Ever Make a "Sympathy" Buy at a LHS?

My "sympathy buys" are when I go to any hobby shop I generally go to, and find an orphan that no one else wants. Usually it is at a great discount, just so they can get rid of the thing. It means I have a pretty eclectic collection of "stuff", but I then use it as trade bait at swap meets. I currently have an Athearn N scale 2-6-0 and passenger cars, for B&M, that I got this way. Nobody in California wants them, but somebody back East might. That's also how I ended up with a bunch of HO SOO stuff...

 

You know,it occurs to me that other than general supplies,paint,Evergreen plastic,ETC,I'm generally so specialized in my wants I end up buying everything online,anyway.The only real stuff I buy other than actual trains and the aformentioned supplies is stuff like ME track,casting resin,decalsETC,stuff nobody really carries,anyway.I'm lucky to have one good shop near me,believe it or not,a hardware store,and Walter gets me pretty much everything I need,and is very reasonable.I get my RC car and helicopter stuff from him,too.He has a lot of stuff there,but I still never walk out with any train stuff I didn't order,other than maybe cork roadbed or Woodland Scenics stuff..THe chances of me making any kind of purchase at any shop I walk into is kinda slim..

 

NO!

I only purchase when I find something I want or need and then if it is over priced it stays in the LHS.

Gary

 

Every Make a "Sympathy" Buy at a LHS?

I tend to purchase something everything I visit a hobby store. Sometimes it's a freight car or a kit; sometimes it's only a magazine. It just depends on what the store has, and how it fits into what I'm modeling, and what kind of prices I find. The closest hobby stores are at least 130 miles away (in three different directions) so the opportunities just to visit one come very seldom. Not that I'm dependent on those LHS - owing my own model train business alleviates that.

Just yesterday I stopped at one of those semi-local stores. I used to visit it when I was in high school, and they used to have a fair inventory of model trains. When I visited them a year ago, their stock was greatly reduced, and they told me they could order anything I wanted, and match online prices. I told them that I lived too far away to make that practical. If I'm going to order something, I may as well get it from the source.

At my most recent visit, their train inventory was down to a pair of Athearn HO kits, some Lionel track and a starter set, some track and accessories behind the counter, and some consignment trains in the display case. Oh, and a bunch of R/C and paintball supplies in the rest of the store. I was pretty disappointed, and left with a bad vibe. And a magazine - habits tend to die hard!

All LHS tend to specialize in something, and model trains can fall pretty far down that list. But it seems a shame that they are ignoring a fairly large segment of the modeling populace, especially with a well-established model railroad club in the area. And the old adage certainly applies: If you don't carry it, you can't sell it.

Pat

 

When I travelled a lot on my own, I would try to go to lhs's wherever I was staying that night, if they were open in the evening, of course. If they weren't open in the evening, they didn't want my biz anyway, so that was that. It kept me out of hotel bars.... I travelled all over the country and in Canada, and I would aways try to buy something if the store had anything at all I could use, and I could take it back with me on the plane. Not so much sympathy as support, when I could and when it made sense.

I have two lhs's that have a good stock of N scale stuff, but they sell at msrp, so I buy from them when I need a supply item, when they have something on sale at the right price, or if they have something I need no one else has. I try and support them, but if I can save $50-60 on an engine or $20-30 on a building kit by using ebay or mail order, that's just biz as far as I'm concerned. They get their fair share of my hobby bucks by being local and having stock, so there's no sympathy issue there.

As far as sympathy buys from any other stores in the area, not happening. We have lost a lot of hobby stores in the Chicago area due to a variety of reasons, but most that went away deserved to be gone and no tears shed for them because mostly they were terrible stores.

Todd

 

Please Stay on Topic

References to marketing practices of a large generic retailer are not train related. Please stay on topic. Thanks.

 

If a person is asking to hold and test locos and rolling stock, then I think they absolutely should be making an occasional purchase.

 

I have never made a sympathy purchase and I expect that I never will.

It is a hobby for me and and business for a LHS. If I want to make a contribution, I will do so to a worthy charity.

Do I shop only for price? Absolutely not. I shop for price and service. I pay for it.

 

I used to travel for business and would often make purchases at local shops because I never knew if I would be back, and when I was, if the store would still be around.

I have never run a hobby shop or any other sort fo retail outlet so I do not know the details surrounding what they have to do, the costs involved, and how complex it must be at times to deal with the entire question of "do I order these and if I do will anyone buy them".

That said, I will state one thing: in any business tthree things are extremely important (1) your attitude towards the business, (2) knowing your customer, and (3) knowing your competition.

ATTITUDE: Many (not all) people treat their business (the LHS) like a hobby and therefore do not have the right attitude towards their business. A hobby is something that I do when I feel like it, a job is something that I do whether I feel like it or not.

YOUR CUSTOMER: many businesses don't seem to understand that their customer is their life, and customers vote with their dollars. Too often I have seen store owners that don't know their customers enough or simply want to have a one-sided relationship where the customer tells the store what they want, and will pay for it regardless of the price. The model railroad community is fairly small, and there are only a limited supply of dollars to go around; therefore, you need to try and pull in as many customers as you can. Once someone becomes a customer, they will most likely remain a customer for some or all of their future purchases.

THEIR COMPETITION: too many LHS don't realize, or don't understand that with the increasing use of the internet other LHS in other locations are now their competition as well as modelers who post items on Craig's List or EBay. Their competition a lot of times are simply other brink and mortar retailers who saw an advantage and took it, and are now capitalizing because they can order larger quantities of the same item and serve a larger customer base. I know many LHS do not like the internet; however, just because they don't like something and refuse to invest in a fully functional website doesn't mean they aren't impacted by others that do.

I continually try to support our local LHS, and will continue to do so; however, when I can get an item $15-20 cheaper someplace else, I will typically go online.

 

That practice reminds me of autosales...

Once you test drive a loco... you feel even more inclined to buy the product from the LHS because they've allowed you to run the item, inspect it thoroughly. I have SELDOM left the LHS empty handed when I've test driven a loco. It's the same principal the auto dealers use to make one feel attached to a vehicle... just before the fangs come out to sink them into your neck.

 

Try to buy something and usually find a small item, even rail joiners etc.

 

I started this thread after a visit to a shop in LA on Friday. On Saturday, I was at an OP session at SDSONS in Balboa Park in San Diego.
After our session, my friend and I decided to check the local train shops.
I hadn't been in either for at least a year. The first had much less stock than previous visits. I did find a Red Caboose PRR box car that was supposed to be re-run by Intermountain, but was recently canceled. I bought it and some decal setting solution. Not really a sympathy buy, but I felt good about dropping a few dollars. Friendly service.

The second one had much less N Scale stock than the last time I visited. The person behind the counter said "Hi" when we walked in, but nothing else. My friend and I were in the store for about half an hour. Everything was list price. The counter person was more interested in talking on the phone about buying a loco on E Bay than he was in asking if he could help us. No sale. Both of us left without buying anything. The counterperson didn't even say goodbye. I have no sympathy for that kind of operation.

 

I agree and have known Warren for what seems to be a million years.
With me owning an online shop and Warren having a retail store I feel very bad if I do not buy some things when I go in to visit with him.
He has ALWAYS been a real helpful and NICE man.
He is very old school and has a great shop but I can sense the pain he suffers trying to make it.
Sympathy No!
Support of an old friend , Yes !

Mike

 

There you go exaggerating again MIke. Hmph.

 

I purchase most of my model railroad needs online because it's over an hour's drive to Houston, where the nearest LHS are located. When I do visit a LHS in Houston, it's for a reason, so a purchase is made...but never due to sympathy.

It is odd to me that the most of the online purchases I make are from a number of LHS in other states...which makes me wonder how they can have the items I need in stock at resonable prices and sell them to me online when a number of LHS in Houston cannot. It's for this reason that I have no sympathy for any Houston area LHS.

Something crazy that I noticed recently, when I wanted to pre-order an Athearn MP Heritage unit with sound, was the large variation in price between one local LHS and another local LHS. The first place I called told be the MSRP of $289.98...the next place I called told me $217.00. That's a big difference.

 

I wanna set some of the record straight

Not to get into a P**sing match, but I run the train department at one of the shops somewhat bashed here on this thread. We have been in business for just under 30 years, and we have more N-scale than most hobby shop have all trains. We are an “All” hobby shop, meaning we have trains, plains, slot cars (with three large 8 lane tracks), RC cars, boats, models, paint, etc. But, since we are an all hobby shop, we have people who work in each department i.e. if you come in, the RC car guy is NOT going to be the one to help you in trains, rather one of 13 train guys will help you, 3 of which are exclusive N-scale modeler, 3 others have some n-scale in their collection.

Now, that being said, since we are a 21,000 square foot hobby shop, and we do have an awful lot of stuff for sale, you could say the owner is attempting to carry it all. BUT, we also discount as a matter of course, 20% for locos, 10 for rolling stock, and we give regulars even more. Not wanting to visit a shop because they have too much could be considered a little disingenuous. After all, some shops do not discount AT ALL, PEIROD, others discount with a card, or when you get to the register, if you know the secret handshake. I can tell you there is just no way we can carry it all. We do have all the majors, I.e everything Atlas, Kato, IMR, Con-cor, Deluxe, Athearn, MTL, and others. We also have carry some others minor brands and ALL DCC, but things that are direct deal i.e. Hay Brothers’, we do not carry because it is often difficult to set up accounts with everyone under the sun. I would love to carry Hay Brothers and if we did, I would stock every SKU number they have.

If anyone ever comes into the shop and states they are from one of the forums, I attempt to discount their entire order…There are several members here that do shop with us, and I have about 40 regulars that, if I am not in, they will look around, but then leave, but if I am in, they will be around for hours. I even have one regular that sells more DCC than literally 10 of the other train department employees.

I will get off my soap box now, just wanted people to know LHS’s do care, we do read these boards, and we want the truth to be out their, first hand.

 

I love the LHS here in Hickory, N.C. and I have 3 of them in the areaCarolina Fish N Trains, Plane and Trains, and Leland Planes and Trains everybody needs to check them out Great $$$ for the trains and if your looking for planes I think Leland is the Man for your needs.

 

All the LHS's around me are basically full retail. Sorry. That won't cut it.

 

There is a LHS near me that when I go there I know I'm going to buy something. Why? The owner is not only a great guy but is also very helpful and knowledgeable. He has shown me many procedures on how to do things and will spend as much time with me until he sees that I understand what he is talking about. Unfortunately his prices are higher than the online retail stores or a nearby big Train Store. I look at some of my purchases as payment for letting me pick his brain.