I agree with most of what you said.
I went to a few shows this year and the number of vendors was fewer than in years past.
Many shows have COMBINED with some other hobby {dolls, antiques} etc. to draw more people.
Much of the "new in box" BB and others were quite "shop warn" having been carried around for years, and the prices actually marked UP over the years...regardless of "show discounts".
Many NEW items were, as stated, about the same retail as a shop or online, including the "show discount".
Much of used stuff was junk yard fodder as stated. Even IF i was INTO , say Lionel trains, I would NOT want the old used beat up crap they were trying to sell at @ $30-$50 a car. HO stuff of old train sets the same way. WHY oh WHY would I want to buy JUNK? and @ $10 a car???? As has been said several times on this forum, just because it is old does not mean it is valuable. I don't know of anyone who wants to "complete their set" of old TYCO train set cars in HO @$10 a piece, or the REAL bargain of "3 for $25".!!!
ANything with horn hooks on it I pass on now. I bought only 2 cars with horn hooks that I have to convert and don't really want to convert any more. I will tolerate knock-off KaDees, but horn hooks? no car is worth that much time and energy to convert at the prices they want for them!
I can only see the same vendors with the same stuff showing up at the same shows so much. Then it becomes boring and a waste fo my time and money!
MAny of the vendors of "other hobbies" seemed to be doing more business than the trains, especially the antiques.
We are in an economic situation, but marking up prices just to take off a measly 10% or 20% "Show discount" isn't a bargain to me.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I must mention how much RAIN very often helps in the succes of model train shows. The local Hooksett , NH Lions Club held their 16th Annual Show here, last Sunday and it started raining heavily just after show opened. After I got home, my wife commented: If t'were NOT for the rain and we had warm, sunny weather instead, folks would be out riding, maybe going to yard sales and the train show would have suffered with poor attendance. Couldn't argue a bit with her feminine logic. In my case, the good crowds were a Blessing, as I sold 4 surplus HO locos and some rr books, making some badly need layout capital, so it worked out quite well for yours truly. CAN'T WAIT for the next local show here in August [ the 21st, in Concord, NH ] as will have some more surplus HO items to put up for sale there. TTFN......Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH
There's only one or two held in Tucson, Arizona each year now, both by the same organization. It seems that the same vendors with the same offerings are at each one, with very little variance from show to show.
I usually attend two-possibly bring that claim to several-per year. My purposes are to find things not normally available in shops (EG: roundhouse doors from Central valley-I have never seen them in LHS), and craftsman-level kits; as well as finding older kits like Sheepscot, Timberline, Scale Structures LTD, et al. Other reasons are to attend clinics, and enjoy cameraderie with old and new friends on both sides of the tables and boothes. I do a great deal of scratch-building/bashing, kit modifications,introduction of other skills (like casting my own parts); so my quest at these shows might be more towards acquiring skills from the clinics, and searching out and purchasing parts from companies like Tichy, Grandt,, etc. I, like others here, also have found that ordering on-line is a really great way to do business, albiet no bargains usually. This, I know, eats into the commerce of a hobby show; but so go the times, I guess.
The one thing I will comment on is that the Springfield show-from the people I talked to-had as many visitors, if not more, than in precious years. As I am usually pretty busy with a work schedule, I do not consider travelling beyant and beyond to fit into my schedule. This does contradict with the state of the ecomony; to which I would assume that peopl usually plan and budget for these events. I know I do.
On noteworthy observation is, of course, the state of the economy and the dearth of jobs, the accompanying drops in discretionary spending, and the availability and sometimes price of the items in this hobby. it is sad to see this condition, and I do hope it changes soon, with more and more people again becoming more financially able to satisfy their desires/goals.
The Prototype meet in Canton, Ct is up-coming. I do hope to see a goodly crowd there, as the clinics are really worth attending, as well as the insight and inspiration gained from looking over the displays of craftsmanship found there; as well as meeting up and talking with some of the more visible personalities, lilke Tony Koester, etc..
EF_3 Yellowjacket
Family ski trips kept me from all of the major shows this past winter, but I did get to one of the smaller shows a few weeks back. It was a 1-day event, held in a school gym. There were only a couple of operating layouts, but one was quite large and had a lot to look at.
The vendor tables were all full, and they seemed to be doing a brisk business. I spent about $25, and I came away with a new car, a used car and a couple of kits.
A year or so ago, I was at a show. I was talking to a vendor who was complaining that people weren't buying the big-ticket items, only the small stuff. I bought a bunch of junk from him - literally - stuff for my scrapyard. I found a treasure at that show, too - a new-in-the-box IHC Mikado for a bargain price.
Like shopping at the LHS, we need to keep going to shows, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
There was a period of about a dozen years when I'd go to at least two train shows a month from October through April. While I've cut back on the number of shows I attend lately in favor of using the time to work on the models I've acquired, I've still noticed a few trends with respect to the vendors at shows.
1) In the early 1990s, a lot of guys got into the "basement hobbyshop business", focusing on doing train shows. Of these, a number have gone to selling exclusively over eBay, and many have decided it was just too much work and dropped out altogether. I've heard second- and third-hand that a couple were supposedly forced out by their distributors adding "brick-and-mortar store" requirements.
2) A lot of the older, more established dealers have been retiring, or just plain dying off. 'just the normal aging process at work, here. Their old stuff keeps appearing at shows, though, as other dealers buy them out.
3) Several dealers I know have cut down the distance they're willing to travel to get to a show, largely citing gas prices, and in one case, vehicle age and wear. They opt to do shows closer to home.
For a number of years I was involved in running a medium-sized show. Vendors who packed up and left very early without a good reason (generally a personal emergency) were bumped to lowest priority and less desirable table spots in the following years. A couple took offense and stopped doing our show, but frankly we didn't miss them as much as we hated having empty tables in prime spaces within two or three hours of opening.
Over a 25-year period, I've watched train shows in SE Michigan shift from being dominated by guys who bought one or two tables to move excess personal stuff or their own home-manufactured products to being dominated by larger dealers with four to six tables apiece.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
Shows/swap meets are precious few in my neck of the woods, though the last one I attended I had much the same experience. In fact I left the show disappointed and empty-handed; there were really no bargains at all to be had for the modeler on a shoestring hobby budget like myself. I think it's just a sign of the times.
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
"I believe there was a slight decrease in attendance at most of the shows I attended over the last year. I think I went to around 12. Most of the vendors I spoke with tend to agree with you up here as well. People aren't buying as much as they use to."
I saw the above comment on the "lone wolf" thread this morning and felt compelled to remark:
Two weeks ago, I attended a local trainshow/flea market that I regularly mark on my calendar. It is held every 3 months and i often find at least a few cars or an engine to take home. This past event, I looked around a bit more closely-
- there were fewer tables with vendors showing their inventory.
- I am certain that i have seen much of that inventory before- particularly where there were "mint condition" or very good condition engines (steam and diesel) offered.
- things such as structure kits, parts, woodland scenics figures in new boxed condition were being offered at only a hair below their actual retail purchase prices- no bargain there!
- there was a lot of stuff in such conditon that a junkyard would have been the better venue, particularly the old DC electrical power pack equipment.
-many vendors were closing up their tables after only 2-3 hours (on the second day-Sunday), having opened the doors at 9am.
- many more "lookers" than buyers, as might be the case anyway, but really noticeable this past show.
- a number of previously-familiar faces among the table vendors were missing this time around.
At any rate, I went home with my precious cargo of several cars to add to my modest inventory, but was not as "content" as I had been in the past, as per the above observations.
Perhaps this is not the case in other areas (incl. our friends in Canada), but I offer this as one anecdotal observation, vis- a vis the present economy.