As a small business man myself, I really try to support other local small business people. I’m a photographer by trade, and I could definitely buy Camera equipment cheaper mail order, but I like the support of the local guys. I’m building my first layout in 20 years, and I’m trying to do the same with my hobby. I’m using Kato Unitrack and I could buy it much cheaper from say Toytrainheaven or others. But I’ve been buying it and my Woodland scenics from a local guy who is well stocked but sells at list. Last night after dropping some money on both products I came away feeling not too great about the purchase. It’s great that he has the product right there, but for me there is no Value Added, especially at list price. What I mean is there are places I buy at knowingly paying more, but I get knowledge, after the purchase support, and an undefined warm fuzzy feeling. Kind of like buying at the old General store. You feel like the owner is really into what he sells, and appreciates your business. I don’t get that at my LHS. I get the heres your product, wheres my money and thats it. He barely looks up from his magazine. No hints and kinks on how to use it, even when I ask, I got an I don’t know, and this was the owner ! Now I will probably continue my support because it is nice to be able to go touch see and buy within 15 minutes of my house, but… I got a whole lot more unitrack to buy, and Paying $8.00 for 4 straights vs $5 for the same thing is starting to make me think. Anyone else have a similar experience ? Thanks, Dave
I know the feeling. It’s like I only go to the hobby store for those things I need on the spur of the moment. Larger items are picked up at lower prices on the internet. As we get more experience and seek less advice, the local hobby store loses it’s appeal, and cost considerations take over.
Having been on both sides of the counter, I’m more likely to go into a hobby store and help the customers, rather than ask the clerks for help, unless I can’t find something. Force of habit I guess.[swg]
Yes.
In my experience the local hobby shop no longer supplies the service that makes the additional cost worthwhile. The people in the store are more often than not uninformed clerks. They likely know more about model cars than model trains.
I still visit my LHS for routine purchases where the cost is low and the convenience of getting the product right away is important. But if I have a major order, it is going to go on the net. Especially when buying the higher quality products like Kato, the discount on the net is just too good to pass up.
Sounds like a title for a new James Garner movie. Maybe we can get him to make it.
Dave,
I get the exact opposite experience at my LHS.(I should say “shops”, as we have
two great shops here in Pensacola). The one closest to my home, Bobe’s Hobby
House, is the most personal. The “train guy” John is always ready to talk trains and
I learn something everytime I visit. The other is Trains By Johnson. They are very
well stocked and well informed. The experience is not always as personal, but they
do help and answer any question that I may have.
Maybe after a few visits, your local shop owner will warm up a little. Just continue
to engage him in conversation. If he still doesn’t feel the need to help in the manner
you feel he should, then I would consider taking my hard earn cash somewhere else.
I understand the fact that it’s conveinent to buy local and pay their price. I don’t buy
from online retailers simply because I like “face to face” shopping. Plus you can’t
talk trains with an online dealer [:)]. Good luck, Dave
I found that if you concentrate your purchases with a LHS, they can be competitive on price. Also, many hobbyshops in LA are giving 10%-15% discounts if you are an NMRA member. So ask your LHS about this.
I buy all my magizine via the “LHS’s” also gives me a reason to go down to look around
a great conversation starter is to ask how to do some sort of senery thing, seems eveyone has a diferent way to do ballast, water falls, mountains, trees, etc. there are 3 hobby shops i go to here, the closest one has alot of train stuff and has really good sales every now and then (i got a spectrum mow ballast carrier reg $85 for $30) thye alos has plastic armour models which is another hobby of mine, but on weekdays there is one guy who works there who is really mean (if this wasnt g rated i would have more words to say) he is snappy and acts like all you are doing is wasting his time. another store is all trains, very nice people, far, huge selection. another has a small secletion of trains (mostly rc) but is pretty close.
i was looking at mrc’s prodigey (sp?) and found this
lhs 1: $260
lhs 2: $300
lhs 3: $200
but it seems neither is generally cheaper/expensive, where one is cheap in engines, the cars and expensive, and vise versa
i’d shop around and see if you can find a lhs that you like
my local HS is always a party [:D] you wouldnt belive some of the people there, sometimes i even like to go just to talk to all the charachters there. i have a compromise if it doesnt have something i want, i order it through them and then pay a couple bucks extra when it comes in, cheaper then list, but i still get to support the hobby shop. And its another chance to chat with my MR friends
Ahh that’s the problem with customer service theses days. There is none. There are three hobby shps in my area. The first which is a half hour away, is well stocked and the owner is nice he trys to talk you into bigger purchases. I don’t have the money to be convinced into buying more, trust me I’m weak willed when it comes to buyinig MRR stuff. the second one is located 10 minutes away and the worker is nice and knowlegable but a bit creepy. One of those folk that if you saw him on the sidewalk at night you would walk on the other side ofo the road. The stock also seems to have been sitting on the shelf for ten years.
Now on to the last one. The downside, pretty bad hours 4;30-7 weekdays 11-3 saturdays closed sundays. But he is very knowledgable and freindly. I have been known to go and keep him company when it’s slow and just shoot the breeze. When we both decided too rebuild at the same time we gave advice to each other to make our plans better. He will order you anything out of the walthers catalog with free shipping, he just tags what you want on his next order. When you become a regular he takes off a percent of your total, except markdowns and mags. The last time I was in he gave me a 25% discount. He does this because he knows it’s the regulars that keep him in business I’ve already spent 100 dollars there this week and i still have a DCC system on backorder. It’s his little thank you for choosing him over the other three. He also doesn’t mind when you find deals elsewhere. He understands there are deals to goood to pass up. I try and buy most of my stuff from him but if I find a deal I will get it. My large purchases I like to go through him also,he seems to givie me the besst deal and then I have a person to talk to if I need to. If your evere near Akron and you want to visit a top notch LHS get in touch wth me and I’ll take you over.
Andrew
I have to put in a plug for Hobby Haven in Des Moines. Nice people, answer your questions, knock a little off list, and if it’s a slow day, will take the time to visit with you about anything. Drawback - it’s about 90 miles away.
Tom
if the price is comparable, I don’t mind making purchases at the LHS. The service / attitude is critical (and I too have been on both sides of the business counter). My experiences of the past 3 yrs in this community is that our LHS (essentially a store with some hobby and train inventory) doesn’t care, the stock they have is old / dated (dusty) and that they won’t go out of their way to accomodate, therefore special orders take months. Just not worth it to me, especially after approx a dozen attempts. Since there are some well stocked stores, with uninformed staff approx 1-2 hrs away, occasionally we make a shopping trip (groceries,scrapbooking, misc, trains). Bit then it is up to me to determine what it is that I am interested in. My ultimate shopping experiences are still the LHS in my old stomping grounds and the big city, on an annual trip. I tend to avoid internet shopping - just not my thing. Big business or Small, Service wins my money.
OF course I do! But the question is, which one??
I’m cursed with a almost 1 hour drive to and from work. But I have a LHS a block from work, one on the route home, and two more within 20 minutes from my house. Each one is different in thier approach to what hobby or type of hobbiest they are persuing. One is geared to kit builders, trains, planes, automobiles, rockets, military etc. One is strictly Ho and N, leaning to the beginning to intermediate hobbiest. One is middle to upper end, some for beginners but more for advanced hobbiest. The final one is definately for the advanced hobbiest, with lots of scratchbuilding supplies and brass in stock.
The one thing they all have in common though is the people behind the counter. All friendly, all helpfull. [^]
See why I don’t do ordering on the net! [:0]
Plus there are 4 more good shops within an hour or so from here.[:D][:D][:D][:D]
Here are some related threads.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19245
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=18875
If I got the cold responses at my LHS some of you have gotten, I’d take my dollars where they’d go farther. I have 2 LHSs that I deal with, both do their best to help. It’s a competitive world all around. If they can’t beat the mail order places for price, they need to make up for it in service, selection, advice, something to make you wanna come back. Yes, “warm and fuzzy” counts here.
In my business of comercial floor maintenance, If I don’t work hard for my money, and someone else is willing to do more than I am for the same amount, who would I have to blame if my customers switched? I don’t let it happen.
By the way one of my LHSs is local. The other is 120 miles away, and it has the better selection, it’s a bigger shop with the advantage of being in a bigger city. I still like the more local one though, and when I have to order someting through Walthers or whoever, they get first priority. But thats because they are willing to do their best to meet our needs.
And I do buy stuff from Train World and others once in a while, stuff that I wouldn’t have been able to afford or justify MSRP for ( $110 P2K S-1 at LHS or same for $29.99 At mail order?).
Don’t feel guilty for spending YOUR money where they do something to earn it, instead of where they act like you’re a nuisance. Dan
I’m not a heavy hitter and shop around, that’s the American way.
We have a first class 7,200 sq ft diversified hobby shop(all scales) here in Grand Rapids Mi.
The train dept is generally staff by experience modelers. On Saturday
when I was in there one of the staff was disassembling an N gauge loco
for a 12 year old. Turns out the loco needed a new drive shaft and was instructed how to order one from Bachmann.
I didn’t think we had in this town any 12 year olds into the hobby. SURPRISED!
Our folks are experienced, helpful & knowledgeable
I’ve always preached that we should support local shops, but I’m afraid I don’t follow my own advice that much. Our LHS has fair choice of items, but everything is full list price. And “full list price” here in Canada usually means the U.S. price plus 70% or so. I pick up a few magazines and some small stuff, but all of my expensive HO and On30 equipment has either been purchased at other shops, or by mail. It’s great supporting the LHS, but I figure the $50-100 I save by buying elsewhere is just as good in my pocket as in the LHS’s cash register.
Several years ago the owner offered our local club a 10% discount on purchases except magazines. Some time later he sent us a note stating the discount was being discontinued because some members were paying with credit cards, and some were not presenting their membership cards when asking for the discount. There was never any mention of paying by cash only, and if he needed cards for the discount all he had to do was say so. We only had about 20 members at the time and some never shopped there anyway, so he removed the discount from a small number. I had purchased a $100.00 engine from him and forgot to ask for the discount, and he never offered it either. He knows I’m in the club - I’m a founder and president.
I took his action of removing the hardly used discount as a slap in the face to our 20 year old club, and soured me from doing much business with him. We’ve operated local train shows for 20 years now and I believe this has helped his business, but he does not seem to appreciate our presence.
Many of our members do their shopping at an LHS a hundred miles from here, and you can see why.
Bob Boudreau
Canada
Yes,I support my local hobby shops.We still need them…Now the bad attitude local hobby shops has lost my business…Of course like many of you I also find the better deal for locomotives even if I must shop on line or e bay…If I am buying one or two freight cars then my favorite discount or in some cases full price hobby shop gets my money…I must look at the cars before I buy them.Paint,track switches,decals etc all bought locally…
Note:Now,if the on line price comes within 10 dollars including shipping I will bypass the on line shop and buy the locomotive locally if I plan on buying one unit…Two or more then to the on line shops for the better deal. Savvy?
What LHS? The market here will not support anything like hobby activities unless it’s RC cars, rockets, or crafts. Closest one (with anything worthwhile in stock) to here is 100+ mile trip; gas, tolls, etc. all factor into the equation. So we go online. I would much rather spend my $ in the area, but the opportunity is just not there.
work safe
My LHS is 88 miles, driveway to driveway. He’ll ship me a code 83 switch at the drop of a hat and not charge me excessive shipping and handling. He gives everyone a 15% discount. When you go in their they can talk about anything you want to know. I think that Papa Ben’s in Houston is probable the best hobby shop any one could want to go to. I own a chater bus company and when I go to a hobby shop it’s quite often in the bus, one shop in Houston would ignore me completely and when other customers would commet about the bus he’d say yeah. I don’t go their very often. When I spend $200.00 I want that “warm and fuzzy” feeling. I don’t want them to grovel but, I do want them to acknowledge me when I come in the next time.
Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob