Model Railroading > First Hobby closing

Received this over the weekend. Sad as this was one of the shops I usually used for pre-orders. Site was always easy to use, good communication and prices.

Andy


Hello:

First Hobby will be closing its doors (going out of business) in 2018.

Our walk-in store in Austin, Texas will close at the end of April, 2018.

We will continue to receive and ship existing preorder items until the end of August, 2018. At that time, First Hobby will complete its shutdown. Any open order items that have not arrived by the end of August will be cancelled. We are not accepting any further new orders.

Please contact us if you have any questions, need a list of your open orders, wish to cancel any orders, etc. Email is the preferred contact method.

Thank you,

Gene Sheppard, Owner

512-271-8964

sales@firsthobby.com



P.S. I extend my personal thanks to all of our customers, many of whom have been with us for years. You have been much appreciated.

They were my go to also. I'm going to miss them.

Eng.Shadetree

Sad!

I think this leaves Austin TX without a hobby shops that knows anything about model trains.

Curious if this is a 'time to retire' decision or a 'profit/loss' business decision?

Very sad. Good thing none of you shop on the internet.

wpdude Wrote:
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> Very sad. Good thing none of you shop on the
> internet.


Well said.

Years ago, if a hobby shop went up for sale, they were snapped up by hobbiests who had always dreamed of being “the man (or woman) behind the counter.” Later on, immigrants would buy the shops, wanting to put down roots in this country. However, today, just about NOBODY will buy a hobby shop, as they are thought to be unprofitable businesses, with an ever shrinking customer base and fierce, “race to the bottom” price competition from internet suppliers. As much as I hate to say it, in most cases, I’d have to agree. If I was a young man again, I doubt that I would sign my life away to buy a dusty, dirty, almost-out-of-business hobby shop, like I did back in 1975, but then again, maybe I would. The hobby isn’t dead yet and a well stocked hobby shop in a good location, WITH a good website and attention to pricing can STILL be a good business for somebody who loves the hobby. HEY! YOU THERE! Yeah, you with the unhappy look on your face because you are working a job that you hate: Maybe YOU should give the folks at First Hobby a call............NOW!

Hope you are all well,

Allen Drucker



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/18 19:12 by Streamliner.

As more and more Hobby shops close there doors how do you see kids/ people finding out about the Hobby of model trains? How many people on this site got started in the Hobby by walking into Model train store, versus finding out about model trains on the internet?

Valleyman

Valleyman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As more and more Hobby shops close there doors how
> do you see kids/ people finding out about the
> Hobby of model trains? How many people on this
> site got started in the Hobby by walking into
> Model train store, versus finding out about model
> trains on the internet?
>
> Valleyman


Another good point and something I always tossed up to the manufacturers. Internet sites are great for those who pretty much already know what they want, but how many people just happen upon a model railroad website, click on it and decide to buy their first model train? I would guess very few. Most department & hardware stores gave up selling trains at Christmas decades ago, which left the hobby shops, but now most of those are gone. So, it’s up to train shows, holiday displays put up by clubs, someone opting for a Bachman set at Costco and old train guys showing their layouts to neighbors, etc. to inspire newcomers to the hobby. It’s not much, but it’s all we have left.

I was told by a successful hobby shop owner that if all he sold was trains, he'd go out of business. He passed away, but his son took over and the shop has two locations in the same city that sells much more than trains that includes an inventory of airplanes, crafts, tools, drones, remote control cars, etc. And, yes, the shop does mail order too. He sells at retail but will do quantity discounts on track, etc.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/18 18:48 by wabash2800.

Valleyman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As more and more Hobby shops close there doors how
> do you see kids/ people finding out about the
> Hobby of model trains? How many people on this
> site got started in the Hobby by walking into
> Model train store, versus finding out about model
> trains on the internet?
>
> Valleyman

You need to keep in mind the young of today literally "live" in an electronic world. There are tons of resources and shops and photo's on the internet and you can see way more and buy way more via that avenue than the dying dinosaur of the B&M hobby shop. I know it's hard for some still living in the olden days to wrap their heads around it, but that is what is going on in the younger generation an it is pervasive. I see it everywhere and I know it personally because I've had one foot in the old world and one in the new one for the past 20 years.

So your question "how many people on this site got start by walking into a store, I'd hazard the answer would be strongly correlate to age. If this site is populated mostly with old guys, then the answer would be B&M hobby shop. BTW, I'd say for myself, it was B&M hobby shops and magazines and some club visits that helped fuel my interest in the hobby. But over the past 20 years, with the disappearance or lack of B&M shops in various cities that I've lived, I've adapted to the internet. And to be honest, I've found the B&M hobby shop to be of limited value to me mainly because of two things: 1) they mostly charge at or near MSRP and, 2) they didn't have what I wanted. (of course they could order it for me, but common sense told me I could order it myself mail order and save a lot of money; no small thing being on a tight budget.).

So for those two (above) reasons, I haven't had a very romantic rose colored view of hobby shops. The last decent shop in a city where I lived before 10 years ago treated me as a customer rather poorly because I wasn't a big spender. Perhaps if I had a lot more disposable income and a wife who tolerated me spending lots of money, maybe I'd have a more positive view of the LHS institution. My wife's father once told a young niece something which to me has always rung true, "if I have to give you money for you to like me, then I don't need you as a friend". I've visited many hobby shops in many cities over the years, and all too many times, the experience was a negative one and likely tied to money in many cases. My experiences at shops has probably influenced me to finding online shopping more appealing - you get a better deal and remove the grumpy LHS owner factor from the equation all in one fell swoop; Whats not to like? Obviously not everyone has those experiences, and probably the more $$ spent, the more likely you are to have a happy hobby shop guy when shopping. As usual, affluence has it's perks.

Cheers, Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/18 06:02 by SPDRGWfan.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> So your question "how many people on this site
> got start by walking into a store, I'd hazard the
> answer would be strongly correlate to age.

I'll be 72 in a few weeks. I was thirty before I lived in a city which had a train shop that I could get to whenever I wanted. I moved and the next opportunity came in 1979. I moved again and haven't lived near a hobby shop since. Sure I could always have driven thirty or forty miles but that doesn't make a BM any part of my hobby. I live outside DC on the wrong side of town so my drive remains thirty or forty miles.

I got started through the train articles in "Boy's Life." Plus "Model Trains" was available in a local drug store. Nowadays I would start on the web where there are infinite numbers of ideas, help, and photos. Plenty of web merchants. I'm far better off today in terms of learning and living in the hobby than I ever was during the BM train store era.

In my mind and experience, the "good old days" weren't. We are now in the best of times.

You folks in Austin can now drive thirty or forty miles down to SA and shop at Dibbles. Or learn to love the web. Even better; both.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/18 09:08 by Lighter.

I'd agree with Jim overall. I don't know if any of you saw the Business Insider article discussing how millennials and their preferences are changing entire industries, but that's what we're dealing with. Now that I have kids I have a different view of how times and attitudes change. As well as living online in an online world, they want everything NOW. That fits well with the shift to ready-to-run trains instead of kits, but they don't even want to wait for 2-day shipping.
And getting them into trains vs video games is a tough sell too. Not that they don't like model trains, just that they'd rather sit around and be entertained. Anyway, I used to order from 1st Hobby too, but haven;t for a while because most things are not in stock. That may be more the manufacturers new business model and not the LHS's fault. Anyway, sad to see another one go.
On a side note, I used to want to run an LHS but I wouldn't do it anymore. The only brick and mortar places Ive been to worth the trip generally sell everything from RC to military along with the trains.

What used to keep B&M stores afloat was the ability to do reorders of items that were selling well. The limited production schemes and inability to get additional shipments of popular items killed that.

Look at Amazon growth: people WANT to do business online. Like who wants groceries from online!!
Roger

LOL. Three of my last four Amazon purchases (the three which were to be gifts) they shipped the wrong item... Two they shipped the wrong replacement items too.
There will come a day when many lose faith in that company being able to ship what is ordered.

Lighter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I live outside DC on the wrong side of town
> so my drive remains thirty or forty miles.
>
> Nowadays I would start on the
> web where there are infinite numbers of ideas,
> help, and photos. Plenty of web merchants. I'm
> far better off today in terms of learning and
> living in the hobby than I ever was during the BM
> train store era.
>
> In my mind and experience, the "good old days"
> weren't. We are now in the best of times.

I live out side of DC but I'm not really sure which is the "wrong side". I'm on the west side in northern Virginia and for the past 9 years have bounced around the cities west of Fairfax and now out between Warrenton and Culpeper. I've not really found any decent shops that carry a significant compliment of better HO products.

Like you, I've found far more resources on-line than I had in the past. We still have some hardcopy publications but mostly it's on-line resources and vendors. Based on what I have access to in terms of those things and new products, to me this is the golden age of the hobby. We have lots of legacy products accessable on Ebay and especially at train shows (cheapest) and lots of new products too so really everyone should be happy; I don't see why not.

> but they don't even want to wait for 2-day shipping.

I work with a lot of younger people and they blow money on stuff I'd rather not - like eating out a lot and what you mentioned. That's their choice of course. Regular shipping is plenty fast for me.

As for Amazon, so far I have had very few issues; we usually get what we order. Only one time we ordered a spice rack and it went into the time vortex at a local post office according to tracking. I guess someone at the post office wanted that spice rack. Of course Amazon made it good and shipped us another one.

Cheers, Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 04:29 by SPDRGWfan.

In regard to Amazon I order Prime almost daily between work and home purchases. They usually get it in 2 days and it's usually always right. You more have to watch out for buying cheap crap that might not last very long if anything.
I have found a couple really hard to get model railroad items on Amazon that were sold by third party sellers. In one case a seller from Japan. Shipping took a while, but I got what I ordered.

I bought allot of trains from First Hobby over years and will be missed.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA