Shinohara?

[Ken Ford]

There is a rumor going around the US S and O scale communities that Shinohara is closing down. Has anyone heard this?  I have my doubts. 

[bill937ca]

There is an old notice that says the store is closed but will reopen in September. This notice does not have a  date and no reference to year but Japanese Wikipedia does have the year, and it was 2015.

http://www.jmra.gr.jp/shinohara/

 

The Wikipedia page says the shop was only open four afternoons a week.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/篠原模型店

 

There is a Japanese language You Tube video dated April 2018  which I don"t understand but a machine translated comment says, "It is lonely "I am out of business due to lack of successor"  It appears Mr. Shinohara may be aging and has closed down his shop.

 

Video by  国鉄時代の鉄道ファン  This video cannot be embedded because of You Tube setting.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOknSKNGLuA

 

Another blog that says Shinohara's shop in Yokohama closed in April 2018.

https://ameblo.jp/zgauge100606/entry-12365233352.html

 

So, yes it appears it is gone. This has been very common with aging sole proprietor model railway operations in recent years. We are fortunate the big players in Japanese trains are corporations.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by bill937ca

[Ken Ford]

The concern here is the loss of Shinohara track products. Are those the same operation as the store?

[Kabutoni]

Shionohara had been confirmed as closed by my friend Mr. Uematsu: https://www.facebook.com/ichiro.uematsu/posts/1100013116808348 There still is stock left and a possibility to continue production, but as Bill already stated is that there is no successor to continue the business. The shop, office and production line are all located in the same house (it's basically garage production).

Edited May 13, 2018 by Kabutoni

[Ken Ford]

This is very sad. 

[kvp]

Maybe a model train shop owner in the area would be willing to continue if he knew about it or someone from the US (one of the biggest markets)?