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Post by atsfan on Apr 6, 2015 18:14:49 GMT -8
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Post by Spikre on Apr 7, 2015 14:49:56 GMT -8
 those Stores are closing because its hard to add DCC and Sound to Stamps,Coins, Collectors Cards,Match Book Covers,etc. which makes me wonder if the Matchbook here with "Gorky Park" on it has any sort of value ? Spikre 
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Post by bnsffan on Apr 7, 2015 15:47:29 GMT -8
atsfan,
Are you, or have you been, a stamp collector?
Respectfully,
bnsffan
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Post by atsfan on Apr 7, 2015 16:35:21 GMT -8
atsfan, Are you, or have you been, a stamp collector? Respectfully, bnsffan Years ago I had plate blocks and sheets. I ended up using most of them as regular postage. I saved some of the "best" stamps but most are now available for less money today. |
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Apr 7, 2015 17:31:22 GMT -8
All non-service small retail is going away, eventually. Why drive all over the place to go shopping when you can do it all from your bed on your smartphone? All that will be left will be the big guys and online.
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Post by Christian on Apr 8, 2015 0:45:00 GMT -8
Same with stamp stores and collecting. Huge shift in interests and where to fulfill them nationwide. When I started my last job in 1988 I gained a friend who was the youngest member of his large stamp collectors club. There were five train stores in easy driving distance. He and I would have great fun razzing each other about our dieing hobbies. When I retired in 2011 he was still the youngest member of his now small stamp collectors club. And there was one train store. Things change. Stamp collecting has gone to the internet as has railroad modeling. |
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Post by llxlocomotives on Apr 8, 2015 5:17:00 GMT -8
Sooner or later expect the pendulum to shift back the other way. Population keeps going up. While not many per store, each represent lost jobs. The biggest problem in society today is jobs. That is not to say that an activity will get new life if it is dead. Today the playing field heavily favors internet sales. As long as cost and selection favor the internet this will continue. But for how long?
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Post by atsfan on Apr 8, 2015 12:44:34 GMT -8
All non-service small retail is going away, eventually. Why drive all over the place to go shopping when you can do it all from your bed on your smartphone? All that will be left will be the big guys and online. Notable exception is booze. If for no other reason regulation. |
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Apr 8, 2015 16:49:38 GMT -8
atsfan,
Honestly, I kinda consider packies (local term) to be service retail, like a restaurant, a barber, supermarkets, or a dry cleaner. But your point is well made WRT regulation.
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Post by atsfan on Apr 8, 2015 18:15:47 GMT -8
atsfan, Honestly, I kinda consider packies (local term) to be service retail, like a restaurant, a barber, supermarkets, or a dry cleaner. But your point is well made WRT regulation. I agree anyone providing me booze is providing a valuable service! But I know people who buy dog food in heavy bags via the internet with next day delivery at cheaper total pricing. So nowadays local retail better give you a reason to show up in the store. |
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Post by Brakie on Apr 10, 2015 0:57:58 GMT -8
Some times I wonder what price cheap?
The once great mom and pop stores is slowly fading into the annuals of history.We have given up such stores in favor of the big box stores where the employees treats you as just another dang customer..Now some of those big box stores are feeling the sting of the Internet monsters e-Bay and Amazon.
Now,years ago we would join a local club or head to the LHS every Saturday morning and chat with other customers that we knew by name. Today we have cold faceless forums where we hide behind fake monikers to interact with other modelers with fake monikers..We no longer head to the LHS but,to a lifeless computer screen where we do our shopping any time of the day or night.
So in the end what price cheap?
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Post by jamesbrodie67281 on Apr 10, 2015 19:02:36 GMT -8
Boo Hoo , Our Model Railway shop in Pickering North Yorkshire England has closed (opposite NYMR station). J B
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Post by valenciajim on Apr 11, 2015 9:29:11 GMT -8
I spent two weeks in Buenos Aires in January. In Argentina there are still tons of mom and pop stores. Shopping there is a cultural thing and the stores provide a social experience that the internet cannot provide. There are no Home Depots or Walmarts. It was like going back in time.
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Post by calzephyr on Apr 12, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -8
Boo Hoo , Our Model Railway shop in Pickering North Yorkshire England has closed (opposite NYMR station). J B I rode that line a couple of times in the late 1990's and did not realize there was a Hobby Shop there. Sorry I missed that LHS back in the day when it was open. My guess about the future, and it is a guess, is more and more LHS will close until we purchase directly from the large manufacturers or importers. They all seem to have blow out sales and the dealers are left with the merchandise that cannot be sold for any price to make a profit. The latest BLI models like the Brass Hybrids did not get to my LHS. Larry |
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Post by umtrrauthor on Apr 14, 2015 10:13:52 GMT -8
When I started my last job in 1988 I gained a friend who was the youngest member of his large stamp collectors club. There were five train stores in easy driving distance. He and I would have great fun razzing each other about our dieing hobbies. When I retired in 2011 he was still the youngest member of his now small stamp collectors club. And there was one train store. Things change. Stamp collecting has gone to the internet as has railroad modeling. One bit of advice I've heard with respect to stamp collections: "Use them for postage." |
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Post by riogrande on Apr 15, 2015 3:44:39 GMT -8
So if stamp collectors use them for postage, what should train collectors use their trains for? =P
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Post by atsfan on Apr 15, 2015 3:48:43 GMT -8
So if stamp collectors use them for postage, what should train collectors use their trains for? =P Like baseball cards paper is only as valuable as what subjective value a person puts on it. At least with trains you can use them versus just looking at them. Although, at some point everyone looks at a box of trains which have sat unused for years and ask why they have them. |
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Post by riogrande on Apr 15, 2015 3:57:10 GMT -8
Pretty much yes. I know some don't collect stamps to make money (as an investment) but because they enjoy the process of finding and organizing stamps they like - I guess it's the "process" that counts.
As to my box(es) of trains, didn't have much opportunity to use them for a number of years, but for me it was keeping hope alive for a point in time when I could run them which I have begun to in the past year. During past years I did do research and sold of some trains I had collected that didn't fit the focus of my interests as they evolved and used the proceeds to help fund models that fit better. So I guess for a time, my train hobby was a bit like the stamp collector, I was enjoying the process of research, educating myself, and buying/selling to tweak my collection. I've shift my focus in the past 2 years to layout building and enjoying that.
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