Every LHS is different because they have different customer bases. Apparently in San Bernadino, model railroading isn't that big. My LHS sells model railroading products exclusively so obviously they have a customer base that will support that. They have been in business over 25 years at their current location.
As to whether LHSes in general will be able to survive in the long term, that is still up in the air. Customers will vote with their dollars if they want to keep them alive. They can't match the e-tailers in price but they can offer two things the e-tailers can't or don't, convenience and service. My guess is the good ones will survive while the ones who just plop their merchandise on a shelf with prices at or near MSRP and expect customers to flock to their stores will end up going the way of the dinosaur. It's a new marketplace and to survive, the LHS as we have known it will have to adapt.
train shop locator
http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/mtrain
hope it helps
I don't trust general hobby shops to carry anything of value for serious model railroaders. It's like if you were a serious audiophile and went to the home entertainment department of Target or Wal-Mart, you'd nodoubt be disappointed.
There are some excellent hobby shops in Southern California, most of them sell nothing but trains:
Original Whistle Stop, Pasadena (LA County)
Allied Model Trains, Culver City (LA County)
The Train Shack, Burbank (LA County)
Milepost 38, Anaheim Hills (OC)
Arnie's Trains, Westminster (OC)
Those are the most well-stocked stores, and there's about a dozen more with less merchandise but still way more trains than a Hobbytown would care to have. They're all listed in the back pages of MR.
I personally have gotten to the point that I don't really care anymore. My favorite train shops around Houston have marked their prices up to almost twice of what I can pay for items on ebay and other web sources in order to make up for their loses. When I need track, ballast, trees and so forth I go to Hobby Lobby now. I scratch build a lot of my own buildings and other items like target signals, so I really don't require a train shop anymore except for an occasional set of decals if I want them right now!. Otherwise I can get those off the web also.
Sorry, but train shop have simply become obsolete...
Tracklayer
Hi, Ollie!
You probably didn't look in the suburbs and outskirts of LA proper. I hear there are some good ones. Also in San Diego, I think...
Hobby shops are facing stiff competition from the Internet, but the best ones are still going strong. My LHS (Doc's Caboose in KC) is thriving, partly because he has merged the Internet with his brick-and-mortar store. He take orders via email, and will ship them wherever. He's also a fine modeler in his own right, which makes him more finely attuned to the needs of the modern model railroader. In addition, he is slowly building his own line of products; he has a city lighting automation system that is truly awesome. I just wish I could use it...
Anyway, that's how it is - only the strong survive....
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
I'm feeling lucky...
I still have at least two hobby shops, that are still "hobby shops" that stock a lot of model railroading supplies. One has NOTHING but railroading!
On the flip side of this statement, the shop that was in town (twenty two years ago, when I came to town) is LONG GONE! The nearest is now 85 mile to the S.E. with the other, 200 miles to the S. Both have knowledgeable owners and staff, and I make it a point to frequent them when ever possible!
THe LHS is in a bad way thanks to the internet and other factors. There is a NEW shop in town that is TRYING to get into the good graces of the railroades BUT they are in trouble. WHY? simple prices. The Hobby Lobby carries WS products that you can get for 40% off with a cupon. The hobby shop is full list or MAYBE 5%. They try to run sales BUT nobody has a clue when they are. The selection is OK for a new shop.
Fast forward to Yesterday. I needed a #2.5 wye for the layout. Did not even slow down I just went direct to the computer had it shipped overnight and had it today. Price is not a worry if you need it now.
The fate of the LHS is in the hands of the local modeler. The LHS in Columbia S.C. has about anything including Cal-Scale BUT that is 56 miles away. Their stock is great for anything but the track I use Walthers 83 they have plentry of good kits from Laser Art and others with ALWAYS a 10-15% discount. The shop has been around for about 20 years and will be around longer because the ownere makes a little profit on a lot of items instead of a lot of profit on a little amouunt of items. I will gladly support an LHS like that since they are trying to help me.
Believe me you will get a LOT MORE input on this topic!!
Yikes, was I ever made to feel like some kind of DINOSAUR, recently...I was going to meet some "kids" I went to grade school with, and haven't seen in 46 years, in San Bernadino, California. It is the geographical CENTER of the L.A. "basin" where most of the people from way back then, still live. I hadn't been to that town in several decades, and recalled it was a big RAILROAD type town, with the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific, all running through town, some on the way to the famed Tehachapi Loop. Which also meant a plethora of hobby shops.
Armed with the internet as a search tool, I found ONE hobby shop still surviving, so called to ask if they had model railroad stock on hand. Told YES, I went early to the mini-reunion, hoping to luck out and find some ancient old boxes on the shelves...maybe even an old VARNEY tank car, originally labelled $1.49 and marked up now to $23.95
The store is in a small shopping center. Maybe 3000 square feet, so quite expansive inside. I walked down aisles of radio controlled airplanes, models of automobiles, little cars that moved by radio control, even dolls and dollhouses. Finally I turned a corner and saw that there were about twenty-two items for sale, that had anything to do with scale modelling. The kind of thing I wouldn't bother to grab for, even if it had a FREE sign on it.
I got this big wave of FEAR over me. My hobby seems to be disappearing! The retail stores I used to hang out in, and drool over all the great stuff on display, have all gone out of business. Okay, so I know the REAL challenge of this hobby is to "SCRATCHBUILD" everything you possibly can, but I am NOT going to ever even TRY to patch together a working GP-9, using nothing but toothpicks and rubber bands. McGyver I am NOT.
Is our hobby "safe" in the hands of the big internet retailers?