Standard Hobby Supply


Larry

Larry

Long Winded Old Fart
is going out of business on Friday, May the 14th, 2010. They have been in business for over 37 years & I've been buying from them for about 30 years.
I got a letter w/my latest order telling me that they will still be taking some orders for the items they have in stock & their phone lines will have limited hours daily monday thru friday. The whole staff is retiring.:(
 
Wow thats too bad! I only ordered from them once, but their service was fast, easy, and competitive. I always have seen their ads in MR. I wish them well in retirement and I hope it was by choice, not necessity.
 
That's just the cycle of life...

...but there's never a vacuum. Other decent honest businessmen will always fill in the empty space of those who leave. :)


Greg
 
In all my years of model RR'ing I've seen many of the mail order stores close up. Some have gone out of business & you never know about it till U try to order something from them. At least now a days w/the internet you usually get a letter or an email.
This company didn't have any kids to take over the business. Just 2 brothers that retired.
 
That's too bad, I really liked them for their prices, service and selection. Always great service from Standard. I really liked their case pricing on Atlas code 83 flex. 100 piece boxes were around $185.00 when I last ordered one. Can't beat that!
 
They were the ones I placed my first large order with, when I returned to this hobby back in 1988. Excellent prices & quick service. They will be missed for sure.
 
Wow, didn't know this. They were great to deal with and always had what I needed!

They will be missed, but I hope they all enjoy their retirement!
 
Thats really too bad. Why not just sell the business if they are retiring? There has to be some children or grandchildren that could take it over.
 
this isnt just a mail order store. They have a retail store thats about 25 minutes from me. They didn't really start to really stock up on new HO stuff I dont think till like 3 years ago. Mostly models and other stuff. Then out of nowhere new train stuff started to pack the shelves.

Here's the article in todays paper about the store.

Hi-way Hobby closing after 50 years
 
NYSW F45 said:
Here's the article in todays paper about the store.

Hi-way Hobby closing after 50 years
Click to expand...

I read the article.

When he was a bit older, he would ride his bicycle 7 1/2 miles each way from his home in Franklin Lakes to the store. "I would take the money I got from my paper route, $5, and buy six models for 70 cents each."
Click to expand...

I had paper routes in the 1960s and early 1970s. I spent my money the same way. Kids don't have paper routes any more. Or caddy jobs. Or... It's too dangerous with all the degenerates running loose. Plus all the tort lawyers looking to sue anyone with insurance. And the economy got so lousy adults now do delivery with their beater cars. It's a full time job starting at 1200 am or so. This switch started back in the 1980s, hello?

"The average age of the model customers used to be 31, 32; now it's in the low 50s," said John Mangano. Today's kids, said brother Frank Jr., "are not interested in using their hands to create little structures."
Click to expand...

Today I went to elementary school with my 9 y/o son, a 3d grader. It was "bring your parents day" for the first hour. We did a historical crafts project that was keyed to archeology. His assignment was drip painting a plaster rooster according to ancient Chinese technique.

You will never persuade me "kids" in general aren't interested in crafts and in learning how to do things with their hands. Been there, done that as recently as this morning. What they (and their parents) are not interested in are "hobbies" that are just vast exercises in Chinese import con$umeri$m. They plain don't have the money for it.

We've had some game-changers in the underlying economics. For young parents and their kids today its a lot more like the 1930s and their great-grandparents time. That means a DIY content in the 90s and approaching 100%.
 
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well when this store closes there is another one here in NJ that sells alot more railroad stuff, has a hellova lot more stock and goes thru things like crazy. And prices are nearly the same. They just started putting bigger ads in MRR, usually they were only in MRC. The Model Railroad Post Office in West Milford,NJ. Bob and Ray are great, know there stuff and are some of the nicest people i've met. They do have a sit, but its still fairly new.
 
I as well had the opportunity to do my first major layout in the late '80's....and SHS at that point in time was the BEST in prices, availability in stock, and outright customer service. Oddly enough, to the best of my recollection, the ONLY problem was getting Walther's products....because of course they had their own catelog and ordering...now of course, with Horizon buying Athearn and MDC, and Lord knows all the other changes in corporate model rring, there's a WORLD of change that's taken place in mail order catelog model rring. Some good....but I sure can't help the feeling of a LOT more complicated. Happy retirement folks...you WILL be missed.
 
Great place. I did my 1st purchase every (non-LHS), back when I was 13. I had to hand over the money to my Mom so that she could write me a check. I'm pretty sure I got the MDC Climax and a couple other little things.
We'll miss you in the pages of Model magazines. Enjoy retirement.
 
Man, I used to work at Longs Model Railroad Supply back in the 90's. Standard Hobby was our biggest mail order competitor. Every month when it cam time to do the next ad for Model Railroader, the boss said.... "Go get the current MR so I can see what the hell SHS is doing!" Just about everything Longs did price wise, was based on SHS.

Longs has been long gone as well. Longs Drug Store finally got their way and got rid of all the trains years ago, and that store was sold and now a CVS. :(
 
Boy, I'll miss those closely spaced ads in MR. They always had a lot to offer. I remember Longs and trains from when I lived in California. They were a good outfit also, and it was really one of the first "discount" brick and mortar stores, even if it was a drug store. Now, it looks like our local Hobby Lobby is about to discontinue the model railroad department, so even that pitiful local selection will be gone. :mad:
 
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