches about XYZ INTERNET SALES or LEBENDYLEBEN SUPPLY or whatever; “I returned the item a month ago and I still haven’t heard from them and they are not answering their phone”; "They listed the item as ‘in’stock’ when I ordered it but now they are saying it is ‘out-of-stock’; “I will never do business with this company again.” ad infinitum/ad nauseum!!! I sure don’t get that from my local hobby shop.
This would, I suppose, be an appropriate time for someone to remind me o
I frequent and support three LHSes here in the Cleveland area and all are a 30-min. drive for me. Although I usually end up buying most of my locomotives and decoders online (because of the substantial discounts), I do buy my supplies from my LHS. Realistically, I probably spend 80-85% of my MRR $$$ at my LHS. For me, the hands-on (i.e. touch, feel, compare) factor and the knowledge base are irreplaceable.
A good LHS is worth their weight in gold, not only for the one on one service but they can be an invaluable source of information about the hobby.
Unfortunately for me my hobby shop is a 12 plus on a 1-10 scale and they only sell trains it’s almost an hours ride from here and it’s not through the beautiful countryside. Yeah we still have some left in New Jersey believe it or not. As great as this shop is the one that used to be much closer was on the complete opposite end of the scale.
They had rude obnoxious people working there and no matter how much you spent you never got a discount, they would forget to order stuff for you and then give you an attitude when you questioned them ion it.They are the sole reason I started buying on line and I still for the most part do. However I am glad to say they have since gone out of business. Going to my LHS is still a fun experience, your a kid again even if your just walking up and down the isles looking at all the kits and checking out all the new locomotives in the show case and listening to the local clientele and swapping stories and ways of doing things.
The internet has taken us by storm but I thik the LHS is one venue that will still stick around for a while if it’s a good one.
I have a bunch of LHS’s around me if I’m into the 1-2hr drive thing—or several hour drive thing usually indulged in around the Christmas holiday season[:P]
There is one that I frequent in Woodstock ON --when I’m doing the catsitting thing when my sister is in a pottery show and there are my two here in London ON—both well stocked and with friendly staff.
I usually think that I’ll just go into the dang places for specific listy things but end up leaving with more besides[:P]
My LHS discounts MSRP by ten percent. So, after paying the sales tax, I’m paying MSRP. Except for several brass passenger cars on LHS reserve order, I don’t need any more locomotives, rolling stock, figures, vehicles, etc. All I usually buy is paint, glue, stripwood, parts, an occasional magazine, and such. Nevertheless, the owner still remembers my name.
The way I see it , if you don’t spend at least some of your train budget at your LHS , they may not be there in the future when you need them. I stop by mine at least once a month or so and give them some business. In fact I spent too much there the past few weeks.
Two very good ones in my area, both within about an equal 20 minute drive in either direction from my house. Bruce’s Trains in Sacramento and Railroad Hobbies in Roseville. Both of them service most of Northern California between Sacramento and the Oregon Border.
They sell below list, are solely devoted to trains (most scales) have good inventories of everything from locos to detailing items. If Bruce’s is out, Railroad will probably have it. Or the opposite.
Nice people at both shops. Both Bruce and Mike at Roseville have staffed their shops with knowledgable and friendly staff, and nobody looks askance at you if you start shooting the bull with them. They’re there to help. And they do a darned good job of it, IMO.
Sometimes I’ll order on-line from Caboose Hobbies in Denver, but that’s when they have a Rio Grande brass steamer that I just can’t live without, LOL! And I do business with MicroMark for their neat, nifty craftsman tools.
But mostly, I just hop in the car and head down the road, either 9 miles east or west, depending on my particular mood at the time. Okay, I’m spoiled out here, but I live between two cities (Sacramento/Roseville) with a strong railroading history and a LOT of people that model it.
We have 2 local hobby shops, one being way over priced and stuff so stale its becoming collectable before he ever sells it, but he is handy for walthers goo, micro light bulbs and magazines. The other shop is only open a few evenings a week as the owner still teaches school for his primary job. His prices are outstanding, service is excellent. I am also his shop mechanic for engine and brass repairs. I also tend to spend money at shows, mainly with dealers selling collections since I tend to look for older kits and models. I dont buy to much mail order as the newer models dont really appeal to me, I buy a few things off ebay like Kaydee logging stuff and hard to find parts for Rivarossi engines ect that I need to repair. The rest comes from the local shop or shows. Cheers Mike
I found a nice little hobby shop like that. Unfortunately, it’s not nearby. But I stop in occasionally after the the GSTS in Timonium Md. The LHS’s are mostly into Lionel with a small amount of HO and N on the side. One guy has a small HO layout filled with goodies not available in his store. All marked prices appear to be list -don’t know if any will haggle since they don’t carry what I want.
I usually hop on the highway for a 20 minute drive down to The Train Shop in Santa Clara, CA. Their selection is usually adequate to suit my needs, but what keeps me going back is their knowledge and selection of the Digitrax system. I use Digitrax on my layout and its really nice having their resources at my disposal.