03-25-2010, 03:39 PM
I deal totally with local hobby shops, but I'm fortunate that here in So Cal we have an abundance of good train shops. In fact here one local hobby shop is a general source stocking rc cars, boats, planes as well as trains, but the other store I deal with specializes in trains only. I think a lot of the hobby shops that are starting to do business online are not closing the brick and mortar store so much as adding an online web site in addition to the local store. Online has become the new "mail order", and a lot of local hobby shops are discovering that they can increase their customer base. The other thing I've noticed is a lot of local hobby shops selling at train shows. I've particularly noticed some hobby shops from California's central coast area (between Santa Barbara and San Jose for those not familiar with Ca.) are using train shows to expand their customer base. Some of these stores are located in towns so small that there is probably not enough of a population base to support a store in town, but by selling at the shows as well, they increase sales to the point of being able to compete in volume with stores from the larger cities.