Hello and Welcome to South Side Trains
We are a brick and mortar store located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (south of the city in the Bayview Neighborhood).
Our Address is:
South Side Trains, Inc
2633 S. Kinnickinnic Ave
Milwaukee, Wi 53207
414-482-1566
Click here for a map to our store
Our email is questions@southsidetrains.com
Our store hours are:
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - Closed (reserved for processing Online orders)
Wednesday - 12-6pm
Thursday - 12-6pm
Friday - 12-6:30pm
Saturday - 9:30-4:30pm
Expanded hours during the Christmas season
Our telephone number is: 414-482-1566, sometimes we can't get to your call right away and we ask that you please leave a message with your telephone number.
My story:
A while ago, as a graduate of college just entering the workforce, I submitted 200 resumes to various companies trying to find a job. Based on my 'extensive' qualifications, three places responded: a bill collector, a telemarketer, or a secretary. Secretary seemed to be the safest and I was an extremely poor secretary. They canned me after 6 months. Again, faced with the prospect of unemployment I submitted an ungodly amount of resumes with little to no results. Hungry and wanting to keep up with the rent, I began selling some of the trains I had accumulated. That got me through, and I actually enjoyed doing it. Finally I got a job at a call center explaining Medicare benefits (they'll hire anyone!), but the allure of selling trains full time was very tempting. I started going to all the swap meets on weekends, and after a year and a half of answering 70-80 calls a day, I quit to pursue the dream of selling Trains full time.
Eventually I came to be employed by Sommerfeld’s Trains in Butler, Wisconsin. Jack, Lee, the rest of the gang, and I worked together for almost 9 years and we had a great time doing it. Eventually, we got the bright idea to expand to a second location called Sommerfeld's South.
Sommerfeld's South was formed as a second store of Sommerfeld's Trains (Sommerfeld's is on the north side of Milwaukee, and Sommerfeld's South is on the south side). It came about in an accidental manner, as Jerry's Bayview Hobbies (my current location), which had been in business for 30 years, closed their doors. Jerry finally decided to retire and we came in to purchase his remaining inventory. After thinking about it, we decided it was time to expand and 'move in' rather than move all of the excess inventory out. We were looking to expand our market in Milwaukee but also wanted to begin to focus more on direct internet sales of HO scale, N scale, Train books, and train related DVD's without sacrificing our customer service. Thus, in September of 2007, Sommerfeld's South came into being.
But, we also discovered that running two stores also multiplies the headaches and paperwork exponentially. Thus we decided to split and Jack sold Sommerfeld's South to me on July 1st, 2008. That's when I renamed it to South Side Trains.
At this point we are trying to pinpoint the balance between operating a truthful and efficient online store, without sacrificing the traditional hometown hobby shop. By 'truthful and efficient' online store, we promise to never intentionally sell items we don't have in stock and we promise to have your order shipped out quickly and well packed. By 'traditional' hometown hobby shop, we promise to keep and maintain regular store hours, offer a showroom stocked with product, maintain an operating layout, and offer minor repairs. More importantly, it’s a place to hang out and talk about trains!
If you are in the area, always feel free to stop by... we'd love to have you. And for those of you out in internet-land, we hope this makes you feel more comfortable in contacting us or buying from us. We appreciate your business and I couldn't do it without you,
Thanks,
Tom Palmer, South Side Trains
