05-19-2017, 10:40 AM
cn nutbar Wrote:It wouldn't surprise me to see Walmart open a train/hobby department
Hobby Lobby used to have one, until they screwed up and priced their 2-6-0 locomotives at $11.00 each - same price as their freight cars! I did well that day!
Problem was, the trains did not generate sufficient revenue so they dropped the whole thing.
I can easily picture WalMart selling the boxed train sets, but they will never put the effort into the hobby that the B&M shops do, they won't make a fortune and they will drop out as well. The problem with them is that they don't see the hobby with the same passion as the customers, but merely as another item to mark up, shelve and make a profit from. Model railroading has a soul, and WalMart never did.
I see the future as a huge mail-order warehouse someplace filling orders for modellers who never see the products before buying, and have no connection at all the to makers or the sellers. When that happens, I'll find another hobby, because I insist that people who make their money selling things to me work hard at making me happy with their products, and just as hard at caring how I feel about them and what I want from them.
Model trains are not cans off beans of the supermarket shelf.