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Jochs wrote:Bob's is open in downtown Watervliet, under the name "B&E Racing." I stopped by there today. Not much model railroading stuff there. It was mostly RC cars and model airplanes. Everything is on sale. Bob was working there today. The only part of the store being used is the section on the north side of where the stairs go down, where the train display was. Not sure if he's retiring and trying to sell what he has or what. The section of the store that's open has visible signs of water damage and smells musty inside.

From the new website (https://banderacing.weebly.com/):

Bob's Hobby Shop wrote:I have one goal in life and that is to get out of Watervliet. I have looked at a building in Bangor, Michigan and one in Coloma, Michigan. Most of the customers know my problems and can't believe what is going on. I have customers in Japan, Australia, England and Canada. I haven't told any of them about this. I can't believe that this can happen in the United States. I thought the Thousand Year Reich ended in April 1945 but I guess I was wrong.

I never heard anything, but it appears HobbyTown USA in Kalamazoo and HobbyTown in Grandville have closed within the last few months.
It sounds like the KZOO store owners retired.

Not in SW Michigan, but P&D Hobby in Fraser (Detroit) is closing after 47 years.

Since Great Lakes opened, I haven't been back to P&D. I do not know how hobby stores compete with catalogue and online anyway.

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Mon May 30, 2022 8:52 pm

Not in SW Michigan, but P&D Hobby in Fraser (Detroit) is closing after 47 years.
p&d.JPG

This is not in SW Michigan, but was notified by my son of the liquidation sale starting today at P&D Hobbies, in Fraser, Mich. Pat, the former owner passed away about a year or so ago, and due to the business climate for hobby shops, the family is electing to shut the doors. Website says on-line sales for certain items will continue. Very sad, as I have gone there for the past 25 years, and the people always helped me out. I wish them all the best in the future, and thanks for all the stuff from the past.

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Mon May 30, 2022 8:52 pm

Not in SW Michigan, but P&D Hobby in Fraser (Detroit) is closing after 47 years.
p&d.JPG

It was one of the first, if not the first hobby shop I ever entered as a young kid. I recall the days my grandpa would take me up there and i'd always love picking up a new car or gawking at the display case full of locomotives. Very sad to hear P&D is closing, but that strip mall ever since they put in the new fast food restaurants has been killing off that strip they are occupied in. IIRC there was a Chinese restaurant in that chain that went out of business as well.

How much stuff is left? P&D was the only place in SW Michigan that I knew carried O Scale 2-Rail and they had some stuff I wanted to pick up despite the fact I model in HO scale. The HO scale department began to lack in the recent years but they still had some very good stuff and some nicer end books like The Railfan Chronicles and plenty of Morning Sun book hardcopies.

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:07 am

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Mon May 30, 2022 8:52 pm

Not in SW Michigan, but P&D Hobby in Fraser (Detroit) is closing after 47 years.
p&d.JPG

It was one of the first, if not the first hobby shop I ever entered as a young kid. I recall the days my grandpa would take me up there and i'd always love picking up a new car or gawking at the display case full of locomotives. Very sad to hear P&D is closing, but that strip mall ever since they put in the new fast food restaurants has been killing off that strip they are occupied in. IIRC there was a Chinese restaurant in that chain that went out of business as well.

How much stuff is left? P&D was the only place in SW Michigan that I knew carried O Scale 2-Rail and they had some stuff I wanted to pick up despite the fact I model in HO scale. The HO scale department began to lack in the recent years but they still had some very good stuff and some nicer end books like The Railfan Chronicles and plenty of Morning Sun book hardcopies.

Isn't there an O scale shop near St Clair Shores? Might have been called Whistle Stop or something to that effect. I thought there was a shop for the larger scales somewhere in the east suburbs.

Great Lakes has some O, but probably not what you're looking for.

I haven't been in to P&D in years, even though I drive by it on a regular basis. They never had much of a selection of N scale, so eventually I stopped going in. At least you'll still be able to order from them, if the online-only rumor about them is true. A presence is better than nothing. It's been several years since we had a hobby shop in St Clair County, and one of the best ones we did have was shut down completely when its owner retired.

GreatLakesRailfan wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:47 am

Isn't there an O scale shop near St Clair Shores? Might have been called Whistle Stop or something to that effect. I thought there was a shop for the larger scales somewhere in the east suburbs.

Yep, Whistle Stop Hobby & Toy. I think they are doing well because they are more of a toy store. But they still carry a great selection of train, at least when I was last in there a few years ago (pre-COVID).

GreatLakesRailfan wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:47 am

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:07 am

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Mon May 30, 2022 8:52 pm

Not in SW Michigan, but P&D Hobby in Fraser (Detroit) is closing after 47 years.
p&d.JPG

It was one of the first, if not the first hobby shop I ever entered as a young kid. I recall the days my grandpa would take me up there and i'd always love picking up a new car or gawking at the display case full of locomotives. Very sad to hear P&D is closing, but that strip mall ever since they put in the new fast food restaurants has been killing off that strip they are occupied in. IIRC there was a Chinese restaurant in that chain that went out of business as well.

How much stuff is left? P&D was the only place in SW Michigan that I knew carried O Scale 2-Rail and they had some stuff I wanted to pick up despite the fact I model in HO scale. The HO scale department began to lack in the recent years but they still had some very good stuff and some nicer end books like The Railfan Chronicles and plenty of Morning Sun book hardcopies.

Isn't there an O scale shop near St Clair Shores? Might have been called Whistle Stop or something to that effect. I thought there was a shop for the larger scales somewhere in the east suburbs.

Great Lakes has some O, but probably not what you're looking for.

I haven't been in to P&D in years, even though I drive by it on a regular basis. They never had much of a selection of N scale, so eventually I stopped going in. At least you'll still be able to order from them, if the online-only rumor about them is true. A presence is better than nothing. It's been several years since we had a hobby shop in St Clair County, and one of the best ones we did have was shut down completely when its owner retired.

I have been to whistle stop semi-recently when I went on the hunt for Rapido Horizon cars in Amtrak Phase IV. It really doesn't come off as a Hobby shop more so a toy shop. I won't lie to you, Whistle Stop is unbelievably overpriced in their selection of models and it's literally just Bachman models for ridiculous prices.

I think these are the only remaining hobby shops left in Metro Detroit that sell trains:
P & D Hobby Shop - Fraser (Closing)
Great Lakes Hobby & Train - Sterling Heights
Whistle Stop Hobby & Toy - St Clair Shores
Carlton Hobbies - Waterford Twp.
Nankin Hardware & Hobby - Westland, Southgate, Farmington, & Ypsilanti
Keck Hardware & Hobbies - Trenton
Plymouth Train Shop - Livonia
HobbyTown - Southfield

Outside Metro Detroit:
Rider's Hobby Shop - Flint & Grand Rapids
Brasseur Electric Trains - Saginaw
J-Bar Hobbies - Tecumseh
J T Hobby - Battle Creek
Hobby-Sports - Portage
Hobby Recycling - Wyoming
Sidetrax Hobbies - Grandville
Cobblestone Crafts & Hobbies - Holland
House of Hobbies - Muskegon
Trains & Things Hobbies - Traverse City
Penney's Lumber - Prudenville
Kc Hobbies & Toys - St Ignace
Superior Carpet Tile Hobby - Iron Mountain

Let me know if I missed any! I am an O scale modeler so I mainly know about the Lionel and MTH dealers...

Thank you for posting the list of remaining hobby stores in MI

Wow--since I have been kind of sick for the last year, year and a half, thinking about all of the shops we lost. I grew up on the Detroit-Warren border, and I remember the Alcove, and 4th Street hobbies in Royal Oak, Train Center in Birmingham, Joe's in Eastpointe, Dearborn and Farmington, and what I consider the all time best--Models in Ferndale. My dad took me there the first time--and I was hooked. They had everything you could possibly need. The building is still there, now John King books, and maybe the old 55 foot RR crossing sign, if they haven't torn it down. Where would we be without our memories of a simpler,better time??

Plymouth Hobbies on Ann Arbor Road announced a closing sale started this weekend 6/11,, owner retiring. he is in a small motor repair shop, shared space

I seem to remember a hobby shop in the Blissfield area---is it still there?