Another Store Closing

Has anyone seen this?Sorry if it has already been posted.

Rio Grande Hobbies & 4NScale.com

 

As posted on the Rio Grande Site:

"Regarding your Advanced (Pre-Orders), Wig-Wag will be able to take care of these. Please contact them to discuss your Pre-Order, as they have basic information regarding your advanced orders."

 

Rio Grande Hobbies has served us N scalers for a long time. THANK YOU !
I've placed many a order for locos from them over the years.
I wish Wayne the best with his future plans.

Steven

 

Yes, it's so sad to loose such nice shops!
My best to Wayne for a future full of friends,
and a big "Thanks" for the past friendly service.
Enzo Fortuna

 

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! They are not only an e-tailer but also a LHS for me. Oh well, wish them the best in whatever they choose to do next! May have to run over there this weekend. Jamie

 

Best of wishes to Wayne and his family. A hearty thanks for many years of great service. The shop will be missed.


Steve E.

 

One bright note. Ken's Trains of Sudbury, MA will be open for another two years. They just resigned their lease.

Sad to see Rio Grande go.

 

Rio Grande Hobbies closing — a sad day....

I just ventured to Rio Grande Hobbies web site to find this statement...


Rio Grande Hobbies Customers – With great sadness, I have decided to close Rio Grande Hobbies. Due to several business and personal obstacles, it will be impossible to continue. Starting February 26, all purchases will receive an additional 20% discount at checkout. Quantities on hand are also displayed and many limited. Orders will not be held or combined for any reason, but will ship immediately with valid credit card or store credit. If you are close to Canton, our store is open and several other items are available that are not on the website.

Regarding your Advanced (Pre-Orders), Wig-Wag will be able to take care of these. Please contact them to discuss your Pre-Order, as they have basic information regarding your advanced orders. There are also several orders that have just been filled and on their way to you. However, all other orders will be canceled in order to give you the opportunity to purchase items at a significantly lower price. If you have store credit, I will apply to your next order or reimburse you prior to closing.

Personally, I appreciate all the great people I’ve met. Your friendships are most important. Thanks… Wayne

 

Rio Grande Hobbies/4Nscale is no more

This morning I found this e-mail in my mailbox:

Rio Grande Hobbies Customers,


With great sadness, I have decided to close Rio Grande Hobbies. Due to several business and personal obstacles, it will be impossible to continue. Starting February 26, all purchases will receive an additional 20% discount at checkout. Quantities on hand are also displayed and many limited. Orders will not be held or combined for any reason, but will ship immediately with valid credit card or store credit. If you are close to Canton, our store is open and several other items are available that are not on the website.

Regarding your Advanced (Pre-Orders), Wig-Wag will be able to take care of these. Please contact them to discuss your Pre-Order, as they have basic information regarding your advanced orders. There are also several orders that have just been filled and on their way to you. However, all other orders will be canceled in order to give you the opportunity to purchase items at a significantly lower price. If you have store credit, I will apply to your next order or reimburse you prior to closing.

Personally, I appreciate all the great people I’ve met. Your friendships are most important.

Click Here to visit Store - Rio Grande Hobbies

Thanks,

Wayne

:tb-sad::tb-sad::tb-sad::tb-sad:

 

Sad to hear. I had purchased from them before. There's a good probability that I'm moving to Atlanta soon and this shop was something to really look forward to.

 

I had become a friend of Wayne. He tried his best to handle many problems with his life and the company. I wish I lived closer to him and had the time to help him through his problems. 400 miles is not next door but have been to the store many times. Bob.

 

I agree it is very sad, however do we really need 5-6 posts saying the same thing, 3 in N-scale alone?

 

One thread was posted at the same moment as mine, so I didn't see it. The other post did not have the name of the shop in its title, so I did not notice that one too.

 

He has been my main supplier over the last years. My hobby friends also order most of their N scale stuff at 4Nscale. I am sad to hear that Wayne has stopped with his business.

 

Trainmaster Models in Duluth is where I do 90% of my N-scale purchasing. Since I moved to Atlanta 15 years ago, three GREAT hobby shops for N-scale have closed, although Trainmaster is new since then and are the best I have seen for N. Jamie

 

The threads were merged. This happens occasionally, as threads are created independently and oftentimes concurrently. We merge them when we are aware of concurrent threads, but sometimes it takes a while.

I've traveled a lot in the past five months, and visited many hobby shops. In general, they are not doing well.

 

I can understand why regular hobby shops without internet sales face hard times: they not only need a good inventory, but also a nice presentation. And that costs a lot of money. A webshop has the advantage of anonimity: you don't need a fancy presentation, only a good website. And you can attract customers from far away, like me. I understand that 4Nscale had both a shop and a site?

It is sad to see that one of the best webshops I know of, has disappeared...

 

Has anyone tried placing an order yet today? I'm not seeing the additional discount anywhere and when called nobody answers?

 

Not an ad hominem comment.

Businesses exist to make a profit. If they don't make a profit they close. I searched my email for "rio grande" in the subject and found 85 emails on two lists 2007-2009 of "I ordered from Rio Grande and it didn't come and Wayne won't return my six emails." I found 25 more that said 4nscale.com in the subject with the same gripe.

No other retailer approaches that number. I'd go out on a limb and say that if you added up all the complaints about others that they wouldn't equal the RGH totals. It got to the point where I would cringe if I saw "Rio Grande Hobbies," or 4nscale in the subject line.

I tried to spend money there several years ago and my calls were not returned. I wanted to visit the store, and N scale friends in Atlanta said, "Don't bother, the store's not always open when it's supposed to be."

Who gets hurt here? The store's owner clearly wasn't making any money or he'd keep the business open; in the current economy he may have a hard time finding a job (I wouldn't wish that on anyone - two of my seven soldiers have lost their jobs while they are in Iraq). The former customers will go elsewhere, slightly (very slightly) reducing competition. Atlas, Kato, et al will still sell just as much, through the same distributors.

If people don't like a barber they don't go back. And they tell their friends. If people don't like a restaurant, they don't go back. People vote with their wallets just like they do with their feet. Clearly Rio Grande Hobbies did not win the election.

So, who gets hurt? How about the landlord who rented the building in good faith (guessing it was a rental) and will now have to find some other way to cover his mortgage. That's a real financial loss.

There are plenty of N-scale-only shops; you still have choices. In several years of online time I've never seen ANYONE complain about the place I buy most of my stuff except me - and it was only after the issue had been resolved...

Competition is the American way. If you are glad that Mehano, MRC, and Lima are not the main locomotive producers today then you cannot complain that RGH didn't make it.

Now, as a person, I feel sympathy for anyone's failed business venture. If it were not for people willing to work hard on a small margin then we would not have the hobby variety that we have today. I was laid off in 2002 and it took me ten months to find a job. During that time I almost depleted all of my non-retirement savings. I was good for about three more months before I would have been out of cash. I know what it's like; seven years later I still earn slightly less than I did then (Caveat - I am MUCH happier though!)

Just my curmudgeonly thoughts today.

 

I have never faced any problems with my orders. Some of my e-mails weren't answered, but all of my orders were delivered correctly. I also got an e-mail in which Wayne proposed to combine two orders because it would lower the shipping costs.

I understand that he suffers some health problems. That makes it almost impossible to maintain a business on your own.

I feel sorry for Wayne, and for the N scalers who have always ordered in his shop with satisfaction.