By Peter De Keles

Author  Bio The shop being on the market isn't news. She and her husband have been quietly trying to sell it for the past five years.

Title:	Iconic H&R Trains up for grabs
Publication:	Pinellas Park Beacon
Date:	02/07/13
LSOL.com Rating
Category	Business Profile
Overview	H&R Trains has called Pinellas Park home for the past 38 years. Not only is it the largest model train shop in the state, it's also the second largest in the country, and attracts customers from around the globe. The Morrises own both the shop and the parcel of land it's on at 6901 U.S. 19 N. They're willing to sell them in any configuration that will attract buyers, either alone or separately. A savvy businessman might even want to turn the location into a hobby haven, with several shops and an outdoor cafe, which Alice once dreamed of doing herself. Link to H&R Trains website
URL Link	Link to Full Story - Might still not be available online.
Click to download the attached file(s): PDF copy of story (92KB)

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H&R Trains

Though a Dallas born Texan, I consider myself more of a Floridian, ever since my stepfather moved the family from Texas to Tampa in 1959. I met and was friends with the late Bobbye Hall in Dallas, am still friends with MAL Hobby Shop's Ed Seay, Jr., in Irving, and was friends with Chester Holley and his wife Margo and daughter Diane in Tampa. As a matter of fact, I met Alice through Chester. They were friends, not compeditors! It would take a jackpot lottery win for me to do it but if I had the capitol I would love to purchase H&R lock, stock and barrel to continue the Pinellas Park brick and morter business in the Greater Tampa Bay area. I would also open a second shop in Tampa, in Palma Ceia, where Chester Holley had his shop. I believe two shops under one ownership could survive considering the distance between the two locations and the fact that the area has lost Chester Holley, Happy Hobo and Frank's, over the past several years. This will remain my impossible dream but I sincerely hope that H&R will continue to keep its doors open and not become another traditional train shop lost to our modern times and the Internet. Like Bobbye, Ed, Chester and Margo, one is still greeted with a big smile from Alice when one walks into her shop. You won't ever get that kind of a greeting on the Internet! Joe Toth

Joseph Toth, Jr. - 02/16/2013 - 03:28

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