Model Forum / General / Railroads / March 2007

"John Turner" <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:8
_KdnUCozI0fsJTbRVnytAA@eclipse.net.uk:

Yup that's my problem with my own local shop (about half an hour away).

But the problem is that I'm regularly working 10 and 12 hour days (and
sometimes longer) and I'm simply to shagged to nip out for a quick browse.

And of course when I do have a day or two off SWMBO has a list as long as
your arm of "little jobs" for me to do ... and likewise I'm shagged anyway
from the previous week and all I want to do is put my feet up.

That's why I buy so much from the internet - I'd love to spend more in my
local shop, the chaps who run it are a pair of really great guys but I
can't aford the couple of hours involved in a visit.

Exactly.

The hypocrites who decry the loss of local businesses are the same ones who
"one stop shop" at supermarkets and obsess about shopping online.

Use it or lose it.

"John Turner"

"Tony Clarke"  wrote

   I'd love to confess to being the source of his decline, but I'm not. By
"ages" I mean about four or five weeks. I don't buy modelling stuff online,
I'm not a "collector" who only goes into a shop when there's a limited
edition from a RTR manufacturer and then moan because he charges a quid more
than some some garage outlet (no Mint Boxed me, I want stuff to weather and
run), and I have no interest in military modelling or dolls house kits which
is where much of his stock is concentrated. I buy secondhand items, bits of
K&S brass for scratchbuilds and the odd Dapol or Coopercraft kit, but I've
never moaned for discount. I've bought oddments from his trade stall at
shows where he's bothered to stand there all afternoon, so I understand what
an ungrateful area model retailing is. The best model outlet in my area for
variety of stock is KS Models of Stevenage but I go there once in a blue
moon. Big shopping list stuff I do at events like Expo EM, being an EMGS
member (and Alan Gibson wants to sell up now, so who's taking on his market
share?). So who's not supporting the retail trade? He's had money off me
over the years without a word of complaint. It's happening all over: Doug
wants to retire having done his bit (and put in the hours since his loyal
sidekick Mike retired a couple of years ago having also trogged out to
Saturday exhibitions) and Cambridge shop rents have long ago forced out any
modest enterprise.

   Did we all read Tim Shackleton's editorial in MRJ a couple of issues
ago, in which he reckons that railway modelling however finescale will be
all but extinct in a generation, both exhibition and retail? We are the last
of it. What will we do to change it, eh? Something I'm pondering, being also
possibly the last generation who'll enjoy traditional chemical photography
before that too gets turned compulsorily digital and made into a managed
pursuit for a culture permanently indoors, monetised, and alienated from any
idea of a tactile hobby.

   Tony Clarke

"Ed Callaghan" wrote ,

   Doug has a funny manner about him, but I'd not regard it as
"intimidating", more traditional Norfolk deadpan. Maybe being a shop
proprietor makes you a bit mad? Seriously,  a nation of shopkeepers is also
a nation of introvert eccentrics, spending too much time in seething
silence, which is why the French (who originally levelled this accusation at
the English via Napoleon) do Basil Fawlty to the max to this day without a
shred of self-reproach, sitting in their rural subsidised glory complaining
that politicians take no notice.

   I've been to GE Models too but not much liked their stock - and frankly
three-quarters of their stock is toys, which is the way most shops make a
living, but it's not that much of an excuse to go out to the far end of
Plumstead Road, since I visit Norwich by train - so give me Doug and his
corncrake manner any day. He's stuck with model retailing thirty years which
is way longer than most do it.

   Yes, at shows, you see the best of the trade, because people turn up
with shiny cards and wads of tenners and BUY BUY BUY because it's the
premium event of the year and all the high players are there. Gibson,
Connoisseur, Comet, SE Finecast, C&L, Eileen's, the whole lot. Outside of
Ally Pally, Expo, Scaleforum - what's the volume that pays the wages? I
think all British retail is in the same situation: show selling does for
modelling what farmers' markets do for food; a spasm of proper profit that
pays for the misery of waiting for someone to find you in between times.
Brit railway modelling supplies are a thing of some wonder in the mass, but
individually it's all one-man bands doing stuff in a shed and making a
living - part or full time, they don't like to embarrass us with their
finances - that pays maybe a five figure salary off five figure sales. Adam
Smith would be impressed, but maybe many a bank manager isn't.

   MRJ's Small Suppliers Forum valiantly announces what's new, but delving
through back issues I frequently wonder "are they still going?" We rarely
see an RIP for micro-enterprises that call it a day for whatever reason, do
we? Luckily there's been consolidation: C&L have taken over the legacy of
the late Carl Legg (CPL Products) and I hope that Alan Gibson's empire will
likewise be a goer in new packaging when he quits at Christmas.

   Tony Clarke