from my perspective - strictly as a one man (no employees) hobby shop - I can tell you that almost no traditional retail advice helps with a model train shop these days. Just check the advice in this thread and ask yourself how you would run a model train shop. I see that some folks think I would still be in business if I only made an effort to sell someone something. Fine and dandy, except easily 75% if not up to 90% of the customers that came into my store just wanted to be left alone to browse. Some accused me of "watching them to make sure they weren't shoplifting" (when I thought I was making myself available to them for assistance by stepping out from behind the counter). Others were offended by the simple phrase "Hi, how are you? Let me know if I can help you find anything." (That was too pushy for some folks.)
Everybody wants everything cheap, high quality and right now. Not going to happen. Can't have all three. To hear anyone complain about the stock being low in a model train shop these days is simply someone who is ignorant of what has happened in the last five years. 18 months ago, I was having trouble getting Atlas track products in stock. I was accused of: being too poor to afford to restock... or, must have credit limit problems with the distributors... or, you're only trying to get us to be more expensive brands of track products... or, you're too stupid to know you are out of track nails... Yet here we are, been out of business for over a year and I hear you still can't get rail joiners. But everyone complains about a place not having inventory. How about we ask Exact Rail why train shops don't have inventory? How about we ask any of these made to order "manufacturers" why the train shops don't have inventory? Why don't we ask wholesalers who can no longer afford to keep product on the warehouse shelves why there is no inventory?
Let's dump product on the internet. Great idea. Now that we are all connected, why would I ever buy anything in a brick and mortar shop when eventually it will show up on eBay for less than cost? Let's say in Little Rock, Arkansas, that I was dumb enough to stock a Boston & Maine Genesis F7. 6 months later, it's still on the shelf. (Horizon recommends dumping it in 3 months) OK, put it on eBay and get rid of it. How does the shopowner in New England feel about that??? Does that help him sell items in his store? From shop owners to manufacturers, dumping stuff on the internet is shooting yourself in the foot.
"You should sell on the internet." I agree, if I had employees. But you cannot give personal service to your customers (chat with them) - something you can't get on the internet - if you have to be on the computer all the time checking orders and answering endless e-mail questions.
"You should discount." I did discount 10 - 20%, sometimes more. That's not enough.
"You should offer service... repairs." Tried to get parts out of anyone lately?
The idiots who run things think a 9% sales tax is a good idea for a b&m shop, but either don't have the brains or the cajones to enforce it on internet sales. Then they complain that their budgets are coming up short for filling the potholes.
Prices are up, quality is down. Availability is hit and miss, mostly miss.
Modelers are dying off and they are not being replaced. New people came into the store all the time. "We want a cheap engine." You show them the 80 dollar Bachmann that you can sell for 62 and they say no... this is just for a kid, where are the cheap engines... THAT IS THE CHEAP ENGINE.
Most comments on these "why can't a train shop be better?" are from people who think they know how to run a train shop because they have shopped in a train shop. The reality is, even traditional retail techniques don't work in a model train shop. "Inventory should turn over at least four times a year." Good advice, except you get inventory in February, you are sold out by July and when you reorder... out of stock for six months. (Or a year)
You need to budget. Also a good idea. I will pre-order 1000 dollars of Athearn that will arrive in June because I can afford to do so. I will pre-order 1000 dollars of Athearn in July because I can afford to do so. July rolls around, and here comes your 1000 dollar July order, 500 dollars from the June order that just now arrived... 300 dollars from February that is really late, and 250 dollars from your September order that came in early. Now you are in a budget crunch, especially if some customers... who have had six months to a year to save the money for the stuff they ordered... don't pay for it right away.
You asked for an opinion from behind the counter, there you go. Actually, you can dispute an opinion... all 800+ words of this is fact that you cannot dispute unless you have walked a mile in my shoes.
After 16 years in the model train business, I can tell you a small shop with one guy running it needs three things to be successful... 1: The guy behind the counter needs to be a model railroad expert. 2: The guy behind the counter needs to be a people person. 3: The guy behind the counter needs to be a great business person. Hard to find someone who has all three qualities.