Exhibitor Thursday: AA Hobbies

John at AA Hobbies inside the Young Building.

Exhibitor Spotlight Name: AA Hobbies Display Style: Tables Type: Retailer Size: 30"x40' Present Location: Young Building Home Location: Warwick, RI Website: AA Hobbies Social Media:

One of the largest dealers inside the Young Building is AA Hobbies - a hobby shop from Warwick, RI.  John, the hobby shop owner, and his crew bring a large Penske truck filled with HO scale locomotives and rolling stock to sell at the show.  A 40' long set of racks are setup near door 4 - directly across from the entrance which leads to the Better Living Center.

John started attending the show all the way back in the mid-1970s - back when the show was still on the UMass-Amherst campus - but was only able to secure his table location in 2000. That first year he was able to attend the show as a vendor, he was able to create quite the shopping frenzy with huge sales on his HO scale merchandise.  For that show, he cleaned out his hobby shop - bringing two Penske trucks filled with model trains but needed less than one for the return trip back to Rhode Island!  Needless to say, many of us in the Young Building at the time kept checking in with his table on an hourly basis to see what new items were being re-stocked on the shelves.

Today, John mostly stocks the most popular brands of HO scale rolling stock and locomotive manufacturer's such as Athearn, Kato, Intermountain, Broadway Limited, Atlas and Walthers.  You can see his display under the 100 sign inside the Young Building during the show.

To learn more, visit AA Hobbies website at: www.aahobbies.com