Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave & Liesel Polichette.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After meeting the previous owner at a trade show and hanging out at the store for years, Dave told her to that he’d like to keep the store going through her retirement. An arrangement was made. A few years had passed and when Covid hit in 2020, she was concerned with her and her husband’s health in the pandemic. While Dave was not ready to take over at the end of Oct 2020 when he purchased the store, Liesel left her job as a school bus driver to run the store full time.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not always been a smooth road. The previous owner was evicted from the original location in south Orem. We had helped her find a new location of her choice and Dave had helped build out the new location for sweat-equity for the purchase of the store at a later date. The new unit was bigger than the original building and in a better location. A few years after we took over, (Nov. 19, 2022) the building we were in caught fire (4 alarm) on the east end. We feel that we were extremely lucky having only suffered smoke damage and loss of utilities, and were able to open again for “Black Friday” by using a gas generator for lights. As Liesel likes to call it her indoor Klondike, (yes it was cold without heat), she had to haul in water and gas daily for 2 months until the utilities were restored. Because we had shortened hours and no outside lighting or a working marquee, we suffered over a $25,000 loss in the month of December. Fast forward 18 months, the temporary repairs started to fail and we were without power for another 3 days. It was at this time that we decided to move the store to our current location (3rd location since establishment). We have a great friend that told us about this location and Dave spent another month building it out for the move-in. It is bigger than both previous locations and Dave chose some really nice lighting and Liesel finally got her event/classroom.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are registered as D & L Hobbies, LLC and do business as Hobby Stop. We are known as a model train store. We offer model trains, track, and scenery supplies for the 4 major scales – N, HO, O, & G. That has been our focus for over 30 years as well as having how-to books, model cars, military models, boat models, paints, glues and most anything you’d need to complete them. Just this year we have brought in RC crawlers and racers from Axial, Arrma, RedCat Racing, Team Associated, and Element. We do have 4 models you can demo here at the store. We offer beginning modeling classes in N scale. It is offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the months unless there is a trade(train) show those weekends. The age limits are 7 to ??? so the adults who are interested in learning can join us too. The 7- to 16-year-olds will need a parent with them during the sessions due to some of the tools we use in class.
We are 1 of 4 stores in Utah that have model trains and are the southernmost store. There are 2 in Salt Lake and 1 in Ogden. If we don’t have an item you’re looking for, we always suggest one of the other hobby stores in the area that may have it readily available. We support local train clubs and love seeing members in our store. On 3rd Saturdays from time to time we hold “Rail Yard Sales” and open the 800 sq ft classroom to members of the community to sell their excess trains and other items for a couple of hours in the morning.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Any retail, especially mom-and-pop stores, is a major risk. You put your heart and soul, finances, and future up in front of your community. You are always gambling on what next new product will sell. With trains, you have people who are looking for a certain high-end item. There is a cost and overhead to it and not everyone is willing to pay that cost and we aren’t willing to pay that overhead and have it sit for months/years losing value as it does. We do try and maintain the basic supplies and we do order limited numbers of what we think will be hot. Distributors are always trying to push buying in bulk for discounts, but that is not always the best. For us, if we can’t see a quick return on investment, the discount isn’t a discount.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hobbystoputah.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ItscheaperthanTherapy
