When I travel I try to visit the LHS in the area I am in for a couple of different reasons. First, I try to pick up a freight car that would be used by a prototype railroad in the area. That way I have a reminder of my trip to that area. Second, you never know what you might find. I have come across sold out cars, custom runs or custom painted, or even items that friends have told me to keep an eye out for. I have also found out that most (not all) LHS have owners/staff that go out of there way to welcome you to their store when they find out that you are a visitor to their area. I have been given discounts on purchases, told of hard to find railfan locations, given hints on good local places to eat, etc. Now, I always made a point to purchase at least one item from a LHS in Orange County, California when I traveled to there. In fact, if I had my family with me they would even ask when we were going to stop there. I had been stopping there for years and saw it go through several changes of staff and layout of the store. However, last year they moved around the corner but I emailed the owner to confirm the new address and business hours as I was going to be in that area again. He confirmed the new location and hours but when I stopped by it was closed. As fate would have it, I was in the area again about 3 weeks later and found the new location open. When I entered there was a employee behind the counter waiting on a customer while another customer was waiting. The area was MUCH smaller than the previous store and looked like a bomb had gone off after a tornado have gone through there. The employee asked me in a not very nice tone what I wanted. When I stated I was looking for N Scale items, he told me I would have to tell him the specific item I wanted and then he pointed behind him and said would look for it in the warehouse. Looking to where he pointed, I saw another room filled with stacks of boxes and various scale items mixed together and spilling on to the floor. I glanced at the waiting customer and he rolled his eyes. The employee then ordered the other customer to follow him in to the "warehouse". When they had left, the remaining customer whispered to me that he was looking for a hard to find item that the employee said he might have. He went on to tell me that if he didn't really need the item he would have told "that jerk" where to insert the item. At that point I left. While it was never a "Sympathy" buy, what I considered as a "Tradition" buy has now ended. I don't have to waste time telling others not to shop at this LHS because I have a feeling it will be closed in a few months, if it makes it that long.
I made this post several years ago and found it by searching some old posts. This was a "sympathy" purchase. A new store opened and I wanted to support it. The store lasted a couple of months and then closed. I never went in again after this initial encounter.
Ever do a "Sympathy" buy? When I went to hobby shops on a weekly bases(usually Saturday morning) no but,I usually bought a needed item if it was in stock or perhaps a magazine.That way I don't waste my trip.
I don't make sympathy purchases, I will make impulse purchases. I have one LHS that has good customer service and a good N scale inventory. I purchase from them on a regular basis. I'll get everything I don't feel like ordering online there. Then my other LHS, great N scale inventory, high pricing and horrible customer service. I don't shop there and steer people away from it whenever possible.
When I was still about 8 or 9, I'm 62 now, my mother went into a local hardware store for something. Shopkeeper didn't have it. He said my mother was the third person that day who'd asked for that item. Same as he'd told them: there's no demand. He shut down a few months later. So, no, I'd not sympathy buy either. As noted in Post 10, if the shopkeeper can't run his business properly, he's best out of it! Regards Pete
LHS=Loathing Hardminded Shoppers Let your local hobby shop know what interests you have and what you'd like to see him or her order. Keep in mind that many times they need to sell what's on the shelf before they have enough cash flow, to order new things. Often times... and this is more likely what with today's economy... they've maxed out their credit. When a hobby shop can't seem to provide for you the things you want and or need it really is time to move on. Sympathy shopping, is something you do to help a friend out of a fix by buying some of his or her collection. Not something you want to do just because you want to keep a hobby shop a float. Purchasing a detail item or a single car isn't going to get'r done. Remember, hobby shops close their own doors and it's because of the decisions they make. One wrong decision purchasing product, change in policy and not responding to customers wants and/or needs and the whole thing can fold like a house of cards. With today's internet mail order shopping resources....do you get my drift?
Sure, I make sympathy buys at my LHS. Yeah, right. That's what I tell myself to take the guilty edge off my pleasure! Whenever I go to Albuquerque I make a point of visiting Trains West. I vow not to walk out without buying one little thing, but I almost always carry a big bag out with me. I don't know what's wrong with everyone else's hobby shops, but I love Trains West. Yes, their prices tend to be a little higher than the best prices you'll find in gigantic discount on-line businesses. That is certainly to be expected: they're running an actual store. But it's not bad--and the last time I was there, I picked up a beautiful boxcar for cheap--just because they wanted to move stock off the shelves. The guys working in the store are friendly and often funny. Some will get to know you and your layout. They'll test-drive locos for you before you buy them, give advice, and I've seen them trying to help people with various electronic and DCC problems. The store is just crammed with good stuff that I want, including scenicking materials appropriate for the Southwest that I can't find anywhere else. I get to see a big variety of N scale stuff as well as new products I didn't know about. My favorite thing is being able to see stuff for myself. And if I buy something, bring it home, and discover something is wrong with it, I know for a fact I can get my money back even if it's awhile before I can get back there. What's not to love?
Call it a generational thing, but I feel no guilt walking through a place, getting my pleasure and then walking out without making a sinlge purchase. They've never seen me before, they'll never see me again, if I am the sale that will make or break their monthly balance, they might need to change how they run business!!! Now most shops will not have an issue getting me to buy something - If it's good to me I'll find it and buy it!!
Since I don't have a LHS anywhere close I'm usually going to one for a reason so I tend to get SOMETHING, even if it's just a couple bottles of paint. There is a local shop that I go into and talk with the owner and may not get anything. He has a small selection of N and his stuff is close to MSRP so yes, engines and rolling stock are available online cheaper, but I get details and scenery from him.
Many of you are referring to a hobby shop that you've never seen and you come to when just passing through. On those, no, I don't make sympathy purchases. Those people don't know me, and I don't know them. Others talk as if you have two or more choices of hobby shops. But I have lived in places where there was no hobby shop for 200 miles. And thus when I live in a place that has a decent shop-- yes, I have made sympathy purchases. If it is the shop that I go to once or twice a month to see anything new (Have you got the new Athearn caboose in? Can I see one? What does it look like? etc). I become friends with the shop people and become part of their lives over the years. They get to know me and I get to know them. Are their prices high? Usually. Could they run it better? Usually. Can they be crusty owners? Usually. But, if the shop closes at some of the places I have lived, then I would have no shop to go to at all. Thus, while I may not make large expensive purchases at these shops, I do make many smaller purchases. I'm not under the illusion that my small purchases by myself is keeping this shop afloat (and if they are really bad, they will close any way), but it is kind of a privilege for me to have a place to go. So I choose to support them. So I buy paint, brushes, decals, details, freight cars here and there, some track. It adds up over the course of time. If I chose to not support them, I would have to save up an order for it to make sense to cover the shipping. Why buy one bottle of paint and pay $5 shipping? And I confess, it would feel wierd always coming in, week after week, month after month, year after year, hanging out, looking at things and testing things out... getting SOME benefit of the shop (which as I said may be the only shop for 200 miles) and never buying anything. So yes, I'm guilty.
Yep, same here, so not a sympathy purchase from them. They have good specials from time to time, an Atlas N scale MILW GP38-2 for AU$85 was the last purchase when I went in to get some 1-40 threaded rod (which they didn't have). They do have all three of the WC GP30's on special still...
When in my traveling days... If there was a hobby shop that I could visit, I usually would. Most of the time I would walk out with some small purchase, either something unusual, something related to the area or something I thought I would use eventually. At the time I was also accumulating HO rolling stock for my kids' 4x8 so it was easier to find something interesting. I would sometimes have a nice chat with the person behind the counter if it was not busy. My travel days are far fewer now and often do not include rental cars per company policy, so the opportunities are much more limited. In addition, so is the number of possible hobby shops to visit.
After reading this and thinking about it some, I would have to say yes. I'm not talking about purchases made while traveling and visiting shops, I'm talking about a LHS right down the street from my office. For many a year I have shopped at that store and became great friends with the former owner. When he retired, a nice guy bought the store but it just hasn't been the same. The prices are retail but for smaller priced things, the difference isn't that much so I didn't mind. But as the shop changed, many times I bought an extra item or two just to feel like i was helping out in a little way to keep supporting the shop. So after thinking about it, I would say most of the purchases I have made there in the past couple of years have been sympathy purchases. I will also say I tend to visit the store less and less just because I walk out with a sense that the store may not be there much longer and that even though I bought something, that I didn't do enough. Am I a sap, yes.
Well, yes, sort of... First, I want to keep a local hobby shop in business for those occasions where I really want a tool or supply on short notice, and don't want to wait for an item to be shipped. So I have bought tools and supplies of that nature (e.g. paint) at local hobby shops even when the prices are more expensive. (Not paying for shipping makes up for some of it.) Beyond that, whenever I am in a brick and mortar store, I am in general somewhat more inclined to buy items, even at a higher price. Never items that I wouldn't have wanted in the first place though. Often it is a case of seeing an item that I know would be hard to find online, and since its sitting right there in front of me, I decide not to let it be bought by someone else. Interesting how many people are adamantly opposed. The pricing behavior of some of these stores certainly does defy logic.
It's a tough question, do you purchase items from your LHS for twice what you can get them for online just to keep him in business so you can get the odd tube of glue or pack of rail joiners when you need them? Someone else mentioned problems getting things from Walthers from their LHS. My father had been using Walthers brass screws for some projects and the LHS he was getting them from ran out, so he asked them to get some more, after almost a year they were still on order so I got online to the Walthers website, ordered some and they were here in six days. There is the added ingredient to the recipe here in Australia that the local retail prices are up to twice or more of those in the U.S., not the LHS owners faults, but import duties, distributors markups etc. I find myself only buying magazines at the major model train LHS in town and I haven't visited to to that for about three months now as I only visit if it's convenient on my way to or from work. He doesn't appreciate anyone buying stuff online, but when you can buy two locos for the price of one, plus decoders and MTL couplers for them and throw in a couple of freight cars as well, it's hard to justify buying stuff locally. The major customers seem to be leaning towards those with money to throw around or those who are afraid of shopping online.
I feel very fortunate to have "The Model Railroad Shop" nearby in Piscataway NJ. They are the real deal, a store with good selection and people who really understand the hobby. They have given me advice when I have had a problem with my layout. I once brought back to them an N scale Atlas MP-15 which had ceased working, although the light still functioned. I had bought it from them, but its warranty period was over. I was expecting to pay to have it fixed (if they could fix it). The gentleman behind the counter said he thought he might know what was wrong, and he opened it up and fixed it while I watched. He said it was no charge, but I convinced him to at least take a token amount from me. Whenever I am buying something in this hobby I try to get it from them. I realize from reading accounts from others here on Trainboard that this store is probably not like the typical LHS that most have near to them.
Yes, Carl (and all), there are still "good guys" out there in brick and mortar shops. This is a good reason to support them... I am making this as a general statement without any specific shops in mind-- as TB reminds us, we all have examples of "good" and "bad." I will note as a bit of trivia that the Model Railroad Shop used to be my LHS and I still try to visit when I am in the area.
I pass my LHS everyday to and from work. I stop in occasionally just to see what is on the bargain table. I drool at the stuff in the case, but it is all way over priced IMO. Must be list price, I guess. They do have lots of other hobby stuff, like RC cars, planes, crafts, etc, so I don't think they are going to go out of business. I have no problem browsing and leaving empty handed. I'm looking for their occasional bargains, like the new Bachmann N scale cars they had a while back for $2.99 each. I got 4 of them.
I live in Albuquerque and go to Trains West too about once a month to get my magazine fix or scratch building things. Then I go to Wig Wag down the street and right (Street before I-25) about 3 or 4 times a month.Depends if I'm in the train mode or not. If you have not visit Wig Wag you should,first shop I have been in that is N scale but not smaller than a closet. I'm not much of a talker but the staff is very friendly to me anyway. I just wish I had extra income when I go.:tb-biggrin: As for sympathy buys ,well I don't call it that but I get something just not to wast a trip.I have walk out with zero items before . Rick Reck
