Friends' Hobby Shop — Local services in Pleasant Prairie

I strongly do NOT recommend a visit here. In terms of general things like track and scenery prices are average. However, if you’re looking for anything else avoid this place at all costs, prices are exorbitantly unreasonable. Usually 3x market value or more elsewhere. Further, the shop is an absolute mess, unfinished and disorganized. It’s a bit like a poorly lit maze. Expect to find cat hair in just about anything you purchase as well, there are animals living in the store. Can’t speak for gaming materials but in terms of model RR stuff, you’re better off taking a drive and spending the money on gas as opposed to wasting it on the items they do have.

Credit where credit is due the staff (owner?) is very friendly. At least until you ask him if prices are firm. The stock is impressive and so are the prices, but not in the way they should be.

Please put my review and these comments to the test. Visit other hobby shops and compare the shopping experience with this place. The difference is night and day. Madison Hobby Stop, Hiawatha Hobbies, Sommerfield’s Trains and Hobbies, and Antioch Model Trains and Hobby are excellent alternatives, and are well worth the extra bit of driving for a superior hobby shop experience.

(Please note this review is also posted on my Facebook and is publicly viewable there as well under the...

Owner was rude! Called to ask for directions (because his business is hard to find, hidden in the back of a building in a location that looks like a garage or a loading dock or something strange) and the owner was not pleasant about helping us find his location. Unfortunate, because customer service is just as important as inventory. This “store” was incredibly unkept - I use the term “store” lightly because this business resembled somebody’s basement more than it did a place to shop. Untidy, and cats were running around, smelled like maybe the cats had marked the place a few times as well. Would maybe be able to look past those things if the owner had been more pleasant to deal with. Seemed like our presence in his basement “store” was more of a bother to him...

Same hobby shop I went to as a kid. Over 20 years ago, I used to go to friends at his original location in Illinois. I had to stop by here to see if it was the same owner and it was.

This old school hobby shop is not for everyone. If you’re looking for a corporate, one-size fits most, cookie cutter of a shop, turn around. Friends is, and always has been, a family owned business built out of passion over profits.

If you’re looking for something, just ask. It can be overwhelming, but the owner knows exactly where everything is.

If you’re a true hobbyist, this is the...