If you ever find yourself in the Milwaukee area, you may want to take a quick drive north to Butler, Wis., and visit Sommerfeld’s Trains & Hobbies. Don’t let its small size fool you — this brick-and-mortar store is a one-stop shop for a vast range of O gauge products. Owner Jack Sommerfeld, Chief Repair Officer Matt Troester, and others are on hand to provide extensive expertise. Trains.com Staff Writer Lucas Iverson recently interviewed Jack to discuss the intricacies of running the store while navigating the ever-evolving landscape of model railroading.
Watch the extended recording of this interview on Trains.com Video
Q: For those who may not be familiar with your store and business, what scales of model train products do you sell, both new and used?
A: We’re generally known as an O-gauge train store. But we offer a little bit of everything, from N through G scale, new and used.
Q: I understand you have an in-house repair business. What types of items do you repair, and what is the biggest challenge you face when repairing products?
A: We can take a look at just about anything. The biggest challenge is asking ourselves, “Should I fix it?” Again, anything can be repaired, but if your repair bill is going to exceed the value of a replacement, should you even have it repaired?
Q: What do you wish customers knew about your business?
A: We are a traditional brick-and-mortar store. The nice thing that we have going is we can offer technical support. You have a question, usually we have the answer.
Q: How did you get into model railroading, especially O scale/gauge, and what led to the opening of Sommerfeld’s Trains & Hobbies?
A: This has always been a family-run business. My father started it 41 years ago. Unfortunately, he passed away and I then took over. It’s been interesting as both time and modeling have changed. One of my quotes that I often use is that if I sold 100 engines in 1990, 75 of them stayed in the box and 25 were taken out and played with; today, if I sold 100 engines, 75 are taken out of the box and 25 never come out.
Q: Looking back, what have you found to be the key takeaways in the store’s success as it is today?
A: I think just the one-on-one service and being able to actually talk to a person. Anybody can pick up a smartphone and order online. But when you order online, nobody can give you an explanation of what the product does and how it works.
I strongly recommend anybody who purchased something to test it before it leaves the store. Quality control is the best it has ever been in the model train industry. But let’s face it, it’s still semi-mass produced and errors happen. It’s human nature. But luckily most of those errors can be corrected.
Q: In a world of owning a traditional brick-and-mortar hobby store that specializes in model trains with a main focus in O, what are the challenges you encounter on a regular basis to keep the doors open?
A: You consistently worry about clientele coming through the door every day. Luckily, it’s been pretty good because there is new product coming in frequently. The nice thing about us is we consistently have a rotation of stock. I think that part of it is the broad horizon of merchandise we carry because, theoretically, there should be something there for everyone.
Q: Where do you see the industry and hobby as it is today, especially with the current challenges faced with changing tariffs on U.S. trade partners, and what do you think it’ll become for the future?
A: I believe model railroading as a hobby in general will always have a place.
Let’s face it, the models today have gotten quite expensive from what they have been. I can tell you I always hear, “I remember when a boxcar was $17.99.” Now a boxcar is $79.99. You might not be able to take home that new boxcar, but there are plenty of old boxcars you can still find today for $19.99. A guy can still build a model railroad on a budget, or on an unlimited budget. There are many ways of doing it.
The market today is also preorder driven. We take the new product announcements that come out and take orders for them. Then we say, “Okay, I have 10 of these ordered. I know there’s like six other people that are going to buy them.”
Q: What does the future hold for Sommerfeld’s Trains & Hobbies?
A: I see us continuing as a brick-and-mortar store. My son just graduated from college a year ago, so he’s been here helping us out. At some point, I hope to get a little more modernized and maybe touch on the internet sales as well. But that would be a department for him where I can be the guy sitting in the store talking to the customers. That’s what I still want to do.
