Lionel Trains at Walmart


Larry

Larry

Long Winded Old Fart
As soon as the Jewelry dept. in all the Walmarts gets their train displays from corporate & Lionel they will be selling train sets this Christmas. This is the word from the store mgr. at my local supercenter. he said they will probably be at all the stores by Nov. 25th.:D
 
Hmmm. Since Walmart hasn't sold train sets in many years, I'll be interested to see if this happens. And why in the Jewelry department? And why Lionel? This seems to be going against the grain right now, not only selling train sets, but fairly expensive train sets at that.
 
Walmart is not the only one that has Lionel train sets for sale. Target has a few Lionel sets too.
 
UP2CSX said:
Hmmm. Since Walmart hasn't sold train sets in many years, I'll be interested to see if this happens. And why in the Jewelry department? And why Lionel? This seems to be going against the grain right now, not only selling train sets, but fairly expensive train sets at that.
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Jim, Only going by what the store mgr. told me. He's a train person & he says he's buying 2 sets as soon as they get there. Store mgrs. get 20% discounts & regular associates get 10% discounts. The last sets they sold were about 3 years ago & they were the John Deere sets for $75.00 & I've been seeing them go for over $150 to 175 on Ebay lately. I bought 2 when they lowered the prices after Christmas that year for $30.00 ea. gave them away for gifts the following year.
He said, Jewelry Dept. because they will be locked up in their display cases.
$175.00 is the right price as stated in their on line orders. You can get site to store delivery right now. It's going to be interesting to see if they sell any & if they discount them after the Christmas rush to below a hundred bucks.
I'll be watching.:eek:
 
Three years ago I got my son a sweet HO Athearn Blue Box (John Deere themed) set for $29.97 Regular price(Larry, why was your store so much?). it came with a MRC small power pack Atlas track with plastic roadbed and I've see simular Athearn sets every year since then. This year is ryans sets turn under the tree!....I'll post some pic's of it. for some reason they seem to burry the sets among the other crappy toys and you need to really look hard to find them! But they are there.....i'm going to Wally world with the wife today and I will look to see if'n there out yet? Last year they were on the verry top shelf next to some cheap hot wheels toys? I would have seen it unless I wasn't looking for it!
 
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BTW; I saw a Nice Lionel set in Sears for $199.99 last weekend wonder if its the same set wally world is selling? Their's wasn't locked up in a case!
 
Walmart should make a model trains section, as long as it doesn't interfere with the local competition, which it shouldn't, because I want to be staring at HO Scale athearns every week that I stop by Walmart. :p
 
I saw it on the web site. It looks like it's not going to make it into too many stores. There are none in stock within 100 miles of me. I assume they'll rely on the ship to store option and order more as they sell them rather than stock many at stores. It still seems like a $175 train set is the wrong price point for Walmart and the wrong price point for this year.
 
Years ago the Lionel dealer requirement was to have an operating Lionel layout in the store in order to sell their items. Times have changed - but then how many sets will Wallmart, etc. sell!!
 
I've talked to 3 "O" scalers here in Arcadia & they have already put in an order at the local WM for theirs. So, maybe WM will order about 10 & sell what they have or transfer them to a store that is selling them faster than here. I was in there today & 4 people told me about the Lionel trains & said they were buying one for under the Christmas tree. Seems like Sears, Kmart & Target is asking $199.00 for theirs. WM always has to be the cheapest.
 
jayl1 said:
Years ago the Lionel dealer requirement was to have an operating Lionel layout in the store in order to sell their items. Times have changed - but then how many sets will Wallmart, etc. sell!!
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The deal is that you can sell sets, but to sell separate locos and rolling stock and all of the accessories you must have an operating layout.

We have just completed the paperwork to be an authorized dealer. I have recently with in the past year became authorized with most distributors and manufacturers. Most emphasize the fact that you must be a true model train shop.

I'm sure that they are buying quantities that the manufactures could care less if they are hobby shop or not.

From a LHS point of view I don't think its a bad thing for the bigger stores to sell sets during the holidays. That may give me the opportunity to sell add on items during the rest of the year.
 
Ryan, I agree about big box stores selling sets for the holidays. It would be nice if Walmart would offer at least an HO set as well. Considering that Walmart just eliminated its whole hobby department, this still seems like a strange move to me.
 
UP2CSX said:
Ryan, I agree about big box stores selling sets for the holidays. It would be nice if Walmart would offer at least an HO set as well. Considering that Walmart just eliminated its whole hobby department, this still seems like a strange move to me.
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Remember, Woolco(sp)? we had one in holiday florida some 30+ years ago and they had two whole Isles of trains and slot cars! Oh, them's were the days! now they wern't the giant that WM is but, ol woolco never hurt the LHS!

Like I said, WM every year has had model train set's on their shelves every Christmas either B-mann, or Athearn, or Life-like.....But they usually got something HO? I guess this year it's Lionels turn to grace the shelves at Wally World! I don't think it would hurt the LHS industry or the Hobby ANY if wally world would JUST carry some Quality Train and slot car Starter set through out the year. I was shock when our local WM took out the plastic models and stuff to suport model building Isle but, left the model rockets and engines?

I worked for old Walton a long time ago and remember when they removed live goods from the pet dept. only to have Just fish tanks replaced a few years ago due to customer intrest in it!!! Bentonville DOES listen to it's customers(Shock)! Hell, they sell caskets now, so if enough people send enough thoughtful letters to bentonville and ask for them to bring more Hobbys back into their stores they will do it..... $$$$ is $$$$ no matter what they sell! May be if enough people Buy a Lot of the lionel sets that might cause them to take a second look at selling trains!

On a side note:
I looked yesterday for the Train sets....still a little early yet to be out but never the less i'll keep my Eye's open!

[edit] I checked out WM's web site and they do sell China made Mass produced, B-man and LL train sets just not highest of quality of those brands like the athearn, atlas, kato, and walthers sets.....but they do sell HO trainsets on-line. i feel still they should keep the best sellers out on the shelf all year long though! i know in order for a manufacture to have its Items in the stores they must be able to keep all stores fully stocked and not have a supply issue to the stores! That might be a reason we don't see a higher Quality sets! may be Athearn, Atlas, Kato, and walthers can't produce the quanities to fully stock all the wal marts? As for lionel, is this set made in China or something? Just thinking about it that is a lot of O-sets hitting the streets this season! BTW: thats the almost the same set I seen in Sears for $199.99 http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...es&cName=Trains&sName=Train+Sets+&+Playtables FYI! Just in case wal-mart runs out!
 
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more stores have them now

JCPenney B&M has a Santa Fe O Gauge for $200 ($180 online). Also has G-Gauge for $130.

Target B&M has a B&O O Gauge for $200.


Someone on another forum was saying that at their Walmart, they are setting up a huge Lionel display near the cashiers with the previously mentioned $175 O Gauge starter set, the G Gauge Polar Express, and a bunch of other Lionel memorabilia.

Great to see. I know there are pros and cons about letting the big box stores push Lionel over the local hobby shops, but at the least, it will get people interested in trains with their first starter set.

What I don't get is how none of the stores carry the Polar Express O Gauge anymore. It's all G. That's a hugely popular movie and probably did more for Lionel sales than any other train in recent years. Or even the Harry Potter set. These are the sets kids are really going to want.
 
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I'm very excited to see toy-train sets returning to department stores. They've been a long time gone! We need fresh blood in this hobby!
 
The set is $129.99 online right now. That is a lot less than the retail store (they want $185.99). At $129.99 this is a great price isn't it? (I've never bought Lionel before)
 
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