My mom is a bookkeeper and some time back in the mid 90's she came home and told me she had aquired a new client through a lawyer's office she also worked for. The place was called Parma Hobby and of course I was excited to hear there would be a new LHS a mile from my house. Over time we became friends with the owners and in the summer of 1999 I even helped remodel their house. In fact, I was just there today to pick up a few magazines since the only one I subscribe to is CTT.
Anyhow, when they got started in the LHS realm the building they're in was owned by someone else and every office was filled. Today in 2011 Parma Hobby owns the building and every unit besides theirs is vacant. The owner of the camping supply store next door died and the offices upstairs either closed or moved out over the years for various reasons. There was a tennant for a year for the old camper store but in the end my friends at the LHS are not only now responsible for all building maintenance, but are dealing with trying to rent all that empty space. So, they've decided to try to sell the building and the business en masse.
Another "LHS" I frequent was originally located in a small summer tourist area. I put LHS in quotes because it started out as a pure train shop. But today in it's new location in an area with much greater year round traffic it's half train store and half craft shop. There's a good sized display layout in the front window but all the trains are in the back. Also, "craft shop" as-in pre-made finished items rather than arts and crafts supplies. I go there to look at and hopefully purchase some of the pre and postwar trains they have. Other than magazines, track and new cars it's not really a "hobby shop". But it's a cash business and as we all know all too well them greenbacks aint as easy to comeby.
Of course there's still the Trading Post in the same location on West 25th Street in Cleveland that it's been in forever. And if you love old trains, this place is a classic! Like the previous store I mentioned they too were a cash business until just recently. Their attempt at survival in this bad economy was to start accepting credit cards.
What I've seen from being associated with the owners of an LHS is an attempt to diversify as best they can while the national economy and waining interest in hands-on hobbies has declined. One thing they did is they now utilize their empty office space by holding classes on everything from scenery techniques to airbrushing. They were also a part of the Cleveland National Airshow for several years but had to quit when the airshow organizers made them pay 100% for the goodies they gave away. Parma Hobby also works with schools and scout groups by stocking the rocketry kits, pinecar derby kits and even the "mousetrap racer" supplies many students have to build. (If you've never seen a "mousetrap racer", it's a physics experiment utilizing the slingshot effect of the trap.) They carry a good stock of plastic kits and every spring they hold a competition for the builders of model cars. Airplanes have always been big with them so of course they stock a fair number of kits, parts and scratch building supplies as you would expect.
But in the end the roof, the parking lot and the diminishing clientele are outweighing their ability to keep the shelves stocked. They special order about 35% of everything they sell but fewer customers are willing to wait. They have a website but it's far from effective in my opinion since it's not a real-time inventory listing. So, this LHS may have to liquidate to keep the owners from going broke. Only time will tell.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
I think these days any retail real-world store that offers products that can be found online is in some sort of transition. Their challenge is to make their buying experience 'better' - however that's defined - cheaper, more personalized, whatever. This is a big 'ask' from store owners who may not know how to do this or what would work best. The ones who figure it out - make their store a 'destination' - will make it - the others will close....
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
A lot may depend upon where you live. When I was a kid, there were no hobby shops at all in the town where I grew up. The nearest ones were each about 45 miles away, in different directions.
I moved to a city soon after I got married, and discovered a wonderful train shop. That was 42 years ago (how time flies), and that shop, though it has changed its location, is still in business. There were also a couple of "straight" hobby shops (not specifically train-related), but I don't know if they're still around or not, since twelve years later, we moved to a rural area in the Northeast.
Although the nearest town is centered around a major university (or maybe because of it), there are no hobby shops here. We had one, but it kept changing locations and finally folded altogether. There's a Lionel dealer, but it's not a true "hobby shop," since it shares space with Lego and Playmobil toys. Nor does it carry other hobby supplies such as brass/plastic shapes, adhesives, hobby tools, etc.
So the answer to the question isn't as clear as it might be, and it seems to be aimed mainly at residents of cities, large or small. Few of us outside of urban or semi-urban areas ever had much in the way of hobby shops to begin with.
I am fortunate to live in the Baltimore area and there are multiple hobby shops within a 100 mile radius. Many are diversified and have a variety of products for sale. Only a few are strickly train related and most that are carry all scales. However I have seen some older hobby shops close and many of the exsisting ones have a large internet presence. I enjoy stopping in each one and making a purchase even if it is small to support them. I prefer touching an item or ordering through a local establishment than buying from the on line sites.
I don't think the hobby shop will ever completely go away but if you do not have a presence on line your sales will be limited. There are a couple of stores in my area that do not have a brick and morter location. They operate their business from their home.
I live in a city of about 800,00 folks, the 3 train shops that catered exclusively to O gauge are gone. There is one general purpose hobby shop close by that has a smittering of electric trains, mostly HO. Their Lionel O Gauge which is very limited, very expensive and very dusty is mostly in the traditional / start-up category. Their biggest draw is RC airplanes and cars. There is an HO shop that has been around for as long as I can remember that has a couple shelves of O Gauge.
In my opinion if the train shop caters to the O Gauge market they better be very compatitive to on-line shops and they need to supplement their customer base with national sales via the internet.
Bill T.
From what I have seen, hobby shops that cator to the remote control cars don't suffer from financial set-backs as much as train related hobby shops. At least this is true for southeast Florida. BT&L Railroad, in West Palm Beach FL, went out over three years ago just after Thanksgiving day. Also Lee's Hobby shop in Stuart FL went out over five years ago, but the owner got a divorce a year before closing.
The hobby shop in Jupiter FL may become an online dealer as he is losing money with the store rental space. He has items from over eight years ago that are still on his shelf. This was about six months ago.
My local hobby shop south of WPB FL has an inventory reduction problem or very little new stuff for sale. Any expensive train items(engines mainly or over $80.00 retail for any item) he wants you to prepay to order. Also the owner installed hurricane proof glass and that stopped a break-in as the theives could not get through the glass after smashing an SUV into the window.
Toys R Us quit carrying Lionel a few years ago, didn't sell enough they claimed. May even have stopped carrying H.O. train items as well.
Lee F.
Having lived long enough, I recall the local hobby shop with memories of what kids did for entertainment. Toy trains, erector sets, balsa wood car and airplane models stuck with glue, slot cars came along, Revell and Monogram plastic car, ship and airplane models, that nasty testors paint, then RC cars, etc ...all of this was based on physical activity, largely "doing it yourself"..and taking some pride on what was built...the model trains of Plasticville, scratch building, Champ Decals etc. The arrival of the internet, the Playstation, the simulated realities..games..all of this is comparatively passive, pre-built, packaged, with the exception of Lego. I think for what it's worth, kids are richer, but yet poorer in some ways, and so my question I would like to hear others comment on, is the concept of a hobby shop, a waning enterprise? ..If so, is there anything to be done about it? Why do some still thrive and many, at the same time, continue to fall by the wayside?
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
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