patrick116

Yes Trident is a great shop and Richard, the owner, is always helpful. He does repairs (some minor ones while you wait if you're lucky!) and he also has a wide range of "OO" and "N" stock in store plus scenics, tools, paints, glue and many other small items. Well worth a visit but do check his opening hours and, in summer, his holiday closure dates. Overall a really great shop and very good service from a very knowledgeable owner/enthusiast. (I have no affiliation to Trident except as a customer).

About 18-24 months ago my great local model shop, who used to sell locos at a much higher price than Hattons, but now their prices are equivalent to Hattons told me that the reason for this was that Bachmann had required retailers to sign a sales agreement NOT to discount below a certain level. I understand that Bachmann set a discount limit on retailers c. 15%. It was my experience that Hattons discounts used to be in the 20-25% range but are now much lower. I am also still puzzled as to why Hattons spent a lot of money on Smithdown Road store then suddenly found "structural faults" and, in effect, became mainly an online only dealer. My cynical side thinks this was just to reduce the costs of operating a shop in Liverpool. I agree with other posts that Hattons are no longer the cheapest online retailer.