To my mind fresh stock and a 10-15% discount on large (say $60.00 or more) purchase at checkout would cause me to drop on line shopping and become a regular customer.
I'm not to sure about "experts" giving clinics..I would prefer the local talented modelers do this.
The reason is simple..I had my fill of supposed "experts" over the last 60 years that wasn't all that knowledgeable since the majority complicated the simple while overstating the obvious. .
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
In times of a dwindling customer base with less and less free income to spend for the hobby, while at the same time the competion through Internet shops is getting ever stronger, there is one critical success factor - it´s dedication! And dedicated you need to be, with 100+ work hours a week, a capital employed figure in the 6-digit area, which is not giving you much of a return, write-offs which pull your last hair out and an income not much above the poverty line.
One can make money at almost any buisness, but it has to be handled as a buisness! 85% of all new buisnesses fail in the first 5 years. You would be suprised at how many new buisness owners I have talked to that don't have a plan or even did the ground work to see if they could make a go of it. Hobby shops are notorius for rude owners and bad customer service in a lot of shops.
This is a thread I love to comment on......I may hold some kind of a record as when serving as a corporate pilot for over a decade, I would always carry in my flight bag a current issue of MR with the hobby shop directory tagged and during layovers (and there were many in every state except Alaska and Hawaii), I'd grab an FBO van, cab, or whatever and visit the local LHS. I can probably claim that I visited several hundred and quite franky only a handful were worthy of special note. Overall around 85% were just fine, but the word.."boring" seems to come to mind.
What makes them successful?................Here is my 25 cents:
Great location with easy access and free parking; Excellent lighting, Friendly, helpfull, attractive, and knowledgeable sales folks...in addition to the owner; Excellent stock chosen with great thought and beyond the standard distributor less 40% plastic stuff; support items and tools, scratch building supplies and materials, clinics, displays; a large selection of used models from brass to affordable be it purchase or consignment; know the full meaning of follow up and customer service; repair and custom work department; know how to eliminate the stale look.....change things around often: close out tables; special discount items and sales; showcase for customers work; section for new items; discount coupons; and excellent promotion and advertising; and last but far from least...be current in today's high techology.....mainly web site and possibly social media.
Here in the central Maryland and Southern PA area, we are lucky as we have several really good shops. I love Tommy Gilbert's in Gettysburg, and the epitome of what I just wrote about is near by in Blue Ridge Summit, PA....Main Line Hobby Supply. When I lived in Jersey, Ted's Engine House was incredible and then some!!!
Oh yeah..............know the full meaning of wholesale, very wholesale, and really very wholesale. Knowing how to buy is as important as knowing how to sell.
HZ
Sometimes I think selection and quantity can matter more than price. When I go to a stunningly well stocked train department I tend to see things I never knew existed and want immediately. Comparison shopping is then not the point if I want it now. Some of the better shops try to feature some of the "basement" manufacturers whose stuff is not usually seen -- that is a plus too.
I think Des Plaines Hobbies in Illinois is a good example of what I am talking about.
Dave Nelson
Mine has a suburban location in a small strip mall. That keeps his rent low. It's easy enough to get to, though, and parking is no problem.
There are no trains very close by, but the owner has a lot of knowledge of the B&M, and stocks local railroad models, books and even calendars.
Mine has his own website. If I want something he doesn't have in stock, he will order it from Walthers or Athearn and I'll have it in a few days. That way I don't pay postage and he gets the business. The last time I bought a locomotive through him, he beat Trainworld's price. Yes, really.
He is a DCC expert, and does installations and repairs. He only does trains, HO and N scale. There is a shop layout, very nicely done. It's even been featured in RMC.
He greets me by name when I walk in. That is something any shopkeeper could do, regardless of what he's selling, but so few pick up on it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I frequent a local R/C shop as he has racks of paint of all different brands with hundreds of colours. Bass and balsa wood selections are impressive as are the styrene and metals. The owner sells little in the way of MRR stuff but has a huge MRR clientele as we want quick access to the little stuff. The expensive items like Loco's are bought online at prices he can't compete with.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."