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Hobby Shop Closing... Franciscan Hobbies

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 8:40 PM

Frank,I seen my son's and grandson's war hammer figurines and that does take craftsmanship to build and paint those things..Both are good at their hobby as far as painting,building a game table to include scenery..

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, February 6, 2014 4:42 AM

cmrproducts

 

 
IRONROOSTER

 

 
richhotrain

This thread long ago began to bore me.

Rich

 

 

 

And yet you continue to read it and post to it.Bang Head

Laugh

Paul 

 

 

That is what I throught TOO!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

 

And these replies bore me too.   Laugh

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by cmrproducts on Thursday, February 6, 2014 7:29 AM

Yet - YOU keep reading these replies

Obviously YOU like being bored!

Keep on having fun - as I doubt this thread will stop anytime soon!

I could jump in here at anytime as I run a Shop too! - but can't change the future!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

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Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, February 6, 2014 7:55 AM

cmrproducts

Yet - YOU keep reading these replies

Obviously YOU like being bored!

Keep on having fun - as I doubt this thread will stop anytime soon!

I could jump in here at anytime as I run a Shop too! - but can't change the future!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

 

Zzz

Alton Junction

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Posted by andrechapelon on Thursday, February 6, 2014 9:04 PM

richhotrain
 
cmrproducts

Yet - YOU keep reading these replies

Obviously YOU like being bored!

Keep on having fun - as I doubt this thread will stop anytime soon!

I could jump in here at anytime as I run a Shop too! - but can't change the future!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

 

 

 

Zzz

 

Hmmm. It would appear as if he's not happy unless he's bored out of his skull.

Kinda like my wife's aunt who lives next door to us. She's actually not happy unless she's irate about something.

Come to think of it, that may make my wife's aunt a closet model railroader judging by some of the things I see posted at the MR site.

Andre

It's really kind of hard to support your local hobby shop when the nearest hobby shop that's worth the name is a 150 mile roundtrip.
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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, February 7, 2014 4:39 AM

Geez, sorry to cause so much stress over my boredom comment.

It's just that the original theme of the OP's initial post was long lost as the replies started coming in.

I made the point early on in the thread that I found the hobby shop statement quite nostalgic.  The fellow who wrote it mused over the fact that he first visited the shop as a 6-year old kid and later got a job working there.  I would be willing to bet that any one of us over the age of 50 can also recall fondly our first visit to a hobby shop.

But, the thread quickly degenerated into the same old blah, blah, blah about the failure of the LHS to keep up with the times, poor management, poor inventory control, bad economics, failure to compete with the Internet, and on and on and on.  You get the impression that no one cares that the LHS is fading away and many even seem to encourage that.

That is what I find boring.  I am surprised that you don't.

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, February 7, 2014 5:40 AM

richhotrain
But, the thread quickly degenerated into the same old blah, blah, blah about the failure of the LHS to keep up with the times, poor management, poor inventory control, bad economics, failure to compete with the Internet, and on and on and on. You get the impression that no one cares that the LHS is fading away and many even seem to encourage that. That is what I find boring. I am surprised that you don't. Rich

Boring or reality?

I feel its more reality then boring the old hobby shops with their dusty full price decade old stock no longer gets it for the majority-that the reality.

Boring is those that still see these shops with their antiquated stock a valuable thing..

Let's face the harsh facts how many times will a modeler  look over or even consider buying that Hooten Hollow & Western GP9 that's been in the case for the last decade or buy cars that been on the shelf for several years?

How many of that shops customer look elsewhere for their needs?

 

 

Tags: h

Larry

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Posted by zstripe on Friday, February 7, 2014 12:04 PM

Just thought I would throw in another My 2 Cents. My belief, as far as the LHS's goes, to me is pretty obvious and a lot of people, are failing to take in account of that fact. I will use my own childhood as an example. My first visit to a LHS, was 1950, I was eight years old. Sat. matinee at the show, costs 25 cents, for two hours, movie, cartoons and whatever else I could buy with my allowance, of a dollar a week. Right directly across the street was a LHS. To try and make a long story short, after my first visit to it, I only went to the show, when there was something extremely good showing. All my nickels and dimes, went into saving to buy, the Ulrich HO scale trucks at the time, which were 2.95, I was hooked. Getting to my point, most LHS's that I frequented are gone, mainly because, the people who owned them either retired or passed on and had no one to take on the business or the desire to do so.

There are so many variable's in this Hobby and other's for that matter, that you can talk til you are blue in the face and still come up with an empty bag.

I suspect, rather I know the local shop by me will close soon, His wife and He are my age and He is not doing very well. I have known Him for 40yrs. I at one time was going to take it over, but learned through Him, that it is a lot harder to stay in business now a days, then people realize.

I remain,

Striped, ( meaning dismayed)

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Posted by rrebell on Friday, February 7, 2014 1:17 PM

Lets face it, any business can be hard and a lot of people in business should not be. It takes a lot of hours to run most businesses, a lot, and most are not willing to put in the time!

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Posted by IRONROOSTER on Friday, February 7, 2014 3:52 PM

BRAKIE

 

... the old hobby shops with their dusty full price decade old stock...

 

And yet those are my favorite hobby shops when I'm out traveling.  We used to have one near me that was like stepping back in time 20-30 years.  It was like going to a museum.  Sadly, the owner died and the shop closed.

Enjoy

Paul

If you're having fun, you're doing it the right way.
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Posted by superbe on Friday, February 7, 2014 4:39 PM

If any one is still wondering why the LHS is disappearing just go the the web site of any major online retailer such as model train stuff or Walthers and look at the massive number of items they inventory as well as the quanity. Storing and keeping track of it all is simply amazing. 

You couldn't fit their inventory in a LHS. 

Bob

 

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, February 7, 2014 6:28 PM

IRONROOSTER
 
BRAKIE

 

... the old hobby shops with their dusty full price decade old stock...

 

 

 

And yet those are my favorite hobby shops when I'm out traveling.  We used to have one near me that was like stepping back in time 20-30 years.  It was like going to a museum.  Sadly, the owner died and the shop closed.

Enjoy

Paul

 

Paul,When I travel I take the old state routes that goes through small towns and  small cities..

Even today there are hidden treasure coves that may simply say " Tom's Bike & Hobby",Randy's  R/C Hobbies or some such name and when I stop and check the store I am amaze of the   "treasures"  I found.

Larry

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Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by zstripe on Saturday, February 8, 2014 2:41 AM

Larry,

After driving a truck across Ohio, so many times in my life. I can attest to taking all the two lanes, west to east in Ohio, mainly, 20 and 30, there is just so much more to see, rather than the turnpike, or Interstates. Amish restaurant buffet, for instance, truck parking, all you can eat 5.00, includes coffee. Then listen to the cry babies, on the Interstates saying how bad and how much it costs for food, in the truck stops. If you plan it right, running the two lanes is faster and cheaper.

Just My Other My 2 Cents

Stripe

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Posted by BRAKIE on Saturday, February 8, 2014 5:36 AM

Frank,Seeing you ran on RT.30 I suspect you been through Bucyrus on the bypass and may have eaten at Karen's Dinner just West of Bucyrus.

Ever make deliveries to Swan hose?

I recall one twice a week trucker that talked about model railroading after seeing a copy of MR on my desk..

 

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by zstripe on Saturday, February 8, 2014 5:58 AM

Larry,

As a matter of fact, I have stopped at Karen's, never made any stops in ''Buc' Russ,'' though. Laugh

Clev, Youngtwn, Tollie, Cincy, and your town Columbus, many Sealand containers going there. Also a lot of containers, that came out of the port in Baltimore, from Germany with precision router machines, for some cabinet maker in Northeast Ohio, I guess you could say the plant was the town, almost all Amish workers there. What a trip that joint was, that cut a hole in the side of the building so I could back inside, so the crane that they put in there, could unload this machine that was as long as a fourty foot open top container. I never had to touch a thing, just pull the truck slowly forward so the crane could adjust to the angle of the machine. WOW! What a place.

Frank

BTW: I think we are a little off topic here. But....

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