Did anyone in the group attend yesterday's swap meet at the Lucas County Rec Center in Toledo? While I thought the dealers were pretty well represented, I was surprised at the relatively small turnout. I got there around noon, and the crowd was about "moderate" at best. A while later, around 1.30 in the afternoon, i'd say that the crowd was a little more than half of what it was when I got there.
Is this typical for train shows in other areas? I've only atended those here in NW Ohio, and have noticed crowds are getting smaller. Or, do you suppose it was just the timing, being on the last weekend before Christmas? Either way, I'd be curious as to your response.
While not a swap meet, there was an estate auction locally (central Virginia) on Saturday of the collection of a Lionel collector (mostly "new" Lionel from the 1980's and 90's, but some pre-war and 1945-69 post-war). This had a relatively small turnout - bidder numbers up to about 80, but a lot less than half bid on more than a couple items out of the 540 lots offered. The result was that most items sold for a third to a half of the Greenberg Guide prices, which seem to me to usually be fairly indicative of what similar items would sell for at a show like York. Some of this was the result of trying to sell more than a relatively rural market could absorb in one shot, but I suspect some was also a result of the same issues that are causing Christmas retail sales at the malls to be down. Gary Q
Usually this flea is on the weekend between Christmas and New Year's, when lots of people have time off, but this year they put it on just before Christmas ... BAD decision (though there is NO weekend between the holidays, this year). I have noted a thinning of the attendance at several flea markets lately, but not dramatically so. This recent Maumee show was just cursed by their poor scheduling, IMHO. I almost always go to these, but I couldn't make it this time either ... just too much to do at this time of year. I think they'd have been better off to hold it the weekend after New Year's.
I have no idea of how the crowds were during "regular" hours, though they seemed to be up during the "earlybird" time (9-11am). I've decided that I like how getting there during the earlybird time leaves me more of my day afterward. I was finished and out of there by 11:15.
Unfortunately, this show has changed a bit (and not for the better, IMO) over the last couple of years- a number of dealers who used to be regulars no longer attend after the show was visited by the Ohio tax folks a few shows back. As is the trend at an awful lot of shows, the smaller guys no longer seem to show up- I find the "little guys' tables" to be a lot more interesting than the dealers who just have the same stuff I can buy at my LHS. I'm more interested in selection at a show than price.
The dealer who was one of the main reasons I've gone down there the last couple years (Gordy's Hobby Exchange, from Bethel, OH) has decided to no longer attend. I used to be able to count on his wide selection of DCC products and at the very least stock up on Intermountain wheelsets from him, even if somehow the rest of the show had nothing that interested me.
I still managed to find stuff I could use Sunday, however. Though not as much as in the past.
-fm Webmaster, Rails on Wheels, Washtenaw County, Michigan's HO Modular Club, at
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