Chicagoland Lionel guys, what LHS are you using these days??

Anyone have any info on Al's Hobbies in Elmhurst??

They remodeled a few years back and now the train section is in a seperate small store front.They pack a lot of HO trains in the store and a bit of new Lionel.

Dan  

I live in Elmhurst. They re-remodeled and closed the second train-only store front. The trains are now back where they were in the "main" hobby shop, but it's like trains are the forgotten step child. Maybe 12 to 15 years ago they had a good selection of Lionel all year long. Now they have the same three Lionel loco's from ten years ago, and the same 20 or so Lionel Christmas-theme freight cars, as well as a starter set or two. They have magazines, paint, and landscape stuff that an HO guy would want, so it's an okay store for stuff like that. Forget about trying to even have something I ordered there. I tried once, never got a call back, and then got a blank stare when I went back in to ask about it.

Sam

I like to stop in to Oak Ridge Hobbies when I'm working in the area. They have a good selection of Artista figures and Selley castings. They also have some Grandt Line parts if you're into scratchbuilding.

It is great having all these LHS here in the area. I travel a lot the the east coast and have been to a many of the shops out there. The only significant difference seems to be a more aggressive discounted price. With all the pressure from online sites and stores selling on the internet it doesn't make sense to be holding on to old stock at high prices.

     My club buys and preorders a lot of trains from out of town stores due to price. We are an authorized Lionel Repair Center so the issue of DOA or damaged goods is a little less worrisome. Our tech guys are very good.

 It makes me wonder why a local store wouldn't be interested in this business.

Ray Marion

Dan and Jay Jay, thanks for the info.

Good luck makin that money, $1199 for the legacy mallets that are going for $799 elsewhere, $1399 for the original 12 year old (dust covered) TMCC version.

"He can test it out and make sure it runs properly." True, but the $300 price difference plus another $100 or so for sales tax, I could send it to Lionel in Ohio ten  or twelve times if it doesn't run right and still be $100 ahead.

Throw in a bad attitude.........no thanks, I'll pass.

With all of these replies, I wonder if any of the respective hobby shop owners will read any of this and take coments from what could be paying customers into consideration, or does all of this get written off as Monday morning quarterbacking? Isn't word of mouth advertising the best form? This whole topic started as a person looking for a shop, and it seems like someone reading this may steer clear of a few shops based similar sounding complaints by different people.

Sam

You're welcome, Steve.

I need to drive I quess..here in Aurora there's nothing but the local Ace Hardware or Batavia{HO} or HTusa in Geneva.

I want O scale detail supplies{bells/horns...} and scratch building supplies{evergreen/plastruct}.

Wheaton will be my new hunting grounds too I guess... 

Has anyone been to Lombard Hobbies lately? I know he has a lot of HO and N, but has he gotten any O guage?

I also see a ad for a hobby shop in Palos Hills on Southwest highway anyone ever been there?

There is also a shop in Elburn, IL West of Chicago that deals in overseas model railroads "Reynauld's" its in an old bank and he stores his stock in the vault. I wonder if he is handling MTH now?

My favorite shops are Berwyn Hobbies and Chicagoland.

franktrain 

The shop in Palos hills...that wouldn't be "L&B hobbies", would it...an old friend ran a shop out of his garage and had a G gauge layout in the back yard...he had mostly G scale...then.

The store in Elburn has mostly HO...never been there so don't quote me on that one.

Does this help out?  Bruce

In Park Ridge, they had Hill's Hobbies, and then there was a store run by Bill Sanchez, who was an early member of the Midwest Division. I attended his "going out of business" sale back in the '90's. He was in a storefront across the street from the Park Ridge Northwestern Station, or METRA Station.

"I think this sums it up best. He really is....well, Tony. I don't think any post here so far is "beating him up", he just has...... an "interesting" way of running his shop."

Wow - America's Best, now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. If I remember correctly I think Tony is the same guy that was around when the "missing challenger" hoax/fiasco was gracing the pages of the forum. Never met him in person, but talked him on the phone several times and from what I remember he was a colorful fella.

 Isn't York Trains and Carriage House Concepts in the Chicago area? Are they still around?

 Scott

Oh man that's cool.  Thanks for the pic.

We visited that station last September while we were there.  I remember seeing the Circus train roll through there in 82 being pulled by the CNW "Executive" F7's.  The new Zitto Yellow w/ silver trucks left quite an impression on my 5yr old mind!

If you are building a layout, America's Best in Itasca is a great spot.  They have everything scenic and if you need some pieces of track or whatever, Tony will get it for you in a hurry.  He is on his game.  I will say Tony and Ed have their quirks.  Hey, who doesn't?  I bought probably over 10 Gs in stuff from Tony last year building layouts, a couple from his recommending me, but when I wanted to make a deal on a circa '99 Lionel GP7 FEC triple lashup set, the last engines I needed to finish my collection of TMCC Geeps, he wouldn't budge on the price. I tried and tried.  I bought them from Grzy Trains and his are in his warehouse now, not even listed on his website.  I don't get that, but I respect it.  It's his business.  Their repair/service guy Joe is outstanding.  He had his picture in OGR mag in an article about the Lionel classes when he was at Morton Grove a while back and I always tease him about it.  Good guys, I understand they deal with the public, a lot in their case, every day, and that would make anyone a little goofy.  When one of them goes off on a tangent, I quickly say thanks a million and good bye.  Those guys can talk...   

 Lombard Hobbies had some Lionel Thomas sets in the window around Christmas. In the late 90's he had some used Lionel and then stocked new Atlas. He's mostly an HO shop.

Do you mean roughly 111th and Southwest Hwy? Hobby Warehouse I think? He has lots of Lionel, but he will make Tony at America's Best look like a smart business man. This guy has piles of junk around. No lie, actual garbage. Five or six parrots, where some of the cages block the isles. Bring your glasses in, as he doesn't splurge on florescent light bulbs and the shelves are just dimly lit. He will watch you, and tell you not to touch this or that on the shelves if somehow he decides it's "not for sale". He's just a really weird guy. On the plus side, his inventory on average has been there forever. I bought a bunch of brand new Fastrack from him, which seemed to have been priced when it first came out, so his "list" price was much lower than what he then current "list" price was.

Sam

Does anyone know the name of the hobby shop out near IRM in Union, IL? It's in that town the movie Groundhog Day was filmed in. Not the shop in Elburn, but out that way. Anyway, that shop had a pretty nice O selection. Lionel, Atlas, K-Line, and I think MTH too. His store front "display" is something like a carpet central layout. I've only been there once, but I remember him being a pretty friendly guy.

Sam

Groundhog Day was filmed in Woodstock Illinois.

http://stores.woodstockhobbies.com/StoreFront.bok

http://local.yahoo.com/details...amp;csz=Woodstock+IL

That was Woodstock Hobbies, located on the town square, but the shop closed last year.

Yes thats the place, I will have to check it out.

Thanks Sam.

Frank