John Ormandy/Ormandy's Trains/Cleveland

If he has nothing in writing, he's going to have a hard time prevailing.

Note it's the kids/beneficiaries doing this.  They want the money....and then have to chop it up however man pieces.

Unfortunately for John, he's put a fair amount of money into the property.

Gonna take some fancy lawyer-ing.

I visited this store just a month ago. Great selection of lionel items from the early 2000s (scale pass cars). Pretty good inventory of lionel rolling stock too. Owners are really nice and are great to talk with. The store is split into 2 sections, with one being o scale and the other mostly HO and N. This place is known for their marklin selection. In the back of the Marklin area is a great selection of lionel scale passenger cars from the early 2000s. They have some legacy/tmcc and lionchief engines too.

If you’re anywhere near Medina, OH, a visit to Ormandys is worth it IMO.

I hope it all works out. Ever since my boys have been little we've gone out there to visit the train store/museum and get some ice cream. He has always been so nice to us.

Very unfortunate.  People like John Ormandy construct things which make this world interesting.  It will be Medina's loss if he is pushed out.

Visited there a number of times when I lived in the area. Very fun train shop.  A visit to downtown Medina, Ohio,  is a memorable trip back in time to small town America and highly recommended.

I'm rooting for Ormandy's.  I was more of a supporter of the Trading Post, but spent a few hundred bucks at Ormandys, especially when my sister lived in Medina.

Sadly, a handshake isn't worth the paper it's written on.  To quote Dan Ohlmeyer, as repeated often by Tony Kornheiser,

"The answer to all your questions is money"

Ormandy's is a great destination in a pretty little town.  I wish John the best.

In late 2010, Ormandy's was able to find a NIB Milwaukee Road S2 Northern for me and held it until I redeployed home six months later. It was a small gesture, but I really appreciated it and shows what kind of guy he is.

This brings up an interesting point, is there a consolidated list of hobby shops, please don't say google, that exists ? Reason I ask is I spent 20+ years of driving (90's) between Columbus oh and PA and yet never heard of this store. Just recently took a two hour drive to Stockyard, great place and very nice folks, but I wouldn't have known about them if they were not a sponsor. Since Mercer Junction has closed and The Underground RR is covid closed, I've been buying off the internet from other sponsors and traveling to somewhat local places.
I've manged to stay away from 'da bay after having 2 not so great transactions recently. When I heard about the train store in Erie, I went and spent quite a bit and frequently visit CT McCormicks in Zelionople as well as Hobby Express in Cranberry.

Another point is, that local hobby shops are few and an online presence and marketing is A MUST in today's environment. For those that can't invest in on-line or marketing, it doesn't look good. Word of mouth is not enough, fewer customers these days.

@MR_P posted:

This brings up an interesting point, is there a consolidated list of hobby shops, please don't say google, that exists ? Reason I ask is I spent 20+ years of driving (90's) between Columbus oh and PA and yet never heard of this store. Just recently took a two hour drive to Stockyard, great place and very nice folks, but I wouldn't have known about them if they were not a sponsor. Since Mercer Junction has closed and The Underground RR is covid closed, I've been buying off the internet from other sponsors and traveling to somewhat local places.
I've manged to stay away from 'da bay after having 2 not so great transactions recently. When I heard about the train store in Erie, I went and spent quite a bit and frequently visit CT McCormicks in Zelionople as well as Hobby Express in Cranberry.

Another point is, that local hobby shops are few and an online presence and marketing is A MUST in today's environment. For those that can't invest in on-line or marketing, it doesn't look good. Word of mouth is not enough, fewer customers these days.

Wish there was a consolidated list, but sadly, no.  Things change so frequently, and hobby shops have limited budgets for advertising, so one might place their ads in a magazine that not everyone will see. Also, a lot of older dealers don't want to bother with maintaining a robust online presence, or they prefer to directly interact with their customers via phone. This might not be an optimal marketing strategy, but it's their choice.

I first learned about Ormandy's from a Z-scale magazine, because he advertised there. Probably would not have known about him otherwise.

I use several sources - OGR, CTT, MR, and any other publication that I might stumble upon. When traveling, I do a search for train stores in the area.

You said "please don't say google", but that really is the answer.

I love these LHS, but the post-war business model of catering to walk-in traffic and catalog ordering on behalf of a customer has killed several of these.

To me, and I'm a late boomer, not a millenial, online inventory is a minimum expectation and, frankly, a minimum requirement for a retail business to survive. Locally, the former Trading Post and Ormandys lacked online inventory so I'd have to call first. Compare that with another NE Ohio shop, Stockyard Express, which lists its inventory on its website. No online ordering shopping cart, but seeing their inventory is still a huge benefit for customers, and it enables them to reach and ship to customers nationwide. That makes them WAY more viable than others.

@raising4daughters posted:

I love these LHS, but the post-war business model of catering to walk-in traffic and catalog ordering on behalf of a customer has killed several of these.

To me, and I'm a late boomer, not a millenial, online inventory is a minimum expectation and, frankly, a minimum requirement for a retail business to survive. Locally, the former Trading Post and Ormandys lacked online inventory so I'd have to call first. Compare that with another NE Ohio shop, Stockyard Express, which lists its inventory on its website. No online ordering shopping cart, but seeing their inventory is still a huge benefit for customers, and it enables them to reach and ship to customers nationwide. That makes them WAY more viable than others.

You are 100% correct here.

Funny story about Jim Berilla at the Trading Post inCleveland. Until the mid-2000s Jim even refused to take credit cards. He hated paying the bank fee.

When someone handed him one, he told them where there was an ATM close by - go get cash and come back. Ralph Brown, the original owner of store and from whom Jim bought it in 1989, told him to never accept credit cards. Since Jim looked up to Ralph as a mentor, he followed his advice for years.

One day in the mid-2000s, I stopped by the TP (a weekly habit for me) and Jim announced that he was trying out accepting credit cards. After a few months, he told me how big a mistake it was that he hadn’t done so all along. He had lost a lot of sales because of his stance, and especially when visitors from out of town came by and wanted to spend a lot but didn’t have cash.

I sure could have told him so way back when, but I bit my tongue and congratulated him on his new-found shrewdness.

As for doing internet sales, Jim never owned a computer as far as I know; he was very old school. And stubborn. Still, he seemed to do just find without it.

Quite a guy!

I don't care what it is, buisness, property or whatever. It always goes bad when "the kids" get involved.

@raising4daughters posted:

To me, and I'm a late boomer, not a millenial

Hey, what about us Gen-X'ers?

@Dave Warburton posted:

You are 100% correct here.

Funny story about Jim Berilla at the Trading Post inCleveland. Until the mid-2000s Jim even refused to take credit cards. He hated paying the bank fee.

When someone handed him one, he told them where there was an ATM close by - go get cash and come back. Ralph Brown, the original owner of store and from whom Jim bought it in 1989, told him to never accept credit cards. Since Jim looked up to Ralph as a mentor, he followed his advice for years.

One day in the mid-2000s, I stopped by the TP (a weekly habit for me) and Jim announced that he was trying out accepting credit cards. After a few months, he told me how big a mistake it was that he hadn’t done so all along. He had lost a lot of sales because of his stance, and especially when visitors from out of town came by and wanted to spend a lot but didn’t have cash.

I sure could have told him so way back when, but I bit my tongue and congratulated him on his new-found shrewdness.

As for doing internet sales, Jim never owned a computer as far as I know; he was very old school. And stubborn. Still, he seemed to do just find without it.

Quite a guy!

Yep, I remember Jim's pre-credit days as my first purchase from him (outside going with my Dad, Uncle, or Grandfather) was in 2001. I had to remember to take cash or my wife's checkbook.

After he passed and his heirs (and a few forum members) sold off the inventory, I actually got to see his store rooms. He could've easily turned a lot of that inventory into cash with an online or eBay presence at higher margins that what it went for after his death. There were some really nice pieces including pretty new TMCC and even LC and LC+.

I ended up picking up a few pieces of rolling stock I had no idea he had in stock. You can't "impulse buy" what's hidden in a back room and not online.

@MikeH posted:

Hey, what about us Gen-X'ers?

Sorry. for the faux pas...I was born in late 1964, so while technically a boomer, I self-identify as a Gen-Xer. Just meant to imply that I don't have a smartphone attached to my hand.

I was a regular customer at Trading Post from the late 80's until 2004 when I moved out of state. Jim was so nice and willing to work with you if you were short of cash, a few times I would use his 90 day layaway plan, which helped in obtaining some nice pieces.

I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate circumstances regarding Ormandy's. There is an organization based in Orrville, Ohio that at one time sponsored a special trip to Medina in October each year, I rode it annually until it was discontinued . Passengers were treated to a pleasant afternoon at the square. As soon as I de-boarded the train, it's off to Ormandy's I went.

Rather sad to see that this store is one of the remaining train shops in NE Ohio.

Just got back from my first time visit to Ormandy's. I picked up a Lionel scale freight car, postwar Lionel 309 yard signs with original box, and some wall signs. I did see the Marklin and Piko trains (beautiful selection even though I don't do HO or G).

O gauge section was not too bad- mostly traditional sized but there was some scale rolling stock, mainly freight but a couple 2- packs for passenger sets. Some Thomas the train stuff, Polar Express set cars (snow roofs). Not too bad selection of motive power. Range of prewar, postwar and some tmcc/legacy engines.