I was recently asked about enterTRAINment over on another topic. Some here are aware that it was my business 25 years ago, but probably most here aren't. Many may remember it, but not make the connection to me. I don't usually talk about it.
It took many years to get over the loss of having to close, but I've moved on. Building my current layout has helped a lot with that. I view it as an opportunity to recycle a lot of the salvaged material into something much better. A lot of people have been following my monthly construction updates on my topic My Dream/Nightmare Layout, which has been running for just over five years. Periodic daily updates can be found on What did you do on your layout today? starting on page 1 of 500+.
How did you start it?
The concept for enterTRAINment (and yes it starts with a small "e" to emphasize the TRAIN in the middle) sprung out of an article in CTT magazine from December 1991. The article was about a guy down in Dallas who did a huge seasonal train display to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. At that time the Mall of America was under construction, and was looking for unique tenants. I showed the article to my father. My mother passed away a few years earlier, and left me money. We put 2 and 2 together, and decided to go for it.
My father and I put on hard hats and the leasing agent showed us around. There were lots of locations available, but two stuck out, one on the first floor just off the rotunda next to what would become The Great Train Store, the other on the third floor next to Golf Mountain (mini golf) and across from the north food court. The agent said they were expecting 40 million visits* the first year. Remember that word "visits", it will come up again later.
What's the history of EnterTRAINment?
I was fairly skeptical of that 40 million number. I said to my dad, "Yeah right, how about 25 million?" After some serious thinking it was decided to take the space on the third floor. The space was 2000 square feet, and the rent was $10,000 per month. Before you faint, let me tell you the business plan, to help justify the decision. It was really simple! Take that 25 million number, I figured that 1% of the population would be interested enough to spend $2 admission to see a train display. Crunch those numbers, and the projected income was $500,000 per year. It sounded great! The rent looked reasonable at $120,000. I signed a ten year lease at the end of January 1992.
What was it exactly?
At that point, the pressure was on, design and build this thing. The layout design consisted of nine loops, all of which had switches to form passing sidings. I had previously done a lot of work with relay controlled trains, but this would take that a step further using a computer and C/MRI to control the trains.
After the layout design was finalized, I needed someone to build it. There were two parts to that process, first union contractors had to build out the space, drywall, electrical, plumbing, everything to create the platforms on which the layout would be built. PLUMBING?!! Yeah, the city made me install sprinklers under the layout platforms in addition to the ones in the ceiling. There were a lot of hoops to jump through.
Were you solo?
Once all of that was done, I rounded up all the train guys I could find. I already had an electrical person. I tapped our local 2 rail club as well as guys from the TCA. Planning, purchasing, and prefabrication went on while the union guys built out the space. My job was to coordinate both aspects of the construction, and keep preparing for when I got the keys from the contractor.
That day finally came in April 1992.
In terms of financing, I was solo, and all the trains used were from my personal collection.
How long did you do it?
enterTRAINment opened on August 12th, the layout was not really as finished as I had hoped. The mall said in no uncertain terms would I be able to have more time. The penalty would have been severe. The mall was packed, but mostly with gawkers. Nobody was spending money. Having a business that relied on admissions, I was very worried. The crowds continued for the next couple weeks, but I knew I was in trouble, because the revenue was well off the pace required to be sustainable.
Two weeks later, the Minnesota State Fair started, and the place went nearly dead. I had a couple decent weeks around the holidays. The TCA national convention came to town in the summer of 1993, and in general, when the kids were off school, business was better.
I needed to know exactly what the problem was. The mall said I should sell merchandise, but I wasn't set up for that. But since this was based admissions, I decided to see if we could find the people, I put an employee at the front door, and had him use a clicker to count how many people passed in front of the place. Actual attendance came from the till. That was very revealing.
What was its demise?
Remember I said visits earlier? Every month, the mall would report the total attendance. I compared that number with the number of people going past the storefront. Consistently, I was seeing 10% of their reported number.
When they calculated the attendance, if someone walked into Macy's or Sears, THAT COUNTED! Of course if a person didn't pass in front of my location, there was no way for me to benefit from that visit. In the end, I learned that my 1% interest number was actually a bit low. I was pulling between 2 and 4% off the sidewalk depending on day of the week.
I closed the doors for the last time Sunday October 16th, 1993, and had moved everything I could salvage out, by the following Sunday.
I later heard that they brought in a Bobcat to demolish the space, and it took them two days to clear the rubble.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
