The now defunct Orchard Supply Hardware in San Jose, CA and environs. We all called it OSH around here. The store on San Carlos Street had a 40' box car on the property painted up with the OSH logo.
Fun fact: Orchard Supply Hardware was owned by Sears for a while. I looked forward to getting their calendars every year. They would mail them out of area for a number of years. I think I still have them. Betcha some examples might end up in our eBay Humor Thread...
Somebody beat me to it. But here's my thoughts. About .20 cents worth, inflation and all. B&M I would understand = Brick and Mortar Hobby Shop. OSH Let's see Old Shet House? OSH Opinionated Senior Hiker? OSH Oscar Select Hobbies? Orchard Supply Hardware!! Really? Well, I was about to give up!
The Hobby Lobby near me did carry some N scale a long time ago. They had a good selection of Woodland Scenics material that they also pushed for school projects. Then it was just HO for trains but that is gone too.
Sears almost destroyed OSH trying to make it like a little Sears. Having to walk past all the Kenmore appliances to get to the stuff you really came in for and also not having the same relationship with their employees that OSH had. Then they sold it to Lowes and then a few years ago Lowes closed all of the OSH stores. A new independent company emerged and have been re-opening some of the OSH stores. The current version of OSH stands for Outdoor Supply Hardware and has much of the same feel as the original. The Box Car lives on in a park in San Jose.
Never liked Hobby Lobby and never recalled seeing trains there. LOVED OSH and their calendars and I hope they make a comeback.
Back in about 1992 I purchased my 1st N scale KATO diesel, an SD-40 #7322, in the basement of Ace hardware store in Berkeley, California. As I recall it was on Milvia street. More trains, all scales, than a lot of hobby shops. Store still there ?
As we continue to drift off-topic ... Nagengast Hardware in Queens was a great place for N Scale. I believe they are now out of business. It was a classic old-school hardware store complete with wooden floors. Back on topic, somewhat... on the most recent trip to HL, I noticed that their "Spring Shop" stuff was 90 percent off. Included in that clearance material were some framed signs that might almost be large enough and sturdy enough to fit tiny N Scale layouts. I picked up one that was labeled 19 1/2 inches by 24 1/2 inches for three bucks plus tax. That's cheaper than building your own!
Sporting goods stores too carried model trains. Our local sporting goods store in IL where I grew up had a nice selection of HO and N. Some of my N Scale freight cars still have their price stickers on them, now near 50 years old.
As a youth, a block or so from my father's business, was a large drug store which had trains for sale in their basement. Yes, I did buy some!
I almost positive that the Berkley Ace was originally on University. The trains were down the old wooden stairs in the basement but they had a fairly good selection of them. I believe that at some point they moved to Milvia street as the pictures of the building look very new and modern. Their website still mentions model trains however.
Madison Hardware at 105 East 23rd Street in New York was the largest Lionel Dealer in the U.S. and the oldest, opening in 1909 and closed 1989. It ceased to be a hardware store as the trains dominated.
I visited Madison Hardware a couple of times! It was an amazing place inside... trains from floor to ceiling. Fun fact: The "road number" on a Lionel locomotive was also its catalog number, which made it really easy to locate parts for it. That was my takeaway from a visit there, even though what I wanted to buy was a lot smaller...
Having spent about 50 years in the suburbs of DC there were not any big box stores that carried train stuff except for Sears and Montgomery Wards and they just carried sets. However we were blessed by a large number of hobby shops and some shops were all trains.
