new hobby shop in my town is opening up in march
& i have joined the railroad club that will be operating there
hope to finally meet kevin if our paths cross at caloosa trains & hobbies in cape coral .I plan on supporting them as much as
i can since brick & motar stores are getting rare .Anyone else have positive news on the brick & motar front :)
Glad to see you share the news! Maybe when I head to my Florida place I'll drive up to visit!
Neal
thomas81zI hope to finally meet Kevin if our paths cross at caloosa trains & hobbies in Cape Coral.
I will be there, but not until my wife and I have Covid vaccinations. I have dropped out of my wargaming group again also since before the holidays.
I have become quite a hermit.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A friend of mine is still in the process of buying a long-time (more than 50 years in business) brick and mortar train store that has a great customer following. The surviving owner is 78 years old and she is still waiting on customers 5 days a week. She treats the customers like gold and will stay on working even after the sale. All staff will be retained; they are even training a new intern. They want the transition to be seemless so the customers don't even notice anything (keep the customers).
Covid complicated the bank process, etc. The building is also a historic train station, so there are code issues to sort out etc. etc. but my buddy is still going through with the purchase of the train store he literally grew up in (and has been part-time sales help for his entire adult life).
I will do whatever I can to buy trains from that local store, first.
There are still some fine train shops out there, and I patronize two regularly and two more less often.
We know they will need to increase internet presence, but you also need the right webmaster to run that side, and I am not that person.
John
A rare train store that treats its customers well, haven't seen that in decades.
There are several (at least 4) fine train stores surviving in Central Pennsylvania within less than 100 miles of Harrisburg. You can find cool stuff at great (or at least decent) prices at any of them. Three have a significant online presence.
The one I'm talking about but can't name here provides free coffee, sodas, and snacks to the customers. The owner believes in hospitality. Customers even bring in whole pizzas and all manner of snacks to share. The owner believes if you treat people well you get repaid many times over in life, not just in sales, but in life. She sends cards and money to encourage my son who is away at college.
Without crossing any lines, she is deeply religious, and lives it.
Great to hear of the stores open in the U S A. Here in the UK local stores are shut. The 'big boys' do mail order, but I prefer my local store. He gives the personal service; not a 'number' like the bigger ones. I hope the smaller retailers survive and reopen when they are allowed.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
SeeYou190 thomas81z I hope to finally meet Kevin if our paths cross at caloosa trains & hobbies in Cape Coral. I have become quite a hermit. -Kevin
thomas81z I hope to finally meet Kevin if our paths cross at caloosa trains & hobbies in Cape Coral.
Since my winter bowling group is on hiatus due to Covid-19, I too have become a hermit. Most of them have already had one or both shots, but since I am "only" 69 years old, I'm lower on the priority list. My county was supposed to start the over 65 age group this past week but they are behind schedule so I don't know when I'll be able to go. I figure from the day I get my first shot until the vaccine takes full effect will be about a month so right now I'm looking at mid-March at the earliest. My bowling group is in Columbus about a 50 minute drive away but I would visit my LHS when I made that trip to save gas. Since I am not going into Columbus very often now, that's fewer trips to the LHS. I'm buying things online that normally I would have been getting from the LHS. I'll be taking my dogs in for their annual check up soon and the vet is near the LHS so I'll use that as a chance to visit the LHS and stock up. Hopefully by this time next year the world will be back to normal.
rrebell A rare train store that treats its customers well, haven't seen that in decades.
I guess I'm lucky in that The Train Station in Columbus, OH is very customer friendly and have been in business since the 1970s.
There are two other LHS in close proximity but their train selection is fairly small.
John-NYBWI guess I'm lucky in that The Train Station in Columbus, OH is very customer friendly and have been in business since the 1970s.
John, I agree with you about the Train Station. My son lives in Dublin,OH and when we visit the two of us always make a trip to the store for shopping and talk with the owner.
Joe
John-NYBW rrebell A rare train store that treats its customers well, haven't seen that in decades. I guess I'm lucky in that The Train Station in Columbus, OH is very customer friendly and have been in business since the 1970s. There are two other LHS in close proximity but their train selection is fairly small.
Rich
Alton Junction
Here in Delaware, MR only has one train shop listed for the whole state. Surprisingly, it's within a few miles, but it's mostly an O-scale shop and I model in HO. There are other shops in the state, but they're much further and don't pay for that tiny advertising spot.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Having witnessed some of the scams and demands a few customers try to run on the owner of my local hobby-train shop, I'm not surprised some owners are reported as being a bit cranky.
I have a relationship with the owner of a small local hobby shop that is in a small town about 30 minutes away. He cannot afford to keep a lot of stock on the shelves as that is money not working for him.
I will make him an offer on some things that are way below retail but for him really help his bottom line at the end of the day. These are items that are generally more expensive in the hundreds of dollars that he could or would not keep on the shelf. I do not nickel and dime on anything under a hundred dollars.
If I offer him $480.00 on a $600.00 item he takes it as it is still worthwhile to him. He may only make $50.00 instead of a $120.00 but on a day where you only have had three customers, he'll take the fifty. The first time I suggested this to him he was sceptical, but I suggested he take a deposit as an act of good faith and order up the items for me. Now a phone call from me is all it takes, no deposit required. I have ordered two Rapido ten wheelers from him, something he would have likely never sold through his shop and most certainly would not have kept in stock. I offered a deposit for the two and he said it was not necessary as he knew I was good for it.
The big mail-order joints use volume for-profit and can have lower prices. If a small hobby shop knows the item will be in the back door and out the front the same day, they can do the deal at a lower price as well.
I live quite close to PWRS and buy lots from them, but I really want to see this kid have a good go at it in his little shop. It takes a good customer and a good proprietor for a good business relationship, I am not obligated to shop there, however, we both benefit when I do.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN PWRS
Russell
JoeinPAJohn, I agree with you about the Train Station.
I also agree about the Train Station. I have been there twice (it is not really convenient for me), and I look forward to another visit when I can travel again.
csxns BATMAN PWRS I have some boxcars ordered from them said they were in stock ready too ship been two weeks no boxcars yet.
I have some boxcars ordered from them said they were in stock ready too ship been two weeks no boxcars yet.
I guess I am lucky not having to worry about shipping. Someone in the family drives by there almost everyday when returning from work or school or girlfriends. A quick text and they make a pitstop and pick up my order.
With the border being closed there may be delays in shipping, that being said, call them. If they can't deliver cancel your order.
The one advantage I have with PWRS is I don't have to pay to ship so that factors into what I pay for things, other than that, I will go where I get the best price.
My wife stops in there on occasion and brings me a present home much like I will buy her flowers. Twice now she has come home, given me a kiss on the cheek and passed a locomotive over my shoulder while I am sitting at the desk
I have a wish list on file.
SeeYou190 JoeinPA John, I agree with you about the Train Station. I also agree about the Train Station. I have been there twice (it is not really convenient for me), and I look forward to another visit when I can travel again. -Kevin
JoeinPA John, I agree with you about the Train Station.
I made my first purchase from the Train Station when I worked in downtown and they opened a store on Long St. I didn't even know about the one on Indianola even though that is my old neighborhood and I think that was their original store. Apparently the rent was too high or they didn't get enough business from their downtown location because it didn't last long. Shortly after that I moved just across I-71 from the original store and it was about a five minute drive for me. About twenty years ago I moved out of town but they are still my primary LHS even though I live almost an hour drive from them. I would make my visits when I had to go into Columbus on other business but with Covid-19, I am making a lot fewer of those trips. When I do go to Columbus, I make it a point to stop in even if I don't need anything just to see if they have gotten in something new and interesting. Often they do.
We have lots of great train stores in this "region" but they are all an hour drive or more from me.
I go to them all when I can.
Sheldon
John-NYBW I guess I'm lucky in that The Train Station in Columbus, OH is very customer friendly and have been in business since the 1970s. There are two other LHS in close proximity but their train selection is fairly small.
Even when I was living at my parents' house over an hour north of Columbus, The Train Station was my go to store for supplies. Now that I'm living in Hilliard, I go there regularly, even placing pre-orders on some things that I've gotten in recent years. The guys there are always friendly, and Mike and his son know me by name when I get there.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
BATMAN If they can't deliver cancel your order.
Eugene Toy and Hobby, in Eugene Oregon is my primary LHS, even though I'm in Bend OR. I'll order first from them for currently available items. We've been on a first name basis over 40 years. They have survived the pandemic with an online presence, mostly with RC, but it keeps them alive. Dan
I am very fortunate that I have a family run model train shop in my village - Roxley Models. They mainly stock Hornby, Bachman, Kato and various European brands and provide great service. They are managing to trade via their website and can't allow customers in during this lockdown.
I have visited The Train Station a few times on visits to Ohio. I can remember in 2009 buying my son his first loco there, an Athearn HO blue box dc GP38-2 ,which I have since converted to DCC and still runs just great.
Paul
US Railroad Fan modelling HO on Merrylands Rail layout in Bookham,Surrey,UK.
Another one here who goes to The Train Station, its a great model train store. While I live an hour away it is my LHS. Anytime I am in town I usually stop in and walk out with something.
Good to see you on here Paul.
basementdweller Another one here who goes to The Train Station, its a great model train store. While I live an hour away it is my LHS. Anytime I am in town I usually stop in and walk out with something.
Yeah, when I go there, I rarely leave without at least one purchase. :)
Is this another one of those "I'm wonderful because I support my LHS" topics?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 Is this another one of those "I'm wonderful because I support my LHS" topics?
It might be I’m wonderful because I actually have a LHS.
PRR8259 The surviving owner is 78 years old and she is still waiting on customers 5 days a week. She treats the customers like gold and will stay on working even after the sale.
The surviving owner is 78 years old and she is still waiting on customers 5 days a week. She treats the customers like gold and will stay on working even after the sale.
Doris?
Rick