03-25-2010, 02:59 PM
A new poll for the newer Big Blue members.... an update for the long time members!
Recently, it seems that several Toronto-area hobby shops have either closed or converted into being online stores. In one case, one moved from a downtown Toronto neighbourhood to just outside of the city because it was more economical (George's Trains). I apologize in advance if this topic has been flogged to death in the past! but I'm asking it again here because it suddenly seems that the storefront type of LHS is quickly disappearing in favour of the online version.
I'm aware of the cost/economical reasons for this -- I just thought it would be very interesting to poll our members here and see if there is a pattern. I definitely fall into the "both" category, although I also seem to be buying more online lately. This is partly because of our high Canadian dollar -- it's currently very economical for Canadians to buy from the US or UK (I had another thread on this!)
I mainly support my LHS's but have recently bought more online. For example, I recently went into one of my LHS's asking for some back-scenes for a small British shelf layout I'm working on. They didn't have any but offered to order some in. I declined because I was pretty confident they would take weeks (even months?) to arrive. Instead, I bought some online and they arrived in 4-5 days! I think this is a good case in point.
At any rate, I look forward to any feedback!
Rob
Recently, it seems that several Toronto-area hobby shops have either closed or converted into being online stores. In one case, one moved from a downtown Toronto neighbourhood to just outside of the city because it was more economical (George's Trains). I apologize in advance if this topic has been flogged to death in the past! but I'm asking it again here because it suddenly seems that the storefront type of LHS is quickly disappearing in favour of the online version.
I'm aware of the cost/economical reasons for this -- I just thought it would be very interesting to poll our members here and see if there is a pattern. I definitely fall into the "both" category, although I also seem to be buying more online lately. This is partly because of our high Canadian dollar -- it's currently very economical for Canadians to buy from the US or UK (I had another thread on this!)
I mainly support my LHS's but have recently bought more online. For example, I recently went into one of my LHS's asking for some back-scenes for a small British shelf layout I'm working on. They didn't have any but offered to order some in. I declined because I was pretty confident they would take weeks (even months?) to arrive. Instead, I bought some online and they arrived in 4-5 days! I think this is a good case in point.
At any rate, I look forward to any feedback!
Rob
Rob
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