My Kingdom for a Decent Hobby Shop!!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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On a previous thread, the question was raised, "What makes a good hobby shop?” I believe a better question would be "What makes a Terrible Hobby Shop?” As the number of local hobby shops continues to dwindle, I thought I would share my thoughts on what turns me away from some and draws me to others.

Although I have been teaching for the past 7 years, I previously spent many, many years in retail management. Based on my experience both as a customer in countless hobby shops (in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana and Alabama) and working for several large national retail “mall stores”, I am amazed at how little most hobby shop owners know about managing a successful retail business. The overwhelming majority of hobby shops I’ve patronized suffer from the same problems which can each be traced back to poor management. They include…

1. Location of the store. Unfortunately, all too many hobby shops seem to be located on the “wrong side of the tracks” (no pun intended). If I have to worry that my car will be gone when I come out of the store, how often do you think I’ll be taking that risk? A good example is the now defunct Bobbye Hall’s in Dallas. It was a great train store. But if the business has to resort to installing razor wire on the roof top, I think I’ll make my purchases online from the safety of my home. True, the rent may be much less, but at what cost to business?

2. Attractiveness of the store. Almost every hobby shop I have ever shopped in was dirty, poorly lit, messy, cluttered and disorganized. Are there no owners who have the slightest clue about visual merchandising??? The popular approach seems to be “pile the newer stuff on top of the older stuff”. Is the store “shopper friendly”? If you have to ask “Do you have any…” more than once, the store has not been thoughtfully laid out. Most store owners are content to just shove something new anywhere, rather than re-display an overgrown area of the store a

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My LHS was situated in a very good area, knowledgeable staff, clean, well laid out floor plan, generous display area, bright lighting a fantastic book and video section and coffee and doughnuts and parking lot sales on selected weekends and discounts for all everyday of the week.

Good inventory and very little out of stock issues. Three display layouts in different scales where you could test before you buy , alas, It was not enough to keep it alive, true if I modeled in HO I would have increased my purchases, but would my few dollars have made any differance when we can go cyber for all our hobby needs? The sad part is the owner was expressing an interest to introducing some S to guage the local market.

Personally I would love a walk in HS devoted to S, I miss my candy store regardless of guage, but it ain’t going to happen, without the services of online shops my modeling would grind to a halt.

Dave

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My local LHS is about 70 miles away so i do not get there very often. But engine house hobbies in wichita is a very nicely laid out and run store, they have all of their ho locos in a glass case than rusn almost the whole length of the store. all of their rolling stock is neatly arrahged everything is in fine order, the store is very clean,a nd the meployees are very knowledgeable and top notch ncie guys, iT even has test tracks and 4 in store layouts and a movie theater with free popcorn!!!I It is pretty big too around 8,000 square feet so i usually spend a good 2 or 3 hours in there every time. But of all the hobby shops my local LHs has the best prices, they are usually about 20% off of retail on everything. Another hobby shop that is close is fun for all hobbies in Topeka, the prices on stuff there is outragous!!! the guys tries to sell everything at msrp!!! he even had a lIfe like ho scale gp60 Santa fe unit for $150, and the guy said he would make me a deal on it and sell it to me for $130 yeah right i bought 1 off of ebay for $40 bucks.
But engine house hobbies is still my favorite place to shop my last vist there cost me $220 bucks[:D][:D]

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Ah, new viewpoints on one of the Eternal Topics. As usual in this forum, all of them are valid, and stated articulately.

One exception - the value of old stock. I personally cleaned out the DPM stuff on the rack when I started acquiring stuff for my planned layout. It was old stuff, yes, but at the old prices. I suspect my LHS owner had bought it from the previous owner, and never bothered to re-price it to current levels. Bargains that beat the Web by far, and I didn’t have to wait for mailman or pay the shipping, either. There’s another kit on the shelf I’ve been eyeing, too. Shhhhh…

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A suggestion: Move to Denver and have Caboose Hobbies as your LHS! Awesome place!

Bob bOudreau

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Although I have never been to Caboose Hobbies, I have ordered many brass engines from them off of their website. A friend of mine shopped there during a business trip to Denver and raved about it.

Another store that I enjoy visiting is the Train Depot outside of Orlando. I go there during our annual pilgimages to Walt Disney World. They even have a “spouse’s table” with lots of current issues of popular women’s magazines. Now THAT’S what I call innnovative!!!

However, another hobby shop in the Orlando area suffers from all of the symptons I addressed earlier.

Hopefully, I’ll make it to the Mile High city one of these days…until then, I’ll buy from Caboose Hobbies online.

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Come to Kansas Shop at engine house hobbies!!! IT is awesome

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Service/helpfulness and friendliness can’t be underestimated. I’ve found a LHS that is 3 towns over, but I patronize them regularly because they always greet me by name and treat me like I’m one of their best customers, even though I rarely buy more than a couple mags and car kits at a time. When I save up for my “big” purchases, I will definately buy from them even if they are a couple bucks over the web guys prices.

Mike

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A good LHS will work in most any major city. We lost our LHS last March(owner died). Now I have 4 choices:

1 - Drive 45 miles to a combination hardware store/train shop(really not too bad!)

2 - Drive 75-85 miles to see 4 large hobby shops in a large metro area.

3 - Attend ‘Train Shows’ ( like this Saturday) and drive about 80 miles one way.

4 - Use the Internet/Mail Order to get my supplies.

Oh - I forgot about ‘No Model Railroading’ - I do not think so…

The problem with no LHS is that I cannot stop down for paint, or that .025" music wire for turnout ground throws(I am running low). We have a Hobby Lobby - they have 1 package of code 100 N/S rail joiners, 1 package of W/S plaster cloth - You get the picture. I plan to stop at some real LHS’s on the way home from the train show to fill out my list of needed stuff for the next few weeks.

Jim Bernier

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I live in the middle of nowhere. There are three hobby shops within about 50 miles of me, and only two of them handle trains. Both have a pretty decent selection of stuff, but not the right stuff.

The people at all the shops are very friendly and helpful, and more than willing to order whatever I might want, but for me, I might as well order it myself as drive 100 miles round trip to order it, then another 100 round trip to pick it up when it is in.

That said, I DO patronize them as often as possible. It might be just some rail joiners here or a bag of WS foliage there, but it’s something. If they had what I wanted in stock, I would probably go there to buy it even if it did cost more. But it is the same stuff, every time, never moving.

The biggest problem is that they pack their shelves with things that don’t sell. I would think that, insofar as motive power and rolling stock go, a hobby shop would be well served to handle as many items as possible featuring roadnames of local prototypes. The local shops’ shelves are overflowing with ATSF warbonnets and Union Pacific big steam and Rio Grande Geeps and such. But, to see anything that ever ran locally is rare, and not because it sells right away, but because it never gets there.

I just don’t understand the reasoning behind having a shop in Western Pennsylvania, yet carrying little or nothing from the PRR, B&O, NYC, EL, B&LE, P&LE, W&LE, B&P, or any other railroad that ran within 150 miles of here. Heck, I can barely even find anything for NS or CSX, and I have to cross both their tracks to get there.

Then, when the shelves full of cars and locos lettered for Western Pacific or V&T or Illinois Central don’t sell, internet retailers get blamed for putting the little guy under. Meanwhile, a guy in Pennsylvania has to order Pennsylvania Railroad items from a store in California, because the shops in Pennsylvania never stock them.[:(!] Go figure.

Ray out

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I have had the pleasure of visiting Caboose Hobbies this past summer. I probably spent about three hours there, and could have stayed much longer, but the kids were with me and were getting hungry. Of all the hobby shops I’ve been to, it is the best on my list that is still in business.

Having grown up in the the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles for many of my years, I had a large selection of hobby shops when I was involved in this hobby years ago. Most of them are now long since out of business.

The ones that have remained are the Roundhouse in North Hollywood, the Train Shack in Burbank, Allied Model Trains in Culver City and the “Original” Whistle Stop in Pasadena. I’m sure there are others that I haven’t been to, but these are the ones that are still in business that I visited twenty-some years ago.

The ones I miss that have gone out of business are D&D Hobbies in Sun Valley, CA (which I used to ride my bike to when in Jr. High), California Train Depot in Van Nuys, CA (everything sold at a discount), and The Train Station in Burbank, CA (great selection and great staff).

Back in those days, I had seven or eight “Local” hobby shops from which to choose, all within about ten miles of where I lived. Now the closest LHS for me is about 45 miles.

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The one that I frequented in Albuquerque wasDuke City Hobbies down on south San Pedro Blvd, close to Kirkland Airbase. It had the in-house layouts…the one that always drew me was the layout with the harbour in it, because the edge of the layout cut the harbor in two, and the owner of the shop had someone detail the seabed of the harbor, which could be seen from the front edge of the layout.
Talk about innovative!! I haven’t seen anything like it since. Had lots of junk on the bottom and they used some type of blueish film on the inside of the glass that colored everything so it was pretty realistic…and this was back in 1965!!
But I was too poor back then and only helped my older brother with his layout. I could tag along when he went on his parts shopping if I left him alone, so I always made a bee line for the layouts. Too bad more LHS around my part of the Pacific NW don’t have layouts in the store…Guess retail space is just too expensive to have something that doesn’t generate income.
[sigh]

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my two both have layouts, but both are basically track on foam,some scenery started, when I got back in the hobby 10 years ago my old one had a great 4X8 layout completed,scenery buildings,etc, I bought quite a few kits because you saw the finished product up close, they’re great for sales potential. One big hobby store I went to last winter was colder inside than out,they had nice stuff, even the staff were cold.owner saving money???

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If you lived in the Houston area, you’d have several great hobby shops to choose from. My personal favorites are Papa Ben’s Train Place and the Houston Roundhouse. I just hope they’re still there after hurricane Rita passes through…

Tracklayer

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OK Guys…I own a LHS. JFWIW…do you guys have any idea how much stuff is out there to buy? Do you have any idea how much money it would cost to have “One of everything” in stock?

I try my hardest to have stuff in stock. But there is NO WAY I can stock everything. If I don’t have it, I’m glad to order it! I will have it in 4-5 days, most times.

I’ll tell y’all first hand, it’s a tough business. You have to compete against your own distributors selling at discount pricing to the public. Do any of y’all know what the standard mark up is for the hobby industry? About 40%. Way less than most retail business. About the only retail at less than that markup is grocery stores, and they do their business on volume!

Please support the LHS…these guys know your name, and appreciate your business! We may not always have what you need in stock, but I’ll bet most of us will get it as fast as you can on the internet, and we’ll be a lot more fun to socialize with then “E-Train discount toys.com” !!! And most of us don’t charge shipping! [:D]

I do understand that a lot of our hobby is based upon “impulse buying” but y’all have to remember who the real hobby enthusiasts are…some bimbo at “E-trains.com” that answers the phones and take orders, or they guys at the LHS that actually use the stuff you wanna buy!

JMHO

Rotor

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I used to have a great LHS. Great inventory in several different scales, discounted prices on almost everything, nice people working there and it was only a few miles away. Sadly the owner had to close up this past February for personal reasons. [:O][:(][V]

The next closest place is bigger and has even more stuff, and it has a large, friendly staff. It also has full MSRP on almost everything. Makes a big difference in my hobby shopping budget!!

I’ve got to remember to visit Caboose Hobbies next time I get into Colorado for some R&R. I’ve seen their web site many times and the place looks just awesome!

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Where are you in CA?

Try The Train Shop in Santa Clara. They’re well stocked, well lit, the temperature is right and the people are friendly. Items are discounted about 20%.

The address is 1829 Pruneridge Ave, Santa Clara, 95050. Phone is (408) 296-1050. TTS does quite a mail order business even in the absence of a website. I’ve been trying to get owner Vern Cole to get on the 'Net for years. The last time I was in the shop, I mentioned it again. This time, there was a guy from Yahoo! standing next to me and he at least got Vern to accept his business card. There may be hope yet.

TTS is extremely well stocked. About six months ago, I went in there with a list of about 30 Precision Scale detailing parts I wanted. I came away with 29 of the 30. Not bad at all, all things considered.

Andre

Hmmm. If I’m going to shill for The Train Shop, I ought to get paid for it.

Oh, Vern…[:D]

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Rotor,

I also was a part owner in a hobby shop that had 2 stores(back in the eraly 80’s). We made money, but I could invest my money in other this and get a better return. The previous ‘post’ about not stocking ‘local’ road names is a good point. One of our stores was a few miles from a major BN teminal. We sold ‘made up’ train sets with Athearn BN SW7’s, caboose, and a few cars - were always running out!
I have to agree that the cost of carrying everything is high. I had our bank investment ‘advisor’ complain about out stock of Dremal tools. He did not see enough ‘turn’ in the inventory. What he did not understand was that single Dremal sale resulted in additional sales of cutoff wheels/stripwood/parts/etc…
Most of the hobby shops I have visited have poor stocking(maybe not enough revenue) and/or poor customer service. Caboose Hobbies has a staff that is very good, and of course the selection is outstanding. I would not even want to estimate the running inventory in that building!

Jim Bernier

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Been to Caboose, was much more exciting the first time than subsequent times but still a great place if you want to pay full retail. If in the area, it’s worth the trip just to see it though. Be sure to lock your car, it isn’t in the best of neighborhoods (8 years since I’ve been there). What I did like about it (bought brass on each trip) was that you could handle stuff without somebody breathing down your neck like you were going to steal something. Also, you can test run your stuff, pay with a CC, and have them ship it to you (out of state) and save the (then) 8% sales tax (if I remember correctly). Some small layouts to browse over, a play area for the kiddies, overall helpful and knowlagable staff. But the BEST part of it (worth the trip alone) was the Detail wall… Has to be seen to be believed. Only hobby shop I’ve ever been to where they offer a map to navigate the store. Another I liked in that area was Mizell Trains…

Visited one in Sarasota Florida once in '98 or '99 that was pretty neat. Don’t remember the name of it but they had a lot of older out of production building kits and at reasonable (translation, not ebay collector) prices. Hit Dans Train Depot on the same drive, wasn’t impressed. Left there with just as much cash as I walked in with. Tried to find the one that was advertised in Tampa Bay but couldn’t find it… Turned around from there and drove back down to Naples…

Pittsburg area was ripe with shops, lot of little hole in the wall places with interesting stuff. The best shop I visited on that trip though had to be MB Klien…

I don’t know if it’s still there but the Blue Caboose in Columbus Ohio was pretty good. Haven’t been there in several years, if it is, and you go, “other side of the tracks” warnings apply…

Locally, there are only a couple big ones left and both are 1 hour drives from me. Sorry but with gas at $2.50+ per gallon, I’ll save the money and order online. I’m not in that big of a ru***o get anything.