Lionel at Sears, Brookstone

It would be nice to see Sears or somebody else who is a large chain store carry Lionel or other brands of trains.

Target quit carrying Lionel, not sure but low sales may have been part of it. Also some Target stores put the Lionel items in the middle of the store on a back aisle or on an end cap where little foot traffic happened to be.

Also to sell a product you need to advertise!!

Lee F.

I never liked these stores carrying Lionel or any other brand of toy trains. The reason I never care for it was because the sales people had no clue as to what they were selling. Most of them couldn't tell the difference between a box car and caboose and if it was a young sales person they normally could care less.

I thought Sears, at least in select areas, had carried Lionel for years

Here's what the Brookstone website lists.  No bargains here:

http://www.brookstone.com/sear...amp;_requestid=84911

Somehow, I don't think they're carrying all this stuff in the stores.

Rusty

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in northern Colorado several Sears have closed recently.

Historically hasn't Sears and J.C Pennys carried Lionel?

Rusty,

You are right. That's alot of stuff for a book store. Rusty, did you happen to notice, with all those items there was no track other than a add-on switch package.

I think you are absolutely correct, but that is true for virtually everything else they sell as well. The reason I think trains in these stores are a good thing is that countless shoppers who would otherwise never set foot in a hobby store are exposed to model trains. If a set is purchased and the bug is caught, the local shop, or at least a mail order alternative, will be sought out since the big box stores will never carry the product needed for one to expand his interest.

Jim

There are many areas that do not have train shops but have Sears, Target, Wal-Marts etc. If they want a train it may be impossible to find a place that actually sells one

cbojanower,

Sorry, I didn't realize that. I would of thought, if a town had the three stores you mentioned, they would surely have a hobby shop of some kind that could get them a electric train.

I also would hope someone who knew they wanted to buy a train might find a shop. But trains are not the first thing that come to the mind of the average person shopping for a child these days. The 1950s are long gone. The shopper who hadn't even thought of buying a train is the one I would want to be attracted to a set in a non-hobby store. A child might be introduced to trains who wouldn't have been otherwise. If the hobby draws him in then he has only one place to go to delve deeper into it.

Look at our average age. This hobby is sliding towards extinction. There are fewer hobby shops left each year, and it isn't because of competition from Walmarts, it is due to competition from other interests. Unless we get more kids into the hobby anyway we can, there will eventually be only a few shops left feeding on the remaining scraps of interest.  

I'll check out Brookstones in our mall tomorrow. I have never found anything that I needed or wanted in that store. They have been around a long time so I guess they do all right.

I checked the Sears web site.  One piece of O72 FasTrack Curve $17.45. 

Its OK Jim, we have about 6 shops that  carry Lionel in Utah, but many Targets, WalMarts and similar shops. I would say for those in Southern UT it would be closer to drive to Vegas than to a hobby shop that carries Lionel. Not at all like the east coast

There are plenty of places that do mail order and beat the prices Sears put's on their site.

Almost all the hobby shops that carry O gauge in Michigan are in the south 1/3rd of the state.  Only two in the north 2/3rds.  We do have a number of Sears and Menards up north.

John

You have to realize that what Brookstone or Sears show in their online 'store' may not be carried or stocked in their 'brick & mortar' physical stores. Barnes & Noble by me has a fairly large toy section - no Lionel, yet they sell starter sets online. 

I like the idea of big box stores selling Lionel trains. Big stores like Target and Sears are much easier to find around here than a hobby shop, and if the trains don't work, the big box stores refund your money, or if you wish, exchange the set for a new one without a hassle. None of this "send it in for repair" bologna.

Y'know, back in the day, most of my Lionel train stuff came from the old "big box" stores, radio-tv shops, discount stores and furniture stores that carried trains on a seasonal basis.

Hardly bastions of model train knowledge. 

If it weren't for those stores, I'd probably be in a different hobby.

And, when the E-unit broke on my F3's, (yes, Lionel trains did break back then) my dad asked around at work to find out where to get it fixed.

Rusty

Why should or would Lionel not put their product into any and all retail outlets that they can? Its just good business sense. As soon as they started worrying about "Being Fair" they lose opportunities, thus lose sales, and thus lose revenues. Many shoppers at holiday time have no idea what they want to buy for someone on their list. They are not going to think to stop into a hobby shop, but if they are at Boscov's, or Sears and see the sets, then the light goes on and a sale many be made that would otherwise not have happened. Back in the day Lionel depended on big retailers such as Macy's and Sears, and JC Penney, why that should change today would make no sense.

Gandy

I have gone back and looked at the Sears web site and looked up Lionel FasTrack.  All I can say is shop for the best price.  Sears uses Marketplace.  What is Marketplace at Sears.com?  Marketplace at Sears.com is a community of sellers working with Sears to provide you with millions of additional items.  I found track prices that ranged from $6.20 to $17.45 for the same item all on the Sears search page. 

Jim Miller

Dealing with major estabished retailers makes more business sense than pop-up stores in high rent districts.

Rusty

I do like the chain stores selling them. I would rather support the local hobby shops but these stores don't bring in new customers. If there are no new poeple to the hobby then the hobby shops won't have any business in the log run. It is like the top of the funnel that Lionel talked about in on OGR article a while back.

As noted by others I live on the east coast.  I'm lucky to have some of the best train stores within a couple hours drive.  M.B. Klien, JusTrains, Nicholas Smith Trains, Grzyboski's, Side track Hobbies and Star Hobby.  Just to name a few.  I have been in almost every train store and fabric store in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.  my girlfriend is into trains and she likes going to train shows as much as I do.

I'm always looking for a bargain and have found Lionel products in Wegman's Food Markets, Stauffers of Kissel Hill grocery stores, and A.C. Moore Craft Stores.  Usually these stores stock up before Christmas with boxed starter sets and a few pieces of O36 Fastrack and 10" straights.  Anything else you have to go to one of the bigger hobby shops or order it on line.  Most of the prices in thes big box stores are not that great, but if your willing to pay MSRP you may do all right.  Sometime thes stores have coupons for 20% to 50% off.

Our Sears up here (northern New York) carried starter sets last year too.  If I remember right, it was the Penn Flyer for around 200.

East Coasters have basements.

West Coast people have only a garage.  2 of my neighbors want to build a layout in the garage and pin it to the wall. No can do as the wall is filled with 20 long boards in their gloves.  You cannot put a $750 board outside. Have built one layout that is on a pulley system that will suffice.  Our garages are filled with "stuff" and you cannot even put the car in.

So enjoy your warm basements while we enjoy the warm beach as its hot today. Water temp about 65. Wind WSW about 3 knots, curls are only 3 feet, no undertow.  This is what we have to endure while you are shoveling some white stuff that is on the ground at freezing temps.