From the New York Daily News, and I might add the kind of exposure our hobby needs. All aboard! Lionel, the iconic model train maker, is opening a shop for the first time in its century-long existence. The popup store will have a home across from Radio City Music Hall in equally iconic Rockefeller Center, just in time for the busy holiday tourist season. “We want to be at the epicenter of Christmas in New York City,” CEO Jerry Calabrese said yesterday at Lionel’s Madison Ave. corporate headquarters. The store, open Nov. 1 through Jan. 4, will show off new, kid-friendly products. If it performs well, a permanent Manhattan store might be next. Its window display will have three trains running through mountain scenery. The trains are “O gauge,” built to scale at 1/48th the size of real trains. Last year, the nation’s retailers had the worst Christmas holiday slump in four decades, but Lionel’s sales were strong because of a surge in purchases of trains for kids. “Christmas is our thing,” said Calabrese, 61. “Lionel conjures up all the memories of a time when we loved our country, our families and ourselves better.” The shop will auction off trains autographed by celebrities, like rock star Neil Young - a part owner of Lionel - and give the proceeds to charity. For years, the company’s chief customers were adults who collect model trains as a hobby. Now it’s courting families with more affordably priced kids’ toys. Battery-operated train sets are $120 and up. (Lionel trains are traditionally electric-powered.) A new 49-piece plastic train set for kids ages 2 to 5 is $60. Besides the shop, which the company leased with Newmark broker Jay Gilbert’s help, Lionel will have holiday train displays at Grand Central Terminal and Macy’s. These big displays are often what get kids - especially boys - hooked on model trains. “Boys and men love this stuff because it’s about creating worlds,” Calabrese said. lcroghan@nydailynews.com
This sounds like Lionel is taking another step in the right direction. (Added to the news of a possible venture in Newark) I hope that, if the store works out well and a permanent site is chosen, the emphasis will go beyond “kid-friendly” products and not forget us “older” folks (even though we are kids at heart)
Yay! I’ll be there in November to check it out.
Great to hear! I’ll be sure to check it out since I work at 51st & 6th - right in Rock Center area. I always make trip over to Grand Central to see the display there but was disappointed to hear that there wouldn’t be a Citi display again this year.
That is really great - I’ll have to see if I can get there with the kids during one of our trips up to NJ.
Having it in Rockefeller Center reminds me of the story of a young Nelson Rockefeller coming to the Lionel plant to look over the trains and perhaps buy something. He admired everything but finally asked for the price of a bridge. When he was told it cost (IIRC) $12.50, he became crestfallen and told Mr. Cowan he didn’t have that much money, and turned and left. [:O]
From Crains NY Business… Lionel Trains to pop up at 30 Rock Toy maker to have two-month run around the track. Share Print By Adrianne Pasquarelli Ebbing rents and rising vacancies have made pop-up stores more common in recent months, but in Rockefeller Center? That’s right, Rock Center will get its very own short-term tenant this holiday season. Lionel Model Trains, the toy train company once partly owned by singer Neil Young, recently signed a two-month lease for a 1,100-square-foot, street-level space at 30 Rockefeller Center, on West 50th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The asking rent for the space was nearly $275 a square foot, according to sources. Though Lionel has an e-commerce site and sells its trains at several model dealerships throughout the country, this will be its first shop. “Rockefeller Center was a natural fit for multiple reasons, like its traffic, exposure and synergies,” said Jay Gilbert, the Newmark Knight Frank Retail broker who represented Lionel. Landlord Tishman Speyer was represented in-house. Lionel, which will begin its run next month, will join a long list of Big Apple pop-up shops, including ones for clothier The Limited and designer Rachel Roy.
The Lionel Store is open now through January 5, 2010. Lionel has a webpage for the store at: LionelNewYork.com The webpage has the address, hours, and a phone number. Ken
The New York and New England area has many many RR hobby stores so is this needed? This is reported to cost over $200,000 in rent alone… Why not spread the same money around in a half dozen more cities in the West where the competing Lionel stores are few and far between. Better yet, do it in an airport , bus or RR terminal where the traveller can take a prepackaged set home. Best yet best yet, give dealers a $50 per set incentive on the first 2000 sets sold before Xmas. Cost will be the same or less.
BTW: The Golden Gate Lionel RR Club is showing its modular layout at the SFO airport this year in conjunction with United Airlines. Now this is great exposure.
Lionel will benefit throughout the year in sales as a result of the two month exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential buyers.
Here are some photos I took on Nov.1, openning day.
