My Rant

Time for a bit of a rant...and this is directed entirely at local hobby shops in New Zealand...though it might also apply to other countries.

I love this hobby, it's a lot of fun, but boy oh boy do I worry about its future. Every train show I go to I see less and less young people, of course what this means is there are less and less opportunities for products to be purchased, so hobby stores stock less, and ultimately manufacturers build less and sell at a higher price. It's a bit of a downward spiral.

So here is where the rant comes in. I walk into my local hobby shop, there are cars, planes and even boats hanging from the ceiling, but alas where are the trains? Well they are locked away from prying hands in cabinets and cupboards; there's no working layout, nothing, nada, zip....and I see this in nearly every hobby store I go into in this country. Hanging stuff off of your roof is fine when you want to put it somewhere after you've bought it, but pretty much useless if you're trying to sell it.

Wake up hobby stores! You are competing against Xbox, PlayStation and iPads! You are competing against a vast sea of competition online and most of all, you are doing the hobby a massive disservice. You need to make the products you sell more tactile, more exciting. Locking them up in cabinets is all fine and good to stop them being stolen, but then you might as well not unpack them at all from the shipping cartons!

My local store changed hands a few years back, the new owners clearly have little interest in model railroading...I know this, because whenever I visit, the owner is plonked down behind the counter working on (I assume his) remote controlled cars. I'm yet to ever see him actually out in front of the counter providing that invaluable thing called service and not once, ever has he smiled or uttered a single greeting as I entered. Is it any wonder then that I prefer to purchase online...not from them mind you, because this store (along with a good number of other hobby stores in NZ) deem the internet unworthy of their presence. Don't even get me started on the rampant overcharging...that's a whole new post in itself.

Before anyone says, "What do you know!", well I speak from experience. Before entering the dizzying, often confusing world of IT, I spent 20 years working in, managing and eventually owning my own retail stores and I now spend my days building eCommerce sites for retailers.

I, unfortunately, see a day when this hobby is but a distant relic of the past (as will be the little local hobby store) unless more effort is made to modernize and connect. Sadly, this is not a problem solely owned by hobby stores, but by nearly every niche retailer in existence. If you're going to run/own a retail store then you need to go and take a course at your local community college; customer service 101.

You all have this amazing point of difference...cool toys...every little kids dream! So use that point of difference, get the stuff out on display and get it working.

Heres a few ideas:

• Build a small portable layout. Kids (and adults) will watch trains running for hours!
• Hold regular work shops, designed especially for kids where they can come in and experience the real world instead of the virtual world. Show them how to build a model aeroplane, run a train, fly a plane...the options are endless!

... and lastly (and probably most importantly) stock some entry level stuff, cheap and cheerful, the sort of stuff that will pique interest without breaking the parents banks.