Are Hobby Stores all closing down in your Area??

I will try to get a picture of Iron Horse Hobby Shop for you all to see. It is very close to me.  Thanks again, Jeff

The Iron Horse has been closed for close to if not over 10 years now. Bad management after Frank Hare passed and the business was sold.

Hobby Express in Cranberry is still open.

Correct, Frank Hare sold me my very First Lionel Steamer. #2046 Hudson 4-6-4. Very nice 0-27 steamer, boxed with Tender boxed. The 2046W Tender. Here is a picture of my 2nd most prized Steamer. My 726 Berkshire 1946 w/2426W Tender, Boxed Locomotive. No box for Tender. Still looking for that box. Here is the picture...

Yes and No - I see some come and go.

When I moved to the next town over 5 years ago a NEW Hobby Shop that specialized in Trains & R/C opened on the main street.

They have a great inventory of Lionel New & Old. Demo Layout, does good repair work.

I love to go browse but it never seems to end with just browsing. :-)

With High rents and limited customers - most of the customers flocking to on line purchases, the Only hobby shops that seem top survive are well established with a good customer base, OWN their own building, and have a good web store that allows On line purchases.

During the last Century, almost every big town had some type of hobby shop. Now, good luck and support the ones that you still have around!

When I was growing up, the nearest hobby shop was Ralph's Toys and Hobbies in Boise.  My dad and I would go to Boise to look at planes and trains.  Unfortunately they closed some years ago.

My dad passed away ten years and a month ago.  Just after the first the this year, I was helping my mom clean out some boxes of my dad's.  I found a BRAND NEW Lionel Union Pacific Hudson Jr. #673.  It was still in the box, and it had to have been from one of the last trips we took to Ralph's.  Still had the price tag of $100 on the box.

It's nice to order online to save money, but if possible I order from local shops.  Even if they are local shops 2000 miles away.  Ralph's Toys and Hobbies gave me some great memories of my dad.  Ten years after his death, my dad surprised me with a brand new locomotive...........

Stock photo from Lionel of my engine.

Iron Horse was a great shop.  When I got back into the hobby, I would make a trip there two or three times a year, looking for NOS and whatever struck my fancy.  Later, those trips would be made to Imperial Trains (moved) and Mercer Junction (now just a fond memory).  Now those train shop day trips are spent going to Hobby Express in Cranberry, Chippers Trains & Collectibles in Washington, PA (in Washington Crown Center Mall), Patrick's Trains in Wheeling, WV, and T and K Train & Hobby in Bridgeport, OH.  The last three can easily be visited in one trip with proper planning.

Just East of Pittsburgh, we are still fortunate to have a number of train shops to choose from, including Niedzalkoski's Train Shop in Jeannette, Len's Train Shop & Custom Diecasts in Irwin (rural Irwin address, not in the town itself), and Brady's Train Shop in Greensburg.  We had a fourth, Dick's Train House in Jeannette, but unfortunately, the owner passed away a couple of weeks ago.

Andy

@Lioneljeff,

The bay has repro boxes for your 2426w. It also has some used boxes.

I would use the word closed, not closing.

Despatch Junction in East Rochester, NY is still going strong with the states largest selection of used trains, track and accessories. Selections include new and older prewar and postwar Lionel and Marx, Kline, MTH, and Williams O gauge individual items and sets.

Located along the main line of the CSX/Amtrak NYC to Chicago RR. (Drone view)

There weren't a lot of hobby shops in this area to start with (Northern NJ) for a long time. Walker Hardware in Totowa (a bit east of me) closed several years ago. There is a small hobby shop in Kenvil west of me,not a lot of train stuff.  There is one store near me that has been around a long time, the Train Station in Mountain Lakes, it is in its second or third generation at this point, and they seem to be making a go of it. They have a lot of post war plus they do sell modern stuff and is a pretty big store, and they do repairs as well. The downside is price wise you are paying MSRP or near MSRP on new stuff, and the older stuff, well, let's just say it is at the high side of prices. Still it is nice to have it around.

We only had one in Seymour IN.  When Jack Spencer passed away,   two years later his wife closed it.  Sometime in 1990 if memory serves.

The nearest hobby shop is in Greenwood IN. A trains.

Ah yes, the nostalgia of our favorite hobby shops from yesteryear. During my 10 years in Escondido, California, I was a regular customer of Frank the Trainman's hobby shop in San Diego's North Park district as well as Gladys's Toys and Trains. Then during my 30 years in Hawaii, I fondly recall Honolulu Trains and Hobby. I believe this is where Alan Miller met Frank Sinatra when he was there. All of us have fond memories of our favorite hobby shops where we'd buy our trains in person and with great in-person customer service.

But fast forward to the 2020s now and how things have changed! As previous posters have stated, it's a different ball game now where the majority of train purchases are done online. Unfortunately, only the big hobby shops with a strong online base are the survivors nowadays. But I miss the old days.

Hobby shops in the Arklahoma region where I've lived for the past 50 or so years have always been a tough sell.

Traditionally, the thing here was "huntin' n' fishin'". However, with more and more out of state people fleeing the cities and moving into this region, that will probably change. Sadly, likely along with our way of life.

Over the decades there have been several train hobby shops that came and went. The longest lived train shop was owned by my friend David McDonald: "The Golden Spike".

David opened the Golden Spike in the late 1960s (I met him in '69 during my first visit to "The Golden Spike") and the doors stayed open until about 2004 as I recall. David is now 90 years old and still up and going. I get to see him once a month at our monthly "Modeler's Meeting" we have at the Fort Smith Western Sizzlin'.

During that same span of time, there have been many train hobby shops that have come and gone. Some of the names of those shops I remember, others I do not. As best as I can recall, the following have come and gone in my region:

* A train shop over on Main St. in Van Buren, Arkansas.

* "Tractive Effort" up in Fayetteville, AR. (That was a pretty good shop, too.)

* Another shop in Fayetteville, AR.

* "18th St. Train Shop" (or something like that) in south Fayetteville, Ar. (It's still gasping air, I think.)

* A combination craft/hobby store down on a strip mall off Dixon St. in Fayetteville, AR.

* A train shop in Dardanelle, AR.

* A train shop in Clarksville, AR.

* Hobbytown USA in Ft. Smith, AR. (Had been on life support for a long time, but closed its doors for good a couple months ago.)

As of today, only "Hobby Lobby" in Ft Smith, AR is the only place that offers anything model train related.

When it comes to train-related hobby shops, my region is a burnt over field.

Yes, I certainly miss "The Golden Spike" and the impromptu BS sessions we'd have as a few of us would have a serendipitous BS session there on a Saturday morning as we stopped get modeling supplies.

With today's stupid-level gas prices, I wouldn't think of making a trip to Fort Smith for only hobby supplies now. I would wait until we had several tasks to attend to, and dovetail a stop at Hobby Lobby among them.

Andre

What is this hobby store you refer to.....none of those around here....

Henning's Trains is still going strong.  They do have a strong on-line presence, a necessary addition to a brick & mortar store in this day and age.  They also manufacture a wide variety of parts that account for a significant part of their sales volume as well.

There haven't been any hobby shops that carry trains in the Hudson Valley of NY where I live for years now.  And a few south of me across the border in NJ are gone too although NJ does have them a little farther down.   There are some that carry RC.

John

have not had one in our area for years.

Ancient history.  I entered the hobby four years ago in St. Louis, MO.  There's almost no shops here (handling O).  There are a couple nice stores that handle used trains.  There is a locally owned, all purpose, hobby store near me.  For years, they have the same Lionel engines and faded-box-rolling stock gathering dust at full MSRP + tax.

We still have Brasseur's in Saginaw, Mi. It's about a 45 minute drive for me. I haven't been there in quite some time. My last visit I couldn't get help or waited on. I tried and was just short of jumping up and down. Seems the one guy working cared more about his BS session with one certain couple. I know they need to shmoos clientele but this went on for well over a half hour.

There was a hobby shop in Bay City, Mi called Robby's Hobby's. They mostly carried RC and modeling supplies. They closed the doors over 10 years ago. I went there as a young lad and always enjoyed talking with the owner. He took good care of customers. Even gave me a few free parts and repairs but he knew I'd be back.

@Rick Rubino posted:

have not had one in our area for years.

Rick we have two in the Rochester area actually..... Despatch Junction, and Dan's Crafts and Things.  I know neither is completely what we'd like them to be, but they are there nonetheless.  Dan's is crazy with their pricing, but I try to support Despatch as often as I can.

I’ve lived in a fairly rural area of Pike County PA for just over 25 years now and there are no hobby shops in the  area that I am aware of. For my train needs, I need to head over to the Scranton area - between 35 and 75 minutes west, depending on how much construction is being done on I84/I81

There were two stores of note in Scranton… Grzyboski’s and Scranton Hobby. I don’t consider Grzyboski’s a “hobby shop”, but a train store (almost exclusively O) - they moved just south of Scranton around 10 years ago and are still going strong. To the best of my knowledge, Scranton Hobby closed in the last year or so. There is a Hobby Lobby in Dickson City, just north of Scranton, but I don’t remember seeing much in trains when I visited there. For the most part, forum sponsors and the internet have become my “area”!!!

all gone here closest if 100 miles or better

@Doug-Sr posted:

all gone here closest if 100 miles or better

I had 4 of them , with in an hours drive, of me, all gone,  The next 2 are well over 100 miles away

" Despatch Junction, and Dan's Crafts and Things"

Also in the Rochester, NY area-- radio control airplanes, cars and boats plus rockets/plastic kits/paint ball at Performance Hobbies in Webster (home of NCE DCC) and Fantasy Raceways in Greece (slot cars).  Plus a few smaller places you can find through Google.  A bit further down the road is the home of Gargraves Track (North Rose, NY) and Gardner the Train Doctor.  There are also several hobby shops in Buffalo (about 60-70 miles to the west) and Syracuse (to the east) that specialize in O gauge trains.  Western and Central NY upstate is in pretty good shape hobby shop-wise, even if the number of remaining shops is small.  We have hobby shops in smaller cities and towns too, such as Geneva NY (Lake City Hobbies) mid-way between Rochester and Syracuse on shores of Seneca Lake (one of the larger Finger Lakes) and tiny Wellsville (East Dyke Depot) in Southern Tier closer to the Pennsylvania state line.

Hobby shops have been in poor shape many years in the south.  They had MSRP prices and not used trains or model plane motors.  In the 1960s I had to buy by mail from Sig balsa wood and others for model dope.  We had a music store that sold a few models and Testor's glue.  Trains were not much in the sticks of south Texas.  We even took to making our own model airplane fuel as we had adults, that worked chemical plants, with access to methanol and nitrobenzene and a friends Dad owned a drug store for castor oil.

Prices for all hobby stuff is sky high.  I just went to Hobby Lobby with the wife and no kid can afford anything they have.  Our local hobby shop is well stocked with lots of planes, plastic models and model car stuff with a couple of Lionel cheap low end train sets and a few HO things.  Best deals there are old out of date model paints.

We do have a good O gauge train shop, Electric Train Depot, in Ponchatoula, LA, with three layouts but is only open, 10 to 4 on Saturdays.  They have a good selection of new and used trains.  I hope they make it.

It current times with kids and adults messing with devices, TV and sports, most do not have the spare time it takes to have a hobby like model trains.

Charlie

recently lost a military hobby store, specialized in plastic models. brick & mortar guy couldn't compete with on-line and show sales.

In the Myrtle Beach SC area we have No Train Shops. The nearest one that I know is in Summerville SC about 90 miles away. There is a Hobby Lobby but that’s it. I do all my Train needs online.

Southern Maryland has always been an O gauge desert.  There were a couple hobby shops around Waldorf that had some, but mostly HO and N.  They are gone.  There was a small shop that had O gauge over on the Chesapeake Bay but I think it is gone too.  Side Track Hobbies, way south, is still open but with a much smaller inventory than years ago.  They started to go mostly Tin Plate; wonder how that is turning out considering recent events.

Not much where I live in the San Francisco bay area. As a young man (16 years old) I worked at a great store in San Mateo called "Trains Nothing But Trains", but the owner Bart Austin passed away a number a years ago and the store did not survive long after his passing. We got a lot of hobby greats in there including John Allen and Neil Young, both of whom I met personally. Also, Bart had been friends with Gordon Varney (before my time).

Until recently we had Talbots which handled a fair amount of Lionel, but they closed shortly before the Covid shutdowns. I miss both stores and their employees greatly - I've lost count of the times Talbot's helped me out. I do think Talbot's "fibbed" once - they told my wife I had ordered something which I hadn't and she paid for it and brought it home. They were spot on, because I would have bought the item in a heartbeat and when my wife presented it to me at the end of a busy work day I was thrilled.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Henning's Trains is still going strong.  They do have a strong on-line presence, a necessary addition to a brick & mortar store in this day and age.  They also manufacture a wide variety of parts that account for a significant part of their sales volume as well.

I just had my first experience (on line, of course) with Henning's; first rate! 👍

Mark (way out) in Oregon

I still have the price tag on my #2046...Price was $395 cash with tender. I mowed lawns all summer to get this locomotive.

No, The Chicagoland market is going strong including OGF sponsor

Berwyn's Toys & Trains

Ok, what Hobby Stores.  In deep south Texas our Hobby Store is called the internet.

@Craftech posted:

There haven't been any hobby shops that carry trains in the Hudson Valley of NY where I live for years now.  And a few south of me across the border in NJ are gone too although NJ does have them a little farther down.   There are some that carry RC.

John

Toms Trains in Ardsley has a great Lionel selection and in Mahwah there is National Equipment also has a large selection of trains

@Lioneljeff posted:

Hello all, I have an issue with all my hobby shops closing down here in the Pittsburgh, PA area. The only one I noticed that is still around is Hobby Lobby.  Any idea why they are closing down?

@Lioneljeff,

They already did.

Unfortunately this trend is nothing new.  The damage was already underway long ago.  The closures started after internet sales exploded, almost 30 years ago now.  Brick and mortar became obsolete quickly.

My favorite stores, those where I live, have been gone for nearly 20 years.  They had existed for 50, 60, or 70 years before that and were institutions in their communities.

This is not going to turn around.  Savor the memories.

Be thankful in places like Chicagoland.  You have a rare situation.

Mike

No,  Trains and Toys Claymont DE, Nick Smith Broomall, PA, The lionel Store St Georges DE, Just Trains Newark DE.

Each within a 30 minute drive.

Tom, you're cheating.  We kinda' live in model railroading Mecca here.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Tom, you're cheating.  We kinda' live in model railroading Mecca here.

Yes, you do. The demographics information I've seen over the years, although there never has been much of it available, indicates that New York state and eastern Pennsylvania are the regions that have the most model railroaders.