I worked as a salesman in the Lionel and LGB section of Allied Model Trains from late November 1990 to mid March 1995. It saddens me to see Allied close, because it was the most beautiful train store I've ever seen.
You can criticize its owner Allen Drucker all you want for refusing to sell toy trains for less than the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Keep in mind that Allied was one of the largest toy trains stores in the world, and it was expensive to operate on that scale. We sold all scales and manufacturers. Customers came from everywhere, not only Southern California. Allied was only three miles from LAX, so many people dropped in on their way to or from the airport.
I began working at Allied on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1990. We began work at 9:30 a.m., cleaning glass counters and re-stocking merchandise. The door opened at 10 a.m. On my first day, I sold $1,100 of LGB trains to my first customer within the first 15 minutes. I don't recall how many LGB Christmas train sets I sold that year (at $399 each), but I probably averaged six or seven a day until Christmas. Of course, I sold a lot of Lionel and other LGB merchandise, too.
Celebrity customers stopped by to see me all the time, but what I enjoyed most of all was waiting on ordinary people who, like myself, were fascinated by toy trains.
One of my favorite sales was to a woman in her 40s who had always wanted her own Lionel train. Her parents never bought her one when she was little because she was a girl. I sold her a vintage Lionel locomotive and a few cars from the late 1940s and early 1950s, including an operating milk car, enough track to go around her Christmas tree and even have a passing siding, and a vintage Lionel transformer. After her first visit, she stopped by several times that Christmas season with different friends, each time buying another vintage freight car.
On Christmas Eve during another holiday season, I was looking forward to closing at 6:00 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m., which we did every night since Thanksgiving. Twelve-hour days, day after day, can get tiring. About 5:45, a middle-aged father and his young daughter came to the store. They walked back to my area of the store.
"My daughter wants the LGB Christmas train," he said. I could see how happy the girl was. She was about eight or nine years old. We had sold our remaining LGB Christmas trains earlier that day--except for one. That was on the top shelf in the 12-foot-high recessed arch in the rear wall of the LGB section. There were about eight or nine shelves affixed to wall brackets above a glass display case in that arch. Allen Drucker did not want his salesmen climbing up that high, so I called him to ask him to get the train.
Allen came downstairs from his office, grabbed the tall metal ladder, and retrieved the loco and two passenger cars, handing each one to me very carefully. Allen climbed down the ladder, walked to our main LGB counter area, and gently dusted off the train. He tested the engine for the father and his daughter. It worked beautifully.
The father and his daughter were so happy. "We're Jewish, you know, but we always celebrate Christmas," he said to Allen and me. "I'm not a rich man, but I know how much my daughter wants this train."
It was about 6:15 when they left the store. I carried the train in its beautiful box to their car for them. It felt great to know they were so happy. We wished each other "Merry Christmas."
Memories of my own childhood in Chicago back in the 1940s came back to me, memories of my own father carrying home a bag of something or other on Christmas Eve, promptly hiding it, and then surprising me on Christmas morning with Lionel trains running under our tree. In time, we made our own layout in a spare bedroom, as this photo from 1953 shows:
It was a good day for me, too.
Now, it is a sad day because Allied Model Trains is no longer in its beautiful store....
Thanks for sharing your memories George!
Sad to hear about Allied.
I live a long ways away in Indiana, but I enjoyed reading your post!
Ed
What a wonderful story. Not earth-shaking, but humble and honest. George, I get the impression that you really enjoyed your work while you were with Allied and I bet you were a better salesman for it. I'm sure your customers would attest to that if given the opportunity.
Thanks for your nice memories. It's hard to hire dedicated people like you these days that's for sure. Today people are more worries about if they will be paid overtime for 10 min over closing and/or paid accurately etc. down to the nearest 30 min.
I think all the technological advances are great but I think we will have less and less human interactions like the old days.
I used to work in a retail store back in the late 90's as well and I really enjoyed talking to people as well and it's hard to imagine within a short period of mere 10 years how much had changed.
Anyway, always sad to see a store close its doors but thanks for keep the memories alive.
Klooka wrote: You can criticize its owner Allen Drucker all you want for refusing to sell toy trains for less than the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Keep in mind that Allied was one of the largest toy trains stores in the world, and it was expensive to operate on that scale. We sold all scales and manufacturers. Customers came from everywhere, not only Southern California. Allied was only five miles from LAX, so many people dropped in on their way to or from the airport.George Spink - Los Angeles
You can criticize its owner Allen Drucker all you want for refusing to sell toy trains for less than the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Keep in mind that Allied was one of the largest toy trains stores in the world, and it was expensive to operate on that scale. We sold all scales and manufacturers. Customers came from everywhere, not only Southern California. Allied was only five miles from LAX, so many people dropped in on their way to or from the airport.
George Spink - Los Angeles
Thank you George for letting us in on some good times at Allied. I have been there many times but being in HO, I always worked with Nick at the store. Most of us know a store has to charge list prices to keep the doors open and bills paid, especially in LA. I did not mind that and purchased a fair amount of new and used brass from Nick. There was always a deal on consignment brass and other items. I also noticed the so called large discount stores are now gone too that once graced the Moreno Valley area. It would seem that the Internet is doing them all in.
I can understand Allen's reason for shutting down the store also since he can be a landlord without the hassle of the daily grind. We will all miss the store with the giant Daylight on it.
Thanks again
CAZEPHYR
Thanks for the nice story. I was critical of Drucker's comments in the LA Times article, but Allied was more about the fine people like you, Nick, Bob, Reg and others who made the place the great store it was through the years. I enjoyed taking my kids there when they were little, back in the Pico days. Even though my boys are now in college, they still will take a ride to the train store with me when they are home on breaks.
The shining light here is that Nick will reopen in July accross the street and the beat will go on. Thanks again for the story.
Klooka,Allied isn't closing, it was sold and is moving (according to reports).
Online, the complaint about Allied wasn't about the prices, it was about the poor customer service. The Atlas Forum in particular had many complaints about how if one wasn't a celebrity or a regular who spent big, the retail staff couldn't be bothered.
Don't mistake me, as I've been working retail for 18 years and I know how some customers can be, shall we say, "difficult". But it appears that Allied had some lazy or bitter employees...
Paul A. Cutler III************Weather Or No Go New Haven************
Allen Drucker's smaller building is across the street from the one that resembles Union Station in downtown L.A. (pictured in the illustration below). It is this smaller store that will now be the home of WhistleStop Trains (or a scaled-down Allied Model Trains). The smaller store is a decent size for a typical hobby shop, but it doesn't hold a candle to the main store.
Here is an illustration to show you what Allied Model Trains looked like:
This is the store that will now be home to a Samy's Camera store.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
thanks for the great story . i only visited Allied once (it's a looooong comute from toronto!) and didn't really notice what the prices were like . i guess i was comparing them to canadian retail prices , which at the time were 1.5 x US msrp . more important was that i'd never seen a mrr store that big and impressive before and i probably could have spent a day or two there but my wife and the friends we were visiting (he's an rc plane guy , almost converted him that day though ) had other ideas about how to spend our time
sorry to see it go
Paul3 wrote: Online, the complaint about Allied wasn't about the prices, it was about the poor customer service.
Paul,
Don't listen to those grumps. I visit Allied Trains every time I go to L.A. About twelve trips to Allied and never had a bad experience. George was only too happy to discuss Lionel Trains with me and the staff up front was just a friendly.
By the way, the big LGB layout is still in the old building, now Samy's Cameras. It was running when I was there last December.
..........Wayne..........
webenda wrote: Paul3 wrote: Online, the complaint about Allied wasn't about the prices, it was about the poor customer service. Paul,Don't listen to those grumps. I visit Allied Trains every time I go to L.A. About twelve trips to Allied and never had a bad experience. George was only too happy to discuss Lionel Trains with me and the staff up front was just a friendly.
Yeah I have to agree here, every time I visited Allied I had an awesome experience,whether I made a purchase or not, the staff was very friendly, and very helpful, in fact during one visit Gary Coleman, and Bob Mcneil (from ST Voyager) were both in the store....I didn't notice any fawning over them.....in fact I was surprised George remembered me from my last visit which was almost a year before, I was also surprised that Coleman was buying N scale as I always heard he was a Lionel buff :P No I can think of several Shops back home in NC and here in NY , that could learn a thing or two from the Allied gang.
I want to thank all of you for posting your memories of Allied Model Trains in Culver City, California. I hope others will keep doing so.There is one thing I should point out. There were two of us named George working in the Lionel Trains/LGB section when I worked there (November 1990 to March 1995). The other George was George Spelmeier. He had worked there for years as a salesman and a repairman. There wasn't anything he couldn't fix. George Spelmeier always went fishing on his days off, Fridays and Sundays.On the other hand, I couldn't fix a thing. But I could wire a Lionel train layout using contactors or relays so you could have a great automatic train layout. I never did that for Allied customers, but I've always done that with my home layouts -- Lionel, HO, or N. I always enjoyed taking time to build my layouts with nice scenery and structures, too.George Spelmeier had a mustache; I didn't. And, I was the thinner of the two. I think George Spelmeier still works at the new store across the street from the old one. Today, I would bet that I'm the heavier of the two! How does that happen? I'll have to stop by to find out who is the heavier.I could sell Lionel and LGB trains effortlessly. Selling came easy for me. I sold men's clothing when I was in college at Silverwood's in Santa Barbara and Baskin's in downtown Chicago. I didn't know squat about LGB when I started, but I soon learned. I also had to learn about Lionel's new products and I had a lot to learn about prewar and postwar Lionel.The customers made it fun to work at Allied, at least for me. Sure, there were plenty of celebrities, and I enjoyed meeting and selling to them. But there were far more regular folks like you and me. One of my first customers lived only a block away from Allied. It turned out he had grown up in my hometown, Berwyn, just west of Chicago.It also turned out that Allen Drucker's father, Steve, had lived in Berwyn in the early 1930s. When he told me he rented a room in a home on Riverside Drive, I knew exactly where it was.I met a number of people from Berwyn while I worked there. One was a woman about my age (I turned 50 in September 1990). She came in on a busy day just before Christmas. I noticed her staring at me as I waited on different customers.Finally, she walked over to me and asked, "By any chance are you from Berwyn, Illinois, did you go to Morton High School -- and are you George Spink?"I said, "Yes!" She surprised the hell out of me!It turned out we dated a few times during our senior year. She was still very attractive -- and happily married. I apologized for not recognizing her, but more than 30 years had passed since we last saw one another. Another time a beautiful young woman in her 20's came in. I helped her pick out a Playmobil train set and some accessories for her young son. She told me she worked with her parents down the street at Villa Italiana, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria. I told her I grew with great pizzerias back in Chicago."Where did you live in Chicago," she asked."Berwyn, a suburb just west of Chicago," I said."That's where my father is from!" she said. She invited me to stop by to meet her folks. I did so a few days later. No wonder there pizza was -- and is -- so good! It remains one of my favorite pizzerias around my home here in L.A.On another time, I noticed a man about my age staring at me from the N-scale section as I checked out one of my customers. I had seen him in the N-scale section often. When I walked backed to the Lionel/LGB section, he followed me.When I went behind the counter, he walked over and asked me, "Did you go to St. Leonard's in Berwyn, Illinois and graduate in 1954?"I smiled and said, "Yes.""So did I," he said. "My name is John Hejka, and we were classmates."In the months that followed, John told me that he had been a Christian Brother for many years, living at a Christian Brothers home in Woodland Hills. A few years earlier, he left the order. He said he worked for a small company in L.A.After I left Allied Model Trains in March 1995, I never saw John again. When my classmates and I planned our 50th Reunion in June 2004, we learned that John had died in 1997. I will always be grateful that John Hejka and I had the chance to renew our childhood friendship while I worked at Allied. I am sorry that John did not live long enough to attend our 50th Reunion, which was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life.
George Spink - Los AngelesEmail: georgespink@gmail.com
Klooka,
I've never been to Allied Trains and know nothing about the "stuff" others mentioned. But I do know that you wrote some wonderful postings and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm from Chicago (Lane Tech - Feb 62), and can certainly relate to some of your musings!
There was a hobby shop across from Lane (B&E Hobbies) and I would drool over the Lionel and later on the HO stuff they had. How I envied the young guys that worked there!
Thank you,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
As a former customer of Allied and The Original Whistle Stop, I can assure everyone that service is still the best at both stores.
The new Allied may be a smaller store,but, the warmth and professionalism are still there.
Nick, Brian, and Fred go to great lengths to see that they take care of the customers AND the traditions of the hobby.
Why am I a former customer?
.......because, now I am an employee!
I am the shipping clerk at The Original Whistle Stop..........and we will continue to give great customer service.
Keith Turley
Mobilman44 -- You probably remember Stanton's Hobby Shop on Milwaukee Avenue and Benty's Hobby Shop on Belmont downstairs from the "L" station. Stanton's was the larger of the two. Mr. Benty tried his best to survive over the years. Stanton's was far more successful, a larger store with a great variety of merchandise.
I also used to go to Simonsen's Hobby Shop on Lincoln Avenue south of Belmont. One time I was looking for a Lionel crane car. "I think I have one in the basement. I might need your help to get it down from the shelf," Mr Simonsen said.
To my surprise, he had a large inventory of prewar and postwar Lionel trains in their original boxes. It took him a few minutes to find the crane car, but he did. "It's up there," he pointed. "Would you mind climbing the ladder to get it?" I didn't mind at all.
Mr. Simonsen employed a former Chicago policeman as a repairman. I don't know if they were related. In the late 1970s, a friend of mine gave me a three-rail American Flyer freight set from the late 1930's she bought at a garage sale. The cars were in good condition, but the engine didn't work. I took it to Simonsen's. The repairman said he could fix it and asked me to come back in a week or so.
When I did, he asked, "How does it look?" He pointed to their three-loop, figure-eight display layout in the front window. I didn't notice it when I walked by. The engine was pulling a few cars as it raced around the window display layout with no trouble at all.
"It looks great!" I said.
"It just needed some new brushes," he said. "I cleaned the motor while I had it apart. Now, it runs like a raped rabbit!" I think he charged me only eight dollars to fix it.
I visited New York City on business quite often between 1976 and 1986, when I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Every time I was in New York, I made time to visit Madison Hardware and Supply on 23rd Street. I bought a number of Lionel products from them by mail over the years, but nothing prepared me for my first visit there.
The store was of normal width, maybe 25 feet, but quite deep. They had five or six floors of merchandise above, but customers were only allowed on the first floor. The salesman tended to be older and included two or three brothers whom I think were sons of the original owner. No matter what you wanted, Madison Hardware had it in stock. They had Lionel parts galore!
I believe Madison Hardware was Lionel Trains' first dealer back in the first decade of the 20th Century. Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Lionel Trains acquired Madison Hardware and Supply and moved their enormous inventory to Michigan.
Thank you for a good story!
Ive seen many stores close over the years, one in particular Gilberts was a favorite. I think it is still open under a younger generation today.
If I had to work in a train shop, I would be so busy browsing the new arrivals off the UPS truck, nothing would get done. I would not be a very good worker. =)
George
Most of us who shopped at Allied realized that list price is list price and a dealer has the right to charge that price. We might have shopped in a more selective mode since our money is for hobby items and we like to make it go as far as possible. They tried discounting a few HO plastic items for a short time with that slogan, "Don't take that Long drive" or something like that. I don't believe criticizing anyone for asking a fair price for a good product is fair and that is very short sighted for someone who is not in business to criticize others.
I purchased many brass pieces from Allen, Brian or Nick over the years and many other items that I wanted and would have preferred the great building to still be selling trains. Allen was fair but all business. I appreciated the store having a great supply of stock on hand and always picked up parts and whatever.
Many of us miss the store also.
The good News is, the New Allied next door is much smaller, but very good for a full service train store. Nick is there in the new store and Fred Hill works there on certain days and I got to visit them recently.
I would recommend the new store very highly same as the previous Allied Trains but it is not in the great looking station building as it once was.
Thanks for sharing your memories, George. For us loners up in the north country, especially when we tend to stay home a lot and not get out to see folks, your stories are warming indeed.
I can feel you smiling when you type of your memories. Good for you.
-Crandell
selector-Crandell -- Yes, I do smile as I write these memories. I was just thinking of others. I'll return often now and post them.
I still have all of my toy trains, but they are carefully packed in boxes and stored on shelves in my hall and bedroom closets. I don't have room for a layout in my one-bedroom apartment. Maybe someday I'll move into a larger one.
However, now that I am 67 years old, it is time for me to think of selling them. I wouldn't want to leave that task to my roommate when I die....
Klooka wrote:Yes, I do smile as I write these memories. I was just thinking of others. I'll return often now and post them.I still have all of my toy trains, but they are carefully packed in boxes and stored on shelves in my hall and bedroom closets. I don't have room for a layout in my one-bedroom apartment. Maybe someday I'll move into a larger one. However, now that I am 67 years old, it is time for me to think of selling them. I wouldn't want to leave that task to my roommate when I die....
Yes, I do smile as I write these memories. I was just thinking of others. I'll return often now and post them.
George.
Don't you know. Old model railroaders never die. You just run to the Roundhouse and hide 'cause the Grim Reaper can't corner you there.
As one Old Timer to another, (I have a year or possibly two on you, 69 the end of May) keep the stories coming. It's nice to see "feel good" stories in this day and age.
Blue Flamer.
George,
"I know your pain"!!! I'm 63 3/4 and while I have adult kids and grandkids, not a one of them has the interest in my postwar Lionel for themselves. Yes, they will look at it on display and have seen the layout I built, and they surely admire them. But its not their "thing". Even my HO stuff, which enjoys a room filling layout get positive reactions from everyone, but no one is really interested in them or the hobby for themselves.
I'm an old Ebayer, and will probably sell the Lionel at some point in time, for I cringe at the thought of my kids storing them in an attic (they will rust here in south Texas) or just as bad, giving them away to the "we buy toy trains" folks. Fortunately my wife (# 2) is also an avid Ebayer and knows that those toy trains are not truly "toys" when it comes to selling them.
While the train situation will be resolved in later years, I am now wrestling with thinning out my handgun collection - a much more difficult task - even in the Great State of Texas!
Long story short, disposition of the trains is a dilemna, when you are getting up in years and have no one you love waiting and wanting your stuff.
Follow your heart!!!