Whats Your local Hobby Shop Lacking

[ac4400fan]

Hi Everyone!
As were going into the summer season, just wondering if your seeing a lack in inventory at your loco H.S do 2 summer?[?]

[METRO]

My LHS, and probably the hobby shop of everyone in the Milwaukee area, is Walther's Terminal Hobby Shop. You can check their stock anytime you want, everything anyone buys from the Walthers catalogue or website comes from there. It's great, railroad heaven (as long as you don't need something made by Athearn.)

Now when I lived in Brookfield WI (a suburb of Milwaukee) for a year it was a different story, the LHS out there, a Hobbytown USA store, seemed more interested in stocking model building kits and fantasy role playing games than trains. While I've got nothing against either of those hobbies, I did feel kind of envious as I picked through their 20 Athearn freight cars and saw the wall full of airplane kits and the displays full of dragons and sci-fi tanks, most maked with a "rare new product" sticker. They did have a great sale on all train stock every March though, but again it was hard to find anything I could use in that.

~METRO

[Anonymous]

The only thing my LHS doesn't keep in stock that I wi***hey would are the Poly Scale acrylics. Still, they will order them so its no that bad. I use them when I build structures. They are easy to use and I am familiar with them.

[Anonymous]

Not enoghf product. We need more enoghfs!

[Anonymous]

my L.H.S does not alot of chioce of products to pick out and and buy

[simon1966]

My LHS is very well stocked with rolling stock, locos and structures. Plus all the basic construction needs track, cork etc. They do not carry any paints, but this is a decision they have made because it has a shelf life and they don't want to get stuck with things that become un-saleable. However, they order in any thing you need and you get a 20% discount off list in most cases, so I can't complain.

[Anonymous]

Customer service.

It's hard to get them to order things that aren't in stock. They tend to "forget" to order or "haven't gotten around to it yet".

New items are often ordered in singles and if you aren't there when it's unpacked then you'll never see them.

Roger

[IRONROOSTER]

My LHS doesn't stock enough S scale - in fact he doesn't stock any. The other three wihin easy driving distance have none except for some KLine cars at one.

Enjoy
Paul

[MAbruce]

"Not enoghf product - lacking material - slacking on inventory"

These all seem to be the same thing to me. Makes for a heavily skewed poll. Having product selection blues with your LHS??

My biggest issue is always price.

[cwclark]

mine has everything ....except lower prices!

[SpaceMouse]

Mine has only EZ track (well a little Atlas) Their prices are out of touch with reality--$179 for a FA2/FB2 unit I bought for $49. They have no ballast, figures, or parts. And the biggest lack of all, no knowledge of model railroading.

[Anonymous]

My local hobby shop is lacking a shop. The nearest one is about 100 miles away.

[mustanggt]

My LHS has basically everything. Except for vehicles, like cars by busch, herpa, and wiking. But they do have practically an entire aisle filled with athearn trucks.

[n2mopac]

Well, I'm not trying to be critical, because I live in a small town (pop 35K) and I feel fortunate to have any hobby shop at all. The shop we have now is a great place to order anything and a good place to see what is plentiful in HO scale (for beginners, kids, etc.). Being an N scaler, they carry very little I can use off the shelf, but they do have flex track in N scale and a few staple type necessities. None the less, it is good to have a place where I can go ask my questions and just hang out with other modelers for a while.

Ron

[jrbernier]

Well, my LHS is nothing! W have no LHS any more, and the closest one is 45 miles away(combination hardware/off-road vehicle/train shop). About 75 miles away is a very complete hobby shop, but everything is MSRP and service is non-existant.

Jim

[Cox 47]

What LHS ? Cox 47

[chrismay]

My LHS is missing alot of everything in stock. You can order anything you want through them but sometimes it is nice to see something before you buy. Besides it leads to impulse buying which is good for the average LHS.

[cacole]

I clicked on "None of the Above" because you don't have an appropriate answer for me, which is, "What's a Local Hobby Shop?"

The nearest one to me is 70 miles away in Tucson, Arizona. The second closest is 150 miles away -- and with gasoline prices like they are I never venture to these unless I'm there for another purpose.

[GerFust]

Mine is lacking books and magazines. A wide selection of train and model railroad magazines can be bought four store fronts down at the magazine/newsstand.

I would say they are lacking low-end motive power, like Athearn.

However, the folks there are great, and stock selection might improve now that the other hobby shop in town recently went out of business. This town was too small to really support two shops anyway, in my opinion.

[twhite]

My hobby shops (Sacramento and Roseville) tend to get a little light around the middle of June, but that's Retail Inventory Time, so they have to keep their stock a little low in order to have wholesale buying power for the Fall releases (any private retail store has to do this, not just hobby shops). I usually try and stock up in May for what I think I'll be using in June and July (track, scenery, etc.). Usually if one is out of stock, the other will have it. I do a great deal of my scenery modeling during the summer, so when I raid the shops, it's usually for Hydrocal, Sculptamold, rock molds--things like that. But out here in Calif., if you talk to ANY retail owner (not just hobby shops) you'll find out that late June, early July is State Inventory Tax time, and the lower the inventory, the less you have to pay to support the vacations and Power Lunches of our somewhat less than sterling State Legislature.
Tom [}:)][}:)]

[Anonymous]

I consider both of my Arkansas LHS's very close to being fully equippted. If I dont see it I can order it. If it is OOP and no where in the distribution system then it's ebay.

Whenever I go the ebay route I bring alot of money because there are others also looking for it.

[Anonymous]

What my LHS is lacking is a local location.

Ebay, Walthers & & the online discounters are my local LHS. Not by my choice.

Wayne

[steveblackledge]

mine is lacking in product knowledge, they only want your money[}:)][}:)][}:)]

[Anonymous]

Mine are variable. All are lacking in HO though - the nearest one that stocks Athearn, etc is usually very variable, prices can be crazily high and they often have very incoherent inventory (for example, a shelf full of Superliners and only two F40PHs, no other Amtrak locos, or a shelf full of C&NW gallery/bilevel cars and no suitable power). Apart from that I've no complaints - if I want specific items I go to different stores (for example, in G scale I have a choice of three stockists, one of which can order anything currently made and get it delivered within a couple of weeks). I've found one excellent one that's a bit too far away to be "local" though I get down there sometimes (Cardiff) - they have a great stock of used items including loads of equipment that's been unavailable for years.

[palallin]

Although the LHS is owned by a good friend of mine, he stocks little but some paint and scratchbuilding supplies that I can use (I model in O: 3-rail, 2-rail, and On30). He does carry a few pieces of On30. He has one G loco on the shelf and a smattering of HO stuff. A little N, mostly track and accessories. He carries plastic model kits, RPG suppiles, and some die cast cars. The other half of the shop is craft and wedding supplies. It's a small, old storfront, a family-owned operation. He'll order just about anything available (I've bought cast detail parts through him for over 20 years), but he can't afford to maintain any kind of extensive inventory.

Ironically, he's a dang good model RRer, with a nice HO display layout and a drop-dead gorgeous On30 mini-layout (3' x 3' Bryce Canyon mining scene).

[Anonymous]

Mine doesn't carry any code 83 track or any of the 'upscale' brand locos (P2K, Kato, Atlas, Spectrum). They are mostly a military models shop, MRR is only an afterthought.

That being said, they are truly great people though. Always enjoy dropping in for a chat while picking up some generic supplies (CA, couplers, Dremel bits etc.)

[leighant]

I live in a small city (?) 300,000 population. When we had the first real snow in a century or so on Christmas Eve, our locality was referred to nationally as "a small Texas town" in the news.
After a 5 year drought, we have one train store, Lone Star Trains, a branch of a San Antonio store. It is great to have a train store at all after so many years without in our "little town."
(by the way, I have no financial interest.....)

I only wi***hey would get me at least some of the decals I special-ordered 8 weeks ago. I word-processed a list in table format with columns for quantity, manufacturer, item catalog number, description, etc. to avoid confusion. (I decided I needed a few more and rather than confusing them by adding to the order, I went to internet, and got them in 8 days....) My reefer looks odd with all the Santa Fe markings on it except the map.

[Anonymous]

Don't even get me started...
I've got about six shops in my area, and the one closest to me is the worst!.
The guy that runs the place is a brain, but he has no personality or sense of humor at all. His store is a pig sty to say the least. I put a couple of items on lay-away there a while back and when I went to pay for them it took him an hour of digging through piles of other people's stuff to find them. He's one of those people that's always right and you're always wrong. The only reason I continue to do business with him is because he is the closest to me, has a good variety in stock and will always order things I want that I can't find any where else (he's got connections...).

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I feel much better now.

trainluver1

[Anonymous]

My LHS has a little bit of everything but not alot of anything (except track). Also the majority of their products are low quailty Model Power. No walthers at all.

[on30francisco]

The LHS in this area suffers from skimpy stock. They cater to all scales but sell everything at MSRP which is very expensive. I buy a lot of my stripwood, glue, paint and other building supplies at the many arts & craft stores in the area. They are always well-stocked and MUCH cheaper than the LHS. Other supplies I buy online.