Model Railroading > Another hobby shop gone

Today was the last day of business for Hobbies N Stuff in Connellsville PA.



ernie

WELL this is just a fine how do you DO!!!!
always a stop on my fall color trips,, 20 Years +,, the one in Cumberland went last summer and now Conniesville..
IT IS all crap out there now.
Plus all the locked gates and bad land oweners around SA.
may stay home and watch video's and my old slides..

dave j

Save a few bucks on line buying. Stores will continue to close. I will pay the extra money to keep a store alive. By the time we pay some of these shipping fees and possible damage from that shipping. You MIGHT end up paying about the same as in the store.

Posted from Android

Haven't been down in a couple of years, what have the landowners been doing?

Posted from Android

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

I try not to shop online. I like to personally see and examine most of my purchases. Besides that, I like going out and shopping when I need something.

The loss of Tinkertown here in St. Louis years ago left a huge hole in my heart. Went there at least once a week, got to actually see models before buying them and thoroughly enjoyed the company of Frank and Denny. Frank and I worked together on 1522 and he sometimes fired for me, so we very close, even after he moved to CO. He passed back in Feb and I miss him. They had good stock and if there was anything they didn't have, it would be there the following Wed. All the magazines. Good advice, especially on DCC. I always bought whatever there to keep my money local and never really thought about the internet. I did buy a couple used engines on ebay, but that was different.
We used to have several good shops in this area, but they slowly drifted away and are missed. We'll never see brick and mortar start anew again.

MRL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Save a few bucks on line buying. Stores will
> continue to close. I will pay the extra money to
> keep a store alive. By the time we pay some of
> these shipping fees and possible damage from that
> shipping. You MIGHT end up paying about the same
> as in the store.

It's not just about being "cheap." Online shopping addicts revel in the Game Theory of "price beating." So it's natural for them to ignore the actual cost of buying (shipping, potential handling problems, the "cost" of time for returning an item) and focus on the mere game of "nabbing" the lowest number possible. Online retailers, especially Amazon is brilliant at exploiting this psyche. I've examined their tactics in some detail, and it's quite revealing.

In Japan, the brick and mortar is not on life support yet, so hobby shops over there can still survive by offering discounts to entice people to visit their stores. Whenever I visit there, I see quite a few bargains, even if they are hard to find or out of production. Because of that, I sometimes don't pull the trigger on items for sale on eBay (the variety of Japanese items are surprisingly good) because I'm confident I can find something cheaper at a brick and mortar place there.

So there's an added benefit of supporting your local hobby stores, because if there's enough revenue and traffic, the hobby shops will not hunker down and lock themselves into "MSRP (Suggested Retail Price)" mentality, thinking the margins aren't big enough to survive otherwise.

SandPatch1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WELL this is just a fine how do you DO!!!!
> always a stop on my fall color trips,, 20 Years
> +,, the one in Cumberland went last summer and now
> Conniesville..
> IT IS all crap out there now.
> Plus all the locked gates and bad land oweners
> around SA.
> may stay home and watch video's and my old
> slides..
>
> dave j

So it's the property owner's fault just because they don't want strangers trespassing on their property?
Boo Hoo.....

It is more the social aspect of the hobby we loose every time a shop closes. That is the big loss

MRL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Save a few bucks on line buying. Stores will
> continue to close. I will pay the extra money to
> keep a store alive. By the time we pay some of
> these shipping fees and possible damage from that
> shipping. You MIGHT end up paying about the same
> as in the store.

Stores will continue to close anyway. I don't think paying extra money is going to keep shops alive - as good a sentiment that it is, it's unrealistic.

The overwhelming trend is customers are flocking to online shopping, and for ALL types of businesses not just the train hobby. Look at Sears, Macy's and many other stores closing by the hundreds.

It's a nice sentiment and all, don't get me wrong. You heart is in the right place but paying extra at the LHS is probably doing more to make you feel good than it is to keep a dying mean of commerce alive. My wife and I shopped at Sears and Kmart and we weren't able to keep them alive.

Add to the above major trend, most small LHS's are single owner shops as opposed to Macys and Sears.
So the LHS is going to close down when the owner retires or passes away even if the shop doesn't close for economic reasons.

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/17 11:39 by SPDRGWfan.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's not just about being "cheap." Online shopping
> addicts revel in the Game Theory of "price
> beating." it's natural for them to ignore the
> actual cost of buying (shipping, potential
> handling problems, the "cost" of time for
> returning an item) and focus on the mere game of
> "nabbing" the lowest number possible. Online
> retailers, especially Amazon is brilliant at
> exploiting this psyche. I've examined their
> tactics in some detail, and it's quite revealing.

That is a rather cynical attitude to take and all
I can say is are you enjoying yourself there?

> So it's natural for them to ignore the
> actual cost of buying (shipping, potential
> handling problems, the "cost" of time for
> returning an item) and focus on the mere game of
> "nabbing" the lowest number possible.

What makes you think that 40, 50, 60+ year old men are
that stupid to not take into account total cost? SMH


> So there's an added benefit of supporting your
> local hobby stores, because if there's enough
> revenue and traffic, the hobby shops will not
> hunker down and lock themselves into "MSRP
> (Suggested Retail Price)" mentality, thinking the
> margins aren't big enough to survive otherwise.

Well and good. So lets, for argument sake say you
keep that LHS from closing by being such a loyal
customer? In the US, most LHS's that I've visited,
(and I have visited many in many different states)
are owned by one guy, usually not young; sooner than
you know, that guy retires, or passes away. Funs over
anyway. Now what?

Where I live, greater Washington DC/Northern Virginia,
there are no hobby shops that carry decent model trains;
they only carry a tiny smattering of low-end trains,
airplane models, cars etc.

I did use to live in a different state about 9 years
ago where there was a fairly well stocked hobby shop
but the prices were near MSRP. Since I had gone through
a couple of job lay-offs, divorce etc. money was very
tight, so I couldn't afford to treat that LHS like a
church or charity. Add to that, since he didn't carry
much that I needed being a western modeler on the east
coast so I didn't see the point to order stuff when I
could do that myself and especially engines; the
TOTAL COST was lower, substantially lower than what
I would have paid at that shop. Yes, I have a brain
and have a bachelor and master of science degree and
can do math. Thanks.

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/17 13:41 by SPDRGWfan.

And, of course, even though it has been hinted at, in an around about manner in this thread, nobody will ever directly mention the 500 pound gorilla in the room, but you guys know I always will:

The average age of model railroaders is probably in the 60's somewhere and going steadily UP. Many, if not most of these old guys have way too much stuff already and won't be buying more. In addition, even though the hobby may still thrive on this & other forums and by keeping a handful of manufacturers, B&M stores and online merchants afloat, the sheer amount of MR merchandise that is being produced and sold is a tiny fraction of what it was 20 years ago, and it is still going down hill. It's not just the internet that's killing off hobby shops, it's the overall aging of our herd, along with the enormous amount of previously owned product that hits the market, EVERY DAY, when another one of us goes to that big roundhouse in the sky.

Hope you are all well,

Allen Drucker

SandPatch1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WELL this is just a fine how do you DO!!!!
> always a stop on my fall color trips,, 20 Years
> +,, the one in Cumberland went last summer and now
> Conniesville..
> IT IS all crap out there now.
> Plus all the locked gates and bad land oweners
> around SA.
> may stay home and watch video's and my old
> slides..
>
> dave j

and here lies the problem. People think shops can survive when one person stops by there once a year and buys a magazine. The bills for bricks and mortar are year round. Stores in ALL industries are closing rapidly. This is not a Model RR issue. I wish people would stop trying to explain it over and over and over.

Bruce

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The loss of Tinkertown here in St. Louis years ago
> left a huge hole in my heart. Went there at
> least once a week, got to actually see models
> before buying them and thoroughly enjoyed the
> company of Frank and Denny. Frank and I worked
> together on 1522 and he sometimes fired for me, so
> we very close, even after he moved to CO. He
> passed back in Feb and I miss him. They had good
> stock and if there was anything they didn't have,
> it would be there the following Wed. All the
> magazines. Good advice, especially on DCC. I
> always bought whatever there to keep my money
> local and never really thought about the internet.
> I did buy a couple used engines on ebay, but that
> was different.
> We used to have several good shops in this area,
> but they slowly drifted away and are missed.
> We'll never see brick and mortar start anew again.

Amen on your comments about Tinkertown. They had a unpainted brass 1522 that I let get away. Still kicking myself over that one. They are missed greatly.

Regards,
Burlington John

I used to visit Tinkertown when I was in St. Louis for work.
A consulting firm I used to work with sent me to Missouri a
number of times or environmental work and I always made it a
point to visit Tinkertown. I bought some models there and
still one or two from those visits back in the 1990's. The
nice thing about Tinkertown is they actually carried models
I was interested in as they were the gateway to the west.

brfriedm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> and here lies the problem. People think shops can
> survive when one person stops by there once a year
> and buys a magazine. The bills for bricks and
> mortar are year round. Stores in ALL industries
> are closing rapidly. This is not a Model RR issue.
> I wish people would stop trying to explain it over
> and over and over.
>
> Bruce

Yep for sure. I never had any allusions about B&M
hobby shops. This isn't just a model RR issue, it's
all manner of physical stores.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

A good way to get people to shop more at B&M stores would be for the states to require collection of sales tax and to tax the internet purchases at 50% of the total cost or higher.
Cheers
Charlie
MP 52.8 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

Another hobby shop closed yesterday. Veaches in Richmond, Indiana closed it's doors yesterday. It had just recently stopped selling all model railroad items which it had a dedicated area upstairs for modelers. They were always MSRP though which doesn't help in the internet age.

nikon1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A good way to get people to shop more at B&M
> stores would be for the states to require
> collection of sales tax and to tax the internet
> purchases at 50% of the total cost or higher.
> Cheers
> Charlie
> MP 52.8 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

Well, I don't know about 50%, but I do feel that all sales tax should be nationalized, so it is the same, no matter who buys what and where.

Well, yes, B&M stores of all types are suffering, but few are dropping the way hobby shops in general and MR stores in particular are. Most retail businesses cater to customers across a broad age range, with new customers finding them every day. With MR shops, it's a completely different story.

Other hobby shops are closing up as well. A town I worked in, lost both "General" hobby shops that mostly catered to the RC crowd. One even had an RC track.

I still like to stop at actual brick and mortar shops because they all have NOS stuff that is long gone online.