LHS visit

[sgtcarl1]

Oh, well, I do!! We have a full service station close by, too. He charges at least ten cents over what everyone is charging, here. He doesn't want to be bothered by gas sales. He spends his time and energy working on cars, and selling tires and batteries. He's an honest person who is very good at what he does. And on the other side of us, is a similar situation, except he doesn't charge as much for his gasoline. But he has an excellent reputation, and is honest, too. He's been my mechanic for a couple of years, now.

[Russ Bellinis]

It is very sad to see LHS's faltering but what the world needs now IS personal service . While we all can not stock everything we CAN at least be civil .
I still say " what ever happened to the Service in SERVICE STATION "
I still think it could make a comeback.

Mike

Mike, I agree 100% with you.
I can't stock everything, but I can order anything (well except for Athearn) and will if the customer wants it.

Will,
You can also order Athearn, it just takes a little ingenuity. The last time I was in Las Vegas I visited a train store that had just opened. As we were talking the subject of Horizon came up and he said that he couldn't buy from Horizon. The Horizon rep came by and when he tried to set something up the guy insisted that a train store was not economically viable and if he didn't carry the full range of Horizon products he would not make a go of the business. The upshot was that the Horizon rep was so obnoxious that he kicked him out of the store. He then made a connection with another hobby shop back East somewhere that has a Horizon account. He orders Athearn through that store and that store ships his order on to him when it comes in. He gets the same discount he would have gotten from dealing with Horizon directly, maybe a little better discount because the 2 stores effectively double the size of the order either one would make on there own. The delivery is just delayed by a week or so for the other store to ship to him. I would bet that there is a hobby shop somewhere out of your area who would love to add your Athearn order to theirs in order to pick up a better discount.

[eightyeightfan1]

Will,
You can also order Athearn, it just takes a little ingenuity. The last time I was in Las Vegas I visited a train store that had just opened. As we were talking the subject of Horizon came up and he said that he couldn't buy from Horizon. The Horizon rep came by and when he tried to set something up the guy insisted that a train store was not economically viable and if he didn't carry the full range of Horizon products he would not make a go of the business. The upshot was that the Horizon rep was so obnoxious that he kicked him out of the store. He then made a connection with another hobby shop back East somewhere that has a Horizon account. He orders Athearn through that store and that store ships his order on to him when it comes in. He gets the same discount he would have gotten from dealing with Horizon directly, maybe a little better discount because the 2 stores effectively double the size of the order either one would make on there own. The delivery is just delayed by a week or so for the other store to ship to him. I would bet that there is a hobby shop somewhere out of your area who would love to add your Athearn order to theirs in order to pick up a better discount.

The LHS I go to had the sort of the same problem. He was still stocking Athearn(Runs his store out of his basement...until May anyway) even after Horizon bought Athearn.Until someone else opened up an hobby store in the same town. The new one was mostly RC, models and paintball(better-half did buy jigsaw puzzels there). My LHS owner, and the new stores owner had a verbal agreement. He didn't sell trains, my LHS owner wasn't gonna sell RC. Well that was going on for a few years everyone was happy. Then the new one moved into a bigger store and started use Horizon for a distributor. Well, the new owner, staying true to the agreement, told them he wasn't going to sell tarins cause of my LHS owner. Horizon told him "Sell trains, or find someone else". Then Horizon called my LHS owner and told him they wern't going to sell him anymore Athearn becasue of the "New"ownery. My LHS was sellling $5000.00/month(out of his basement mind you)of Athearn. Anyway, up until last year, he didn't have any Athearn, couldn't get any. Then one day the Horizon rep called and said my LHS guy had gotten Athearn back. Turns out, the new guy, even though he had a store front, made lots of RC, Paintball, models ect..ect sales, in the year and half, hadn't made one Athearn sale. Not one!
It was great going to my LHS and seeing Athearn back on the shelves.

[ngauger]

Neat!!! Yeah - It figures.. I wonder if that was "loyalty " to an LHS??????

[GS4]

Makes you wonder how some business brains think. Don't they want to sell their products ??? I've been dealing with my LHS for 30yrs. I've seen him grow from a back room operation to what he is today, that includes helping him move premises 3 times. Each move was to a bigger premises. I remember how we, as a joke, put my daughter in a shoe box with a price tag on it and put her on the shelf !!! That was when he was still a back room operation. OH and while I used to visit him in the back room, my wife used to visit with his wife for coffee !!!

Cheers, Simon

[Russ Bellinis]

Makes you wonder how some business brains think. Don't they want to sell their products ??? I've been dealing with my LHS for 30yrs. I've seen him grow from a back room operation to what he is today, that includes helping him move premises 3 times. Each move was to a bigger premises. I remember how we, as a joke, put my daughter in a shoe box with a price tag on it and put her on the shelf !!! That was when he was still a back room operation. OH and while I used to visit him in the back room, my wife used to visit with his wife for coffee !!!

Cheers, Simon

Unfortunately, there is nothing that requires a local hobby shop owner to be a good businessman. All too often, they are into hobby(s), and decide to open a hobby shop to make an income from their hobbies. If you have followed the thread on your model railroad reflecting your personality, the last few posts probably sum up a common trait of model railroaders. We may enjoy fun and fellowship with other modelers, but we probably tend to be more comfortable than the general public when doing something alone. I think some of the very traits that makes us want to build a miniature world and operate trains through it probably tend to not make us the most effective "people persons" and may not be the best traits for a successful business owner.

[ngauger]

Woah!! Never thought of it that way

I know a few LHS owners that "Reflect that personality"

[csiguy68]

i cannot say enough good things about the lhs i deal with. the prices are about as good as everyone elses and in some cases better. and they have no problem special ordering things too. when the new walthers steel mill buildings came out, they gave 20 percent off of the price if you pre-ordered it. which i thought was really nice.


they also always have been very respectable folks to deal with and treat every customer no matter if they are a regular or not as the most important person in that store at that time. they often at times will call you if something new that they know you might be interested in comes in. for instance they know i like steel mill modeling, so if something related to that or conrail comes they notify me. and they dont get upset either if i dont buy it.


todd