Hobby shops in the New York area

[tjtrain8]

Hello everyone,

I enjoyed visiting hobby shops in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and am curious if any shops in the New York City area sell Japanese (or international) N-scale trains. In this forum, it seems like a lot of people purchase rolling stock from online supplies - is it because there are not many shops in the States?

 

Thank you!

[brill27mcb]

Not many U.S. brick & mortar shops stock an extensive variety of Japanese train stuff, with the exception of Kato Unitrack. Their prices also tend to be higher than buying directly from stores in Japan (ones that have decent prices and cater to overseas buyers), and being careful about the effect that order size (both cost and physical volume) has on shipping costs. It's best to spread the international shipping costs over a number of items. Also, a lot of U.S. stores are stocked with inventory that they bought when exchange rates were not as favorable as they are now, so they have those items priced higher than what you can do now with today's better exchange rate.

 

If you are ever down in the Philadelphia area, Nicholas Smith Trains in the western suburbs has a pretty good selection and is fun to visit, but the prices are not the lowest around.

 

Rich K.

Edited January 1 by brill27mcb

[mrsteveseag]

Check out Red Caboose on W 45th Street by Rockefeller Center. It’s a small little hobby shop in the basement and it’s actually pretty cool. Although, his models tend to be very pricey. If you want to venture out into the Long Island area, check out Nassau Hobby Center. They usually have some pre-owned Japanese stuff, but it’s more expensive as well.

There isn’t much Brick & Motor hobby shops in the New York area, which as someone who lives here, it really sucks. But I hope you have fun visiting NYC!