Timing of Lionel's March sale?

I can't answer most of your questions, but my guess is that it will have zero impact on attendance and/or sales at York.  

 

I guess we'll all have a better idea after the Lionel event is completed, and any speculation at this point would be just that.

It wont matter or effect York.

Get over it York is just a small slice of the O-Gauge market, especially as you get further away from PA. Out West here York is a complete non-issue for everyone I know.

 

Also how many of the 12000 or so York attendees are only there to look, not purchase or are only there for used items.

It will make no difference.

Really? You actually believe all those things implied in your questions?

 

Nonsense (you asked for opinions).

 

TCA and LCCA Member, btw.

 

 

It will have no effect. The better deals will always be at York as we dealers will use it to move our extra inventory. Nothing can beat that selection.

I own hundreds of Lionel trains that I have bought over the last thirty four

years and I've never been to York.  The more ways to buy trains, the better for the buyers.

Lots of folks in the hobby have never been to York.  That's perfectly fine.  But some 12,000-14,000 hobbyists and their families/friends do go to York twice a year.

 

The question posed in the original post was how the Lionel event in Concord might impact the York Meet in April.  I think it's safe to say that it won't impact it at all.  I can't think of a single reason why it would.

 

I hope the Concord event is a success for Lionel--would love to go myself since I have family living about 20 minutes away--but even if I could go I still would go to the York Meet.

4. Lionel is not the only supplier that front runs the meet. (check your newly arriving emails from the known dealer/distributor/liquidators).  In fact dealers have traditionally blown out their inventory prior to the April meet, thus arriving at the meet cash in hand, ready to buy out any smaller/individual sellers looking to liquidate their holdings. This historically was the function of the so called "preY2K/ preEbay bandit meets.' Nowadays the liquidators will use EBay for that purpose, however their market timing is basically the same.

 

3. Wholesalers, importers, & dealers know that immediately after the Spring meet its their last chance to clear inventory, because after that final post Christmas buying spree most individuals start saving anew for vacations, spring home improvements, end of model year vehicle sales, etc.

 

2. Market savvy hobbyists know that this is the time to be buying forward for the next holiday season & not after Halloween. So by all means look forward to product moving closer to its intrinsic values rather than 'must have Christmas pricing.' 

 

1. Who ever said that any toy train company ever had any commitment to maximize the profit margins of its dealers, collectors, jobbers or any other sellers: at York, or any other meet or market for that matter. As I recall that's not the way Adam Smith said free and open markets work.

Am I the only TCA member that feels this is a somewhat unfriendly gesture towards TCA and their twice yearly big show?

It would seem that, perhaps, you are!

 

York is the place. Our motto is "If you can't find it at York, it can't be found".

Woody

Lionel runs a business and like most businesses, particularly in a challenging economy, they have to do what is best for them.  My guess is that Lionel is not that concerned about the interplay of its event with the York event, rather only concerned with moving inventory before what has been the long summertime sales lull in model trains.

 

As far as saying whether it will have an effect, no one here has any actual data, or way to measure what, if any impact Lionel's sale will have on York.  It is not unreasonable to believe it could be detrimental to the York meet, but it is also not unreasonable to think that the York event, given its long tenured status within the O gauge community, is also not going to be materially impacted.  As a train enthusiast, I prefer to have more outlets, not less, for buying trains so I have no issue with the Lionel sale or its proximity to York.

Look York is York, I have only missed 1 Day since 1976 and that was for a friends wedding. That's around 100 days I have spent at York at 2 to 4 days for each meet. And I have only stayed there for 2 nights while the rest of the time I have driven there daily and I still love going.

 

I don't think that any of this is against the TCA. The LCCA's red carpet event has no bearing on York at all. And Lionel is just 1 manufacture of the many that will at York. York is more about the relationships that many of us have with one another. Catching up with old friends and making new ones, while seeing whats new for the future or finding that one piece we need to complete a collection or finish a project. It is so much more then what people may imagine it to be. Unless you have been there you do not know what you are missing.

 

And if my memory is correct, there is a scale train show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds the weekend before York. Myself, I have never been there and it is less then a 1/3 of the way for me to go to York. 

 

Me and my family will be going to the LCCA's red carpet event which will be the first time that I have been able to go a train club event, other then York in over 25 years. And my retirement has made this possible for me since I had to schedule some of my vacation time around the York meets.

 

But to me it is totally unfair to view Lionel as being the bad guy here or to think that this is a plot against the TCA & York. We all have only so much money to spend on trains. So what is the difference whether the event at Lionel is before or after York. I'll will be at both and I hope both of them will be successful.