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MB KLEIN TO Go Web Only

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  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Friday, March 20, 2020 7:48 AM

I'm sure there are B*M hobby shops that do fail, but it seems the vast majority of shops closing and we found out on forums, the reason isn't due to lack of business or failure, it's due to owner retireing (for a number of reasons).

But it does seem to go without saying that anyone who is B&M only is at a disadvantage - Amazon is proof of that.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Friday, March 20, 2020 8:10 AM

rrinker

One of the reasons MB Klein is still around in this day of failing hobby shops is their early embrace of online sales.

The real time inventory is how EVERY online business should be run.

 Even more with things as they are, they are being proven right.   

That is so true. A lot of online MR retailers use faulty software to report what is actually in stock. Sometimes when I need a multiple of the same item, to test the reliability of the website, I will click repeatedly on the Add To Cart button, running up the total to as many as 100, all of which get added to my cart.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 2,360 posts
Posted by kasskaboose on Friday, March 20, 2020 9:03 AM

About 15 years ago, my wife saw their billboard in B'more. That store looked like something from Harry Potter with boxes lined up floor to ceiling.  Fast forward and I can get why they went online. 

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,553 posts
Posted by PRR8259 on Friday, March 20, 2020 7:31 PM

Well, living in a state that has now closed ALL non-life-essential businesses, that means all train stores, including those who do internet/mail order in a big way, are going to feel considerable pain.  It is against the law to be open at midnight, and the police in our state will be enforcing that.

Some of the store owners are older, and I do not necessarily expect some of them to come back after a couple months off.  We are already looking at worse loss of business than after 9/11, which even then was hard on the model train business.  

John Glaab was fond of saying "do you wanna know how to make a small fortune in model trains? Start with a large fortune".  I miss his fine store too.

 

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