Another thing that I have noticed is that the stores that survive either tend to cover the entire model railroad hobby (an example is Trainland or Pat's Trains) or are general hobby stores where one can find things beyond the model railroad hobby (Nicholas Smith, Nassau). There are other examples of stores, many of them forum sponsors, who will not go the way of the dinosaurs because they run their business with an eye towards price competitiveness and service, and have adopted to the era of the internet by putting up a website that serves as a sales portal and advertising.
On a less positive note, I have to say that I have also seen a lot of stores close, and many of those did not surprise me. Often the people in the store were not particularly helpful or friendly, and the pricing was not competitive. (One store I recall had numerous signs up stating, "look with your eyes." Being combative and argumentative with the customers is not a sound sales strategy generally.) Another thing I have seen is for some of these places to be stuck in time, for example selling new old stock MTH PS1 for its original catalog price, or (same store) sells new MTH at catalog price and acts surprised if you ask for a discount to be competitive with what any other dealer would sell the item for. I have also experienced a store that puts it on me to deal with defective product. Never again will I buy anything there. I am not one to price shop to the last dollar, but until someone starts supplementing my income with additional money just for being a nice guy, I cannot give a vendor significantly more for an item because it makes me feel nice to do so and I want to support a local store.
While people bemoan the passing of these businesses, at some level I can sympathize but I think it is unavoidable. The economy is constantly changing and innovating, and part of that destruction is necessary in order to produce the innovation and improvements that we see. This goes on even in our little corner of the world with this hobby. People complain but compare a train catalog from 1990 to what you have available today and I think it is hard to argue that the innovation has not produced a better selection and choice of products, at a better price, for the average hobbyist.
