Train Shop Closing-Railyard Hobbies

Paul,

Anytime a hobby shop closes it is a sad thing . Anyway you look at it, that is someone's LHS. What a SHAME.

The place is so huge I told him he was setting himself up for failure. He tried to be something to everybody and wound up not satisfying anybody. 

 

I feel bad for him. 

david1,

How long was Railyard Hobbies in business.

Railyard Hobbies has been in business since 2011. They moved into much larger space in 2013 to help meet customer needs. Unfortunately they didn't get as many customers as needed to support the larger space.

 

Paul

Watch this video and it might give you an understanding as to why they're closing. Look at how large the place is how much wasted space there is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbpkVRj6rXk

I think r/c might not have helped, either. I get the feeling that r/c cars were sort of a bubble which has busted already. I know that it killed a hobby shop very close to where I lived, one of their employees admitted that r/c folks don't buy from retail stores much, far less than any other segment of their inventory...

About 2 years In the larger location.

Just found this out Tuesday night when my grandson and I stopped by. He is into RC as well as trains and they were very helpful in answering his questions. 

 

They certainly had more space than they probably needed. 

Just watched the above video....  Thats sad.  I'm about 40 miles from there & in the area frequently... Had always intended to make it there.

I would say its difficult to support the kind of inventory expense and overhead that this large operation had exclusively from the sales of train and hobby equipment. There must be 5 or 6 employees and 2000 sq ft of space there. It looks as though RC cars was the main focus and that's on the downswing.  

I will agree that the future of retail is from online stores. I buy online 9 months out of the year and only go to 3 or 4 shows per year, but mostly to browse for the odd items and to say hello to other hobbyists. You sometimes pay more online and sometimes you pay less but you do save at least 50 cents a mile in car transportation and several hundred if you attend York.  

You have to fill for that person. I'm sure they had big dreams and high hopes.

Sad they didn't make it, but, as said above, way too much empty space and overhead. Every train shop I have been to is crowded and small, and there's certainly a reason for that.

Sorry to hear about this.

He made his personal choice on the size of the building and the format within.

If he grew to the size of hobby lobby. You would call him a genius. The Bill Gates of the hobby business. So, the store closes and he automatically had "FAULTY IDEAS".

 

Outside winning the lottery or inheritance. I would speculate there are very few that became rich or had a "successful" business with out taking chances. 

 

Hopefully, his dreams stay alive. He learns from any mistakes made during the stores run. May, he use the knowledge to be successful in his future endeavors.

 

shawn

Do they have a website?

Very interesting video about the store....... They did it all....

 

Looks like a great place to visit. So sad to hear they are closing

It's kinda like a hamburger place selling chicken, ribs, lattes, etc.  If you're going to call yourself "Railyard" then you should stick to that facet of the hobby market.

 

Man, that place is HUGE!  We have a Debbies RC World here and they're big, but not that big (their RC track is outside instead of inside).  Debbies sells mostly RC stuff, they have just enough model train stuff to let you know it still exists.

I see quite a few problems with their buisness model. First their name, it focuses on model railroads only and not general hobbies. People doing a search will pass over it if they are looking for RC. Next, their size is too big, so I am sure their rent was too. Plus the bigger you are the more employees you need. More cost, insurance, health and overhead. Then the biggest issue is the web site. For all practical issues there is none. You cant see product or buy it. They are 100% dependent on walk-ins and in this industry that is not enough. 

Wonder what they are doing with the layout

Jim Sutter,

   Maybe they should have asked for your business advise before moving to the super large location, I always liked your home/business train store location!  Today having the correct business model is even more critical than before.  Jim I always marveled at how smart your were business wise, with your trains store!

PCRR/Dave

Another "Showroom" closes!  That's what ALL retail has become, it doesn't matter what the genre is.  I'm very sorry to hear this.  Retail is in trouble.

I'm about 15 miles from there and I too had said that I would visit the new location, after visiting the original several  times. Guess not!

 

Wow, what a store. I can see Charlie's points though too. Sad.

Charlie, you are right on the mark with this statement.

 

In today's world of business, if you do not have a functioning web site including an easy-to-use web store where you actually sell product, you are doomed to fail. The days of surviving exclusively on walk-in trade are over.

This is very sad, indeed.

 

George

They did a nice video Lee. Sad to see all those people loose their jobs. Looks like a Home Depot for hobbies. Being in the Forum and a selling web site would have helped but the size of that store must have carried with it a huge monthly bill. Don

What a store. SO large.  A lot of empty space in the store.  Too Bad.

That is really too bad, I am sure that the regulars will MISS that place. After reading way too many threads about shops closing, I have often thought about just how much I would miss my own LTS, Whistle Stop Trains, in Portland, OR.

 

 Whistle Stop has been in business since I was young, they opened in 1974, and many years ago moved to their current location, which was larger than their original store, but still not what you might call "LARGE" but still fit their business volume.

 

 IIRC, Charley is the fourth owner, and business is still at a viable level, he has owned the store for about 20 years now, and I recently asked him about what he expects to see in the future. Fortunately, Charley is expecting to keep the business another 15 years or so, which I was Very HAPPY to hear. Hopefully, when it is time for Charley to retire, He will be able to find someone interested in the business, but many other shops have had trouble with that in the past, time will tell, and I can only Hope for the Best.

 

 The value(at least to ME) of a Brick and Mortar LTS, is often under-estimated, I like being able to SEE what I am buying before I buy it, and have bought many things because of seeing them on the shelf, that I would not have bought otherwise. My MTH Railking Imperial Northern in Santa Fe, is the perfect example, I don't even normally collect Santa Fe, but I saw it on the shelf, and something about it just appealed to me, I kept going back and looking at it, until I finally decided to buy it, I NEVER would have bought it just from seeing it in the catalog, but IN PERSON, I just couldn't help myself.

 

 I also consider Charley and the crew Friends, and have spent an hour after closing just BS'ing. After being a customer for more than 40 years, It would be a SAD day indeed, when their "OPEN" sign is turned off for the last time.

 

Doug

Going by linear feet of shelf space he had more trains than RC, however he had N HO and O gauge. Also a reasonable selection of scenery materials.

In the RC side he didn't just sell the cars he had a very large selection of batteries chargers and replacement parts for several manufacturers. His indoor dirt track was a big draw initially. Not sure how well it is doing lately. He also had a smaller rubber track for 1/24th scale (approx) cars.

Man, I sure feel bad for them but how the heck can you not have online ordering in this day and age??

 

--Greg

From the pictures, it looks as if they rented an old Ames or Hills department store. That's a whole lot of space to heat and cool and a lot to patrol for shoplifting.

 

The bit-off-more-than-they-can-chew syndrome is often a museum thing, but can affect retail. Somebody offers a deal on a huge space, the business takes them up on it, then they discover that their stock looks sparse on the miles of shelving and keeping everything clean and operating is a pain. Add the fad nature of R/C to the burden, and it's too much to handle. Betting on anything trendy takes incredibly good luck and timing.

It was brand new construction. It was built as a small business area. He took over 4 business fronts and made it into one.

Such a shame......looked like a fun place to visit.  My eyes glazed over just taking the video tour!

 

-Pete

Wow!!!  Lots of square footage there. Isle's large enough to drive your car and shop . Too Bad. My LHS has one person isle's and then you still must crawl over boxes. (but their business seems fine).

Did they sell any high end o scale or just starter sets ?

 

Except stay in business. 

It's unfortunate that he didn't seek some, or better, business advice. Charlienassau ticked off the problems. I'm surprised he was able to get financing for this venture. It wasn't too hard to look at the video and tell this place was doomed. I'm sure a lot of the locals will miss the store.

Gentlemen,

   I can not understand why they did not have on line ordering, it really is not that hard or expensive to set up, David's owner of Bill & Walts small store in White Oak, Pa does a great job with the on line portion of his Hobby Shop, this particular business needed some serious business management advise, and either David or Jim could probably have saved their business for them, if either would have been consulted.  What many of these people do not understand is that hobby shops are a business not a hobby.

PCRR/Dave

After watching the video, the first thing I thought was the name is wrong. It makes it look specific to trains only. Have to agree with Charlie.

 

Looked like a fun place to visit.  Sad to see someone's dream die.

 

I have NO local/regional LHS that is sincerely involved with any of the "hands on" hobby things I do: Model trains, control line model airplanes, etc.  Haven't had one in this region in decades.

 

Those same decades I've had to live "online" for my hobby fixes. I'm so used to it now, even a well stocked regional LHS would be hard pressed to garner a portion of my hobby income.

 

I have learned there are MANY online hobby shops that will go out of their way to keep your business and offer an amazing array of product.

 

Hate to say it, but I suspect my circumstances I described above is just the way it is now for LOTS of hobbyists.

 

 

 

 

I sure miss my LTS which closed after the owner passed away. I used to stop on my way home from work 2 -3  times a month, sometimes just to see what was new. Often he would keep an eye out  for me if something he knew I liked came in used. I miss that personal touch. Now I have to go to Nick Smith's, which is like  45 minute drive  for me.

The Hobbytown USA store where I live, about the same size with similar product selection, seems to be thriving.  Difference may be that it is, for all practical purposes, one of only two hobby shops in a metropolitan area with 2.3 million people.  The second hobby shop has been around forever but is so small it reminds me of a shoe box (with parking to match); anyone suffering from claustrophobia would be uncomfortable.

Is this the Railyard Hobbies in Elverson PA.

 

 

The location is mentioned in the very first post in this thread.  

 

I would like thank everyone for who sympathetic words for the closing of my store. I thank you very much. It was a very hard decision, but one that had to be made. The closing which I announced over the last few weeks has been planned since earlier this year.

A closing of any business shouldn't be made as a spur of moment thing. Some of you seem to think this was just done with your comments about there not being a webstore. I had a webstore but we closed it months ago as part of a expense reduction. Unlike some simple web stores mine was extremely well done and user friendly. It had over 10,000+ sku's on it. The expense of maintaining our type of website can be high what with hosting, web site maintenance, SEO and just keeping up with the product maintenance. When our contract for hosting, SEO and maintenance came up for renewal we didn't renew.

So all of you who have been making constant comments about the lack of a website need to cool down. We had one, it was closed as part of store expense reductions.

 

As I said above the vast majority of you have been very respectful to me and the store about its closing. But I feel that I need to correct some misconceptions that the remaining of you seem to have had.

 

1. RC is not a fad that has gone bust. It is a strong hobby and one that is much larger than the train category. I gave equal billing to both and sales on both were very strong.

 

2. We had way to much space. The video you saw was taken on Grand Opening day in Nov 2013. Yes we had space and it was all planned out. What you didn't see was the different events that took place that filled that space. All that space also allowed us to do anything we wanted and expand how we needed to, to make for a better customer experience. In my store shopping could be a treasure hunt because of all the brands we carried not because you had to root through store areas to find what you were looking for.

 

3. A couple of you say you made comments to me early on that we were gonna fail for one reason or another. I don't know who you are. Your user name and picture don't ring bells. So instead of hiding behind the veil of an internet forum why don't you stop by and see me. Your profiles show you as being local.

 

4. Finally for charlienasseau. I have never met you, talked with you, been in your store or even sent you an email for advice. I respect you for the long term success that you have had. But how can you talk down a failed store and their business plan when you don't know either. 

 

I tried something different and the store failed. Not due to a bad business model. I know where the mistakes were made but financially I am in to deep to do a fix.

 

I will miss the many loyal customers who came by weekly and monthly. They all enjoyed our customer experience and wished me well on the closing. I thank them all for their support the last 4 years. We grew from a 2700 sqft store to a 30,000 sqft on their suggestions and product needs. I don't second guess that all. 

 

Any of you on this forum who were customers I thank you as well. 

 

Thank you,

 

Paul Bleile

Owner

Railyard Hobbies

Elverson, Pa

 

 

Mr. Bleile,

 

Thank you taking the risk of struggling with a brick and mortar business.  Fate and fortune are not always commanded by will.  Often business success is due to intangibles and failure blamed on events or factors which were happenstance.  Good luck to you in this difficult time. 

Good luck with your next venture.  Joe

To Paul Bleile:  Thank you for posting this information.  It must be hard to write it, and do so while keeping it professional.  Kudos.  I never made it to your store, but man was that place great based on the video. 

 

Very sad day for any business to shut down.  You owe no explanations to anyone.  However, by doing so here you have established some facts and that is good because the rumor mill can meander and then fiction becomes fact.

 

 

I seen other hobby shops fail after moving to a larger store, It's a shame there rapidly vanishing. We have none here in Tampa now. 

 

Mr. Bleile,

Thank you for addressing the forum concerning the closure of your store. I take my hat off to you for trying to make your business a success and I wish you a lot of luck and good fortune as you travel down a different path. You take care and have a wonderful and safe day.

Wishing you all the best, Paul. I wish I visited your store.

 

I am one that enjoys both RC and trains.

 

Jim Ledet

John,

Very well stated and professional. I share the same thoughts for, Mr. Bleile.

We are all very sad at the Lost of your business Paul. It took courage to open a retail store, especially one of such magnitude and you have all of our respect for doing that.

I hope your next endeavor is a success. It is people like you who make this hobby possible for people like me to enjoy it.

 

Good luck and God Bless buddy, I'm sure you took a lot of valuable knowledge out of this whole thing and hopefully you will be able to turn this bitter pill sweet in a future success.