To be honest, I’ve been noticing LHS shops doing this more or less for the last 20-25 years. Now there may be a new trend afoot due to the last 3 years of economic down turn but it’s just a tough way to make a living - and I’ve observed that many small LHS shops are run by retired people who aren’t doing it to make a living but more as a “retirement hobby” which gives them a litte extra income - hopefully!
As far as opening and inspecting trains before buying, thats something I’ve almost never been a place where I could do that, mainly because I’ve lived in the east for the past 20+ years and most of the time the models I wish to purchase are west and loco’s especially aren’ t on the shelves to inspect cause eastern shops don’t generally stock westerns stuff. What can you do?
Guilty here of foregoing the local hobby shop. The shelves are thin with generally high prices. Sometimes they carry old, out-of-production stuff but by and large, I never go there and I shop online at hobby stores that have a better selection. The $10-$15 in shipping easily beats the time and money I have to spend driving the 60 miles round trip. Part of the reason they continue to have out-of-production stuff is because they sell at or above MSRP in most instances and don’t sell online.
The last time I did shop there, I noticed Shinohara #5 turnouts were on sale ($5.00 off MSRP). I grabbed a few together with some CA. On the way home, I realized they didn’t even discount the turnouts for the “sale.” It was about that time I said “forget it” and decided to go straight online.
I think hobby shops ‘could’ stay relevant if they were more involved in clinics, customer service, layaway on special orders, etc., but frankly, the ones that I have frequented aren’t all that helpful, even when I have my son along.
Remember when video games were the exclusive domain of nerds and weirdos? Now a major video game release rivals movie money. Call of Duty Modern War 3 has already made over $780m in sales. It hasn’t been out a week. Can you imagine a movie making $780m in six days?
I generally post similar comments each time this topic comes up.
First of all, WGH estimates that there are half a million model railroaders in the US, who spend about half a billion (or about $1000 each) annually on train stuff. I can’t imagine that the hobby has ever been a whole lot bigger than that, so I don’t think it’s fair to blame video games or other distractions.
Similarly, interests change as we age. When I graduated from college, I loved my computer game… pretty much the only one available: Flight Simulator. While I still enjoy computer games, my interest has shifted from the action-oriented / real-time games to the more cerebral ones. Similarly, I now really enjoy MAKING things with my hands and tools, so that I spend very little time actually on the computer any more.
But the hobby shops – especially the dedicated train shops – share a lot of the blame for their demise. Unfortunately, retail is all about inventory management. First and foremost, you gotta have it to sell it, and you have to aggressively price dead stock to move it (I’ve gotten many a bargain at my LHS because he had priced an item to move – when I ask “what’s wrong with it?” the answer is always, “I’ve had it too long”). Never stocked, never sold! The biggest advantage that a brick and mortar establishment has over an e-tailer is instant gratification. The opportunity to inspect the product close up is another. Many hobby shops lock up their stock so that you can get a better view on the Internet, and keep the same old dead stock on the shelves long after the box corners are worn smooth, and then lament the lack of sales.
Doing things right costs a lot of money. You’ve gotta have inventory to draw the customers (and get the sales), and you’ve got to have a constant flow of new items to keep them coming back. And you’ve got to compete with the e-tailers – your profit on an item that you don’t sell is $0, so y
For those of you who point to the teenagers/younger generation using the internet to buy vs stores–do you say that from seeing your own kids or others doing it? How do you know that?
The reason I ask is that my two teenagers much prefer going to stores for a lot of reasons such as friends/socializing, trying stuff out, instant gratification, etc. When I ask their friends they tell me the same thing and this includes many different races–Indian, Asian, Caucasian, Latino, AA,etc as middle class. From my experience my wife buys the most using the internet and so her friends. Of course I do as well. So, from my experience the internet buyers tend to be those who are older/working–post high school.
And yet from our experiences most of us on this forum probably developed our love of trains before graduating high school. And without the LHS having something to put your hands on to help you with those e
Oh brother, how did I miss this thread for so long? It has already been up for 24 hours, and it escaped my notice until now.
Another LHS thread, probably the most discussed topic on these forums. Simply gotta be.
Hey, I love the LHS as much as the next guy. But all three of the LHS’s that I used to patronize have all closed. They all went down for the same reasons. These reasons have all been discussed ad nauseum.
They are all gone except the ones that are still in the process of going.
I don’t agree with this. The internet may be open, but you won’t receive the needed styrene until at least Wednesday, probably even a day or 2 after that. Whereas the LHS will be open on Monday or Tuesday to purchase the needed item.
I also order more by mail than in the past. My nearest train only store is about 40 miles away. Thankfully, I do have a full range shop a lot closer for items such as styrene. Plus, I model in a scale/gauge (Sn3) that is not the most popular and that stuff I have to mail order.
Here in Louisville Ky we have 2 very nice Hobby shops.One all trains and it does well and the other that does all hobbies and it is allways packed.I live quite far from them in southern IN and since one of our bridges got closed due to cracks getting their is allmost impossible.I due order most of my stuff from MB Klien but I do use the local shop quite a bit when I can get their.One installs decoders and I use them allot.Most of the local kids like the RC stuff tha is ready to race 'most do not have the skills or a father to show them all the skill in model rail roads.I do watch Youtube and their seems to be plenty of young folks buying and getting into trains.I would say aound here MR is healthy.Bob
For those of you who point to the teenagers/younger generation using the internet to buy vs stores–do you say that from seeing your own kids or others doing it? How do you know that?
Richard,That’s a very interesting question…Here’s my observations.
In todays computer world its so much easier to shop in your home…You can order pizza on line,order a carryout dinner from Bob Evans and other such restaurants(some restaurants deliver),buy clothes,sporting goods,watch and order movies,buy books etc,etc,etc…You can do all this from your desk top,lap top or cell phone…
When my son buys computer parts or the latest action video game its from on line even though there are several nearby computer and game stores…
Its a whole new world of computerized shopping that’s slowly squeezing out the old shopping methods.
I suspect one day you will walk into a store sit down at a small private computer desk and order your needs,pay and wait until a porter brings your purchase.I suspect there will be a complimentary coffee or soft drink while you wait…
A personal off topic thought.
When I was a kid back in the 50s I never dreamed that one day I will have a computer in my home,a phone in my pocket that has a GPS system and a camera that doesn’t need film and will show you the photo before you take it…
So,its only natural the new methods replaces the old methods.
Thanks for the reply. How old is your son, if you don’t mind me asking?
BTW, the concept of using computers/internet is something we do every day. We have 7 computers networked in my household(two are set up to run the layout) and I used to own a business that supplied CNN and other major enterprises some of their computer equipment. I guess that’s one
Richard,My son is 40 and been fooling with computers for years-He built his first gaming computer when he was 17…Darnest thing I ever seen…Every week he would order a part and first thing I knew he had a gaming computer that was very fast-in fact this would become my first computer after he built a much faster one…
What I like about this deal is every time he upgrades his gaming computer he rebuilds mine with those “older” parts…Needless to say I have a very fast computer.The only stock part left of my Compaq computer is the tower.
I built my first computer in 2000 when I had been kicked out of the house. I wanted to build a gaming computer for low cost - at the time the “Coppermine” Pentium III FCPGA processor was a good deal and I was able to over clock it from 550 mhz to 733 mhz easy. I’ve built some 40 computers since then but not for a while now, but it isn’t hard if you do a little research and get some good advice!
I have to make a confession - I am one of the bad guys who does all his sourcing through the Internet. I would not mind shopping at a local hobby shop, but there is none around. The nearest, about 10 miles from my home, is run by a close to 80 year old gentlemen, who is just selling off his inventory before he ´ll close the place - he has been doing that for the last 10 years. Next in distance is a place in Hamburg, that´s over 30 miles to drive, but I don´t go there. First of all, the price of gas is prohibitive, second, you have to add a parking fee, as there is no free parking, and third, the shop does not carry any of the products I need for my layout. My layout follows Japanese prototype and I use mainly Woodland Scenic products for my scenery. Structures are made by Tomytec, Kato, or Greenmax, brands hardly known in Germany.
I mostly shop directly in Japan, because it is much cheaper than buying at the only source in Germany which carries Kato or Tomix trains. It is also much faster, about half the time from order to delivery at my doorstep.
Even so I wish I had a hobby shop nearby - I still prefer to see things before I buy them.
You could always try to help bring the next generation along in to the hobby. Boys and Girls Clubs, 4-H, etc all would love to have people volunteer to work with kids even if it is just one day a month.
4-H especially would be a great place to start. Invite a different local 4-H club to your Club and let them view the layout… run the trains… maybe even do some hands on construction etc… Exposing kids to the hobby is going to be the best way to get new kids involved. After a while you will definitely gain a group fo young kids who love the hobby and want to be a part of what you are doing. 4-H is the worlds largest youth organization… it is located in every county in every state in the country through your states Land Grant Univ(s).
A good question would be how many clubs have youth outreach programs and youth days etc to help bring this next generation in?
Oh My! The nearest TOWN is 25 miles away. The nearest hobby shop is in Bismarck, 75 miles away, and he is going out of business soon anyway. And besides, nobody in North Dakota sells subway trains. Sure, they can order them, but then so can I. And I can order from a retailer who offers a lower price than Walthers.
Gas? Expensive? At $3.35 a gallon? Maybe it is your TAXES that are too high.
When I visited Germany several times in the 1990’s I did have a chance to step into a hobby shop or two, but of course American trains were not generally on the shelves. I even got to visit a museum in Belefeld which include railroad stuff and I recall there was a model railroad being build there from scratch, hand laid track and all. A friend knew someone there so I got to go behind the scenes - very cool!
Anyway, most of us are forced to deal with online or mail order these days. I looked for shops in my area and not much here, and it would be more trouble than it’s worth to order stuff, I mean why? I might as well just do it from home and cut out the middle man. Prices are higher in shops and online/mail order will ship directly to me.
I got to my local hobby shop at least once a week and a few others at least once every couple months. I enjoy going and looking at the new stuff in person. I buy a lot of small dollar stuff at them. The big ticket items I get on the internet. I’m all for supporting my local hobby shop BUT I’m not going to throw away my money either. For example my LHS is selling the new Intermountain SD40’s for 170 and I can get them for 126.99 at Otter Valley over the internet. If I get all four of the ones I want at my LHS that is almost 200 bucks I’m just giving away. I don’t mind paying a little extra but not that much.[:|]
Maybe it is your TAXES that are too high.