An Affair With Trains in Phoenix

COMBAT said:
No... its one item the next time you go AFTER you spend a 100.00. They also are not as friendly, customer oreintated or helpful and they charge more for everything. The sale that you got is good but I have to wonder if it too is off of ONE thing.... Hmmmm..... :)

The thing I noticed about The Freight Yard is if you tell them you saw it online and have the link he will match most times. You then dont pay shipping and only have tax. Its kind of a wash sometimes but I go there because they are DCC friendly... helpful and competitive in pricing. Happy Shopping. :)
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Yeah, you're right, the next item ater you spend $100. Also, I called him to ask if there was a general "grand opening" discount on everything and he said no, just those items that are on sale. As far as I know, there are not indications as to what's on sale and what's full price.

I think I'll buy my turnouts and flex track from Standard Hobbies. It's nice to partonize your local dealers, but not at a 40% price difference. What I pay in shipping charges, I save in sales taxes so that's a wash. The only difference now is that I have to wait a week or so.
 
Heyyyy! I finally made it down to An Affair. That's only because The Freight Yard is closed on Mondays and I really needed some rail connectors. I must say, they have done a very good job of revamping the place. Nice presentation, good stock, very good service, clean, big and open presentation, new smelling carpet. The guy was all gung ho about informing me of all the different ways to get discounts. They weren't that great of discounts, but still at least it was an effort - better than before. I had to look around for a while before I discovered the HO layout. Your right EZ, way too high for anyone to even notice it really. By the way, Combat knows this, but if you happen to make it to The Freight Yard, check out my coffee table layout against the back wall. It's been there on display/for sale since December.
 
Seeing as how I've been a customer of Affair with Trains for ohhh'the last 20 years or so' met Paul Gosh when he was down on Central ave back in the mid 70's think I'll try to continue to support the store in the future as long as the new owner follows fair business practice's
I have heard through some of our club members of AMRS that the new owners return policy leaves a great deal to be desired on damaged or non running engines etc. Would hope this is not the case but .....
 
Discounts

COMBAT said:
32%... Sure it isnt 20 to 25% depending on what it is and if it is on sale or not??? :)
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Well it has been a while since I have gotten another receipt from The Freight Yard but while I was up there recently, I asked them just exactly what my discount was. My membership gets me 15%, the T shirt I wear to advertise their store get's me another 5% - a total of 20% on everything of every purchase. However, sometimes the membership discount can be more depending on how big of a break the manufactures give the hobby shop. On my receipt on that partucular item, I did indeed get 32% off. It was a pre-order type thing. So, I was right..... and wrong. Sorry to have misled you. Today, I purchased an Athearn N scale Challenger DCC w/ sound for $301.00. On the Athearn site, they show the product listed at retail for $424.98. That's 41%.... right? Did I figure that out right?
GN.2-6-8-0 said:
Seeing as how I've been a customer of Affair with Trains for ohhh'the last 20 years or so' met Paul Gosh when he was down on Central ave back in the mid 70's think I'll try to continue to support the store in the future as long as the new owner follows fair business practice's
I have heard through some of our club members of AMRS that the new owners return policy leaves a great deal to be desired on damaged or non running engines etc. Would hope this is not the case but .....
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I admire and respect loyalty and I have that with other businesses. When I was in their the other day, I remember very clearly a great big sign in front of the register saying, "All sales final." Hopefully there was some fine print somewhere that I missed giving at least a little leniency.
 
TrainNut said:
I admire and respect loyalty and I have that with other businesses. When I was in their the other day, I remember very clearly a great big sign in front of the register saying, "All sales final." Hopefully there was some fine print somewhere that I missed giving at least a little leniency.
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I would have to guess your talking about affair w/ trains right? I saw the sign too. I didnt read the fine print, but I guess I should. :oops:

Nice price on that engine too! They took care of you on the price. :)
 
ezdays said:
We were having breakfast at a restaurant this morning and they had a TV tuned to channel 3. Usually they have them all on sports since it's adjacent to a golf course, but anyway they were doing a remote broadcast and they were shooting a very large HO layout somewhere. Lo and behold, it was down at An Affair With Trains on Bethany Home Rd. I thought, this can't be, that shop is so small you had to go outside to change your mind,:D but it was. When I got home I checked out their website, and found out that the new owners seemed to have magically doubled the floor space. :thumb:Take a look, they not only have a large, well organized store, but they also have more than a staff of one. Remember the old store only had room for one clerk and about two customers at the same time.:rolleyes: This is exciting, now I can see why they were giving away all those old books and magazines at the last train show.

I guess they're open now, but are having a grand opening the weekend of Feb 2.
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I found this out too, After I had not been up there in a couple of months. The new store is really nice. What a makeover! I was pretty excited about it. The old store was a very unique and fun place to visit. But I think that the new store is going to do very well.
 
TrainNut said:
So if I understand you correctly, they have a very large HO layout in the store now? I looked through all of their "NEW" store pictures and did not see one. I'll have to go down there and check it out. Guess he must have bought out the tatoo parlor next door. Rumor at the club has it that the new owner won't give diddly squat for discounts though.
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The tattoo parlor is still there. It was the cigarette store that bit it. Lots of people coming into the store looking for smokes while I was shopping.
 
ezdays said:
Yeah, there was a large layout there in the middle of the store that doesn't appear on their website. I'm guessing that it's probably temporary for the grand opening. I was never impressed with the pricing there anyway. They used to show up at those swap meets with garbage that wasn't selling from inventory, and as far as I know, they never discounted at the meets either. That was the old owner. At least with the new owner, it looks like they've cleaned the place up anyway. I'll go down there with few expectations, that way I won't be disappointed. :rolleyes: I'm still waiting for someone to open something here in the far northwest. The Hobby Bench is almost a ten-mile drive and they usually don't have what I need when I go there. For the sixth largest city in the US, I think we are way short when it comes to train and hobby shops.
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Yes it is a far cry from Denver where I used to live.
 
oldtanker said:
Wish I had a hobby shop within 10 miles:cry: I gotta go 90 miles, east or west, but they are not what I would call good shops:curse: .

Gotta go clear across the darn state to Duluth or the twin cities:rolleyes: .


Rick
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I have been to the store in Duluth. It was pretty nice. Pretty nice and warm! Considering it was late December.:D
 
ezdays said:
I called them today and asked the price of an Atlas 7200 turnout. He quoted me $17.50 and asked me if I belonged to a club. I asked him about his buyer's club and he said that they get 15% and another 5% if they buy the T-shirt. He said the cost of the club was $26 a year, I didn't ask about the cost of the T-shirt. I can order that same 7200 or 7201 turnout for $10.50 at Standard Hobbies which is a 40% reduction. Since I need about six of them, no way can I justify joining the club, buying a T-shirt and only saving 20%.

I took a drive down to an Affair With Trains. They took the spot to the west of them, so no fear, you can still get tatooed at the same time. They do have a modular layout in the middle of the store, the one I saw on TV the other morning. The problem is that it's in the center behind counters and at least six feet off the floor. Kids wouldn't see it and you can barely see what's on the edges. The TV cameraman was obviously shooting from a ladder. They're running some sort of grand opening sale there, but there's no flyers or anything to tell you how much. I bought something there for $9.99 and the invoice said it was on sale for $5.67, about 40% off. I guess I should have bought my turnouts there, but I didn't know anything was on sale until after I checked out. I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out if everything is on sale, or just a few things... Oh yeah, they will keep track of your purchases there and when you reach a certain level you can get a 10% discount on one item, and after you reach another level, 10% off of everything you buy the next time you go there (I think):rolleyes:.

I'll keep you posted.
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The modulars are pretty high, My son was not impressed and he's almost as tall as me! He really wanted to get a good look. Time to invest in some Plexiglass for the younger people.
 
That modular your speaking of belongs to this:
http://www.free-mo.org/
I saw this at a train show in Scottsdale and talked to them. Very nice group. They even invited me back behind the ropes and got to see the layout first hand. Very nicely done. I notice when I was at the shop the other day for the so called sale and it was gone again. It seems to come and go....
:)
 
I'm trying to get my son into a Christian school that is somewhat near An Affair With Trains. Maybe that will give me a chance to visit them a little more often... if anything, just to window shop.
By the way, welcome to The Gauge DaveC. You will find that there are at least 4 active members of The Gauge here in the general Phoenix area and we usually meet up at the swap meets and shows every so often. Keep an eye out as EZ Days usually pays attention to when they are and posts a heads up thread. What scale do you model?
 
TrainNut said:
I'm trying to get my son into a Christian school that is somewhat near An Affair With Trains. Maybe that will give me a chance to visit them a little more often... if anything, just to window shop.
By the way, welcome to The Gauge DaveC. You will find that there are at least 4 active members of The Gauge here in the general Phoenix area and we usually meet up at the swap meets and shows every so often. Keep an eye out as EZ Days usually pays attention to when they are and posts a heads up thread. What scale do you model?
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Glad you mentioned that, 'cause there's one coming up on May 5th at the church on BHR and Central. I'll post more details in a bit.:wave:
 
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