never open when I have time to go to them? Not even the chains like Hobbytown keep acceptable hours. You might find one open till 8pm on weeknights maybe. I work 8-6ish M-F once I've eatin and gotten other obligations taken care of it's around 7:30. I don't want to have to rush around. As for Sat&Sun, I have many things I need to take care of on the weekends and if I want to fit Hobby shops in, I have to plan for it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect owners and employees to work till midnight to accomidate me, but it seems to me that most other retail stores and fairly large metro areas stay open till 9pm now. Maybe I'm just crazy, or maybe I just live in a poor hobby shop area (closest one appears to be in Escondido.) It's enough to make me go to online places, except I usually like instant gratification. I think and think and think about what I want, then I get it. once the decision's made, I hate waiting. Also, I like to look at it in person, evaluate it make sure it's what I want. Do I have a legitimate gripe? or do I need to be resigned to weekends and hurried lunchhours?
I agree with you. A friend and I were out driving around yesterday, and wanted to stop by Hobbytown, which they just finished remodeling by me and they were closed at 5!!! My other 2 hobby shops, Greenfield and Hiawatha's are open later than that and they're not even chains! It would be interesting if someone would contact a national chain like Hobbytown and ask them why they have such "bad" hours, just to see what they would say.
Yes. You have a legitimate gripe. It's the just plain poor thinking that many businesses display these days. As much as anyone might try to tell me otherwise, the vast majority of workers are tied up at the job, or stuck in a commute during the hours of 8am to 6pm. To expect that they'll frantically dodge and weave through traffic, to beat your closing time, is ridiculous. The so-called "hobby shop" in my town closes at 6pm weekdays. If I am also just getting off work at that same hour, don't wonder why I am not patronizing your store. Where we used to live, smarter thinkers would keep hours such as 10 or 11 am, to at least 7pm. And perhaps a weeknight or two up to 8 or 9pm. In this town, it was a standing joke until a few years ago, how so many stores would be closed by 5pm on a Friday afternoon. Old downtown would literally "roll up the sidewalks until Monday morning." Then we began getting national chain stores in the area. With later hours FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE CUSTOMER. (Duh?) Now you should hear the old businesses whining. Some have closed doors. Can't figure out why everyone is up shopping at the new malls in the evening. Well, genius, you are closed...... (Again, duh?) Meanwhile, old downtown is dying, And still clinging to their old ways.... If you aren't open when I'm off the job, (which is where I get that ever shrinking hobby dollar), I cannot shop with you. Simple. Probably a good part of why many 'Net based shops, train and otherwise, are popular venues these days. Not just for good prices. For convenience! Boxcab E50
One thing to keep in mind regard Hobbytown USA is even though it's a chain of stores, most of the stores are franchises, meaning that the store manager is also the owner. So Hobbytown itself doesn't have a lot of control over the store hours, or even the specific lines the stores carry. It might be more productive to talk to the manager instead of headquarters. Regarding later hour, why not speak to the LHS owner? Maybe he's never thought of it, maybe he's tried it and it hasn't worked out, maybe he doesn't want to be bothered. It never hurts to ask. Pat
And people wonder why the average age of the modeller is trending upward when you have to be retired to experience a face and name when you shop.
The 'normal' shop opening hours over here is 9am to 5 or 5.30pm. My local hobbyshop is locally owned, the owner and his wife live about 10 miles away, so they close at 5pm as they too, need to eat and do other things. For larger shops later opening is ok if you have staff who can do the later hours, but for a small place it is not so easy. Chain stores in shopping centers (malls) do usually have a late night or two per week until usually 8pm, but they are large places with plenty of staff. Hobbyshops here in the UK are a bit thin on the ground, so a lot of purchases are by mail order or online.
We are an odd lot. We have a hobby with the same hours we do except for when we're doing it. I have personally seen things go every which way and at this point, my conclusion is, plan a day to go to the shop when it is open, Call ahead first, plan your trip, take your train fund, and enjoy your day! If you have weird hours, the out of towner vacationer/came from three towns over shoppers get upset about the unAmerican hours. Then, the Americans in the town get upset because they can never go to their shops. Tucson is a town like that; after 1:00, all the bars can no longer serve drinks, and after 1:30, ll drinks must be gone, by about 1:45 doors are closed, state law. Talk about a Curfew!!! I am sure there are statues to this that I am ingorant about, but that is pretty much it! Here they just pushed the last call to 2:00, so now things will be a little livelier again...but then, the busses stop running at 8:00, which is reasonable for the day walkers, but otherwise, this town sleeps! Even the Air Force stops flying their jets after 8:00...or something like that! I seriously think that Americans need to go back to sleeping, as we will live longer and healthier that way. Surveys are already showing that the average is approaching 7 and 6 hours; that just is not healthy especially if you are loading up on caffeine the next mornign (Yet here I am working on a Fault Paper, it is 2:00 AM, and I am loading myself up on Code Red...real good example I set for all you oldies.) Some Colleges are now outlawing 8:00 classes (which does no good if you have a paper due) and I already have problems rolling out of bed for my 10:00 classes, all on account of finishing up work that is necessary for the 1:00 class the next day! If we were more motivated to do less and work more, maybe we would sleep more!!! Too bad trainstores aren;t like 7-11s, huh? Anytime you want, you can get a slurpee of badger paint, or a hot dog, or a lead slug for your weights (hey, if you get there at the right time, the slugs are free!!!). If the store is real good, mail order form them. You want to touchy first? Plan your day.
Another option is to visit the store on the weekends, if that store has weekend hours. Every one I've ever been to has been open on Saturday (none on Sunday). I'm at a slight advantage because I work evenings, and my "LHS" is either in Denton or Addison. I plan trips to those shops on my days off, since they are both in a southerly direction and my present job is 63 miles east of me. One trip to the hobby shop plus a round-trip commute to work makes for some road time. If you can, plan for a weekend trip.
What, is No-Doz and Coca-Cola not good enough for you??? Dang whippersnappers....grumble... Last 7-11 I stopped at in the dead of night, the coffee coulda been used for paint stripper, the Slurpees tasted like paint, and the hot dogs were as hard as steel (or was it lead?)
The LHS around here closes at 5:30 so if I hurry from work at 5:00 I can just make it, He won't close if someone is still in the store. P roblem is he has a very limited supply on hand. Lots of Model Power and Life-Like kits, everything else has to be ordered. So I just order it myself and get it cheaper. I know it dosn't help him but I don't have to let him order it, mark up the price and kill myself to get there to pick it up!!!!
I hope this is in jest, because if your serious and that really is the attitude of the average LHS owner, then they can put their flextrack where the sun don't shine. The reason I started this thread is because I need a single piece of Woodland scenics roadbed (n scale) and a temporary powerpack for a little pike I'm building to tide me over till I get settled into a houe or at least a larger apartment. That isn't worth the kind of hassle these operating hours make me put up with.
Interesting.... Such hours have always led me to wonder what employees do at retail stores while most people are at their jobs during the day. Funny because for the first time, today, I went to my LHS at about 11am because I was in the area. It was very empty and the few employees were generally occupied with some sort of personal hobby affair. Not quite as helpful as I've seen them during more "prime" patronage times. I don't see how such hours are very useful or profitable for these businesses. I don't work the 8-5 all year yet, but I can definitely see where it causes problems. Mostly an inconvenience I guess, I know I almost always go on the weekends anyway. The internet, sadly, has an enourmous advantage in my book. I buy at least 75% online now, and I usually just go into the LHS just for the fun of it or if I need to be inspired.
I suppose I am relatively lucky. My model railroading experience has all been in the Philadelphia area or the Houston area where most hobby shops keep normal US retail hours and are open until 8 or 9 PM most evenings and all day Saturday. Some are even open on Sundays. Most have been sufficiently far from my house that I usually go Saturday morning. I do buy most of my supplies via internet or mail order now that I have switched to S Scale. If you are in HO or N, there is plenty available locally in Houston. We have become spoiled by 24 hour shopping in the US. I have spent a fair amount of time in the UK and Germany. Store hours are much less convenient there. Most are closed on Sunday, only open until 5 PM or so on Saturday, and only open a couple of weekday evenings. Just the same, folks seem to find a way to get their shopping done. I have been known to go to my local mega Walmart at midnight, but I think I would trade it in for a nice pedestrian mall with a lot of interesting sidewalk coffee shops, bars, and cafes......
What's a LHS? I'm in England, with the US Air Force, and I don't have a LHS. I do all of my shopping via the net. Good folks to deal with. I also buy stuff from Ebay. (mostly good folks to deal with, one or two flakes). When I was in Idaho, I would visit the LHS in Boise on Saturdays, a 60 mile drive one way. I would plan other things to do in the city whilst I was there. I don't know how some LHS's survive with the hours they keep. If no one can shop in your store...you won't be in business too long. Just my humble opinion.
Having been involved in a manufacturing company, I've seen just what goes on out there in specialist stores and it never ceases to amaze me. People have this 'cultural mindset' that a store is open from 9-5 M-F and 9-12 Saturday, then wonder why the heck they dont have any business. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that the people who can AFFORD to buy stuff at specialty stores have a job......duh!...whcih means they work too during those hours. In Aus there used to be some quite strict guidelines on when a store could open, but thats been thrown away now. I think the perfect opening time for a store would be noon-9pm, daily.... EVERY day.... You get the close 'lunch time traffic', plus the "after work" crowd. You can just about guarantee that between 2 and 5:30 its gonna be quiet on weekdays. Thats jsut reality. You dont WANT the guy thats available at 3pm every day to come idling through your store (shift workers excepted) because he's invariably a "Tire kicker"......their ibggest use is as a distraction, and thats only if he's a good bloke...assh*les need not apply . What this gets down to, is most LHS owners are just like other specialty store operators (and everyone else for that matter). Family, friends and cultural influences dictate that its "9-5 or your an anti social outcast", rather than a long term viable specialist operator.
Paul- Don't feel bad. I have an LHS. But it's R/C, plastic models, crafts. Choo choos only at Christmas in el-cheapo, no quality sets. My closest LHS is a five hour round trip drive. It's a decent shop. Yet certainly not outstanding. And much would still need to be ordered in anyway. (No bargains in price either! Ouch!) The next closest is over ten hours out and back on the road. This place is awful... Anyone who has ever been there cannot understand why they're still open. The next shops, which are both very good, are 1200+ mile round trips....... So, I shop on the 'Net......... Boxcab E50
If the LHS is not accessible to me, then I will not be shopping at the LHS! Even though the internet is available 24 hours a day, I would love to be able to get items at the LHS. But if their hours are not suitable to me, I won't be buying! I will go where I can find what I want, at the time that I want it.
Gee, since 'Summer' hit and my fav. LHS switched to different hours, I can't make it there when it's open either. Guess the I-net is always open. There is another LHS within easy traveling distance, higher in price, but available all the same. Which would you spend more money with?
