losing a great train Store

[LL675]

I just read on the other fourm that G&M Trains in Martins Ferry,Ohio is closing it's door New Years Eve. This is one of those little train stores that has the "right feel" to it. The owner has an old van seat where people hang out and talk about anything. New,used, always a junk box to root thru. I haven't gotten down there much this year with work, but I'm gonna run down today to say goodbye.

[Seayakbill]

Sorry to hear that, one more Ohio Train Shop gone. We lost some good ones, Davis Trains, Blue Caboose, M&S Trains, John & Bettys Trains, it is a tough business.

[bfskinner]

That's sad, all right!.

By the way, can anyone recommend a good online train store where I can get a small price discount?

.

[Civil War]

Normal 0

As the owner operator of a niche market store (not trains) I can tell you that we have people coming into our shop every week looking for the store that was here previously. It closed 10 years ago and they are just now coming back. I usually try to restrain my self from telling them, they are the reason the store is closed. If you only visit a place once every ten years don't expect them to be there the next time you happen to come in. If you like a store patronize them frequently and buy something. That is what keeps the doors open. I'm not saying buy something you don't need, but if you like the place don't buy the same item on ebay, buy it from them even if it costs a couple dollars more. You don't get the same service from the Internet guy that you get from your local friend's store.

 

Merry Christmas to you all. 

[brianel027]

We read more and more postings like this, and usually the reason is attributed to the economy. But there's another reason, which is sometimes mentioned, that could have as much to do with it as any.

Not only is the average participant in the train hobby getting older, but so aren't the small retailers. One can add up the many circumstances of today: Competition from mail order, wholesale regulations, new retail requirements, until recently no real effort to reach newcomers and young families - and add on retirement age and I think many small train retailers are just coming to terms this is the time to get out.

I don't know the to date retailer requirements, but I do know in general the requirements to become a Lionel retailer today (dealing from authorized distributors) is much tougher than it was during the postwar or even MPC years of Lionel. I can remember going to train shops when I was a kid that were located in a basement or garage off someone's house. Those guys had all the current Lionel line too.

Today, there's all kinds of rules and regulations from the type of shelving and lighting you should have, to how much inventory you need to stock. Who'd want to deal with all of that when the small retailer cannot even begin to touch the mailorder prices many advertise.

Lionel will deal with this as they see fit, as with the other train companies. It's important to have a retail network, but the train companies know these are different times. There was no internet years ago. Today, even a new commer to the hobby can do a web seach, and find web sites like this one to get your questions answered and find places to buy trains. There's YouTube where you can see trains and layouts in action. There's eBay and ChooChooAuctions.

Small dealers can't stay in business if they stock things, and people come in to see those items, but then order them on line, utilizing the small dealer as a "reality catalog." I've heard many a small dealer make that observation. When one comments about cranky hobby retailers with bad attitudes, I might suspect it's a two-way street and hobbiests demanding unreasonable discount prices from small dealers might contribute to making them cranky. It would me.

As Bob Dylan sang, the times they are a changing. We may not see new stores replace all these little ones that have gone out of business in the past few years. And while the internet is a useful tool, it cannot replace the hand-ons service and warmth of having a good local retailer. But not only does Lionel need to support small retailers with their dealer rules and requirements, but so also must we hobbiests.

And Civil War Terry made his spot-on comments while I was typing mine. Absolutely correct Terry. If one's main focus is low price, the big train retailers win. But eventually we all lose as small shops close with no one interested in replacing them.

[Buckeye Riveter]

G&M was a good store to visit, but within a very few miles were better stores, T&K Hobbies, just off I-70 in Bridgeport, OH and Pat's Trains, which sits directly under I-470 in Wheeling, WV.  The population of this area has decreased in the last twenty years significantly, so there are less people to make purchases.  I-70 provides the conduit for retailer traffic for this area and G&M was not "just off the interstate".  T&K and Pat's have both embraced the Internet and as far as I know, I don't believe G&M had a strong web presence. 

When Chuck and I made our tour of the trains stores in the Wheeling area, we both came away believing that G&M was number three.  With Pittsburgh less than an hour away, G&M also competed with those establishments.

[Seayakbill]

I was in T&K a couple weeks ago. One gigantic selection.

[lionelsuperotrack]

Just bought some items over the phone from T&K to which I was referred by an Internet friend. Believe the person's name at T&K was John. Very nice to talk with, we made a small deal as I purchased 5 of the same car and shipped immediately.

Train stores - have to be immensely difficult to generate enough margin to cover bricks and mortar. Can't see how anyone can survive in trains without a strong Internet presence. Also, makes good sense to be active on the many electronic forums where a strong presence multiples its effectiveness.

Happy Holidays,

Mike Spanier

[alank]

Years back where I grew up there were two Lionel Trains stores within about 1 to 2 miles of each other.   One was an authorized Lionel Repair store.   At Christmas you would see Lionel Trains in some other stores too, but the thing I remember about the two I call Lionel Trains Stores, is that they sold other things too.   The one in the heart of the business district had an area set up with Lionel Trains and accessories on display year round.   They sold everything from hunting, fishing, scuba, Boy Scout, those chemistry sets and supplies and was a real nice store.  The second was a greeting card store and some other merchandise.   In the window of the store they displayed various things, including trains, and in the back of the store they had trains and the other stuff on display.  If you didn't see it the propieter would go in the back room and check for you. He also stocked repair parts, and if he didn't have it would put it on the list for you when he ordered his parts.   This store also did authorized repairs.   The stores I see and visit today, are dependant entirely on trains.   I feel uncomfortable when I don't buy something, and am a like to look and kick the tires type of guy.   When I do see something I like, price is important too, but only to an extent.   The rest is how much I like the propieter, how knowledgeable they are, and do they like trains and really care about me as a customer,  I think a good mix of merchandise, not having all your eggs in one basket, and a customer friendly atmosphere go a long way towards the success of a store.  In our town these stores survived until the malls came and the business moved out to the edges of town.   Today stores like that are almost entirely gone.

[LL675]

T&K is a bigger store no question. I have been there several times, and while not treated rudely, it didn't have the friendly feel that G&M has. Pats is good too.

[johnjay2]

Hello

Interesting thread so ill add my two cents. The closest hobby store to me is 13 miles away. The store has a huge n scale layout and a nice o scale  layout. You would think this is an ideal place to spend money ,but its not. They have no new o scale locomtives on display. They only have seven 0 scale locomotives on display. The merchandising of the product is awfull. The shelves are always a mess and if you want to buy MTH you need to pick it up off the floor becasue thats where its all stacked.Every other sunday they operate the layouts. There is a great draw for this however I see alot of folks leaving empty .handed.I say to myself dont they see a problem with this. I sent them an email telling them that I drive 35 miles longer to another hobby store thats a quarter of the size, In that  store they manage to have 40 locomotives on display. When you look at the displays an employee comes over and asks if you  want to handle any of the locos behind the class. They also let you know what the sales they are running. The big store rarely runs one and if they do its 10 percent off catalog price.

In my final comments of the email I thanked the big store for sponsoring the  hobby club that has the twenty guys there running the layouts which are awesome ...but he loses my money to a small store who has one person on the floor committed to selling. I felt my feedback would be appreciated and I do hope they change before they go by the wayside.

[Big Walnut Railroader]

Seayakbill

Sorry to hear that, one more Ohio Train Shop gone. We lost some good ones, Davis Trains, Blue Caboose, M&S Trains, John & Bettys Trains, it is a tough business.

Actually, there's slight good news regarding John & Betty's Toys. Apparently J&B is now operated out of the owner's home (I think they even ran an ad in the list of dealers on the last pages of CTT). My Dad and I started up a friendship with him and he was a very nice retailer. Everytime we visited the store we'd always strike up a conversation. Although we didn't always purchase anything, he always greeted us in a friendly way and made us feel welcome. We lived only 5 or so minutes from the store, and less from its current location, so a quick visit before my Boy Scout meetings were never an issue. I don't know if he's still in business, but being that I posted news of the shop's closing a few years ago, thought I'd share the news with the forum.

Regarding the closing of G&M Trains: Sorry to hear of their closing. Never visited them, but from what I've read on this thread they were a good store.