a little OT - Unhappy events at Athearn Models

Ridiculous! If you are assuming these folks that were buying mailorder will be forced to drive 25-100 miles you are dead wrong. If they did mail order before they still will. There are many mail order operations that have legitimate storefronts. Caboose Hobbies and MB Kleines to name but two of very many. How long do you think it'll take these places from setting up accounts with Horizon? I'd say no more than 30 minutes. If you think Accurails sales will increase big time I'd say you were wrong. Folks buy models based on #1 roadnames and #2 era modeled. If one manufacturer or another makes it it doesn't matter drastically to the consumer.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Henk
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Brian,

Let me fill you. As a former owner/invester of a two hobby shop operation in a major metro area, we did indeed sign those agreements with Walthers. Our primary investor/shop manager was quite active in 'whistle blowing' on basement shops(70's/early 80's time frame). What came out of this by 1980 was that the basement operator needed only a sign on the door of his house, a listed phone #, and he needed to post his hours and stick to them. Many, many 'basement operator' in the Mpls/St Paul area were shut down after complaints to jobbers and/or Walthers in the 70's. There was one 'basement operator' that was almost shut down, and then re-instated - He eventually was very successful and went into a 'brick & mortar' store, only to fail after 2 more years. Oh, we sold out to another hobby shop, but got more money selling our 'name' in the sale. I moved about the time we sold out due to a transfer with my 'day' job in 1984. About this time, 'gypsy' operators started selling at 'Train Shows' in the Southern Minnesota/Northern Iowa area. Most of these 'dealers with a van full of engines' discounted at least 20%. Many of these operators still have no store front - small rural towns do not support a hobby shop very well. What is very interesting is that these guys have expanded, have much 'deeper' stock than what I see in the 'brick & mortar' stores, and still discount(not as much as the 35-40% in the old days). The discounts are usually in the 20% range, and they always have the 'new' items. Several now have internet/mail order operations and regular newsletters or email with the latest offerings. The marketing channels are changing. Even several retail hobby shops are now discounting in new items or for clubs, regular customers, etc. I would be a fool not to take the discount. After reading all of the Athearn posts, I did some inventory of what I have purchased in the past month:

$ 60.00 - eBay(Erie Built and 3 frt cars) $ 63.00 - Full retail store(paints/decals/magazine) & 120.00 - 3 P2K engines from Internet dealers(TTH & M B Klein) $ 75.00 - P2K metal wheel sets(M B Klein) $ 105.00 - Atlas 36' reefers(TTH) $ 140.00 - My LHS(with a discount)

Sorta scares me with all of the purchases I have made! In the next month I will be looking at purchasing 8 Digitrax decoders & 2 Soundtraxx decoders. I will be attending some train show/flea markets and selling old stuff, but I am sure I will find something to 'buy' as well. What surprises me is the ease of moving my purchasing to the Internet. My LHS does not carry a lot(decals/paints), but I purchase what I can from them(I cleaned them out of P2K wheels in November and they have not re-stocked yet due to the owner passing away). The bottom line is that marketing channels are shifting(I see this in the computer industry as well), and if you are not able to work with the new paradigm, you will be left in the dust.

Jim Bernier

Brian Paul Ehni wrote:

Reply to
Jim Bernier

Which is why, here in the model railroad capitol of the world, it's VERY hard to find a store that even carries Branchline!

There may be one or two, but I haven't found 'em yet.

Pretty soon the only HO you'll be able to buy will be Botchmann.

Don

-- snipped-for-privacy@prodigy.net

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Reply to
Trainman

AH! That sounds reasonable.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

Thought so, but wasn't sure.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

not

And if a mail-order firm wanted to set aside a small segment of their operation and make it an actual store, then what. I'd bet most of the large mail-order entities could easily do that.

Exactly.

Cheers, Bill Sohl

Reply to
Bill Sohl

Putting your name on the front door of your house DOES NOT equate to having a commercial property address, which is what Walthers SAYS it requires.

By your own figures, you spent all but $60.00 thru a storefront; TTH and MB Klein are brick & mortars who do mail order.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

I don't think this is true any more, as I know of at least one mail-order only shop who is a Walthers dealer...

Jeff Sc. Not Saying Who Just In Case, Ga.

Reply to
not.fishplate

Dave Henck said in another post that it still is a requirement. Walthers just refuses to enforce it.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

Don, I have several Branchline Trains models on my layout. I've got mone from the following sources:

Hiawatha Hobbies Waukesha, Wis. 920-544-4131 They had a good supply in stock. I got one of those 40' postwar steel boxcars with the CNW "Overland Route" scheme.

Jerry's Bayview Hobby Shop Milwaukee, Wis. 414-482-1566 They don't seem to have a big supply of anything in stock at this store, but they helped me order a four-pack of the 40' wood refers last summer -- when Branchline did a special edition run of WRX reefers in the 1950s simplified paint scheme.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

I disagree.

The world is changing - have you noticed? There will still be magazines published, at least for a while...people will pick up a copy of MR, then when they develop an interest, they will go to the place where ~we~ all go when we want to learn more about something...

The Internet.

I was a lone model railroader for years, knowing hwat I liked, but only able to read about it in magazines. The one local hobby shop, which catered mainly to the tinplate crowd, knew nothing of any other local modelers wiht an interest in operations like me. Then, throught the miracle of Usenet, I began to find those people, and now am part of a round-robin group that holds regular operating sessions.

The old image of the local crowd gathering around the potbellied stove at the local hobby shop, introducing new folks tot he hobby has been dead and gone for many years in most places. If you can go to such a place, more power to you. But for the vast majority of people, they learn about the hobby at Barnes & Noble...then turn to a traveling model railroad show or the Internet to learn more. Not necesssarily good or bad, just a reflection of the changing times.

Jeff Sc. Remote Area, Ga.

Reply to
not.fishplate

Sort of a funny requirement. Like passing a law saying you have to stop at a red light, then not ticketing people when they blow through 'em...oh, wait, they do that here, too...

Jeff Sc. Crash, Ga.

Reply to
not.fishplate

not.fishplate wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

As a matter of fact, it gets rubbed in my nose the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep. Change isn't such a bad thing.

The problem with that is that my Barnes and Noble doesn't carry any model RR mags. And pictures of something are not as entertaining as the something in real life, where you can reach out and touch it, play with it, run it....

Which is almost always a viable souce for just about anything.

snip

*snort*. I've noticed. I'm old, not that old. This wasn't happening even when I was a child in the '60s.

Again, my local B&N does not carry *any* model RR mags, books, circulars, posters, or handouts.

Change is life's way of telling you that you aren't dead yet. I'd hate to think I went and died one day and never noticed...

From church today:

How many churchgoers does it take to change a lightbulb?

***CHANGE???!!!***
Reply to
Buss Error

The minimum order policy is why modelers get upset and buy mail-order. They go to the B&M and he says I will order it. Four+ months later when he gets his minimum ready for "that" supplier the modeler never sets foot in that store again.

Reply to
Jon Miller

make them like Horizon wouldn't it? <

hard to find a store that even carries Branchline!<

Do you think maybe HSD is thinking that's one of the reasons they are close to bankrupt?

Reply to
Jon Miller

a commercial property address, which is what Walthers SAYS it requires.< The problem here is that you are looking at what's required where you might be located. A shop in a _non_ city area would not need a _commercial_ property address. Some small towns just require a business licensee. Some country/district areas may require nothing. It's a state by state, county by county, city by city, thing. Most mail-order guys, I know and do business with, live in very small towns and have day jobs! I quite sure Walthers knows all the different facets. Downtown NYC is a lot different overhead and business requirements than Podunt Idaho! Probably by 20-30%.

Reply to
Jon Miller

Some people want to pretend like mail order, ebay, internet, train shows, etc, are all a bad dream and are happy Horizon wants to go back to the good old days of 1975.

For 50 percent of the hobby, these are their 'shop'.

Horizon thinks it can force everyone to pay full price and save the LHS's that are dying. They can't.

Reply to
MrRathburne

only shop who is a Walthers dealer.<

just refuses to enforce it.< Lets see now Walthers is a successful business which is growing and they don't enforce "it"! Hobby Stores Distributing does enforce "it" and is going broke. Which business picture would you follow..

Reply to
Jon Miller

My store was in Nashville, TN (or Brentwood). Not 20 miles from the nearest town. The basement bomber I referred to lived less than five miles from my storefront, okay?

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

I doubt that Horizon has any idea of doing that. Federal racketeering laws being what they are and all. You may have possibly noticed that even Walthers dealers provide discounts off retail. MSRP is just that: RECOMMENDED.

Horizon wants:

  1. More business by requiring anyone who wants Athearn to be a Horizon dealer and maybe get other things from Horizon, because, hey, they have a dealership already.
  2. Businesses to be legitimate by having a retail outlet with posted, advertised hours, business license, etc.

Ever try buying a brand new Chevy from your next door neighbor?

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

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