General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Just remember this.....MB Klein IS A LOCAL HOBBY SHOP to many! LOL

Seriously, I agree. My FLHS situation has suffered greatly for a year or so. One shop closed and the owner retired. The other moved to a smaller location and since reopening doesn't carry as much and isn't worth the 40+ mile round trip. The only other shops near by are on the far side of town and they're over 75+ miles round trip.

I do more mail order now and a lot of ebay. I deal a lot with Caboose Hobbies, Kleins, Bessemer Hobbies  and Blue Ridge Hobbies. They all offer good service and better prices than my FLHS's.

It's no wonder the locals are closing at such a fast rate. Times are hard but the help at a lot of stores drives people away. I quit dealing with Mitchell's because of the way they treated me on the phone a few times. No reason to deal with grumpy & unhelpful people.

My 2¢,

Roger Huber

 This topic seems to come up at least every month and the conclusion always seems to be the same -- the Internet is killing the local hobby shops.

We used to have two here and there were six in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles away.  Now, there are none here and one left in Tucson.

Driline:

grizlump9:

  yesterday i went to the nearest hobby shop.  a 25 mile drive one way.  i wanted three things for sure and figured i would see some "impulse" items that would make the trip worthwhile.

  item number 1.  some brass rod or wire in .010, .020, and .030 sizes.  response was no got, we only carry steel since the brass stuff corodes so badly.  (sounds like a lot of b/s to me.)

  item number 2.  decals or dry transfers i would even settle for some generic letter and number sets.  response, don't carry much in that line since there are so many different ones.  (guess that means since there are so many of them i can't have any at all.)

  item number 3.  fuel line tubing to make flex couplings between motor and gearbox shafts.  only item they had i could use.  (now we are batting .333.)

   conclusion.  i will call MB Kline or some other mail order company tomorrow.  support the local guy if you want to, i can't waste anymore time trying.  i'll spend the "impulse money with them too.

grizlump

 

 

Why do you even go to a local Train Store Hobby shop?

Item 1  Hardware store

Item 2 Art Store

Item 3 Hardware or RC Shop

geez if you're going to complain about stuff at least buy MODEL RAILROAD EQUIPMENT!

I don't expect my LHS to carry hardware items. I'm there for the Trains man!

 

Actually those are hobby shop items..A well stock hobby shop will stock those items since they are needed by all kinds of modelers.

Of course a poorly stock hobby shops offers excuses not service. 

I am sick of excuses..

I no longer care for LHS that can't sell me the things I need but,will offer excuses.

BRAKIE:

Driline:

grizlump9:

  yesterday i went to the nearest hobby shop.  a 25 mile drive one way.  i wanted three things for sure and figured i would see some "impulse" items that would make the trip worthwhile.

  item number 1.  some brass rod or wire in .010, .020, and .030 sizes.  response was no got, we only carry steel since the brass stuff corodes so badly.  (sounds like a lot of b/s to me.)

  item number 2.  decals or dry transfers i would even settle for some generic letter and number sets.  response, don't carry much in that line since there are so many different ones.  (guess that means since there are so many of them i can't have any at all.)

  item number 3.  fuel line tubing to make flex couplings between motor and gearbox shafts.  only item they had i could use.  (now we are batting .333.)

   conclusion.  i will call MB Kline or some other mail order company tomorrow.  support the local guy if you want to, i can't waste anymore time trying.  i'll spend the "impulse money with them too.

grizlump

 

 

Why do you even go to a local Train Store Hobby shop?

Item 1  Hardware store

Item 2 Art Store

Item 3 Hardware or RC Shop

geez if you're going to complain about stuff at least buy MODEL RAILROAD EQUIPMENT!

I don't expect my LHS to carry hardware items. I'm there for the Trains man!

 

Actually those are hobby shop items..A well stock hobby shop will stock those items since they are needed by all kinds of modelers.

Of course a poorly stock hobby shops offers excuses not service. 

I am sick of excuses..

I no longer care for LHS that can't sell me the things I need but,will offer excuses.

Or offer to order it for 35% more than you can order it yourself...

cacole:

 This topic seems to come up at least every month and the conclusion always seems to be the same -- the Internet is killing the local hobby shops.

We used to have two here and there were six in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles away.  Now, there are none here and one left in Tucson.

Actually the on line hobby shops are not killing the local shops..The majority of the closed shops was killed by the owner since he/she refuse to modernize.Some closed because the owner retired,some closed because of health reasons..Some may even drove off customers with a poor selection of stock coupled to a bad attitude..

Of course when we read a topic on another hobby shop closure the reason is seldom given.

Y'know I'm standing in the chior loft with you on this one... There is one hobby shop in my town that is worth a hoot, and the owner is himself a model railroader. DLH Locomotive Works for anyone local to Springfield, Ohio... The other two places are the big craft and hobby boxes with 10 feet of train space and no balsa or styrene at one, and no trains at the other...

For some things though, you can save money at Hobbylinc.com.

Interesting that your hobby shop works with you with Walthers.  When I lived in another town, I bought EVERYTHING thru the LHS.  5 years ago, we moved about 40 miles away and another hobby shop got my business.  For a while anyway. 

When he refused to honor Walther's sale prices and even wanted to charge shipping on top of his list price I started buying online more and more often.  He also refuses to lower his prices off MSRP even occassionally to at least match what other hobby shops are selling the merchandise for. So I bought more and more online and from more distant hobby shops.  Then, when he finally did agree to match a Walther's sale price on some Peco 3 ways, he didn't order them for 3 weeks, didn't call me when they were in and then reneged on our agreement and he wanted full price.  I told him to stick it, walked out and now buy 75% directly from Walther's and the rest from other hobby shops and Hobby Lobby.  I keep close track of my hobby purchases and I guess I average about 40% off list.  & that saves a bundle considering what I spend every year.   Ken

grizlump9:

  yesterday i went to the nearest hobby shop.  a 25 mile drive one way.  i wanted three things for sure and figured i would see some "impulse" items that would make the trip worthwhile.

  item number 1.  some brass rod or wire in .010, .020, and .030 sizes.  response was no got, we only carry steel since the brass stuff corodes so badly.  (sounds like a lot of b/s to me.)

  item number 2.  decals or dry transfers i would even settle for some generic letter and number sets.  response, don't carry much in that line since there are so many different ones.  (guess that means since there are so many of them i can't have any at all.)

grizlump

 

I'm fortunte in that my local trains shop is about a ten minute walk away from home.

It's not a big place but is crammed with masses of stuff covering three modeling scale. I don't buy models or kits there - they don't carry what I want to include on my layout, but the do stock a good range of scratch building supplies, brass rod & wire, plastic sheets and strips and strip wood and that's pretty much all I need these days, maybe some track or a turnout or two if I ever need them. Glues and paints I buy from a hardware store and the brass and plastic superdetail parts and decals I buy from Walther, Bowser, PJ-Prantle and other random sellers on eBay.

I like and respect the guy at the trainshop and I would be more than happy to buy more from him, but I can't because he dosn't cater to my personal modeling requirements other than those just mentioned and while he is always willing to add my modeling needs to his regular monthly order with Walters, I am just as capable of doing that as he is and it generaly costs me less when I order direct.

The workings of any retail operation, whether it be the local train shop, hardware store or the local bakery, are of little concern or interest to me. I just want to be able to buy the things I need for my hobby - if they don't have what I need - for whatever reason - then I go get it for myself on line.

Bruce

Support my local LHS? I wish I could! There is none around - the nearest one is 25 miles away and with the price of gas, I thinks twice before jumping in the car and driving to that place. Most of the time I was there I heard, sorry, not on stock, but we can order it for you - I can do that myself and save a lot of money! The shop hardly has any US locos or rolling stock, but only mainstream Marklin, Fleischmann and Trix merchandise. It is becoming more and more of a toy store. At least there is a place nearby where I can buy brass tubing or rods, scale plywood aand other scratch building items. The place is run by a guy zeroing in on his 80´s, but a heaven for people who like scratch building. Unfortunately he will be closing pretty soon. All other items I have to buy through the Internet.

 me again.  seems that there are not very many of us left who build anything from scratch.  Model Railroader magazine used to be full of articles about building all manner of things from strip wood, wire, styrene etc.  now the trend is toward projects that utilize the products of their largest advertiser. (guess who)

 the reason i expect to find the things i mentioned in my first post at a hobby shop is because that is what the hobby has always been to me.  when i started out, rtr usually meant junk and blue box kits were $2.00 or less. 

 oh well, guess that dates me and the hobby as i knew it is going the way of child labor and high button shoes.

grizlump

I have one reason why LHS's won't be around much longer........$

Why would I spend 130.00 plus tax on a set of Kato Coalporters at the LHS when I can get them from Kleins for 89.00 plus shipping ?

Its sad too because my LHS is as well stocked as any big LHS (place must be at least 10,000 sq. ft.) but everything they sell is priced at MSRP.

I was there last week for the first time in 5-6 months and they were happy to see me(I always buy something) but the place was deserted and everything I wanted they had but I couldn't bring myself to throw away money on something I knew I could order from Kleins and save enuogh to fill my gas tank on my truck, twice. So I  bought a copy of N Scale magazine and went home to place my order.

 I ordered a set of Kato coalporters , a new SD 70 Mac BNSF Swoosh, 2 add on cars for my Empire Bldr. Total 210.00 w/shipping from Kleins. If I would have bought at my LHS it would have cost 322.50. You do the math.

So is the internet killing the LHS? I guess in the long run, it will. And, frankly spoken; I do not mind much, if I find a full range provider in the internet. Most of the internet shops carry mainstream, fast moving products only, in order to be able to give us these fantastic discounts. If we can live with a smaller range of products available, then it shall be. I already miss my LHS, who closed 3 years ago...

One big thing that you can't really get online is hands on help.  Sure online retailers have customer service or tech support but there are things that you can't do from 100 miles away.  Case in point:  I was looking at adding a sound decoder to a loco recently so I tok it to my LHS.  The salesman (owner I believe) took the time to open the loco, look at what was needed to easily install sounds, pointed out how it could be done all while I was there.  This is the same LHS that took the time to demo a couple DCC systems for me and explain and demonstrate  the pluses and minuses of each.  Sure his prices are 10-20% more than online but the customer service is well worth the upcharge.  Their selection of rolling stock and loco's is a bit slim but, he is competeing against online retailers.  OTOH he does stock lots of detail and scratch building supplies, stuff you have to see and touch to know if it's what you really need for your project.

What local hobby shop?

 

If there was one, I'd support it.

cacole:

 This topic seems to come up at least every month and the conclusion always seems to be the same -- the Internet is killing the local hobby shops.

We used to have two here and there were six in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles away.  Now, there are none here and one left in Tucson.

I think people want to vent about the LHS situation, not really find a "solution" or whatever.  Anyway, the same things that keep other businesses' customers coming apply to LHS as well:

price

selection

customer service

convenience

For the LHS to stay open, it's the bottom line.  Period.  Unless the owner wants to operate at a loss for some reason (like taxes in rare instances) or is rich enough to run it as a hobby.

Even here in Chicago, where you'd think we have a lot of RR modelers, a number of good shops have gone out of business.  The ones I visit have huge selections at discounted prices which makes up for the inconvenience of driving 45 minutes minimum one way.  I suspect they stay in business because they are high volume sales which makes up for the low prices.  Business 101...