Lionel's New Retail Store - Concord, NC

Anyone that thinks this shop is for the folks on this forum is kidding themselves.  The shop is a show place that will attract tourist, NASCAR folks, and non hobbyist.  Also they have to be careful not to compete with their retailers.

 

I would bet though that sooner or later they will produce items available only from the store.

Think of it more as a 'catalog showroom' like the old NYC office and you'll be more happy. I have yet to visit....will next trip to Charlotte, but pretty much knew they were not going to under cut their customers.....retailers.

It would be foolish to undercut their dealers ,perhaps a short term gain, but long term no way. Witness the Williams of old or a current importer of "short" engines with cute names.

 

Brad

How far would that store be from the Great Smokey Mountain railroad? I think the GSMR is in Bryson City N.C.

It would be nice if it were close by.

 

Lee Fritz

We've discussed this in another recent thread.  And if you check out the video posted in that thread, there seemed to be a HEAVY emphasis on Lionel's die-cast NASCAR products as well.  Since you visited the store, perhaps you can comment on how much of the store's inventory was NASCAR vs. trains.  And perhaps the NASCAR folks are more inclined to purchase their products at MSRP or close to it.  I have absolutely no familiarity with that market.  But given the store's proximity to the speedway, it seems a natural stop-over for NASCAR fans.  Whether they buy at MSRP or not remains to be seen.

 

As for the train side of the business, I suspect the store will provide a "feel good" environment based on how the products are merchandised... i.e., towers and stacks of set boxes that most LHS's could never afford to stock/display like that.  But if Lionel execs expect to sell a Big Boy at $2700 or a N&W Y6b at $2000, they're smoking stuff that's not legal in many States.

 

Seems a nice idea on the surface to have a "company store" -- even if it's strictly to promote the hobbies.  But aside from select spur-of-the-moment, one-off purchases by folks stopping in for a visit, I can't imagine anyone seriously making huge train purchases at MSRP prices -- especially Lionel's new, highly inflated MSRP prices which most folks here wouldn't take seriously even if they won the lotto for life.

 

David

There was definitely a NASCAR presence, from larger die-cast cars to lower cost baseball themed small/HO sized cars.  There were even a collection of signed helmets. 

 

I wouldn't necessarily call it a catalog show room, the stuff on the floor was definitely the mass market items.  The collector stuff was apparently available according to the salesperson, again at MSRP.  I could see perceived rarity driving such pricing, but that doesn't seem to be an issue here.

 

It would have been nice to see some advantage of such a store, but none were evident. I guess it is best viewed as an introduction to the world of modern Lionel, with both trains and racing. 

 

 

 

 

Right at 200 miles from Bryson City, NC to Concord, NC

 

Neal Jeter

I am a model railroader and a NASCAR fan.  I have quite a large collection of NASCAR diecast.  There are some online dealers that offer discounts on NASCAR diecast and some can be found on ebay (although even there, most is at MSRP).  The diecast cars are sold by the souvenir haulers at the racetracks at MSRP, and they sell a lot.  So, I think many NASCAR fans are accustomed to paying MSRP for diecast cars.  Lionel shouldn't have trouble selling the NASCAR diecast, especially on race weekends at Charlotte Speedway.

 

I live a little over an hour from Concord.  I haven't been to the store yet, but I expect to see it when I attend the LCCA Open House on November 7th.

NASCAR fans had another source for diecast - the QVC show "For Race Fans Only." They premiered the newest cars from Action Performance, the company Lionel bought which was in their current building. Everything on this show was MSRP, or packaged to appear like a deal. I thought the market on these items went soft a few years ago, but maybe it has made a descent comeback.

 

I wonder if the store will have year-end sales or promotions to make room for the 2015 items? Otherwise these trains might stay on the shelves for a few years (or be moved to the warehouse for sales like next month). 

NASCAR die cast is one of the products we produced during my days in NASCAR hobby business.  Todays market is still at much lower levels than the boom 1990's.  And while cars are sold at MSRP for a while.....come this time of year....dealers and retailers start dumping them. We went to Martinsville Sat/Sun and found MANY deals.....and drivers changing teams or leaving the sport.....their items were rock bottom prices. It's like anything......deals can be found!

It MAY happen at the Lionel center.....but bet most will be offered to dealers first.

If you visit the Lionel store the week of Thanksgiving,  the NASCAR show haulers usually line up across from the speedway to sell that year's inventory at discount to make way for 2015. Good time to get some deals of your favorite driver.

And a small donation to Speedway Charity and they allow you to drive on Charlotte Motor Speedway......100 mph or so.....fun!!! 

I was in the store yesterday:

 

Scott Smith

I've done that several times.  They put a pace car out there to limit you to about 60 mph.  When you get out on the track just lay back and then you can get up to over 100 mph.

 

I just hope I never wreck my car.  I can imagine my call to the insurance company:

Sir, where did the accident occur?

Um...turn 2 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Click

Surely you didn't expect to buy at a discount in this store?? If Lionel was to do that, every Lionel dealer in the country would be screaming!

 

As MartyE said above, this store is NOT for the serious modeler. It's for the tourist impulse buyer who is only peripherally involved in the hobby and does not know about other pricing options.

A hint.....go late in the day....speeds tend to go up as the day goes. I was in my 1999 Concorde with a Vette pace car that pretty much was letting us go as fast as we wanted. (this was 2002)

 

Martinsville does it too in Dec.  We did it last year and a guy did wreck during one of our sessions.

 

I'd think the Lionel store would have something going on black Friday when the CMS track time is running.....or I'd hope they would......the store is almost on the CMS grounds.

I wish Lionel would use its diecast talent and vendors in China to produce 1:24 scale cars of classics and modern icons.  This would fill the hot and avid market that Franklin Mint and Danbury Mint abandoned for unrelated reasons.  DM lost access to the good vendors in China and FM simply lost touch with what it did best...super high quality collectibles and minted products (its roots back to 1964).

Interesting to hear that.  Given the new Lionel executive team has roots in the die-cast side of the business, one can only wonder if they have misguided hopes of pushing the train side of the business in that direction.

 

 

 

 

Perceived by whom though?  Only the casual, uninformed buyer would pay MSRP prices for toy trains --especially given the current gap between typical street-prices and MSRP is much too wide to ignore.  Calabrese had visions of holding street-prices close to MSRP, but buyers saw through that attempt in a heart-beat.  And Lionel's overproduction of stuff in an already super-saturated market didn't help the cause either.

 

The other point to keep in mind is that we shouldn't expect to see BTO items in the Lionel Retail Store, since that would defeat the purpose of Lionel's recently stated plans to limit production of select items (i.e., BTO) to orders received by dealers.  Highly unlikely that anybody is gonna pre-order a BTO item at full MSRP through Lionel's Retail Store.  So expect to see the company store stick to mass-produced items and seasonal/holiday items as its mainstay.

 

Aside from dealer blowouts, the annual Lionel warehouse sale may still be your ticket for Lionel-sponsored bargains... And again, expect those to be largely the mass-produced items that couldn't be moved through normal distribution channels.  If BTO items start appearing at Lionel warehouse sales, then they're either "refurbished" BTO returns from consumers... or they were never truly BTO in the first place.

 

David

I would imagine that they will be saving all of the bargain stuff for their open houses, which are geared a little more towards our end of the hobby - the train guys.

 

If memory serves, it was mentioned at the Legacy Users Group breakfast in York that part of the purpose behind this store is to help Lionel figure out better ways to package, display and market their product.  This, in turn and in theory, should help them interest more retailers in carrying their products (probably involving VIP seats for the buyers at major races, too ).

 

I am curious as to how busy the store will be during the major race events.  That alone will be a lot of positive exposure.

 

Andy

I stopped by the store last week just to check it out. While the prices are MSRP for the most part, there were some bargain priced Christmas items. Also, the store attendant offered me a discount card that is good for 20% off anything in the store through the end of the year!

I would estimate the current store stock to be 90/10 in favor of train items though was told it would swing the other way during race weekends. Worth a visit if you're in the area IMHO. 

Those that have been to the store know it.....but the store is almost on the Speedway grounds. Charlotte Motor Speedway has much more than two NASCAR races a year. There are in fact four NASCAR race dates, a NHRA national drag race, The huge Good Guys hot rod show, TWO AutoFair events as large as York car shows or bigger, two dirt sprint car races and a Ralley car race. During the summer there are weekly races on the CMS short track that draw thousands too. Get a SMALL portion of these folks visit the Lionel store....a BIG plus.....so it's not all for us......but in the end may be a great benefit to us.

Both are gone for a reason. We had some die cast manufactured in China back 1980-90's. I know folks that worked for both doing research and design. But the cost has gone through the roof and capacity and customer demand is way down....the perfect storm to kill a company. If a profit could be made and demand was strong enough someone would do it.

Well that certainly gets them in the ballpark of general street-prices, which are typically 30-35% off MSRP (for 2014 Vol 2 catalog prices) at the most competitive dealers.

 

Again, it's an added incentive for folks in the neighborhood visiting.  And at the same time, Lionel safely avoids the unhealthy stigma of competing with or undercutting its dealer network. 

 

David