Hi,
Just found out that Antics in Worcester is going to close end of May or start of June.
Another model shop bites the dust. Always handy for the odd pot of paint etc.

Quote from: davidjhope on April 05, 2012, 01:13:10 PM

Another model shop bites the dust. Always handy for the odd pot of paint etc.

Speaking as an ex-retailer (not model railways etc.) I`m always sorry to read such comments.
The retailer dosn`t exist to supply 'the odd pot of paint'. The future of all retailers is  to supply goods to the best of his ability to the public. Using him to buy items on a fairly regular bassis gives him a fair return for his outlays of rent/stock/staff etc.
He may be a few pence (?) more than online stores but he deserves to make a living just as they do.
Support him or loose him, at theend of the day the choice is yours

I consider myself a regular and feel that for the small items it is worth paying the extra as I can get it now without the wait for delivery. Postage online for the smaller items sometimes can't be justified.
The chain is still in trading it's just the Worcester store closing. Just thought I would say that without panicking the other store staff.

OK sorry to 'go off on one' but a red mist dropped over my eyes and I just had to comment.
It was nice (and put butter on the bread) when we sold a nice watch etc to a member of the public but whar 'ruined' us was the hords that just came in to have a 50p spring bar to hold a strap on their watch that was maybe a month old and come from a mail order firm because it was £2 cheaper than we sold them for.

trouble i found with Antics in worcester is that they never had much stock, and what they did have was near RRP. comparing prices to Hattons and Modelrailways direct, there just no competition. Altho i do like to have a nose round a model shop, must be hard for most retailers these days with stuff being avaible cheaper off the internet must be really hard to compete.

Quote from: jonclox on April 05, 2012, 02:02:55 PM

Quote from: davidjhope on April 05, 2012, 01:13:10 PM

Another model shop bites the dust. Always handy for the odd pot of paint etc.

Speaking as an ex-retailer (not model railways etc.) I`m always sorry to read such comments.
The retailer dosn`t exist to supply 'the odd pot of paint'. The future of all retailers is  to supply goods to the best of his ability to the public. Using him to buy items on a fairly regular bassis gives him a fair return for his outlays of rent/stock/staff etc.
He may be a few pence (?) more than online stores but he deserves to make a living just as they do.
Support him or loose him, at theend of the day the choice is yours

Sorry, Jonclox, but having got a Xmas bonus I went to our local model shop and told them I wanted to purchase 6 locos and was there any chance of a 'bit of discount for bulk buying' (no figure mentioned) as I wanted to see if they could get anywhere near e.g. a Hattons price including postage or be in the ballpark. I was told in no uncertain terms they would be selling at a loss if they gave anything off, so I went onto Hattons interweb thingy and ordered £380 worth of locos and saved myself £37 (after postage) over the local shop.
I am all for supporting local business wherever possible but have to look after my pennies too.

Quote from: newportnobby on April 05, 2012, 05:12:40 PM
I wanted to purchase 6 locos

I was told in no uncertain terms they would be selling at a loss if they gave anything off, so I went onto Hattons interweb thingy and ordered £380 worth of locos and saved myself £37 (after postage) over the local shop.
I am all for supporting local business wherever possible but have to look after my pennies too.

While I agree with you that their attitude was not the most welcoming, I fear on the material point they may well have been correct.  We are after all talking about an average of £6/loco which could well be the difference between profit and loss for a smaller operation.  I wonder if they had offered you a small token discount (or say a free wagon) whether your choice would have been different (rhetorical qn as I don't wish to put you on the spot).

As JonC says we face stark choices if we want local shops to last.

Sorry to hear another high street shop closes.

I tend to shop and spend alot of money at my local model shop, yes it sometimes cost me more but I have built up a good relationship with the store and all staff and now when I go in I get 10% discount on most purchases and free advice plus discounted servicing when I need it for my locos.

Try to support your local shop where possible I say, the world tends to be a sadder place without them :'(

Probably just my luck I got the one guy who always looks like his finger has gone through the toilet paper. There's no way you can build a rapport with such a sour person. As Red Death says, a token move would have been enough. Their prices are certainly not full RRP, but they're not great either

I've got to be desperate to use the model shop in Newark,the prices in there are sometimes nearly double to what the other,mainly aircraft shop charges for some modelling items.

Won't bother me if it closes for the amount of times I go there.

Allan

This the model shop that's above the electrical shop ... ?

If so, can't say I'm surprised except that it hasn't happened to them before ...  Never found them to be particularly good, nor the staff attentive (well, except for chatting to their mates &/or electrical sales staff on new toys, clubs, pubs ... basically, anything except serve the (few) people in the shop that might have wanted to buy something).

Quote from: jonclox on April 05, 2012, 02:02:55 PM
The future of all retailers is  to supply goods to the best of his ability to the public.

He may be a few pence (?) more than online stores

Jon - the best of their ability was non-existant ...  As to 'a few pence more', items in this store that I was interested in were several tens of pounds more expensive than Hereford Models - not mail-order or internet-order, but calling in & dealing with staff that were knowledgeable & willing to do what it took to assist.  Needless to say, I deal with HM for the vast majority of my requirements.

Mike

Its always sad to hear of retailers closing down but it has become a fact of life, high rents, wages and superannuation plus a profit for the store owner cannot compete with online shopping.

Saw on TV last night where people go into a shoe shop and try a pair of shoes on then walk out and buy the same shoes online for a cheaper price, boy you have to feel sorry for a bloke battling to keep is store open when people do things like that to him.

Hi all, i agree it is sad when a good model shop closes. Having a small family,mortgage etc and trying to get back into the hobby(3 yr old wnts more locos then i do) i too must watch where my money goes. I support a hobby shop if they support me. I recently went the dcc path and while i could save about A$30 on the nce powercab from buying from the UK or USA i bought it from the Sydney importer (200km from my home-long drive)because he does the warranty and he does know his stuff. I also bought all of my decoders at A$33 because again he does a warranty. This came in handy when my new dapol hst "played up" he threw in decoders at his cost each time cooking them until he worked out the issue. Happily have bought all of my dcc stuff from him and continue to do so and have directed five mates to his shop
BUT the closest shop to me which advertises they are the biggest in Aust is a different story. There website says they have it, you ring up and they dont. They quote $56 for a china clay hopper in n gauge where as i bought it from a shop in sydney for A$7.50 and when you do order from them you wait for months only to ring to say they have no record. If they want support then it goes both ways, people here locally get ripped off. I bought five dcc ready class 6 locos from hattons at 39pound (about A$50) because this same shop had them for A$278. Now thats a huge difference, not just a couple of dollars, and they wonder why people "shop around"

Quote from: 1936ace on April 05, 2012, 10:29:40 PM
Hi all, i agree it is sad when a good model shop closes. Having a small family,mortgage etc and trying to get back into the hobby(3 yr old wnts more locos then i do) i too must watch where my money goes. I support a hobby shop if they support me. I recently went the dcc path and while i could save about A$30 on the nce powercab from buying from the UK or USA i bought it from the Sydney importer (200km from my home-long drive)because he does the warranty and he does know his stuff. I also bought all of my decoders at A$33 because again he does a warranty. This came in handy when my new dapol hst "played up" he threw in decoders at his cost each time cooking them until he worked out the issue. Happily have bought all of my dcc stuff from him and continue to do so and have directed five mates to his shop
BUT the closest shop to me which advertises they are the biggest in Aust is a different story. There website says they have it, you ring up and they dont. They quote $56 for a china clay hopper in n gauge where as i bought it from a shop in sydney for A$7.50 and when you do order from them you wait for months only to ring to say they have no record. If they want support then it goes both ways, people here locally get ripped off. I bought five dcc ready class 6 locos from hattons at 39pound (about A$50) because this same shop had them for A$278. Now thats a huge difference, not just a couple of dollars, and they wonder why people "shop around"

I am a member of a model railway group up here in Brisbane and not one of the blokes buy stuff from hobby shops, they either buy from Hattons, Trainworld USA or one of the many eBay shops.

We in Brizzy have lost a few model railway shops with one up for sale, one has gone online and visits the exhibitions with a stall, the problem is many Oz hobby shops do not try and compete and have a "buy it if you want it and if you think its to expensive bugger of attitude".

A group of us in Brisbane have all but pleaded to some model railway shops telling them we would rather buy from them than mess about online but it falls on deaf ears, they tell us the could not care less if Hattons are selling loco X for $60au we still have wood ducks come in here and buy the same thing for $299.

I buy all my stuff from a second hand dealer here in Brizzy, great price's with a repair, refund or replace no questions asked policy,  a place to spend a couple of hours with a few mates on a Saturday morning over a cup of tea and a chat to try and solve the worlds problems.

Hi Dave,
i did forget to mention we have a little hobby shop at Kurri Kurri, Hunter valley model railways supplies. Ivans a top bloke and yes you can call in and have a chat. he belongs to the local model club at maitland and is very very good at building stone viaducts and he loves his br stuff. I recently bought a gaugemaster combi off him for i think was A$60 which is only about 10 dearer then the uk.(big sydney shop had them for 45 but it had no power supply unit even though box showed it did very misleading) he attends shows and both my mum and me bought items when he was there. he is only a little guy compared to the big one in newcastle but if you ask for something at least he will get it for you and at a realistic price unlike some. and he has heaps of n gauge