hobby shops in St Paul , min.

my wife and I are making a trip to the MALL Of amer. for a scrapbooking con. looking for hobby shops in area

 

There are a couple of really nice shops in the area. The first is Hub Hobby. They have a store in Richfield (less than 10 minutes from MOA) and one in Little Canada (probably a half hour drive). They have a lot of train stuff but most is at (or very close to) full retail. There is another shop in St Paul called Scale Model Supplies that has ALOT of trains (including a lot of older stuff) but again, most is at full retail.

 

Scale Model Supplies is a must see. It's a classic hobby shop, in the basement of an old building, piles of inventory but well organized. Model trains, planes, cars, you name it. Yes, their prices are generally retail prices. They are not a "bargain discount store" and don't claim to be, so don't expect them to be. They are a brick and mortar hobby shop, not an ecommerce shop, so you have to go in with that expectation. Be sure to peek in the back room at the huge slot car track!

I've also recently stumbled on Steve's Train City in Hopkins, he was closed by the time we got there but peeking in the window showed there might be some good stuff inside.

When is your scrapbook con? Saturday the 14th is the TCMRM swap meet at the fairgrounds. Not the greatest show ever, but certainly worth the price of admission to peruse.

 

I have a buddy in the St. Paul area who does the HO scale thing. He mentioned there are two different shows in the area this weekend, although the only location he mentioned was the fairgrounds. Is the TCMRM show a multi-show event?

 

TCMRM does a swap meet in the spring and fall every year at the fairgrounds. It's the only one I know of, but that certainly doesn't mean there's not another one going on, I'd go if I knew about it!

 

I definitely recommend visiting SMS. That place is a time capsule of stuff going back decades. Full MSRP, but then again, if they were a discount store they wouldn't still have the stuff they have

I live a few blocks from Hub Hobby (Richfield). And although a decent (and handy) store, they don't have anywhere near the inventory of SMS (particularly when it comes to N scale). They cover lots of different hobbies, but their main focus these days is probably RC stuff.

Cheers,
-Mark

 

Curious about the mention of St Paul in your thread Title but not Minneapolis.

I'm in agreement to all responses to date about the four hobby shops mentioned:

• HUB (Richfield)
• HUB (Little Canada)
• STC (Hopkins)
• SMS (St Paul)

They're a couple others but you make no mention of your method of transportation, how far you're willing to travel or what
hours of the day you'll have available for shopping. Further information about two of the above shops w/o mentioning names:

One of the four is a well known eBay seller. When I first became aware of his business years ago, he was the typical
Tinplate/American Flyer flea market dealer - Very high priced and notably ignorant of n scale, both brand name quality
and retail/used values. Assuming an attempt to increase his sales volume he turned to eBay for more exposure. His success
was marginal if existent at all on eBay in the early years. I attribute that to excessive n scale prices for previously owned
merchandise and exhorbitant s/h charges (worthy of mention in this TrainBoard thread
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?105894-More-eBay-Humor

In latter years he's had more success on eBay selling about one-third of his offerings, especially since reducing his shipping charges
to a realistic amount. Still, many of his asking prices for used merchandise exceed the original MSRP. I can't imagine a trip to that
store would be anything more than a waste of time unless you happen to walk into the shop before he's listed newly arrived inventory
on eBay AND it's something relatively rare that you've always longed for. Also he's now knowledgable enough that you'll pay a premium
price for said item(s).

Not mentioned earlier in this thread, the second shop WILL deal *if* you have a pocket full of cash and aren't there to waste their time.
Very attentive, helpful staff although personal hygiene isn't high on the priority list of some customers and employees. I've bought there
at 25%-35% discount in large volume and been offered slow moving, excess production new merchandise at 50% off MSRP.
Paying cash, you can help package your purchases and have them mailed home out-of-state, saving the sales tax expense - a big savings on
large purchases.

If this is your first trip to Mall of America, I'd recommend budgeting your time exploring the Mall, taking the Light Rail downtown,
and maybe MTC over to downtown St Paul - Union Depot, Jackson Street Roundhouse and/or railfanning overlooking the Mississippi River.

Perfect time of year weather wise. Have fun!

 

I guess I can't comment on which stores put up with haggling on price, nor have I followed anyone's ebay performance, but Scale Model Supplies is worth a visit if even just to bask in the glory of it's nostalgia.

I think the light rail is finished now past Scale Model Supplies, so you could possibly ride all the way from MOA to there on the train. Also, Jackson St. is worth an afternoon, as is the bus tour around old St. Paul, and the tour of the James Hill residence. We spent most of an afternoon up there a few years ago and I think I could have spent most of a weekend.

 

Coincidentally, I just returned from a work trip up there, that included a (non-work-related) stop at Scale Friday evening (no TCMRM on Saturday though:crying. The light rail line on that part of University was not open yet, but the side trip was well worth the time. They carry several N scale product lines I've not been able to find in any of the hobby shops I visit in the Detroit OR Chicago areas.

 

SMS (St Paul) may not be the cheapest shop but they do have many things that other shops do not have like one of the largest MT selections I have ever put my eyes on short of the MT factory and their loco selection ranks right up there with their MT selection.
Also they have the largest MT parts selection of any shop I have been in.
I have only been in their shop 3 times but always have found things to purchase and they do or did have a lot of used items which were not over priced and were in good condition.
I will be stopping in there when I am back in the area as they have a good friendly atmosphere and things I can not find on the bay or get be special ordering at my local hobby shop.

 

I live 2 miles from Hub and 8 miles from SMS. SMS is a valuable resource when you need something. They have GP40W cabs in stock, how many people can say that about their LHS? The prices are on the high side, but when you need something, they usually have it. They carry GMM parts in stock, tons of Micro-Scale Decals and plenty of other N Scale kits and parts. Just go on a nice day when the door is open, or the smell might smack you in the face.

 

Will add my recommendation to stop in Scale Model Supplies. I find something to buy every time I am in MSP on biz. Even if not in the buying mood, the place is great for looking, a la the old time hobby shop. But, I find it hard to believe that holding on to all that stock, literally for years, as sort of a museum will allow that to stay in business too much longer. But, who am I to say. I do enjoy the place.

I did try to negotiate down on an old, out of production MRC throttle years ago, and it was a no go. Minnesota has a far different culture than Texas, and they seem to adopt things like union labor, higher taxes, etc. that all drive the price of doing business up, so I can understand their "list price" mentality. And, I don't mind paying it for hard to find items.

There was a article about the store posted in the restroom years ago. May still be there. Owner says he may be interested in the internet as a way to get folks in the store. Seems to have missed the big picture boat, but I am glad they are still there.

 

SMS really is a wonder when it comes to old/obscure stuff. A few years back I was looking for some old Keystone Locomotive Works details for my saw mill and there were literally none to be found anywhere on the internet. So, I decided to see if SMS had any sitting around, and of course they had all of it! Saved my bacon, I'll tell you what



Cheers,
-Mark

 

Any two page thread on SMS should probably include the climb down (and back up). It's steep and fairly long so be prepared.

When I lived in MN I used to visit quite a bit until they got rid of the layouts.

Jason

 

Remember "The N Shop" up in North Mpls? The guy who ran it passed away a few years ago, but man, that place was quite the museum of old N scale stuff back when it was running.

-Mark

 

Without going down too far down the political road, Minnesota is different from Texas, you are correct, but assumption that union labor or higher taxes have the negative impact on cost or quality of living is, frankly, typical of an outsider looking in, and are not relevant to the discussion.

I don't know where this notion that prices must be negotiable comes from, but it kills me that guys think they can walk into a hobby shop and set their own prices, and get flustered when the shop keep tells them to beat it. It ain't a garage sale folks, it's a business. The price is what it is.

 

The non-negotiating is not a Minnesota thing, it's a SMS thing, and trust me, it has nothing to do with what he pays his people.

 

Was that the place in an old house, maybe Victorian, long stairway up to the main floor? Had a nice old dog. That's the one I visited during the N convention in '99.

 

+1

I'd even go as far as to say it's not unique to SMS either, it's a traditional hobby shop thing that knows no geographical bounds.