Model Railroading > Buying small detail parts online

I recently had my local Hobby shop close its doors! ( Rogers Railroad Jct.) Lodi, CA. My next closest shop is about 50 miles away in Roseville, Ca. So I’ve begun to buy more detail parts online. Some on EBay and some from online shops. Use to just walk into my local shop, pay the list price plus tax. Now it’s pay the list price, plus the tax and the big shipping charge. Needed some stainless steel wire recently, $10.00 bucks for 2 pks, plus the tax and shipping/Handling charges, $11.00. Only way he’d ship is FedEx. I’ve noticed on small items there’s no such thing as free shipping. Most of the time your building something and you just need that one part to finish it. Most of the time you can only find one, maybe two shops/EBAY on line that have parts your looking for.

I could drive the 100 mile round trip to closet shop, but I’m not even sure Hobby shops are allowed to be open during the shelter in place order. I always said, once all the local shops are gone watch the online prices rise! Anyone else seeing this trend? Big ticket items usually have free shipping. It’s the small stuff.

Valleyman

 

Valleyman, forget Roseville and drive the 89 miles to the Train Shop in Santa Clara. I've been told time after time they just happen to be out of stock on part which I know they aren't restocking till they feel like it. I rent there each week for 4 weeks on a easy to get DW part only to get the Oh we don't have that, when I know I bought the only one a month ago. Its 250 miles for me, so i spend at least 100 bucks in parts to stock up on. Rarely are they out of stock, and if they are, it really is cause they are back ordered. I will still do a little shopping at the Roseville store, but only if I'm driving by it to support a retail plus local shop. Train Shop also ships.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/20 16:17 by TomG.

We feel your pain in Hawaii. Just about any vendor who has free shipping to the rest of the U.S. doesn't include that for us or Alaska, and when some place offers a discount on their regular shipping charge, we don't even get that. I've paid as much as $70 shipping for a few HO locomotives.

Guess it's a good thing, then, that we only have room for a small layout!

TomG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Valleyman, forget Roseville and drive the 89 miles
> to the Train Shop in Santa Clara. I've been told
> time after time they just happen to be out of
> stock on part which I know they aren't restocking
> till they feel like it. I rent there each week for
> 4 weeks on a easy to get DW part only to get the
> Oh we don't have that, when I know I bought the
> only one a month ago. Its 250 miles for me, so i
> spend at least 100 bucks in parts to stock up on.
> Rarely are they out of stock, and if they are, it
> really is cause they are back ordered. I will
> still do a little shopping at the Roseville store,
> but only if I'm driving by it to support a retail
> plus local shop. Train Shop also ships.

Tom, which hobby shop gave you the poor experience with getting the DW part that you wanted?   I've almost always got what I needed from The Train Shop in Santa Clara.  RR Hobbies is a bit too far for me to make the drive.

Cheers,
Harry

I sell small items and if they can go in a small padded envelope, I generally charge $3.75. (That is a USPS first-class package with tracking). Lately I have not been charging for additional small items either, as long as we can stay in the envelope. Now, wire and long stuff like styrene (which I do not sell) would have to be more. I recently shipped a (non-train-related) tube to someone within northern California and it was only $4.13. As long as you can keep it under a pound, shipping anywhere USA should not be more than about $6.50.

TJY
Crescent Station



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/20 17:33 by icancmp193.

Valleyman,

Have you tried Just Traians in Concord just off hey 4. They have lots of detail parts and are always willing and able to order parts.

J.

If you're not adverse to using the phone, try AA Hobbies in Warwick, RI. One whole wall of a
50 ft+/- store is detail parts. My success rate is not 100% but pretty close to it.
Usually uses USPS, charging exact amount  as they pay.

John is there Tues-Fri 12-8, Sat 10-6   401-737-7111

You're in the large states out west and driving 100 miles is nothing.  We're in the little states in
New England and I would rather call than drive 30 miles.

Just my opinion!
Frank30

Thanks for everyone’s input. I have a closet full of parts. It always seems your missing one item. This time it was Detail Associates .010 stainless wire. I scoured the Internet trying to get a good deal on shipping. Not many packages of this wire to be found. Now I understand that most of the Hobby Shops in California are closed. Deemed non essential. 

Valleyman

Try RC Country Hobbies in South Sacramento at 9500 Micron Ave., Unit 102. Big store. lots of stuff for trains.
 

The ENTIRE city of Los Angeles, population of approx. FOUR MILLION, has not one, dedicated model railroad shop.  Tell me that a well stocked shop here couldn't make a great living for the owner.

Hope you are all well,

Allen Drucker

If you are ever in the SoCal region, I invite you to my store in Northridge.   I have several spinracks dedicated to detail parts (D.W., D.A, MV, others).   Mostly more for the modern era, but also have a few blowout boxes loaded with steam details.

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center


Valleyman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently had my local Hobby shop close its
> doors! ( Rogers Railroad Jct.) Lodi, CA. My next
> closest shop is about 50 miles away in Roseville,
> Ca. So I’ve begun to buy more detail parts
> online. Some on EBay and some from online shops.
> Use to just walk into my local shop, pay the list
> price plus tax. Now it’s pay the list price,
> plus the tax and the big shipping charge. Needed
> some stainless steel wire recently, $10.00 bucks
> for 2 pks, plus the tax and shipping/Handling
> charges, $11.00. Only way he’d ship is FedEx.
> I’ve noticed on small items there’s no such
> thing as free shipping. Most of the time your
> building something and you just need that one part
> to finish it. Most of the time you can only find
> one, maybe two shops/EBAY on line that have parts
> your looking for.
>
> I could drive the 100 mile round trip to closet
> shop, but I’m not even sure Hobby shops are
> allowed to be open during the shelter in place
> order. I always said, once all the local shops are
> gone watch the online prices rise! Anyone else
> seeing this trend? Big ticket items usually have
> free shipping. It’s the small stuff.
>
> Valleyman
>
>  

Try j-tprantle on that eb*y site great selection of detail parts\ fair prices &  shipping costs are low/ Good Folks



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/20 21:41 by EL3672.

Streamliner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The ENTIRE city of Los Angeles, population of
> approx. FOUR MILLION, has not one, dedicated model
> railroad shop.  Tell me that a well stocked shop
> here couldn't make a great living for the owner.
>
> Hope you are all well,
>
> Allen Drucker

Allen, you closed allied because you didn't want to be the old man at the train store. If a well seasoned train store like yours couldn't survive, how could anyone's else?
Going to the other train shops in the area, only Arnie's Trains seems to doing very well.
The others have empty shelves and dead stock.
What do you think would make a store successfull? Internet presence like MB Klein, discount pricing, having stock on the shelf, and the most important for me, actually ordering special orders!!!
Allued was outstanding for this. Allied always ordered my special orders, unlike a couple other shops that waited until they had enough combined orders, then they could get free shipping. By then what I wanted was out of stock and no longer available. Then Ebay was my friend.

Posted from Android

needles_sub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Streamliner Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The ENTIRE city of Los Angeles, population of
> > approx. FOUR MILLION, has not one, dedicated
> model
> > railroad shop.  Tell me that a well stocked
> shop
> > here couldn't make a great living for the
> owner.
> >
> > Hope you are all well,
> >
> > Allen Drucker
>
> Allen, you closed allied because you didn't want
> to be the old man at the train store. If a well
> seasoned train store like yours couldn't survive,
> how could anyone's else?
> Going to the other train shops in the area, only
> Arnie's Trains seems to doing very well.
> The others have empty shelves and dead stock.
> What do you think would make a store successfull?
> Internet presence like MB Klein, discount pricing,
> having stock on the shelf, and the most important
> for me, actually ordering special orders!!!
> Allued was outstanding for this. Allied always
> ordered my special orders, unlike a couple other
> shops that waited until they had enough combined
> orders, then they could get free shipping. By then
> what I wanted was out of stock and no longer
> available. Then Ebay was my friend.
>
> Posted from Android

I don't know the names associated with most of the "handles" used here on T.O., so I don't know just who you are, but please allow me to say MANY THANKS, to you and the many others who shopped at my store when I had it.  

The big, 12,600 square foot, Allied Model Trains store in Culver City, which operated from September of 1989 through May of 2007, was a very expensive facility to operate.  The utilities, payroll, property taxes, insurance and upkeep were tremendous for a hobby store.  Long about 2004 or so, two things began to draw my attention:  1) The "graying" of my customer base, along with a lack of younger people starting up in the hobby and 2) The steady rise in internet sales, most of which were heavily discounted at the time.  Both of these phenomena led me to believe that it would become difficult for the business to support the large building in the years to come.  Sure, we could of upped our participation in internet sales, but we would have been competing with those selling online from locations with much lower overhead.  In addition, when I found out how much of an income I could realize from leasing the building out, getting the Allied business out of there became a "no brainer" decision.  

When a tenant was found for the building, I decided to get out of the business as well.  After building the business from almost nothing, into what it was in 2006, I really had no interest in downsizing.  And, you are right, I did not want to be "the old man running the train store." The timing was right, the Allied business was doing very well and opportunity was knocking at my door.  

As you may know, I sold the 60 year old business for one dollar, plus the value of the remaining inventory, all of which was sold at my cost or below.  I sold it to three partners, all of whom had worked for decades in the retail model railroad business.  They were allowed to move the business wherever they wanted, but chose a 4200 square foot building I also owned, directly across the street from the big Allied building. They ran Allied there for eight years, before going bankrupt.

Unfortunately--and this is just my personal opinion, based upon what I was able to discern at the time--the business was thrown into bankruptcy, not because the business was no longer viable, but because two of the partners became embroiled in a personal disagreement, that they were either unable or unwilling to resolve.  I happen to think that the business was also very poorly managed, and could have done so much better, but again, that's just my opinion.

When I ran Allied--from the day I bought the little, 1,200 square foot, run down shop in 1975, until the day I sold it--it was always my philosophy that the business got whatever it needed, and if there was something left over after all the bills and wages were paid, that was for me.  I absolutely, positively KNOW that the downsized Allied could still be doing a GREAT business out of that location in Culver City, if the business was run by an owner who would have put it and his customers FIRST.  This practice of only ordering stock for customer orders is truly ridiculous.  How does anyone expect a store to attract customers if every new release never makes it to a display case?

Anyway, I am the "old man" now and I only have stories to tell.  And, I will say that I never had to deal with anything like the current crisis that retailers have been hit with.  The day we get the green light saying it is safe to go out again, THAT SAME DAY, go to your local hobby shop and buy something BIG!  The retail shops need every bit of support we can possibly give them and the sooner the better.

Hope you are all well,

Allen Drucker
 

EL3672 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Try j-tprantle on that eb*y site great selection
> of detail parts\ fair prices &  shipping costs
> are low/ Good Folks

I'll second a vote here. I've bought detail parts from them when my distributor was out.

TJY

needles_sub Wrote:

> What do you think would make a store successfull?
> Internet presence like MB Klein, discount pricing,
> having stock on the shelf, and the most important
> for me, actually ordering special orders!!!

You do know M.B. Klein had to close it's store. Online only, now.

Stay healthy,

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

As for M. B. Klein, I started going to their Gay St. store in the late 1960s when my dad would go into Baltimore City to pick up his paycheck. Frequently went there during the 1970-80s on Saturdays (place was always BUSY). Continued to go until the parking became hard to find during the week. Work and life changed so I couldn't get there on Saturdays anymore. Went to the Cockeysville store a few times after their move but noticed that the retail store "shelf" stock shrunk to the point there wasn't much to look at, you know shop? I think the worst thing I saw was when a fellow came in during his lunch time and asked for a certain locomotive. After giving his request to someone from "the back" he waited, and waited and waited. Finally had to tell someone he had to get back to work and to forget it he couldn't wait any longer. Yes it was a good 20 minutes, I was also on my lunch break and was watching my time. I guess they didn't want to retail and were chasing everyone away so they could go straight internet-mail order.

CR

The roseville store was the one I had trouble with. Never have issues In Santa Clara.

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TomG Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Valleyman, forget Roseville and drive the 89
> miles
> > to the Train Shop in Santa Clara. I've been
> told
> > time after time they just happen to be out of
> > stock on part which I know they aren't
> restocking
> > till they feel like it. I rent there each week
> for
> > 4 weeks on a easy to get DW part only to get
> the
> > Oh we don't have that, when I know I bought the
> > only one a month ago. Its 250 miles for me, so
> i
> > spend at least 100 bucks in parts to stock up
> on.
> > Rarely are they out of stock, and if they are,
> it
> > really is cause they are back ordered. I will
> > still do a little shopping at the Roseville
> store,
> > but only if I'm driving by it to support a
> retail
> > plus local shop. Train Shop also ships.
>
> Tom, which hobby shop gave you the poor experience
> with getting the DW part that you wanted?   I've
> almost always got what I needed from The Train
> Shop in Santa Clara.  RR Hobbies is a bit too far
> for me to make the drive.
>
> Cheers,
> Harry

WM1977 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As for M. B. Klein, I started going to their Gay
> St. store in the late 1960s when my dad would go
> into Baltimore City to pick up his paycheck.
> Frequently went there during the 1970-80s on
> Saturdays (place was always BUSY). Continued to go
> until the parking became hard to find during the
> week. Work and life changed so I couldn't get
> there on Saturdays anymore. Went to the
> Cockeysville store a few times after their move
> but noticed that the retail store "shelf" stock
> shrunk to the point there wasn't much to look at,
> you know shop? I think the worst thing I saw was
> when a fellow came in during his lunch time and
> asked for a certain locomotive. After giving his
> request to someone from "the back" he waited, and
> waited and waited. Finally had to tell someone he
> had to get back to work and to forget it he
> couldn't wait any longer. Yes it was a good 20
> minutes, I was also on my lunch break and was
> watching my time. I guess they didn't want to
> retail and were chasing everyone away so they
> could go straight internet-mail order.
>
> CR

It looks like things have changed in a major way at MBK the negative experiences you report.  I havent seen or experenced anything like that at all but I didn't start buying from MB Klein (at first, mail order) until the 1990's and they do a booming business despite their apparent low point you experienced.  During the past 15 or so years I have done a lot of buying from them and can't find much to complain about.  Really, there is only one significant down side to MBK, you can't pre-order anything; you have to be Johnny on the spot if something comes in that you want and happends to be very popular.  *poof*

Cheers, Jim