I was in one of the LHSs by me recently. Nice place, though not in the best neighborhood (although less than 1 mile from a "good" one... either way, i'm comfortable enough there...
I went to the store planning on buying my first pack of Kadees (OK, that 1030 starter kit or whichever). The place was (at some point) a house... the entire first floor is military/model rockets/cars (maybe rc?)/etc, but the entire basement is trains. The clerk was a really nice guy... dug through all of the "small stuff" drawers and stuff because he knew that there were at least two of those packs left... anyway, he spent about half an hour helping me look for one of those packs to no avail. As he was looking, he held a conversation - mostly small stuff (how long I've been in the hobby and stuff). After we gave up on the hunt for the starter packs, I settled for a couple of packets of #5s.
There was another customer in there, who knew what he was after (or had special ordered something), so the clerk got him whatever he needed as I looked through the small collection of (used) locos - not finding anything there, I wandered around for a bit, and came upon an entire wall of car/building kits - picked up a pair that were way out of my (current) skill level (they need all kinds of filing and stuff); so as set the stuff down on the counter, the clerk suggested that I build some other kits first (that were actually cheaper)...
I was planning on meandering through another LHS over my Christmas break, but when I called to see if they had any form of kits*, the person who answered sounded like they'd rather not be talking to me... so they lose...
*kits (rolling stock, eventually locos) have quickly become my second favorite part of the hobby. Favorite is watching trains
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
Cliff,
Very good observations. I also support the idea of having a wooden train set/play area in the store. Many times I've had take the young'n with me, and that wooden brio layout kept her busy while Dad could shop. She was safe, occupied, and started to learn about trains.. a future customer.
The stores that make it in the long run are not those that go into business to make a profit. The succesful ones are those that go into business to provide a product or srvice that folks will be willing to pay a profit for. That sounds like semantics, but it isn't. Anyone who is driven by the bottom won't last long. It becomes the same tiresome store as you descride. Dusty, no turn-over, poor displays (if any) and the owner sitting reading a paper and sipping coffee while the custmoer tries not to get to much dust on his clothes.
Stores OUGHT to be the driving force behind starting a local club, or supporting one that's already there. Put up a flier about when the meetings are, who to contact, etc. Offer a 10% or 15% discount to anyone with an up to date membership card in the club. Host clinics either at the store, or at a place nearby. If the store owner can't host it, then offer to supply the products being demonstrated at cost to the person putting on the clinic. That way the store will at least break even and the folks attending the clinic will no where to get the items demonstrated.
Have an area in the store for new products or recent arrivals. At least organize the store by brand name, if not by products and/or scale. Change out the window display every week or so to keep things fresh.
Sponsor a modelling contest with gift certificates for prizes, and above all, every time you host a clinic, or sponsor a show, alert the press! Send out a news release each and every week to your local paper talking about what you are doing in store that week. In fact, if you can swing the finances, sponsor one of the girls or boys club teams, or YMCA/YWCA or Little League teams, etc. Sponsor a railroad modelling day for the local scout troop, to introduce them to the basics, etc. You'd be amazed how much return you can get off of simply sponsoring a team, having your business name on their jerseys!
Above all, make it so that folks will be WILLING to spend those extra dollars to come to you because they remember you from the community, because you seem to care about the kids, because your store is clean and well-stocked.
Yes, it takes money to make money, and you'll probably not make mush at all the first 4-5 years. You need patience and ingenuity and more patience and advertising and patience.
Respects,
Pearl is a three- floor arts and crafts store located on Market St. between 5th and 6th. They have stripwood, styrene, brass sheets and strips, paints (not Floquil but many many colors of artists paints that are very useful for model railroad purposes), glues, chalks, and much more. If your coming from Concord, take BART to Powell St. station and walk half a block on the south side of Market St.
I remember Rara Avis Trains (?), and Iron Horse in Concord and Peninsula Hobbies in San Mateo but I think they went the way of the dodo bird. I think the best hobby shop in the Bay Area is The Train Shop in Santa Clara.
For the modelers in the Cleveland Area:
I'm originally from Cleveland and haven't been back there for 20 years. Does anyone remember The Hobby House on Huron Ave? What ever happened to it? I used to go there in the 60s and 70s.