Hi Ya'll
Yes, it's me again! I was thinking about something of an idea I was kicking around waaaaay back in the day. What was it ? Here's the Gist of it. It comes back to something I replied to today about folks selling stuff by bits and pieces and full sprues on line.
I was going to buy a Whole warehouse full of Models from somewhere in the Midwest. Then Hire a whole bunch of folks to cut the parts off the sprues and put each part in a drawer set aside for just that part. This was just for cars though. The rest would be sold in the Box.
Why? Well, think about it. Back Then, You don't want to cut up a perfectly fine body for a Race or Custom car most of the time. They NOW really cost to much. Shoot, maybe you only need the roof and door areas and your are doing a modified. Most I have seen are a far cry from Street autos. Now you come to my shop and you can even buy the whole kit. Or just the Front clip, Dashboard, Seats whatever!
Now the trick was this. Each part would be disassembled according to a professional Body shop Manual for that car! That way if all you needed was say the cowl and windshield then you'd buy the cowl and an.010 sheet plastic Part cut to fit that kit. The Sprues would be cut up to offer bottles of sprue glue to customers, in Thin , thick , and Thicker ! Also Clear!
Instead, I bought Four large20'x20' Tuff Sheds .Left an aisle in the middle and packed them with models. You Pull your own and then Pay for your stuff. Now, that you've done that, here's a Coffee, a Iced tea or Soda. Set a spell, and talk about your model and what you hope to do with it. We had a refreshment bar on the deck in front of the buildings with a canvas cover and fans. At lunch time you would even be invited to chow down with us! The buildings faced the deck in a Semi Circle. Mama collected the cash at the kitchen window!
It worked so well that for Three years I didn't even have what could be called a " Hobby Shop" Yes, I sold Paints and Supplies too. Nothing Rail Road related though! I guess it was just so much fun I never looked on it as a Business. My late wife( The First One) Said, that gave us the seed modey for another business we bought into. I was having so much fun I didn't notice it was called work!