Allied Model Trains Closes

I got to visit just once before 2007 in the old(newer build date) building. Was a great shop with something for every scale. I think they may have gotten bitten by the LGB collapse because a big part of the store was devoted to that with a great display layout.

Even the public display store part of Trainworld in Brooklyn is now half the size it was just last winter. The whole G Scale side is closed because they say "nobody is doing LGB anymore".

Wow.  I'm saddened but not surprised.

Our family moved to Southern California in the early 1960's and we were regular customers of Allied Models through the 60's and early 70's.  My childhood trains all came from there, as well as other hobby items.  They were then located on Pico Blvd. in West Los Angeles, then moved to the purpose built building in Culver City.  

After many years in that Culver City building,  the owner downsized by renting the main building to a camera store, and moved the train shop across the street.  It has all been downhill since IMHO.  The stated reason for the downsizing was that he would make more money renting the building to the camera store than by operating Allied Models in that location.

That being said, the business (again in my opinion) did not evolve with the times or the hobby.  Customer service was non-existent. Stock was limited to Lionel, (no MTH, Williams, or Weaver).  

I've read so many posts here about train store owners/employees displaying hostile or apathetic attitudes and frequently ran into that at Allied Models. They did not discount at all in my experience.  I would go there occasionally to buy post war parts and unless George (the post war guru) was there and "in the mood" I could not purchase them because he was the only one who knew where they were and how much to charge.

No internet commerce and really no net presence except for a small website.  These days that simply will not cut it in the hobby business or ANY business.  

So while I'm saddened by the loss of another train/hobby shop, Allied Models was at least a few steps behind the times.  Hopefully the large layout in the Camera store lobby will stay up for a while longer as a momento to times past.

RIP Allied Models.

Very WELL said, I been through that as well.

Tiffany

Apparently I visited it during the period described by "Looney Tunes", whcih explains

why I have found it so unmemorable.  When I got there, I did not see what all the

raves I had read in the past were about.

These were the folks that sold the first Snow Village Lionel Hobby Shop. I think it was a limited run item and had different signage from that of the later Hobby Shop of the same design offered by Dept.56.

Very Sad, both owners, first Allen Drucker before he sold it to Fred Hill are friends. Allen and I were table mates many years ago in the Red Hall at York ( 1980's) and we both use to bring in LGB sets direct from Germany. Fred STILL has his main store in Pasadena ( Red Caboose) and owns Coach Yard and Thin Film and I highly recommend stopping in his store. Times are very tuff for "Brick and Morter" stores these days. Please support your local store before he is gone! Thank You

Actually, the store is "The Original Whistle Stop" on Colorado Blvd. & Altadena Drive. Been going there for years.

I've been to both stores many times.Allen told me one time that HO was his bread and butter and he sold 10-20 times as much HO as Lionel,MTH and LGB and that's how he paid for his Rolls.

I stand corrected Matt, Fred will never let me here the end of this! It must be the thin air up here at 30,000 feet! LOL

"These were the folks that sold the first Snow Village Lionel Hobby Shop"

Correct, different street number in the Limited Edition version. They also did a Lionel  D56 freight train with a baby Hudson identified as Department 56.

So many here have an entirely different view of the world than I.

We may be a small segment of the hobby but some of us categorically do NOT live in or near a US megopolis!

Every single sou of the many thousands of dollars I have spent on my return to this hobby has been spent through the internet. It simply would not have happened otherwise!

A LHS?? It is to laugh! Last "train store" I was in was Montreal's Trainatorium in about 1956 or so! Don't know how many decades they've been out of business!

Sell over the web . . . or die! Appears this is true even near the huge cities with their large population to draw from. I'm not saying this is a happy situation. It just is! Happy or no. And it's the only way to reach me.

I won't mention any names but several MRR concerns really need to work on their web sites too. Too many are primitive, semi functional and frustrating. Fortunately, some are excellent!

Gentlemen,

    Sorry to see this, another long time business in our hobby gone.  

A very tough business environment for our brick and mortar stores in this era.

PCRR/Dave

The internet is doing this to all kinds of businesses.    When I first read the original post in this thread late yesterday, it brought back memories of a very successful custom audio, video and home automation company here in the Philadelphia area that closed very abruptly in June 2014 after being a well-established business in the area since 1955.  For those of you living in the greater Southeastern PA area, you might recall HiFi House, based in Broomall, PA... with two other locations in Jenkintown, PA and Wilmington, DE.  Some of my best audio gear came from that company over the decades.

News reports indicated that "the banks" forced HiFi House's closing, demanding that all remaining inventory be liquidated and operations to cease.

From the posting on the Allied Model Trains website home page, I'm drawing similar parallels to these two abrupt closings.  At a certain point, this is one big numbers game.  And when the investors aren't happy, that's the end of the line.  I'm glad I got a chance to visit Allied Model Trains back in my Corporate America years (1980's, 1990's and early 2000's) when I traveled to California often.  It was quite an impressive store, to say the least, back then.

As much as we love the convenience of internet shopping, it's undoubtedly been a highly disruptive business model -- creating a HUGE challenge for some traditional companies to adapt.  And much has a lot to do with our behavior as buyers.  Just think about it... how many of us would buy a TV or stereo component 10-15 years ago without feeling uneasy about the item arriving OK to your front doorstep?  I know I MUCH preferred going to the local shop... SEEING what I was buying, and having the item delivered if I couldn't bring it home with me.  I STILL do that today for large-screen TV's, but don't think twice about purchasing other items online and having them shipped to our home.  Nearly all of the components in my latest home theatre "update" were purchased that way... the exception being the speakers and front-projection HDTV projector.  I just couldn't see purchasing speakers and a projector sight unseen online.

I'm sure each of us our own threshold of comfort when it comes to making BIG purchases online vs. at a local brick-and-mortar store -- even in this hobby (if we're lucky enough to even have a local train store to visit).  Here in Southeastern PA, we have a chunk of good train stores, and I like to support them whenever possible.  But I also do my share of online shopping at popular toy train dealers, many of whom have recently become sponsors here.

I think over time, even those of us who are 50+ years old have gotten more comfortable making BIG purchases online.  How many of you ordered your $2K Lionel Big Boy online and had it shipped?  Probably a MUCH larger number than those who purchased locally.  And that tells us something right there -- even without reading too much in between the lines.

David

The first item I ever bought online was a brand new car.  It was the best car buying experience that I ever had.  I did have to go to a dealership and pick it up.  The dealer's "internet" sales person told me they did 400 cars per month on the net.

My brother bought a brand new F-150 pickup over the internet.  The dealer drove it to his house and did the paperwork at his kitchen table.  The internet is here for all kinds of purchases.  Every business needs to be online.

When you think about, every train sale on this forum is an internet sale and competes with brick and mortar retailers.

NH Joe

I made one purchase at the Allied Model Trains "LA station" store on a vacation trip to LA.

They wanted to charge me more than the marked price on the display shelf, I made them lower it to the shelf price.

I still have the train, an G gauge  Accucraft  galloping goose railcar.

The store was very nice, aimed a the tourist traveler customer.

They needed to be closer to the tourist trap areas.

I liked the Pasadena Whistle Stop store better, and spent more there.

Sorry to see it go. Bought many of my 6464's from there back in the day. This and the Train Stop in San Dimas closing is very sad. Hopefully the Whistle Stop and the Train Shack in Burbank will keep on chugging.

Yes, PTC Collector, They indeed made the Department 56 Train set with nicely decorated cars and the Station, then Department 56 made a very similar Station....I have the entire set, new in the boxes....My dream was to One Day to visit this Famous Store. My other dream was to visit Madison Hardware and see this Famous Lionel Repair Center and Retail Store......I am sorry to see this fine store calling it Quits....I wish all involved to find new jobs and be OK.  Thanks for the Memories.

First time I went they were down on Pico Blvd shortly before they moved to the Culver City store.  Visited that store a few times also.

Larry, I completely understand the strong lure that goes with Madison Hardware in NYC.  No other store approaches the level of Lionel postwar toy train lure than Madison Harware (IMHO).  

But quite honestly, the retail space itself was somewhat underwhelming.  Being in Manhattan, space for storefronts was always a premium -- even back in the day.  So I found Madison Hardware to be a small/narrow storefront (but admittedly very deep) compared to some of today's much larger store footprints like Nicholas Smith Trains and Charles Ro Supply, both of which have an endless array of trains on display (almost too many!) plus huge warehouse real estate as well.

There's no doubt that the owners of Madison Hardware struck up a terrific relationship with JLC, the man himself... which I'm sure accounted for the store's unmatched ascension to such a lofty place in Lionel toy train history.

No intent to derail this thread talking about another store... Just wanted to comment that -- aside from missing the ability to say you actually set foot in THE Madison Hardware -- you didn't miss all that much compared to the dealers of today.  For example, even Allied Model Trains had a MUCH larger retail space -- especially in the 1980's/1990's store -- than Madison Hardware.

What set Madison Hardware apart though, was the fact that the owners seemed to have a direct pipeline to JLC, which enabled them to have first crack at Lionel factory overstock and parts almost anytime they wanted.  So even years later, you could walk into that small store and still see endless boxes of various trains stacked floor-to-ceiling -- despite the store's very narrow retail space.  Pretty cool.

David

I wish i could. Sadly the hobby shop here in Seymour Indiana closed years ago after the owner passed away. There was a small hobby shop in Columbus but it closed too. The nearest hobby shop is in Carmel, a long drive from here. I would rather buy from a local hobby shop any day but that day is just a memory.

Both the replica train station and the art deco building they were in look quite attractive from the photos, and probably had a bit of allure to them. With that said, the stories above about poor service, a poor online presence, and poor prices are probably what killed them. 

No matter how cool a building looks on the outside, what's inside makes the store.

Allied sold me my first O Gauge locomotives - two Rail King Santa Fe Northerns (no. 2926).  I called their shop from my Kansas home to ask some questions about the product and the salesman was so excited about the features of the locomotive, he ran the sound for me over the phone call!  That was now about 15 years ago and I have been a steady consumer of O Gauge steam ever since.  I still have the Santa Fe Northerns and they work great!!