|
|
 Posted - June 13 2010 : 11:59:18 PM
|
Well, I think it's official...
I went to the local Hobby Lobby looking for some N-scale cars to convert for my narrow gauge craze, and noticed the train aisle looked a little bare...and one of the staff was going through marking everything down. No N-scale cars left, either.
Then I went to visit my girlfriend back at K-state, and stopped by Hobby Lobby there to see if the situation was any different. I went back to where the train aisle should have been. It was gone, with the dirty spots showing on the floor where all the racks had been moved.
Back home again, I went to the local Hobby Lobby one more time. This time the train aisle was gone, everything was in the clearance section. The N-scale 2-6-2 I had my eye on was finally a complete bargain...a $76 loco for only $26. When the lady came to get it out of the case, I asked her if they were not going to be carrying trains anymore. She said they were "deleting" them from their inventory, and that engine was a steal. She said they'll only carry about 5 different train sets from now on.
So...there are good deals on the clearance racks right now! I got the engine, plus some woodland scenics figures that are normally $8 (way overpriced) for only $4. Better than even the 40% off coupons used to give me.
The downside is now in both places I live I no longer have a ready source of simple track and scenery materials, or cheap rolling stock to bash. Another victim of video games, I guess. What was sad was that they had just expanded the offerings to include things like Mini Metals autos and some nice scenery detail parts...guess word didn't get out and it backfired and left too much expensive stagnant merchandise on the "train aisle."
Oh well, pretty much knew I was hooked at the hip with Walthers and other online sellers by living in small cities, anyway.
Time to get to work on converting "The Last Train from Hobby Lobby" 
--Rio Grande--Thru the Rockies
|
Country:  USA ~
Posts: 89 ~
Member Since: November 20 2008 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2013
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
 Posted - June 14 2010 : 12:54:38 AM
|
This is sad for me. I have no LHS. Hobby Lobby was the last meager joke of a train store that I had. I'm not surprised though. I'm in NW Missouri, and as far as I can tell there is absolutely no model railroad culture left here. There are barely any real trains.
I had planned to go there tomorrow to pick up some plaster anyway, so I'll definitely check it out.
Hobby Lobby certainly wasn't a good train store, or even a good hobby store, but it was all that was left. This certainly isn't good news. If Hobby Lobby phases out their trains, the closest other option is a pathetic Hobby Haven and hour away. I don't think they've restocked anyting in over a year. The "real" train stores are gone...I can get to one an hour away in the city, but it's full of all new, high-end stuff, not like the old days.
If anyone in this area knows of a good train store that I don't know about, please let me know!
Edited by - burlington77 on June 14 2010 12:55:58 AM
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 09:19:01 AM
|
 wonder if its true for ALL Hobby Lobbys  otherwise I'll hafta drive 200+ to Denver areas to get trains 
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14929 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: September 21 2025
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 3:40:34 PM
|
It could be that Jefferson City and Manhattan are both too small of a market to justify continuing to sell them, and the stores in bigger cities might keep selling trains. I've been meaning to check the one in Springfield when I go down there to visit my grandmas, but there's a real honest-to-goodness train store there, so I haven't had much need to...I'll probably drop by next time I'm down there to check it out, though. Hopefully the train store there will stick around...otherwise Topeka, KC, Sedalia, and St. L are the only ones I know of in the entire region. 
--Rio Grande--Thru the Rockies
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 89 ~
Member Since: November 20 2008 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2013
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 3:49:34 PM
|
I just returned from my second trip to the Hobby Lobby in St. Joseph, Missouri. Not much left. Bachmann rolling stock, 4 locos, lots of people and a little scenery. Someone must have beat me to the Lionel stuff, because I saw nothing of it at all. Same for the EZ track. Everything that's left is about half price. The manager told me all they would continue to carry is "a few sets."
I bout a MRC Symphony sound system for 20 bucks, but when I got it home it was all messed up. Some of the sounds didn't work, and it would occasionally make a hissing sound like something was shorted out in the speaker. The diesel/steam switch was backwards too. So I ended up taking it back. I looked around a little more, but I don't really think I'll be getting anything else unless the locos go even cheaper. I can't see spending 25+ dollars on Bachmanns, since I've never had one that ran worth a darn.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 6:48:21 PM
|
Sadly, there's no Hobby Lobby closer than 7 or 8 hour drive away from me in northern VA. I did go into one in North Carolina a few years ago, when my wife and I went down to see a Bristol NASCAR race. Impressive store, but not much train stuff that I wanted. More for beginners than true modelers. But something is always better than nothing. Sad to hear they'll be cutting back,but trains just aren't the "in" thing anymore.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3974 ~
Member Since: January 04 2009 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2019
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 9:55:43 PM
|
Our closest Hobby Lobby never had a real big selection of trains. Several sets and some cars and detail items. Seemed to me the train section was more for Christmas gifts and new train hobbiests .
Walt
Luck, usually comes dressed in work clothes...
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 6279 ~
Member Since: February 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: March 04 2022
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 14 2010 : 11:36:23 PM
|
quote:Our closest Hobby Lobby never had a real big selection of trains. Several sets and some cars and detail items. Seemed to me the train section was more for Christmas gifts and new train hobbiests.
Originally posted by walt - June 14 2010 : 9:55:43 PM
|
I've been to several HL stores, and none of them had much. The only exception is that in 1997 they seemed to have a real push to sell "real" stuff. I remember being surprised to see Athearn blue boxes, plentiful Atlas track, and numerous Model Power buildings, among other things. Unfortunately, that was about the time I had to pack everything up for a while.
In short, Hobby Lobby is terrible for the model railroader. The only reason I'm so hung up on it is that it was all I had left. I hear a lot of you talk about the "LHS", but those don't really exist around here anymore. For some reason, model railroading and "train culture" has completely disappeared here. The nearest town even passed an ordinance forbidding trains from sounding their horns because it was "too much noise." There's no model railroad club, no train store, no history, no railfans...nothing. I don't know anyone else who still "plays with trains." The Iron Horse is dead here.
I've got a new approach to model railroading. I consider it in the same way antique collectors view their hobby. There's nothing new around here, so I forage for remnants of the past and try to preserve them for the future.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 15 2010 : 12:09:33 AM
|
Nice comment Burlington77, I always enjoyed a pass thru Hobby Lobby's train section when my wife & I went there.
Sadly so many area hobby stores have closed. Our best store in Columbus, Ohio (antique Toys & Trains) shut down a while back. The owner said it was due to internet sales killing his business. I believe that is what is happening to a lot of businesses today. Another life long slotcar shop closed too. But I'm almost sure this was due to the owners age/illness. We have one very nice hobby shop just 8 miles away. But being an old Tyco fan there is usualy just a few used pieces there for me. Great store though with a lot of trains, model kits and RC planes ect.
I dearly miss the antique toy store and other hobby shops that are gone.
But thankfully, all this stuff is still avalible at America's largest hobby store, called ebay...
Walt
Luck, usually comes dressed in work clothes...
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 6279 ~
Member Since: February 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: March 04 2022
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
 Posted - June 15 2010 : 06:36:46 AM
|
quote:
Sadly so many area hobby stores have closed. Our best store ...shut down a while back. The owner said it was due to internet sales killing his business. I believe that is what is happening to a lot of businesses today.
Originally posted by walt - June 15 2010 : 12:09:33 AM
|
Yes, the lure of "cheap pricing" has swayed so many, that the real hobby stores can't compete anymore. It's sad, I love looking thru the hobby stores, but I don't have the money to keep buying $100+ engines and high-priced items to help them stay in business. There's only a few left in my region near Washington, DC, most have packed it in.
The only exception I found was a North Carolina train shop near Lowes Motor Speedway in Concorde, he said he started out strictly as Internet sales at first, and just needed a place to store his inventory, then he opened it as a regular train shop as well as still selling thru the INternet mostly. He bought stuff from Europe, and then resold it BACK to customers over there, he said he could still sell it cheaper to them that way than them buying it from their own hobby stores! I was shocked. Ship all the way to America, then back again? Weird! He had some neat stuff, lots of bizarre stuff you'd never see in American Hobby stores, a whole line of nudist HO characters, German and Swiss trains, etc. He had no problem staying in business, he said, so maybe that's the new Hobby shop logistic "model" to follow these days, do Internet sales as the primary, and foot traffic secondary. He'd found a niche that worked for him, anyway.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3974 ~
Member Since: January 04 2009 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2019
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 16 2010 : 12:26:59 AM
|
| Here's an update. On my way back from the zoo at Omaha, NE, I stopped at the HL in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They had a neat little display in the main aisle in front of the former train section. It was a little better than my local store. I picked up a Lionel NYC boxcar and an Atlas O Chessie boxcar (for the kid) for 11 dollars each. I also got a HO Bachmann CSX grain hopper, again for the kid, for 6 bucks. Nothing too fabulous. This store still had some track and more scenery available. I almost bought all their Lionel Fasttrack, but realistically I don't have a place to put it other than the once-a-year Christmas display.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 17 2010 : 10:29:46 PM
|
| I spoke with a department manager at my local Hobby Lobby (Tinley Park, IL). He said that the train department has been eliminated in favor of baby shower supplies. I was able to get a bunch of track to finish off a Thomas layout for my 3 year old. I got a DPM building for $6 - reduced from $20. The best deal was their Excel Train Tools Set - basically a bunch of Exacto knock-off knives, saw, miter box, etc... for $22 - reduced from $68. Strangely enough, the manager said that they would most likely be keeping the layouts, especially for Christmas.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 29 ~
Member Since: May 01 2007 ~
Last Visit: December 22 2023
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 17 2010 : 11:27:45 PM
|
That's what the woman I spoke to at mine said. She had a strangely cheery attitude about the whole thing, and seemed to think the "sets" as she called them were something important. She sort of scoffed when she said they were getting rid of "those accessories" as if none of it was important.
The thing is, they've got some decent starter sets if you want to run Lionel or Atlas O and you use the 40% off coupon. But the HO sets...not so good.
I'm editing to add to this. I just realized the worst problem to come of all this. I had planned to work on landscape and scenery this summer, but now I have no source for grass, trees, ballast, or any other Woodland Scenics product. I guess it's all internet now.
Edited by - burlington77 on June 18 2010 01:18:17 AM
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - June 18 2010 : 6:18:32 PM
|
i checked out the one in morristown, tn. all the track, rolling stock, & pretty much everything was gone. they said when a few of the old timers found out they wasn't selling that stuff anymore, they came in & bought it all up. i did manage to get a mrc 1300 for $20.00. those power torques i repowered with the ps2 tray mores run smooth as can be, with great low speed that the tyco power packs couldn't do.
jerry
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 553 ~
Member Since: January 14 2009 ~
Last Visit: September 13 2024
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - August 03 2010 : 8:16:00 PM
|
I just wanted to kick this topic back up for anyone who missed it. Hobby Lobby still has a few items on clearance. It's slim pickin's and each store is different, but there's still a few things out there. Just today I got an Atlas O reefer for under 10 bucks. The Lionel/Atlas O stuff has been better than the overpriced Bachmann equipment at most places I've been to. Prices vary from location to location, but from what I've seen the HO stuff was so badly overpriced in the first place that the sale price doesn't seem that great, except maybe on the EZ track.
If you go out, look in the main aisle in front of the former train section. All the HL's around me (i've been to 5) have a display of clearance model kits and trains there. You have to look carefully, it's usually a mess. Some stores also have a clearance section, usually in the back. One of the stores I go to had a bunch of stuff back there too, so check both places.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1166 ~
Member Since: October 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 23 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - August 03 2010 : 9:27:14 PM
|
Wow! Guys I'm sorry. I hate Toronto BUT There are two dedicated Model Train shops within an hour of me. Other hobby shops one witha a train section as well even closer.... and thsoe are just the ones I know well.
Again I'm sorry about the dearth of hobby shops for you guys. I stop at my model train shop "George's Trains" which I've been doing business with since the early 70's just about every week. They just sold a whack of engines for me on consignment. I'll roll that $3-400 back into stuff from there.
Model Railroading is "crafting" and many don't do that now...
Sad stuff guys.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
Country:  Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - August 04 2010 : 07:41:42 AM
|
Closet HL to me is about 7 hours away in North Carolina. There's one in Tennessee that might be closer, but not by much. Wish they were closer, my wife would love it! Ah well. I'll just deal with my local train shop and train shows as usual.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3974 ~
Member Since: January 04 2009 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2019
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - August 04 2010 : 09:30:54 AM
|
 guess for me its abit late to go get EZ Track But wouldn't the online coupon work too? 
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14929 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: September 21 2025
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - November 02 2011 : 9:38:46 PM
|
Where I live it is just as sad. I live of of antique stores when I go to Greenville and New Bern With a SECTION Devoted to N Scale! And Its Cheap to! Its mostly second hand no box stuff. I picked up a E-R Models Shark Demo Unit there a while back. In the closest city I live to, only a small corner with a box of Bachmann HO Cars for $7 a piece and N Scale for $4 under a table. There is a bit of track to, but not much.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1102 ~
Member Since: July 28 2011 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - November 03 2011 : 7:08:06 PM
|
hey guys go on line.
we have a H L but has little in the way of H O let alone rolling stock. Some scenery and 1/87 figures.
If you scrounge around in the other aisles great finds for scenery, trees, grass, etc
When i went on line looking for farm implements, figures etc, prices were 10% what the locall hobby shops had, same identical same manufacturer
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 424 ~
Member Since: June 25 2010 ~
Last Visit: July 30 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - November 03 2011 : 7:31:42 PM
|
Well, I am the Bearer of Good News! A new flea market opened!
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1102 ~
Member Since: July 28 2011 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - November 04 2011 : 12:05:56 PM
|
CNVIAtyco,
Have you ever been to the Antique Barn in Wilson, NC?
Trains and trains and more trains. BIG train layout upstairs.
Unspoken expectations are premeditated failures.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 825 ~
Member Since: December 22 2008 ~
Last Visit: March 16 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
Home
Forums
Events Calendar
Forum Admins & Mods
Register
