support your local hobby shop ??

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

yesterday i went to the nearest hobby shop. a 25 mile drive one way. i wanted three things for sure and figured i would see some “impulse” items that would make the trip worthwhile.

item number 1. some brass rod or wire in .010, .020, and .030 sizes. response was no got, we only carry steel since the brass stuff corodes so badly. (sounds like a lot of b/s to me.)

item number 2. decals or dry transfers i would even settle for some generic letter and number sets. response, don’t carry much in that line since there are so many different ones. (guess that means since there are so many of them i can’t have any at all.)

item number 3. fuel line tubing to make flex couplings between motor and gearbox shafts. only item they had i could use. (now we are batting .333.)

conclusion. i will call MB Kline or some other mail order company tomorrow. support the local guy if you want to, i can’t waste anymore time trying. i’ll spend the "impulse money with them too.

grizlump

2

Interesting.

And I say that not to be a smart aleck, but the merry go round exists at my local shop as well.

When the economy went south, shelves started getting bare. It seems, apparently, that stock sitting on shelves doesn’t do anything for the bottom line. The problem is, without the stock, buyers abandon the LHS. With significant overhead, the LHS can’t afford to leave assets on the shelves for us. It must be moved and the owner must find the right mix of stuff that regularly moves AND pays pretty well. Apparently that leaves out brass rod and tubing, and in my LHS, Athearn or anyone else’s freight car kits. Oh, I got the excuse-me routine, with the reason no blue box existed in the place since December was that our owner was trying to wait until March or April (wasn’t sure which) when Horizon would allegedly lower his price. THEN he would stock the shelves. Well, here we are in July and nothing.

Now, the shelves are full of RTR Athearn and high dollar Intermountain and such, and that’s great. Maybe the mark up is better on that stuff, but if my LHS is suffering for lack of capital, guess what? So are the layout owners who really can’t or don’t want to pay the 20-30 dollars for a single freight car kit.

Granted, several of us in the ranks of customers have extensive “lay away” boxes on the back shelves and a few (not many) of us are trying to pay down the stuff we put back there when times were good. But no one put a gun to the owner’s (or the customer’s, for that matter) head to put the stuff back there. But there it sits, tying up his resources.

The shop is like a morgue some days, although a restaraunt opening next door has helped foot traffic a little. It is sad. I feel the obligation to drive over and do what I can, but it becomes increasingly difficult when the items I want are

3

I feel very lucky. My LHS is a train shop, not just a hobby shop. So, he probably wouldn’t have that fuel line (for RC stuff, I suspect?) but he’s got full displays for Kadee and Miniatronics.

I do very little impulse buying these days. My layout space is full, and buying a new piece of rolling stock mean moving another one to storage off-layout. Yeah, there were those Rivarossi 60-foot heavyweights, though. I never would have bought them if I hadn’t seen them as another modeller took one home for himself.

I find that a lot of my purchases now are ordered. But, I can find what I want at Walthers, e-mail my LHS and have the item in a few days, with no shipping charge. This works well for me.

4

My local hobby shop’s carry a lot of stuff. But it’s priced to high. They are nice though. But if I can even save 2 bucks buying from Ebay then that’s were my business is going. I wish there prices could compete with online sales, but they can’t. But that’s not my problem. I drive a JEEP SRT8 that gets 9.2 MPG in the city. I would rather sit at home, punch a few keys and wait for it to arrive. I am not going to spend a few more $$$ just to keep the local shops in business. I think local hobby shops are going to be a relic in 10 years.

Mike

5

Yeah. It sounds like a nice idea to support the LHS, and I do when I can. But everything is full MSRP. And I’ve already raised two kids. I don’t need anyone else to support.

I recently saw two Atlas GP-7s, in a hard to find DTSL paint. The LHS wanted $129.98 each. I got them from Toy Train Heaven, on a closeout sale for $67.88 each. So I saved $124.00. And the sales tax I saved, paid the shipping.

Besides, we try to save the LHS, because they are the most visible, and we can walk in there and see the stuff, and talk to the owner. But from a business standpoint, the online retailers are businesses too, with lower prices, greater selection, and better service. So, who ya gonna save?

6

For me the hobby shop makes more and more sense.

Most internet orders come from the US, so I have to pay shipping, brokerage fees, handling fees, duty, and taxes, etc, etc, etc, and to who? the govt., who gets enough of my money as it is. The hobby shop charges a little more (maybe) plus tax which I have to pay anyway, plus the wait and uncertainty of international shipping.

My LHS is 200 km away, about 2 1/2 hours drive, so I only get to visit a half dozen times a year at most, but I am happy to spend what I can in his store.

He’s in a larger space than he was when I lived in that city 15 years ago, so he has a lot more of everything in stock, from models (cars, ships, military), R/C, craft and artist supplies, to trains. He’s also a model railroader, so he won’t neglect that side of the business.

Luckily his business seems to be thriving, and I’ll do my bit to help that continue.

If your local shop doesn’t carry what you will regularly purchase, tell them what you want and how much of it that you will buy in the course of a year. If they have any sense, they’ll likely start stocking what you need.

It will help guarantee a repeat customer who will most likely buy other items as well, and if one person requests something reasonably common, they should realize that others will want the same products also.

7

I don’t support my local hobby shop because I don’t feel like I am treated well there so I venture off to either Milepost 38 in Anahiem or Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena but most of my purchases are online from places like First Hobby and Caboose, and Ebay.

Now when I was living in Montana is when I started purchasing from those places like Caboose because all we had in town was a Hobbytown USA. BUT Jim’s Junction was out in Billings which was an almost 2 hour drive and I would go see John out there because he cared. That guy always remembered me though I wasn’t around much and he would give me 30% off because I was attending the train club in Livingston. He knew customer service and he was well worth supporting.

I asked a person that I was communicating with from Billings that would also purchase from Jim’s Junction if John still remembered me after a few years and my friend came back and said he sure does and wanted to say hi. Now that’s a good guy in a good little hobby shop.

8

Nuts, I thought a new James Garner movie was coming out.

9

Oh am I lucky. And I know this. My LHS is a discount of about 20% off MSRP. In fact there are 2 shops (different owners). One is a Hobby shop that divides between models, RC and trains N, HO, and O. The trains items aren’t what you would call plentiful but yet well supplied for the type of store. They do order from Walthers. The other, my favorite of the two is a train store only, mainly HO, my scale, a good supply of N scale and a bit of O with a smattering of G. This is a well stocked store and it is nice to walk in get what I need and shop, touch and feel. I love the shops and buy and order all I can from them. Though I must admit I have bought some off E-bay but the item either has to be unavailable or cheaper (including shipping) than what I can get it for locally including tax and a fair fuel cost to get there.

10

I do wish the hobby shop would make a huge comeback. But it will never happen. It was nice going into a train shop as a kid and bull with the adult men about trains. It’s just to convenient to do it over the internet. Now I am not saying that Ebay will beat the hobby shop 100% of the time, beuause it doesn’t.

11

Like many things in life, there must be compromises, and we all have our own preferences.

I’ll take a friendly hobby shop owner over ebay any day for a lot of reasons, but that’s my choice and I respect the choices others have made. It may cost me more sometimes, but that’s my compromise.

I just wish that the drive wasn’t so long to get there and that I had more money to spare (don’t we all!).

12

What’s a Local Hobby Shop?

I haven’t lived near a decent model railroad retail store for years, although my current employmnet is only a 3 1/2 hour drive from Caboose Hobbies (Denver).

13

I buy my paints, airbrush and glue supplies from the LHS.

The rest I try to buy direct from manufacturers so I can support them. If the LHS supports local model railroading events and such I’d be more supportive.

14

I love my LHS. It’s a 20 minute round trip or so, plus however long I spend in there, it’s decently stocked, but I can order from Walthers, Atlas, and other companies through them. Free shipping,a nd the prices aren’t too bad. I go to MB Klien for big stuff like locomotvies and turnouts (flex track is good from my LHS though, I’ve ordered that before). I had to order my decals from Walthers through them, but they have a great selection of plastruct pieces and brass pieces.

15

Why do you even go to a local Train Store Hobby shop?

Item 1 Hardware store

Item 2 Art Store

Item 3 Hardware or RC Shop

geez if you’re going to complain about stuff at least buy MODEL RAILROAD EQUIPMENT!

I don’t expect my LHS to carry hardware items. I’m there for the Trains man!

16

Just remember this…MB Klein IS A LOCAL HOBBY SHOP to many! LOL

Seriously, I agree. My FLHS situation has suffered greatly for a year or so. One shop closed and the owner retired. The other moved to a smaller location and since reopening doesn’t carry as much and isn’t worth the 40+ mile round trip. The only other shops near by are on the far side of town and they’re over 75+ miles round trip.

I do more mail order now and a lot of ebay. I deal a lot with Caboose Hobbies, Kleins, Bessemer Hobbies and Blue Ridge Hobbies. They all offer good service and better prices than my FLHS’s.

It’s no wonder the locals are closing at such a fast rate. Times are hard but the help at a lot of stores drives people away. I quit dealing with Mitchell’s because of the way they treated me on the phone a few times. No reason to deal with grumpy & unhelpful people.

My 2¢,

Roger Huber

17

This topic seems to come up at least every month and the conclusion always seems to be the same – the Internet is killing the local hobby shops.

We used to have two here and there were six in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles away. Now, there are none here and one left in Tucson.

18

Actually those are hobby shop items…A well stock hobby shop will stock those items since they are needed by all kinds of modelers.

Of course a poorly stock hobby shops offers excuses not service.

I am sick of excuses…

I no longer care for LHS that can’t sell me the things I need but,will offer excuses.

19

[quote user=“BRAKIE”]

Actually those are hobby shop items…A well stock hobby shop will stock those items since they are needed by all kinds of modelers.

Of course a poorly stock hobby shops offers excuses not service.

I am sick of excuses…

I no longer care for LHS that can’t sell me the things I need but,will o

20

Actually the on line hobby shops are not killing the local shops…The majority of the closed shops was killed by the owner since he/she refuse to modernize.Some closed because the owner retired,some closed because of health reasons…Some may even drove off customers with a poor selection of stock coupled to a bad attitude…

Of course when we read a topic on another hobby shop closure the reason is seldom given.