TrAcKr76 How do you open a succesful train shop like Spring Creek Model trains? Is it better to just have a "tent" shop that only travels to large train shows? How do you have a shop that carries a lot of stock from all different roads, have a nice building, and still make a profit? Thanks guys!
How do you open a succesful train shop like Spring Creek Model trains? Is it better to just have a "tent" shop that only travels to large train shows? How do you have a shop that carries a lot of stock from all different roads, have a nice building, and still make a profit? Thanks guys!
Try slamming your hand in a car door. Faster and less painful in the long run.
Isn't that a shop that manufactures items?
Early to bed, early to rise. Work like Hell and advertise...
Location, location, location...
Seriously, a succesful business isn't opened, it is built up over a number of years. A background in business, and a few of years of retail experience would also help. A B-school degree isn't necessary, but if you don't know which of the two basic accounting systems that you would use, perhaps it would be time to go back to school first.
Maybe you could sublease space from an R/C model shop and bring in a train department.
I don't want to be negative, but I've seen more model train shops close in my region than succesful ones opened. Just keeping it real.
"If you build it..... they will come!"
PM Railfan "If you build it..... they will come!"
Most people feel like brick and morter are going the way of the buggy whip manufactures, then take note, they are still out there but have changed (Westfeild Whip Manufacturing). Today you need to sell online as well as in the store, and you have to act like a reasonable person at all times, no grumpyness. Have plenty of things to go through (small parts etc.) and do this buy buying alot of those items at deep discount (try e-bay). Offer service like decoder install and fixing, do consignments and sell for others on e-bay, a 20 to 25% commision can do a lot to the bottom line and you don't have to limit it to train stuff, but other stuff needs to be high value to discourage junk in things other than trains. Once you have gotten a good repore with the community, they will come to you with their estates.
rrebell PM Railfan "If you build it..... they will come!" Another failed buisness person, just building dose not do a thing unless their is support for the buisness!
Another failed buisness person, just building dose not do a thing unless their is support for the buisness!
Satire my friend, satire. You should add this to your repertoire along with spelling.
rrebell Most people feel like brick and morter are going the way of the buggy whip manufactures, then take note, they are still out there but have changed (Westfeild Whip Manufacturing).
Most people feel like brick and morter are going the way of the buggy whip manufactures, then take note, they are still out there but have changed (Westfeild Whip Manufacturing).
Since we're talking about serving specialty markets...*
*If anyone is offended, someone hacked my account....(That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)
LensCapOn Have they moved to the, um, "bondage" market?
What's glue got to do with it.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Meanwhile another train only hobby shop closes in Northern Virginia.
I freely admit to not knowing how to run a small business much less a hobby business, but I sure would be skeptical of starting one, when so many more are going out of business than starting up.
Enjoy
Paul
PM Railfan Satire my friend, satire. You should add this to your repertoire along with spelling.
... I think I love you.
(In a purely Platonic way, of course!)
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
IRONROOSTER Meanwhile another train only hobby shop closes in Northern Virginia. I freely admit to not knowing how to run a small business much less a hobby business, but I sure would be skeptical of starting one, when so many more are going out of business than starting up. Enjoy Paul
And I believe our esteemed colleague here has hit the nail on the head. Retail in general has been getting mauled for a decade or more, and the model railroad industry, though healthy, has been going away from traditional retail since the 70s. (Seriously, read the 70s letter column in MR for all the letters from hobby shop owners complaining about mail order.)Never move into a declining market.If I were to do ANYTHING in terms of selling model railroad stuff, I'd go for the "three or four tables full of used stuff at a train show" model, and spend my spare time and money buying collections and estate sales and hunting rummage sales for cheap stuff.But this assumes that you consider being the Gypsy caravan of the model train world to be a hobby. I think if you're lucky it would break even.
It looks like we are all preaching to the choir. No sign of the original poster.
Not that there is anything wrong with preaching to the choir!
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Batman and LenseCap -
IronRooster - Im 30 miles east of you in fRednecksburg, which shop are you speaking of?
BTR - We are railfans, we have a great sense of humor, aye? (And knowing railfans, we probably invented it!)
RioGrande - I think id rather the choir preach to us, I am betting they sound alot better than we do . Heavens knows i cant carry a tune, even in the shower!
Douglas
Which one?
riogrande5761Not that there is anything wrong with preaching to the choir!
I preach to the choir every Sunday. Some of those choir members need it!
A man opened a hobby shop in my town a few years ago, with decent selection of trains, model rockets, radio controlled cars and accessories. He then moved to a much larger building where he installed inside tracks for the radio controlled cars. So now rc car enthusiasts have a place to run their cars in bad weather. He also books a room for birthday parties. Seems to be doing well so far.
KMA Junction in Manassas. I stopped in last week and found a combined After Christmas/retirement sale. Not sure when his last day is (may already have happened), but there wasn't much left.
There are other factors to consider as well. The age of the person planning to open the train store.
The location of the proposed store.
What is the point of difference between the train store you plan to open and all those existing stores that are failing all around you?
What can you offer that people will want to buy that other similar stocked stores don't.
How much time and energy do you think will be required to run this business and how much additional time away from the store, say, in the evenings at venues & clubs, would you think is warranted to develop contacts and relationships with potential buyers of the items you stock.
What kind of feel to you have for business in general and retailing in particular.
Are you successful now in your chosen career and do you feel that most of the time luck is riding on your shoulder.
There are so many other points – most of which have been discussed in the posts above. But really, business today is not for the faint hearted.
Personally, I wouldn't want a bar of any of it. If store front businesses are declining why would anybody want to enter a business model that is getting close to being a thing of the past.
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Trying to turn a hobby into a business is the entry point to a fools paradise.
Dusty
IRONROOSTER KMA Junction in Manassas. I stopped in last week and found a combined After Christmas/retirement sale. Not sure when his last day is (may already have happened), but there wasn't much left. Paul
I figured that's who it was.
Nova has to be the worst area that's not Baltimore to run a train shop. During the workweek, virtually anyone in the area can't get to a shop at a reasonable hour, which means it gets post-poned to Saturday. So I might as well just order from MB Klein and have it turn up in two days and probably get here before Saturday. Shipping costs less than the gas to get to Manassas or whatever. If I want to actually set foot in a shop, MB Klein is actually a shorter drive from from my place in Old Town Alexandria than...geez almost everywhere that's in Virginia! I can get up there in an hour and it takes like 45 minutes to get to Tysons!
I had my own business from 1989 to 2004 in San Francisco. While not a model train store it was similar, in that the stuff was for paintball. More like a hobby shop. Lots of inventory just like trains. So I have had lots of experience in the type of sales needed. Even with low prices, service, and a online sales site there was finally know way to keep competitive with the really big online companies. So while I still had my sanity and some money it was time to retire.
The main problem of opening up a train or hobby/train shop is that there is no demand for it. The same with many business' that keep closing. In these days of lowest price, cost is all that customers care about.
Then another person opens up the same type business that has failed and goes belly up in a short time. There are only so many people that need certain items.
In my area we have restaurants that have been around for many years. Every new one in the last 10 years has gone bust. Hair and nail salons seem to come and go every six months. Yet people keep opening them up thinking they will succeed. Even Macy's and Penny's are closing stores and they sell items that people want and need. So unless you know something that all the others here don't, I say do not quit your current job.
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.
NittanyLion IRONROOSTER KMA Junction in Manassas. I stopped in last week and found a combined After Christmas/retirement sale. Not sure when his last day is (may already have happened), but there wasn't much left. Paul I figured that's who it was. Nova has to be the worst area that's not Baltimore to run a train shop. During the workweek, virtually anyone in the area can't get to a shop at a reasonable hour, which means it gets post-poned to Saturday. So I might as well just order from MB Klein and have it turn up in two days and probably get here before Saturday. Shipping costs less than the gas to get to Manassas or whatever. If I want to actually set foot in a shop, MB Klein is actually a shorter drive from from my place in Old Town Alexandria than...geez almost everywhere that's in Virginia! I can get up there in an hour and it takes like 45 minutes to get to Tysons!
Ah, thats my local hobby shop shut. Normally when I drive by I'd look and see the shop sign still there but last week I didn't look that way or would have noticed a disturbance in the force. I did actually drop in last year a few times buy a few items like a pack of rail joiners, some track nails and a few packages of re-railer tracks for my staging yard. They didn't have much else for me there.
So well, a little sad to see it go but not a major loss. Like Nittany, I've noticed NOVA to be a desert for train shops. There are two others left that I am aware of, one in the Chantilly mall off of Centerville Road & Route 50 which has mostly non-trains stuff but does have a little, and there is reportedly one up near Ashburn which might have more.
So basically here in NOVA it's MB Kleins and train shows or mail order. Here we are in a place with a large population and people with lots of money, but I guess brick and mortar stores would cost too much to operate and don't sell enough.
With MB it is not just prices or online ordering, they are also people persons, at least that was my impresion last time I was in their brick and morter. Most small buisnesses are people buisness. If you piss people off they will not be back and they take everyone they know with them, seen this many times.
rrebell With MB it is not just prices or online ordering, they are also people persons, at least that was my impresion last time I was in their brick and morter. Most small buisnesses are people buisness. If you piss people off they will not be back and they take everyone they know with them, seen this many times.
The do have alot of customer service oriented sales staff at MB Kleins in store, and they are very good to answer questions. They are great. I have been visiting them a couple times of year when I'm in the neighborhood.
The OP should rename this thread "101 reasons not to open a LHS"
Jim
Bayfield Transfer Railway IRONROOSTER Meanwhile another train only hobby shop closes in Northern Virginia. I freely admit to not knowing how to run a small business much less a hobby business, but I sure would be skeptical of starting one, when so many more are going out of business than starting up. Enjoy Paul And I believe our esteemed colleague here has hit the nail on the head. Retail in general has been getting mauled for a decade or more, and the model railroad industry, though healthy, has been going away from traditional retail since the 70s. (Seriously, read the 70s letter column in MR for all the letters from hobby shop owners complaining about mail order.)Never move into a declining market.If I were to do ANYTHING in terms of selling model railroad stuff, I'd go for the "three or four tables full of used stuff at a train show" model, and spend my spare time and money buying collections and estate sales and hunting rummage sales for cheap stuff.But this assumes that you consider being the Gypsy caravan of the model train world to be a hobby. I think if you're lucky it would break even.