OK, George. Now you have no choice but to explain to the rest of us how you accomplish this, and still survive. Most of us would have at minimum our ears blistered. Or worse.....
It's my ears. They have never been able to withstand the screeching noises encountered, after my alleged train shopping sin.
They have earplugs that are almost invisible now. ;-) Just keep nodding your head like you are agreeing with her.... Or use the old standby line that they have no comeback to.... "Yes dear...you're right...I'm sorry."
Well, I can give it a try. But if it backfires, I'm going to spill the beans on who had the idea! :uhoh:
Been married 46 years. Just had a freshly brewed cup of Java delivered to my man cave and was told this AM that I had better get in gear and order that power pack I need. And just a few days ago when I dented the credit cars slightly after being out and finding something I wanted that if I didn't get it then while it was there at that price I would have been foolish. I agonize over spending the money sometimes when she says just get it if it is what you want. Made the right decision way back when and I don't ever look back and regret it.
Mine just got back from HL where she was looking for some drawing supplies for herself. She came back with some tablets and colored pencils and whatnot for herself and about a dozen bottles of craft paint for my RR hobby. She said "It was on clearance and I couldn't pass it up". Hard to beat 75 cents a bottle. She even got some good colors like a nice rust and a dirty green.
The Multi-Hobby shop in Beaverton's train guy is a "talker" for better or worse, so he'll give you his attention, but he may never take it back. Nice guy though. One of the Train only shops in Portland has good service, I was less impressed with the other when I lived there. In general, I agree with the OP. Good General hobby shops have better customer service. They're like mom & pop toy shops. Another dying breed.
This is a thread that i have thought about starting many times since my experiences, like the rest of you, has been quite uneven. Living in rural Ridgway CO means that most of my shopping is on-line. However, since we have family in Denver (300 miles away), I do get to go to that biggest "Train Store in the Country" and while they have an incredible inventory they seem to so proud of it that they do not give eye contact until you pay. If you do get their attention they can be very helpful, but nobody in the aisles, etc. Maybe it is because i do not wear a "railroad costume". Since my parents worked for the NKP for 41 and 25 years, I know that most railroaders quit the railroad clothes after steam went away. Another store in grand Junction(90 miles away) that is 80% RC is quite different. When I walk in and by the RC to the trains, even if the are talking to someone they are over asking to help me within 2-3 minutes and give good advice and offer to order anything and drop ship to my house. A third hobby store in Montrose (just 30 miles away where we grocery shop etc.) is also aloof and not always open. I went in looking for a particular paint and the woman working that day basically had no clue where the paints were, what kind they had and said the owner would be in the next day. The older fellow with whom she was conversing, just glared at me as though what are you doing here. Now I am 67 so it is not the young whipersnapper deal although I am told that I do not look that old. There is another trainstore in the Denver area that is only open for walk-ins a couple times a week for a few hours and does mostly on-line business and only N Scale. The owner is very observant. He does not intrude but does say "if i can help let me know". When I explained where I lived and how infrequently i got to Denver, he said give him a call and he would let me in even if it wasn't a day or time he was open. So I conclude as the rest of you it is a mixed bag and some are not good business folks and some are arrogant. There do seem to be some pretty good online folks focusing on N Scale, unfortunately the NKP items are rare and thus I find most on EBay. I am going to be in Richmond VA in about a week any good shops or can't miss things other than depot and the the triple cross?
Everything is a long distance where you are Jack. That's both a good and bad thing. I lived in and around T ride for several years in the 90's, including a couple directly on the old RGS loading platforms over Dallas from you in Placerville. I lived in the first "houseboat" (trailer) next to the barrel top warehouse (aka the phone co building) and was there when they moved the long corrugated warehouse alongside that. Also spent a couple years in Norwood on 43z rd. Going "Down the hill" into Montrose was about a monthly event and went into Denver whenever I absolutely had to. I get lonesome for that area this time of year, but not in the winter.
I have been to most of the train only stores in Colorado (with the exception of a few), and for the most part, I have gotten friendly service in them. There is one shop however in Colorado Springs that I probably wouldn't visit again, unless absolutely necessary (unlike the other two shops down there that I visit everytime I go down there) (the only problem is, is that this shop sells a well known product line I like, and it is the only shop that really sells it!) I think thought, the best shops I have been in are two shops, one small little shop in Seattle and another in San Diego, both shops had very friendly service, when I walked in I was greeted by the person behind the counter, and was told that if I needed any help, just to let them know. Both shops also had an excellent selection of items for their relatively small size.
I've been following this thread with interest, adding a comment here and there, noting that we're discussing mostly US shops, and a few friendly shops in Canada. However, I just remembered an extremely insulting experience I had in England about 10 years ago. I walked into the center of a relatively upper class town in southern England where my son was living at the time to check out what looked like a well-stocked train-only store. There was a small operating layout in the window with lots of product invitingly placed around it. The store was small, clean, and inviting with a single aisle in front of the counter. It had well stocked shelves beside the aisle and behind the counter, mostly HO and N British and European manufacture and style. I was the only customer as I walked in, and the (I assume) owner looked up from his paper and very cheerfully greeted me and asked if he could help in any way. When I answered with my own greeting saying that I was interested in studying his UK trains, my accent identifying me as a "Yank", he immediately scowled, muttered "suit yourself", and went back to his paper. I glanced at a few things and left within a minute or two. The sad part is that I saw some rare, for me, transition era N-Scale American models that would have been right at home on the B&M based Saucier Central. I wonder if he's still in business, though don't really care. That was the first time I had experienced the negative attitude of English men about American soldiers during WW-II, "Damn Yanks, Over Paid, Over Sexed, and Over Here!!!"
I don't quite understand a lot of the comments here -- when I got into a shop, after the initial "hello" and "are you looking for anything in particular" comments, I prefer to be left alone until I am ready to either ask a question or buy something. In fact, I don't like people following me and asking questions when I am looking over their stock because then I feel pressured. At my LHS, I make sure I am not a "talker" taking up my LHS owner's time. My LHS owner really enjoys talking with me (partly because I don't only talk trains), but as soon as another customer walks into the store, I leave him alone to attend to the other customer.
I'm like you Joe. But the person behind the counter should at least aknowledge that you walked in the door...instead of of showing indifference to you being there. I like to roam aisle on my own too. Dont need a salesperson following me around like he thinks I may be stuffing my pockets with small items off the racks !! There used to be a train place in Phoenix...off Bell Rd. Wife and I walked in and barely got a nod fom the 2 guys behind the counter BSing with each other. We went over to the N sclae section and actually found a few items we wanted....priced at MSRP btw. They had a display case with custom painted and detailed locomotives in it. You really couldnt 'see' much because the lights reflected off the top...and even sides of the glass. I went up front and asked the guys if I could 'see' one of the locomotives that caught my interest. The one guy told me to look at it thru the glass. When I explained the light glare made that nearly impossible...and could he at least put the locomotive on TOP of the display case. He rudely told me " If you cant see it thru the glass and need to see it closer... guess you dont want it !". We did pay for the few items we found we wanted...but I never went back there. They closed up shop in less then a year. I wonder why !!! If a brick and mortar is gonna show indiffernce to a customer...I feel indifference if they close the doors for good. JMO.
That says it all right there. Used to be. I went in there had had similar "service". Plus, toward the end their custom paint jobs were getting pretty crappy. The other thing was they were in a "Dead" shopping center. Most of the stores were closed. They were much better when they were in Orange County
