I will be in Calgary for a few days next week and wondered if anyone could recommend a hobby shop which carries a good HO selection at reasonable prices.
Thanks
I don’t believe they sell HO in Calgary.
Hi. When I head out to Calgary I usually stop by Trains and Such (2604 - 4 Street NW) and Chinook and Hobby West (5011 Macleod Trail SW). I find Trains and Such has the better selection, lots of HO. With Chinook and Hobby West on one visit I found all kinds of stuff I “needed”, on the next visit I only picked up one or two things. There is a multi-hobby shop in the northeast near the airport where I have visited too, can’t remember the name. Not much selection and high prices.
Hope this helps,
Andrew C.
If you were to ask a year ago where to visit, I would have been jumping up and down yelling “Trains and Such”! However, in the past year TandS has gone stagnant with their stock and their crew think they are knowledgeable. Their prices have skyrocketed (170 CDN for a QSI Revolution decoder…what?!?) and the selection is meager. DCC selection? Forgetaboutit. Athearn selection? Only the stuff no one else wants. ETC…The new management has focused on making money and not on taking care of their customers. They are introduced some items that make me shake my head;
Knock off lego
loads of dated Thomas (about 1/4 of the store)
StarWars items,
Various dicast vehicals that have no realtionship to the scales we model
And entire asle dedicated to someone else’s junk (think Athearn Dummy locos for 60 dollars).
Toddler feeding sets (?!?)
T and S used to be a place where you would just go to socialize. Now, very few make the trip for that reason. Personally, I visit the store once every 2 months (for custom orders). I used to frequent 2-3 times a week…even traverse the city to visit!
If you do visit (and you should), make sure and ask for “Jim”. Don’t take up too much of his time (he is very busy as he why the store still works) but he is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the past 50 years of the hobby. If you want it, he can find it.
If you are into DCC, make sure to give the Dispatcher a call (Google “The Dispatcher Calgary”). He works out of his house and he is a very pleasent guy. His prices are discounted.
Another shop to consider is Eastridge hobbies (Again use Google). They stock standard Walther’s fair but their prices are very close to American MSRP. You can find some out of production kits there.
Hobby West (Chinook Hobbies) will take up about 10 minutes of your time.&nb
Hmm, interesting to hear about Trains and Such. Last time I was there was last September, I saw a few of the things you mentioned but still picked up a couple of deals, sounds like things have gone downhill since then. That’s really too bad.
Yes, tis a shame. I grew up in that store.
David B
The last time I was in the store(about 5 years ago) they were very busy selling thousands of dollars of brass and kits to 3 Germans who were in town on business, they dropped $10,000 and the owner said they come in twice a year(on business) and buy the same amount of stuff. Remember, Calgary is a booming oil town with mega bucks, a year before I saw some local buy 6 brass C.P.R. locos, and he paid cash, so a lot of their customers are high-end spenders. Good luck to the peasants.
Last time I was in Calgary – in fact the only time I was in Calgary – was in 1958 and I was there for the Stampede . . . . . . . . . . and the gals!