On Monday night almost everyone in the known universe (or so it seemed) had an email from Hattons. This in itself was not unusual, but the information contained in it was a bit of a surprise. I'm not in the habit of perusing RMweb and the like, but I can imagine that the people who buy lots of stuff will be up in arms and scrambling for an alternative pusher.
Interestingly, included in the reasons given on the website are 'changing demographic' and Brexit. Or are we at peak price now and people are saying 'I really think that £300 for a DMU is too much?'
Quite honestly a toss I do not give. It's a shop. The population as a whole would say toy shop and if you really dig down deep they'd be absolutely correct. Disregarding the history (and there is a little of this over on Phil's page) they have been of late the king of box shifters with a token shop front bolted onto a warehouse full of racking. So let's flip this around for a minute. In recent times, and by this I mean the last 20-30 years, people have endlessly bemoaned the demise of the local model shop and that wonder word... service. But then, happily pick up the phone to save £5 and order the item they desire from Hattons/Kernow et al, the ones with the big ads in the magazines. Result: these do well and the one-man-band local shops disappear. Will this change things? No, because this business will be picked up by Olivias/TMC/Cheltenham/Kernow and it will all be the same next month. The losers as ever will be the smaller retailers and the magazine advertising receipts.
Keep calm and carry on. Maybe Railmatch will return.
The catch is local model shops aren't what they were. And what they were possibly isn't how many people remember them. Many good local shops often had a national or even international client base. i remeber makign many pilgrimages to vist the likes of W&H, Victors, Mainly Trains etc. My father's own shop, bacl in the early '60s, did more business by mail order than from customers - so much so that when Peter Bartlett took it over he had no qualms about moving it from Coventry to Corris.
ReplyDeleteThose shops often stocked their own products, dispensed endless advice and had relatively small RTR ranges to stock. Today's local model shop is likely to be just that. Unknown outside of the local area, often as likely to be dominated by RC models or plastic kits. The serious modeller finds them useful for tools and materials, but much else is now sourced direct from small scale specialist suppliers.
Despite being traumatised by my one visit to Hattons (Dad insisted I stay in the car with the doors locked - less to protect me than his precious Merc) I will miss them. I always good got service from them. But it isn't the ned of the world, or even the beginning of the end of the world.
Pretty much my take on it, Chris. I have bought the odd loco or whatever from them over the years, usually because nobody else had the particular version I wanted in stock rather than because they were cheaper.
ReplyDeleteMore recently, some secondhand Fleischmann and Jouef SNCF coaches came winging my way, just as efficiently and well packaged as if they were new.
I guess the closure would have been much bigger news had it happened, say, 20 years ago when there wasn't so much competition. Having said that, I remember the owner of a local-ish shop back then lamenting that they were constantly being undercut by Hattons. I did visit the site at Widnes once, and must be one of the few people stupid enough to try getting there by public transport (spoiler: there isn't any). I did manage it, but wouldn't want to repeat the experience.
Have you seenthelatest price for the Bachmann 4 CEP, still with thos horrible couplings? A bit more than £300! Peak price possibly. Must admit a lot of my current O gauge came from them. Not price, well not completely, but great delivery, tracked and managed byAmazon , more reliable and better scripted than ParcelForce. Actually the chance to use a reliable delivery service was a great driver to them. Must admit I will miss the freindly/efficient service. No grumbles or moaning staff. No pressure, except of late, fifteen emails in the last three days!
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