My LHS is about 3 miles from my house! It is called Shepaug Railroad company. The have a good selection of Locos and Rolling stock , Good scenery, and great prices you can get a good atlas loco as Cheap as $50
Hi Cliff,
I too have been frustrated over the years seeing how some of the local hobby shops are operated. Obviously, my frustration stems from the fact that like you, I know a mismanaged shop will go out of business so my interest is in keeping them alive.
We had a shop conveniently located about 3 miles from my house but every time I went in there, I just knew that it wouldn’t last. When they opened a box delivered by UPS, they would just open the top and place it on the floor somewhere and expect customers to find the stuff. None of the display racks were re-stocked when they emptied. Some of the rolling stock sat there for years taking up valuable space. And, speaking of space, the guy’s wife who ran the shop most of the time complained that the cost of the rent was killing them. They rented a huge space but about half of it, where they had originally planned to build some layouts for demonstration purposes, was being wasted. It was full of empty boxes and junk…actually a fire hazard. I tried to suggest that they rent a smaller space but like I’ve always said about dumb people, they don’t know how to listen. Intelligent people know how to listen, weigh what they’re hearing and take good advice.
The other problem these people had was that they wanted to operate like a mail-order house…take your orders and call you when the stuff arrives. A hobby shop needs to have stuff available for “impulse buying”…in other words, they need to clean out the junk and stock some of the latest and greatest stuff to get you to buy on the spur of the moment. I can order on-line from a number of mail-order houses and avoid the state tax and the cost of gasoline to get to a hobby shop. And, if I buy enough in a single mail-order, the shipping becomes incidental per item. I don’t need to go to a hobby shop to do my “mail-ordering”.
Anyway Cliff, my motive here is not to bash hobby shops…I just hope some of the guys who run them might learn something from our ideas
Very well put, Mondo! Sounds like our experiences are sadly similar.
[#ditto]
Hey Mondo, I see you have been to Tucker’s Hobby in Warren, Ma also. Bob is a great guy, he knows more about trains than most of us ever will. Talk about stock, for aconverted old Victorian home, he sure has every room piled with cars, kits, you name it, and if you don’t see it, he will order it for you, and his prices are very competitive.
As I read all the threads, it came to me that we should have a listing by STATE, so that each member here could list the LHS in there state, and rate them. This would not only be handy for new members, but for all of us who may travel around the country at times on vacation or business. We could use a point system, say 1-5 with 5 being the best, and rate the store for stock, service, competitive pricing, location ( carry a gun or very safe).
It might look like this:
TUCKER’S, WARREN, MA ( Between routes 9 & 20, 20 miles west of Worcester, Ma )
STOCK 4
PRICING 4
SERVICE 5
DISPLAYS 2
LOCATION 4
HARTMANN’s , Intervale, NH Routes 16 & 303 ( 3miles north of North Conway, New Hampshire )
STOCK 4
PRICING 4
SERVICE 4
DISPLAYS 5 ( A 200 x 50 building with every gauge on running displays , fantastic display, even European RR layouts, all running at a touch of a button ).
LOCATION 5
Thoughts guys ??
heres my local LHS
ENGINE HOUSE HOBBIES Wichita Kansas
STOCK 4
PRICING 5
SERVICE 5
DISPLAYS 5 (4 in store layouts, and a movie theater) 8,000 sq ft
LOCATION 4
Thanks Dan, this is what can help many people. All we need to do is share the info. Some people never realize there might be a great HS not that far away.
I had a great LHS but the owner died a month or so ago. It was 3 miles from my house. Jerry the owner was always at least 20% below recomended price. what made it so good? Listen up LHS owners he knew his customers. He knew I modeled C&O. He knew what era. He knew my favotite manufacturers. He knew what I had. He called me at home if a new item became availible that I might like. He had a running account you could get on which was not a charge but pay in advance. I used to go put $20 on my account every week. It would add up rather fast when something became availible I had the money right there just go get it. He kept the prices of certain Items rediculessly low maybe his cost like Ka dee #5 $1.85 a pack. This brought people in for that item because they knew his price. Guess what they did when they came in for K=Dee #5. They bought other stuff. Jerry was my friend. I miss him a lot. LHS owner how many cutomers would say that about you if you died?
quote]Originally posted by rolleiman
I wouldn’t… but in your example, he doesn’t have to and probably wouldn’t have 8 employees, Not for just a train shop and $40k
Amen to that!! The nearest Hobby Shop to me is a 1.5 hour drive. His interest s are not MRR & the stock shows it. Not even dried up Floqiil or Polly S. His stock reply is “I can order it for you”. I can order myself & save a 3Hour drive. I was buying some scenery stuff for the club I belong to & asked if he gave a club discount. “NO’”. 250miles away there is a really great shop-friendly people ,great prices, incredible stock, been there since late 50’s. My kids live near there & we visit every couple of months so I always end up there with a big shopping list plus my wife always spots something she wants. This works fairly well except for the other day I wanted to repaint , weather & decal 3 boxcars. Have weathering supplies, decals but no boxcar red paint. Oh well going to visit Kids next month so that project is on hold[V][V]
Tom
There used to be two LHS within 20 miles of my house.
One of them was literally in the owner’s two car garage. Everything was put on shelves very haphazardly. I once found Floquil paint in one side of the room and Polly S and Testors paints on the opposite wall. When I suggested to the owner that all the paint be put together in the same area, he gave me a non-committal mumble and never did move the paint. Another time I asked him if he had any unpainted HO Preiser figures. “Sure, they’re around here somewhere.” 20 minutes later we both stopped looking. And I stopped going to his store. So did everyone else, because he was out of business six months later.
The second LHS was a delight to go shopping in. The owner and other staff were knowledgeable, plenty of inventory items were attactively displayed, there were three layouts (O, HO and N), and the prices were decent. Unfortunately, the owner had a heart attack and retired. Nobody took over the store.
Now the Walthers catelog is my main source for modeling supplies.
My Kingdom for a Decent Hobby Shop is just down the street!
Really it is!!!
It’s about a 10 minute drive, 5 if I’m not bringing my daughter.
“Munchkin, get in the car”
“NO!”
After 5 minutes of that, it’s a 5 minute drive. [:)]
Horizon Hobbies in Whitby ON. has been good for the most part.
Prices are reasonable, lots of stock especially Canadian Roads.
Always has bought a bunch of “dead stock” from someone to almost give away.
Always orders in what I ask for.
The only time I was upset is when I had ordered in Proto’s latest offering of D&H’s PA’s #'s 17 & 19.
Both came in, but before I could get there, & with the promise from one of his suppliers he could get another, he sold #19 to someone else.
No big deal to me. I would have done the same if I were in his shoes.
The “other” hobby shops across Toronto I find are expensive.
I usually shy away from them unless I’m in the area railfanning & I’ll pop in for a look.
Most of the time I’m wasting my time.
For travelling, I’ve only been to two hobby shops in the US.
One’s in Port Huron, Michigan, I believe the name was BlueWater Hobbies, great place especially if you like HO stuff but I haven’t been there in 8 years.
The other was the Train Depot near Orlando Florida. I was there last October.
Not a bad place, when I was there. He sells almost every scale from what I saw but, at the time, his selection in HO scale wasn’t that great but that didn’t stop me from walking away after spending $200 US. You know I really needed that P2K CSX SD50 + a few freight cars & a Walthers Amtrak Budd Dome.
They were appreciative when I mentioned the fact that I went there due their ad in the back of MR.
Just my thoughts on the hobby shops I’ve visited.
Gordon
The nearest LHS is a HobbyTown about 30 miles away. The one and only time I went in, I asked the guy behind the counter if they had anything in On30, to which his reply was…“what’s that?”. I’m really glad they’re not right down the street or I’d be dropping by all the time to remind them how much they suck.
Neutrino, I’m a little confused. Are you sure you are talking about the Train Depot in Winter Park (Orlando area)? I checked the October 2005 MR and they are still listed in the Hobby Shop directory. Gordon says he was there last October. Could it be there were 2 Train Depots? The one I visit is owned by Stew Marshall and was the one I mentioned earlier with the spouse’s magazine table. The store had so much tourist traffic, I can’t imagine they went out of business. Can you clarify?
Don’t go by listings of Hobby Shops on the internet, they are a day late and a dollar short. Many Hobby Towns are OOB. I drove 45 miles to a Mall that was listed for Hobby Twon, the people there ddin’t know what I was talking about. Customer Service finally told me that they went belly up two years earlier… but, they are still listed on many different model RR web sites and on many internet sites.
That is why, as I mentioned already in the thread just a few entries back, “we” are our best source of info. Just list on this forum what we find as we travel about, and soon we will have a nice grid of who is the best and where they are located.
DARRELL] Nice job with your thread reply, I enjoyed reading it, and you are 100% correct as far as I am concerned. I too have seen well run shops and real bad ones, and it is easy to see why each is the way they are. " If you do as you always did, you will get what you always got"!!
The LHS I just started going to has a register book you fill out. They ask for contact info and what type of stuff you buy.I assume they will contact me if stuff I might be interested in comes available.There was some stuff I wanted that they didn’t stock but said they would order it. When I tried to pre-pay, they said don’t worry about it.When it comes in we’ll call you with a total and you can send us a check instead of driving an hour and a half.Said they would charge me acctual USPS shipping and no handleing That is the kind of service that will keep me coming back.
tommyr-I hate that “we can order it” mentallity. I wonder if these guys don’t think we’re smart enough to get on the net and do it ourselves(and usually save a bunch of money in the process) I know everyone can’t stock everything, but there are certain basic items that I expect all good LHS’s should have to keep loyal customers coming back.
When I tried to pre-pay, they said don’t worry about it.When it comes in we’ll call you with a total and you can send us a check instead of driving an hour and a half
I didn’t mean this guy made you prepay on ordered stuff or that the account was so he would order. He made this availible as a small MRR savings account. I kept a bout $100 in it most of the time, that way if i came in with $30 or $40 in my pocket and there was a new item for $80 i had the money on hand to get it (nice to have when that one of a kind rare item shows up). Also I could order something before production and keep putting money in my account for it when it came in months later it was paid for.
Yea, I know what you mean about the account. Either way, It’s nice having that level of trust with the owner. Service like that makes you not mind spending a little bit more to get what you really want.
Although I live in San Francisco Bay area, I travel a lot. When possible/practical I visit hobby shops for my evening entertainment while on the road. Some of the things I encounter that upset me:
- Closing at 6PM. Almost always a killer for my visit. Get done with work, look up directions, and try to arrive before 6PM? Ain’t happening. 7PM is usually cutting it very close. While I don’t expect 9PM, I would think that if the LHS was truly making an attempt to bring sales in, staying open to 8PM in this day and age of working parents would be worthwhile.
So many times, especially in the Fall I’ll see Moms (and sometimes Dads) coming in just before closing trying to buy a reasonable train set for their kids. All too often, the help is trying to close up shop rather than make the sale - and get a future customer started in the hobby. The lady (sometimes with little kids in tow) needs to have a few minutes with an understanding consultant to help decide what scale/gauge is appropriate, and the right price/quality level. I’ve actually taken over for the sales help because they weren’t going to do it. Furthermore, a good LHS would have a wooden train set up for the little trykes to play with so Mom could focus on what was being said to her. Lastly, if the LHS doesn’t have the right set in stock for that customer, they should be helping the customer locate/obtain it. That could include calling ahead to make sure the other shop has the set in stock, and giving directions. That level of customer service is what will bring the family back to expand the train set.
- Prices above MSRP. I can stomach and understand full price for the most part, but I can’t take going above. Giving a small discount - 5, 10, 20% depending on item - makes the customer feel good about buying there. The practice that really grates on me though, is huge markups on out of production or old stock. Old Campbell structure kits are a typical example I see. Yes, the current price for new stock
Hartmanns Trains up in Intervale, New Hampshire has this nice little sales touch where if you spend $25 or more, you get to pick a marble out of a can, and depending upon the color you pick out, you can get either 5, 10 or 15% off your purchases. Intelligent business people will find ways to keep customers returning.
I did move to Denver, and Caboose Hobbies did, in fact, play a part in the decision. Turns out there are several other good shops for model railroaders here, too.