Monroeville Train show very sad

I drove by the Monroeville convention center yesterday. Peggy, wanted to do some shopping at the mall. Now that I know where this train show is held, maybe next summer I will attend.

Hey Jim, if you go to Greenberg train show next summer you better get a table.  I think a lot of people will come to the show just to talk to you.  If you're bored with retirement you could open up a train store.  What a unique idea.  Bet you could make a lot of moolah (did I spell that right?).

 

I know you are probably wandering who the heck is RickC?  I think you would recognize me if you saw me.  I've been to your shop quite a few times.  And you showed me just what I needed to buy.

 

Take care, see you next summer.

 

Rick

Attendance was down in Pittsburgh cuz the Steelers were playing the Pop Warner All-Stars!!!

Monroeville used to be one of the choice shows to attend.  It was a fun day going to the show then to AB Charles and other stores and finally end up at Don Casslers to run--yea HO! I know this is a O scalesite but a great layout is a great layout no matter what scale,besides his son lives in the same town as me.

Times are a changing!

Frank

RICKC,

Good evening Sir,

Sorry, I'm not bored with retirement, I'm enjoying it. I do miss talking to the people. I always enjoy visiting with our customers both in the store and on the phone. Peggy and I have had a wonderful two years just taking it easy. We are not doing anything special. I still enjoy reading the forum and looking at all the pictures.  

If we look at the train show circuit of 30 years ago, things have radically changed.

Back then:

1 The audience was young and highly motivated to buy just about anything and everything. Almost everyone in the hobby was trying to find the items to buy that they could not have or afford as a child.

2. Communications were basic,  no cell phones and the internet was not available. 

3. Gasoline was under $1.00 per gallon and it was cheap to travel to the shows

4. Most people  enjoyed only a few channels of broadcast television in their homes.

 

Now lets look at today:

1. The train audience is now either middle aged, old, lazy, broken down, disabled, in poor health, tired and worn out or a combination of those. A good portion are retired and disposal income limited.

2. You can sit in your chair, shop online and can order just about any train with one click of the mouse. Why leave your house?

3. Gasoline is now $3.50-$4.00 per gallon. Many train collectors cannot afford to buy as much gas; much of the remainder are just plain stingy and won't buy much at this price

4. With 300 TV channels in just about every home, a new generation of "armchair spectators" has emerged.

5. Obama is president.

 

Times have changed

 

hello guys and gals............

 

So what else is new ?

 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

Great post Lee!

Guys and Gals... I said it before in another thread, and I'll say it again here.  While Allentown may have had a surge of crowds when the show first opened in the early AM hours, I arrived shortly after 12:30PM on Saturday to find MUCH, MUCH fewer people than I had ever seen at the show.  So even Allentown wasn't up to the attendance levels of prior years.  Still a great show, nonetheless.  But I heard one large dealer (who's a regular at ATMA) say that by 3PM he had done about 1/3 the business he had done in prior years. 

 

So all is not what it seems, even when a moment-in-time "outward appearance" may indicate otherwise.

 

David

And every day is Saturday, right? It is for us.

Frank M of LR

This is how I look at the points you raise today:

1. The train audience - is a wonderful group from which I have made many new friends!  Great people, young, old, and in between.

2. You can sit in your chair, shop online and can order just about any train with one click of the mouse. Why leave your house?  Why indeed?  More time to play with trains because I'm not running around in my car.   More ability to shop for bargains!!  Greater selection.  Search engines to find things for you!!  Fantastic!

3. Gasoline is now $3.50-$4.00 per gallon. But I have a Chevy Volt, so when I do drive instead of shop online it costs me about $77 cents/gallon equivalent.  Electric trains --- electric cars.  Coincidence?  I don't think so!!!

4. With 300 TV channels in just about every home, a new generation of "armchair spectators" has emerged.  Isn't our world great?  Years ago I could only enjoy not watching three or four channels, now every day I enjoy not watching dozens and dozens of channels.

5. Obama is president.  Yeah, I know what you mean - I'd prefer a President who likes toy trains rather than playing basketball, too, but neither Neil Young or Warren Buffet was running, so like a majority of American's I voted for him anyway.

 

 

 

 My objective was to present some points (with some humor) that address the topic of this post. Energy cost, the economy, the internet/CATV and changing demographics were my talking points. I believe that they affect the masses and are not specific to all train collectors.  I see nothing in your post that tells us anything in reply to the posters point or my points as they relate to this hobby. Please stop talking about yourself and share your analysis on train show attendance and why you believe Monroeville was down .    

 

 

If the attendance was down (looked like a decent crowd to me, but I don't have numbers), I'd guess it was due to several factors. One is that most people still don't have the "extra money" that they used to have. Prices at the show were, as typical for Greenberg's, somewhat on the high side. I looked through all the MPC/LTI-era Lionel that I could find, and nothing in my price range interested me. I left the show with 2 Atlas HO freight cars. There were bargains to be had, just none that I wanted. Also, as noted by others, the show hasn't been the same since the move from the Expo Mart. Seems like prices went up and the number of vendors went down. Might be my imagination though.

Show was good -attendance was good -vendor sales where good-Hi Rail layout was good

 

 

 

How about Monroeville show what do you think?

 

 Youd think it was some kinda dud or something. Alot of people put alot of time and effort into these shows.

 

What is as good as  10 years ago? 

No.

Actuallt, you voted for electors who promise to vote for O in the College.  In the US, we do not directly elect our Prez.

Folks with a casual interest in trains don't need to visit a train show these days. Mass marketers have trains, and there is always the internet. No worries about whether the item works. The buyer has somewhere to go if they have a problem with their merchandise.
Plus, it's always irked me a bit that one has to pay admission for the right to go shopping. The next show in my area is charging $7.00 a head for those over the age of 12, and there is a fee for parking.

 

I don't see it as "paying for the right to shop."  I see it as paying for the convenience of having a concentration of special interest items in one place.  The admission fee also helps offset the cost of renting the venue, insurance for the event (either provided by the promoter or by the venue and built into the rental fee), advertising and promotion of the event, and providing for the wages and salaries of the promoters doing the work involved in holding the event in the first place.  Some might argue that the entire burden be placed on the table-holders and admission be free for the public, but going that route risks driving smaller dealers and vendors away, resulting in an even smaller show or even the eventual elimination of the show altogether.

 

Andy

When I went to the Dalton, Ohio show a few weeks ago, the parking lot was packed and the aisles thick with people as usual - in the parking lot it looked like it would be another great show.  However, once inside this show has turned into a train and TOY show.   While I respect everyone's interests, seeing tables of toys start to appear seems to point to the slow decline of the TRAIN show as it dilutes its core audience.