Whistle Stop Toy & Hobby — Local services in Alexandria

First, I want to preface this review by saying that I own and operate a small business. My margins are thin. My expenses are high. I work with customers daily and occasionally, I am given the opportunity to honor a refund.

Recently, I had the opportunity to explore my late father's train models with my children. He had both 0 gauge and H0. We were having trouble getting the trains going and I assumed we had a bad transformer, given the age of the set.

Instead of jumping on Amazon, I decided to find a local train guru, because I'd likely have more troubleshooting and purchases to make in order to get the models back into condition. I found this store on December 19th 2024. I purchased a new transformer for my H0 trains for around $80. The young man who handled the transaction explained that he had no knowledge of the trains and that I must speak with the owner if I have questions. I told him that I was going to trouble shoot it with this equipment and I'd likely be back to have my 1940's 0 gauge engine looked at. I explained that if I couldn't get the transformer to work, I'd bring it back and speak with the owner. I got a thumbs up and was on my way.

As it turns out, it did not work with my system due to various other maintenance issues with the tracks that I did not have the bandwidth to solve at the moment. I returned today to exchange the item for STORE CREDIT. I was very adamant that store credit was just fine. Also as it turns out, the person working the counter was the nice lady from the candy store next door. On the 19th, I'd spent nearly $200 in the candy store buying stocking stuffers. I was unaware that they were run by the same family until I came in with my return.

I was met with the third degree. "Why are you returning it!?" "You opened it!!" "Why couldn't YOU make it work?" etc. I answered all the questions politely and completely. Then she insisted I speak to the owner over the phone who put me through the same kind of examination.

Ultimately, after some polite back and forth, the owner offered me 50% store credit for the return. I politely declined and left with my item.

Now, in similar one star reviews, where the customer had the same experience, the owner bemoans the fact that they are a small business and in a lose / lose situation. As a small business owner I can say that this is an attitude completely counter intuitive to keeping customers.

Not only will I never spend another dime in this toy shop, I will never spend another dime in their candy shop. Two businesses, I was excited to find and patronize because I'm repulsed by mega corporations. As an active duty family, we move regularly for my spouses service and as such, it's always a pleasure finding new small businesses to shop with. I'm unbelievably disappointed. My son was with my today, and I had every intention of spending the store credit plus more. This did not happen.

I cannot imagine staying in business with such a short sighted vision, especially if you recognize that you are already struggling to compete. I suppose I was the mark that day and between the two businesses, they got nearly $300 out of me. I suppose that's their way of telling me that even though they are a small business, they have less scruples than multi-national...

Would not stand by their products. I bought a HO Rail Power 1300 transformer last Spring (2018) it wasn’t in the box but look brand new and was half price at $25.00. Now I only set up a train during Christmas so at the time of purchase I just put it away for Christmas time. Well its Christmas time and I go about setting everything up and the transformer didn’t work so I put a meter to the transformer and it showed no output to the rails. No worries, I’ll take it back to my only local favorite hobby shop where they will recognize my face and explain the situation and get some credit towards another transformer and maybe pick up some other stuff that I think I need and also last minutes gifts. Well I was told tough luck you had it for six months you need to call the manufacturer. I was shocked, I was left thinking WOW do remember how much money I spend here in the past when I could have easily type my dollars into Amazon Prime. In the past I bought a Air Soft gun at Whistle Stop that was completed junk but didn’t say anything when I return to be a loyal customer and support our local hobby shop. Well this a sad day because if Whistle Stop hobby keeps this up they will not be around for next years Christmas. I just hope they don’t rip the guy off that came in when I was leavings who is looking for a simple train set for his son. It was all I could do to not say no don’t buy go to Amazon at least they...

I would give them zero stars if possible. I've gone there two or three times over the past couple years. I was never particularly pleased with the selection or service but stopped there because it is in my neighborhood. To say they are unfriendly is an understatement. The owners have yelled loudly at my daughter who is a child of color and acted in the most unprofessional manner I've seen as a consumer and parent. In fact, the way the owner spoke to my children betrayed a lack of professionalism and also humanity. In our times, this type of treatment of children and those of color is unacceptable.

This is clearly an establishment that is well past its prime and perhaps stuck in some prior era. I would encourage others to avoid the store and spend their money elsewhere.

I'm all for investing in a local establishment but there is no excuse for unprofessionalism. The item in question were pieces of candy not radio-controlled toys. I expect better from a place that expects to attract people's business. Completely...