If you guys could give me your ideas of what you’d like to see in a good hobby shop, I’d appreciate it!
Remember, train people aren’t the only ones to be catered to.
Would you prefer to see a nice layout or a layout combing maybe three scales or three separate layouts, say and Ho scale, an S scle and an O scfale
Or would you prefer to look at train equipment in a display case or actually se it in action on a layout?
What if a local club was allowed to build and operate a layout and help explain things to the buying public,
in exchange for lower prices on train equipment purchases from the hobby shop?
I would like to see a layout of some scale. I would also like to see an example of a locomotive or piece of rolling stock in a display case. That way I can ask to see it and hold it to see if I would buy it. I could check to see if the trucks are okay and the quality is what I’m expecting. It would like walking around a new car to see how the car looks.
Another thing I would like to see is vast assortment of paint and scratch building supplies. That would be helpful for a bunch of people.
A vast assortment of books and magazines would be helpful too for any interested modeler.
regardless of the type of hobby supplies or scale of models, i would like to see a hobby shop that has an inventory with some depth to it. i say this because i seldom buy just one of anything. i don’t need one piece of strip wood or one pair of couplers. if i like a particular freight car, i want several of them.
if i lived near a good shop, then i might buy in smaller quantities on a more frequent basis but that is not the case.
example-once when i was installing a yard lead, i needed a dozen caboose industries ground throws. after visiting 3 hobby shops, 120 miles of driving and over half a day of my time, i came home with 5 pieces. yes, i could have called ahead but i thought they would have something that common on hand. after i got home, i called MRPO in New Jersey and had what i needed in less than a week.
i don’t want to hear “i can order it for you” i can order it myself and get it cheaper.
bottom line; in order to keep sufficient inventory to satisfy the retail customer’s needs, a shop will probably need to have a mail order and/or internet sales business too. of course, the tail may start wagging the dog and the owner will give up on the store front business entirely.
if you ever go to a really good, well stocked, shop you will see what i mean. caboose hobbies in denver and des plaines hobbies in chicago come to mind. of course if i had the capital needed to open stores like those i would not need to work anyway and i could just play with my own trains all the time.
What would Ilike to see in a good hobby shop? Easy to answer - just what I would like to obtain at that moment, ´cause I´d like to see and value whatever I buy.
Unfortunately, this is impossible. The vast variety of products makes it impossible to stock everything available in physical terms, let alone in terms of working capital cost! Most LHS I know have only mainstream items on stock and this means part of the Marklin, Roco, Fleischmann, Trix and Piko pudding, added with a little Faller, Vollmer, Noch and Kibri products. I have to order just about everything from mail order businesses, as US prototype stuff is usually not available at all.
[list] []#1 on the list is a knowledgable, helpful, courteous staff that can answer or know where to get answers to my questions. []#2 would be a place that is organized in a manner that makes sense. []#3 would have a good stock of replacement parts and a skilled repair facility. []#4 would have a test track with short and log curves. []#5 would be a place with a website that keeps an updated inventory online so you’ll know that there is a reasonable chance that an item will be in stock before I make the effort to drive there. []#6 would have reasonable prices keeping in mind that a brick and mortar operation with real live, knowledgable staff is going to cost a little more than an internet operation. []#7 would give a discount to local clubs. []#6 would be a place that takes items on consignment. []#8 would sponsor hands-on clinics for subjects like air brushing, weathering, scenery, etc. []#9 would be a place that handles special orders. [/list]
… if you want to have an LHS that stocks just about all there is available in the market, you will have to pay for it. You cannot expect total availibility and full service for nothin´.
… and that is why most shops go out of business, because their mainstream business is taken away by internet shops.
My own LHS is a pretty good example of a well-run shop that’s a pleasure to go to.
He has an in-shop HO scale layout, about 8x8 feet. It’s beautifully sceniced and detailed. It also has curves of 18, 22 and 24-inch radius, plus grades. The layout doubles as a test track, and, by the way, when a new engine with sound is running, it gets a lot of attention. The layout was featured in RMC a year or two ago.
The shop carries mostly HO, which I model, and also a reasonable amount of N. There are a few O-gauge things on display, but not much. Inventory is pretty good, and constantly changing.
Still, nothing at the shop is more important than Gerry himself. He knows all his regulars by name, and knows what they’re interested in modelling. He freely gives advice on how to install decoders, etc., and also provides the same services. In his younger days, he was a 1:1 railroad man, so there’s a wealth of knowledge there that’s kind of infectious.
Speaking from the perspective of someone who has rejoined the hobby after a 3+ decade hiatus, my first request would be for knowledgeable and friendly staff. There have been a lot of changes and it’s nice to have someone who can answer questions.
Secondly, I’d like to see a well-stocked store. I’m willing to pay slightly more to get items I want now rather than having to wait for mail-order, pay shipping fees, etc. In addition, if the store staff is knowledgeable and friendly, then I’m also willing to pay slightly more than what you can sometimes get from mail order.
I’d also like to see working examples of various pieces of equipment, be it locomotives, cars, DCC systems, switches, motors, etc.
Of course, a fantastic selection would also be good. If there are items that need to be (special) ordered, then the store needs to provide excellent feedback as to the status of my order.
Keep stuff in stock! When I come to your store for something, I want to buy it and take it home now.
We are long past the days when “Your dealer can get it from Walthers” was a good slogan–if “it” needs to be ordered, I can do that myself, and can likely find a better price, too.
All very good points, especially #6. Toom any times people on this forum have complained about their LHS charging more for something than some internet store. They forget that LHS needs to cover rent, and pay those knowledgable employees. I’m not saying I want to pay MSRP, but I’m willing to pay a little more considering that what I mail order will have postage and handling added in. Plus I have it right away, especially important if I’m in the middle of a project.
I have the opportunity to purchase a LHS but it is in definite need of reorganization,and needs
a good “house cleaning” as what applies to a lot of the inventory of which much of it is very old,
and some of it has been on the shelves 20 years or more.
The internet website that goes with this store also needs much improvement.
The inside of the store needs a total revamp, or in my own personal opinion, it
needs to be relocated into a newer and larger faciilitiy, which would reduce a lot of
the maintenance upkeep this old building takes.
It does have a repair facility, but it is in total disarray.
There is no functional layout that can serve also as a “test track.”
It does carry some of the latest in engines and cars, etc, but the prices are way out
of line with other shops, and especially internet pricing.
There are a number of very knowledgeable employees, but the owner strangles their abilities to make changes I feel would help the shop.
He is dead set on the fact that if h can’t get a 40% markup on everything, then it will stay on the shelves.
Thus there is a lot of very old stock in this shop.
My idea would to be to immediately hold a “parking lot” sale and get rid of a lot of the old stuff , and get what I could, and put these funds back into newer items and clearing off the shelves to make way
for new stock.
This store has so far survived the recession, but it simply needs a total makeover which the present owner refuses to do.
It not only sells trains, but RC cars and airplanes, and plastic model kits, etc.
I have known the owner for a long time, and there is stock on the shelves that was there when this store opened over 20 years ago.
It simply NEEDS TO GO!!!
I’d also advertise this old stock probably at costs if I had to, just TO MOVE IT!
My idea is this.
There are several local train clubs.
If I can find a larger building, I’d ask them if they would be interested in
Unless things have changed since I last worked in retail sales–and admittedly that was some time back–the standard dealer discount is 23%; you are asking him, the dealer, to give you 87% of that. My local doesn’t run around in a Lexus nor does he maintain a residence in a neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes and have a vacation home on the North Shore of Mauii. Ten years ago my local gave me a 10% discount–that’s 43.5 % off his discount–on a case of Micro Engineering Code 55 flex; I paid inadvance and agreed that when he placed the order I would take the whole case lock-stock-and barrel UNOPENED!!!; when it came in all he had to do was log it off the invoice and give me a phone call.
My local puts all his meat and potatos on the table from the proceeds of his business; unlike etailers he doesn’t go off to the loading dock at Bustyerbutt Industries every morning and then twice a week go out to that little corner of his garage to see how much of his inventory he can match against his orders. I want my local to stay in business . . . . . . . . . . and not just as a display case; I’m less interested in saving money than I am in having him available.
You want to have something new for sale as often as possible. I stop by the local hobby shop many Saturdays just for something to do, and many evenings on the way home from work when I need some little bit or piece to finish up a project. While there, if there is something I don’t have, (something new), I’ll buy it. I’m willing to pay a bit more to buy something I can see and touch before I buy, and buy from a store to which I can return the item should it break after I get it home. Plus I still enjoy the instant gratification of taking home an in stock item. A bit more is kinda flexible. I’ll pay something more than “street price” but I probably won’t pay full MSRP.
Roadname is important. Local roads like the B&M, the New Haven, BAR, and Maine Central sell better around here than far off roads like SP. We customers love locomotives more than anything else, which is good for hobby shops since locomotives are big ticket items.
You have to carry the ordinary bits and pieces, couplers, rail joiners, Floquil and Polly S, super glue and plastic weld, flex track and turnouts. This is the stuff that makes us stop in on the way home from work. We’d love it if you also carried all the Cal Scale and Details West superdetail parts, a full fine of Nertheastern strip wood, brass strip and tubing, plastic strips, and the rest of the scratch building stuff but the inventory costs will be high. I won’t buy ordinary hardware store stuff like Dremel tools from you if I can get it for less at Home Depot.
Companionship is a draw. Part of the fun of visiting the hobby shop is to meet other model railroaders and talk shop. A coffee pot, some chairs, a place to just hang around, will draw customers. Maybe even donuts. An arrangement with a club could pay off.
Don’t be in too big a hurry to dump antique stock. Lots of antiques are fun to build.&nb
As far as old stock and slow movers,take a lesson from Home Depot and dump it even at a loss. People are always looking for the new ,new thing. Sell Walthers new offers to customers who pay in advance,those are the guys who have to be the first kid on the block. Small dicounts for purchass over a hundred bucks or something like that. Half off prices after Christmas. Half off certain items on black friday. Ridiculously loew price on some select goods for fathers day.
My perfect hobbyshop would be a michaels with trains.[:)] BILL
Keep them comig.
Here’s another problem I am looking at.
The present owner has told me that he sold well over ONE MILLION dollars of
inventory last year, and after all expenses were met, he barely made fifteen hundred
dollars to himself.
I say there is something seriously wrong here with this picture!
I would recommend you get an independent audit of his books before you even think of buying the business. It sounds to me like either his accountant is very creative or he is in trouble with the IRS.