LIONEL MAKES TRACKS FOR CONCORD MILLS

bigkid posted:

I get what you are saying and who it was aimed at, I am on the same page, these are often the same people when someone refers to what experts in a field have said, will tell you "what do they know, everyone knows they don't know anything" *grr*. 1899, huh? That is a long time in a world where tech company lifetimes are often measured in microseconds

Yeah it's been a long time.   The company is in manufacturing.  We adopt technology as it comes, but the basics of what we make and how to make it remain the same.

PRRronbh posted:

Carl you are trying to compare Apples to Oranges.

Ron

Oooo, Ouch!  Very Punny! 

bigkid posted:

One of the things with Apple stores is you can take things there when you have problems and get help/support/repairs. That would be an interesting model for Lionel if they had enough of a market, having service centers at the stores to help with the kinds of problems we see on here. 

At the LCCA Chicago convention Mr Hitchcock said something about either Lionel is considering taking in repairs at the retail store, or people could ship repairs to the store. I’m not clear on his exact words, but he made a comment that since headquarters was so close anyway.....

I don't think you will see Lionel expanding it much,in any event. Apple, as huge as they are, has only 272 stores in the US, and most of those are concentrated in city/metropolitan areas, and that is a mega company. 

Again at LCCA/Chicago, Mr Hitchcock said if this site works out, Lionel would look at other stores in other areas. He also mentioned a new O/O27 size New Bright type set coming that will be in the $50 range. Maybe stores all over with something for everyone price wise is in the future? I think this store will bring QC and DOA out of the box issues right to Lionel’s attention with these stores.

It's a win situation for the hobby! It is called exposure to the public. There are many folks who don't realize that Lionel and the other companies are churning out model trains with all the added features at a crazy pace. We do shows and folks always, always, ask that simple question, Lionel is still in business? Yes and they are pumping out plenty of product to make all of us quite happy to be in the hobby.

Jerry Calabrese tried the pop up store concept in certain areas, financially successful or not. IT IS CALLED EXPOSURE OF A COMPANY THAT A LOT OF FOLKS THINK IS NO LONGER AROUND. IT IS CALLED BUILDING THE HOBBY. I truly believe that Howard Hitchcock is a smart executive looking to add exposure to his company and it helps the other companies. Do you see Atlas, Williams by Bachmann, MTH opening up pop up stores? No!

LIONEL is and we should applaud them for their efforts. Nothing wrong in this approach.

Thank you, Lionel.

This is good news for me.Because I live what I call the blackhole.When it comes to model trains.The nearist to me is the little choo choo in spencer.Which is almost 70 miles one way.Concord is half that the distance.I hope it works out.

Not starting a discussion about this on that topic

Then why did you bring it up?
Lionel should be doing things to build their customer base, as opposed to expecting the TCA to do it for them.

Best of luck to Lionel on their retail store.

I live about 35 miles from where the store will be located and that will make it the closest train store by about 20 miles.  I have gone to the current store a few times but it had a small selection so I am hoping the new store has more stock and a nice display.  Concord Mills is a mall that is doing very well.  Went out to dinner (Bonefish Grill) there last week.