Model couple on track for success

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) August 17, 2010 -- The Hobby Goblin, in Burslem, is picking up more orders through its website, after expanding its services to cater for overseas customers.

Owner Steve Faulder, who runs the business with wife Jane, said: "We've actually just opened up our website to overseas orders and the first one we got was from Australia, which was fantastic."

Steve, aged 43, said the firm's outlet, in Queen Street, Burslem, is drawing in customers from all over Stoke-on-Trent and beyond.

He and Jane, aged 37, pictured below, have just unveiled a new railway layout at the shop, with scenic materials donated by Bachmann, the world's biggest model railway manufacturer. And they have commissioned UK manufacturer Dapol to make a limited edition run of wagons emblazoned with 'Stoke-on-Trent' to celebrate the centenary of the city's federation.

Steve said: "This is our first commission and we wanted to make sure it was something that hadn't been done before and that the wagons said Stoke-on-Trent in big, bold letters.

"We're hoping they'll be popular locally and we also thought they might be of interest to people who collect things generally to do with the Potteries."

Just 150 of the wagons have been made and the Faulders have already sold more than a third through pre-orders.

The wagons, which cost £9.80, also feature the name Stirrup & Pye – the company that once owned Adderley Green and Bignall End collieries.

The Hobby Goblin moved into its current base just over a year ago, after outgrowing its former home at Jane's parents' lighting shop in Hamil Road.

Steve said the new layout is part of the couple's aim to give their customers the best possible experience, and to attract visitors who might not head to Burslem otherwise.

Steve, of Cheddleton, said: "There's no other model railway shop in Stoke-on-Trent and we wanted to give the city the best one we possibly can.

"We think about what we would want as customers and with the new layout, people can come in and see how it all works."

Steve hopes the shop will draw more visitors into Stoke-on-Trent.

"We do get people from quite a long way out.

"It's always wonderful to bring people in, because it allows them to see what else there is in the area, especially now things are developing in Burslem.

"A lot of people come in and check us out and then come back, which can only be good for the regeneration of Burslem.

"The online service is important to us, but we want Stoke-on-Trent customers to be proud of the shop and tell people about it."

Steve, a former head of science at Clough Hall Technology School in Kidsgrove, said the way the model railway industry has developed has helped the shop thrive, despite the economic downturn.

Staff can fit sound and lights to locomotives and also sell Scalextric stock, Airfix kits and Expo drills and tools.

Steve said: "In the past it was seen as a bit of a toy market in this country and because it was aimed at kids, it wasn't always top-quality stuff.

"In the U.S. it's massive – you have all these captains of industry taking a break from conferences and flying back to their mansions to show off their huge layouts.

"In the last five years it's really started to take off over here, so it can be as sophisticated or as simple as you want."

www.thehobbygoblin.co.uk

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