Bummer. Buffalo is losing another local hobby shop and this one was primarily a train shop. K-Val was in business for 42 years. The owner, Bob Schuh, is 94 and is retiring (I hope to live to see 94, much less still be able to run a business). K-Val will be greatly missed.
-Kevin.
Why don’t you buy him out? Your name already starts with a K. It’s a perfect fit! 
Kevin: Why don’t you as the man suggests, buy it out and then you will be able get all the new stuff! Then maybe you to will live to 94 and beyond. I would do it but I’m not moving to Buffalo, tooo cold and tooo much snow! I don’t like either, hard on the near 80 year old body.
Paul
E. Paul Austin said:
Kevin: Why don’t you as the man suggests, buy it out and then you will be able get all the new stuff! Then maybe you to will live to 94 and beyond. I would do it but I’m not moving to Buffalo, tooo cold and tooo much snow! I don’t like either, hard on the near 80 year old body.
Paul
I thought Sea Bees were made of sterner stuff.
Steve Featherkile said:
E. Paul Austin said:
Kevin: Why don’t you as the man suggests, buy it out and then you will be able get all the new stuff! Then maybe you to will live to 94 and beyond. I would do it but I’m not moving to Buffalo, tooo cold and tooo much snow! I don’t like either, hard on the near 80 year old body.
Paul
I thought Sea Bees were made of sterner stuff.
So you’re a Seabee, Paul?
My niece sent me the article from the Buffalo News last week. Interesting story. Not sure how I missed going there growing up and as a young adult. When my first was born we were still living in the area until heading East in '82.
The shop is in a residential neighborhood. Not exactly your high traffic area. But Bob had a very loyal following according to the article. I’m pretty sure he tried to sell, but not many takers for these dying businesses.
94 yrs old now he can enjoy his own trains and beyond at his leisure 
i also thought okay where is the article mentioned, so google.ca popped along with the link to his store web site;
http://kval-hobbies.weebly.com/
btw nothing wrong with being in a residential area as long as there is parking around {ref. trains’n such, calgary for decades till sold} and the fact that this one was also opened waaay back when shops were all over so not many drove very far …
nite
Joe Zullo said:
Why don’t you buy him out? Your name already starts with a K. It’s a perfect fit!
Joe- It sure does sound like a good fit. Now, if I could only get my wife to change her name to “Val.”
All seriousness aside, it would be great to own a train store. Of course, I’d have to rely on all you guys to keep me in business! So… who wants to commit some train money to my new store?
-Kevin.
Kevin, I don’t never get over that way. So you would need an “online presence” for me to spend money there.
When I was geting into the serious part of our hobby–i.e. abandoning my Lionels–a mere 60-some years ago (yikes!), my go-to place was Howard Ruth’s, which I think was strictly model trains. It was located on Genesee St and I used to ride the streetcar to get there. Bought my first loco, an HO scale 10 wheeler there. Fun times.
Looking at a copy of NGSLG last night (OCT 2009 )there was a picture of a boxed kit (HO scale) freight car ($5.95)… in an article by Charlie Getz concerning early model RR rolling stock.
Box was marked as K-Val .
Was it the same gent importing and reselling these under his name all of 40 to 50 years ago I wonder.
Big coincidence though, that I should see this the same day as this post was originated!
I grew up in Western NY and still live here. I moved north post College to find work. Living with friends in Wheatfield (Niagara Falls area) by the reservoir, then moving to downtown Buffalo. Then to North Tonawanda & East Aurora. Moved to Eldred PA for a breif while and then back to my roots in Olean.
I worked at two different Western NY hobby shops. Wes’s Crafts and Hobbies in Olean and when I moved north to Buffalo I worked for almost 15 years at Niagara Hobby & Craft Mart. I frequented ALL the local hobby shops if they catered at all to my interests. I worked my full time designer’s job not too far from K-Val though. At the time they carried some large scale but as the years went on they stocked less of it and I rarely went there once I started at Niagara Hobby. Since heading back south I hadn’t been there at all. Many of the pure train stores that I frequented back then are gone. Even Niagara Hobby isn’t what it used to be. I made bi-annual trips to Ridge Road Station. The last trip I made to Lantz’s in Horseheads was disappointing. I have been to Craftworld in Jamestown but the supply of large scale is limited there.
I would love to get “into the business” of running a hobby shop or train store. Sadly I’m not so sure that it is a viable financial risk these days?
Chas
“…love to get “into the business” of running a hobby shop or train store. Sadly I’m not so sure that it is a viable financial risk these days?..”
Ask Matt or Rob or Al(semi-retired) or Tony/Joan or Maurice, if they would ‘start-up’ today !?
(3 us-based, 2 Cdn g-gauge ‘flavoured’)
Doug Cannon said:
“…love to get “into the business” of running a hobby shop or train store. Sadly I’m not so sure that it is a viable financial risk these days?..”
Ask Matt or Rob or Al(semi-retired) or Tony/Joan or Maurice, if they would ‘start-up’ today !?
(3 us-based, 2 Cdn g-gauge ‘flavoured’)
Not completely familiar with who you are refering to but I know there isn’t any way I could swing it as a stand alone business. As a second business maybe? I know Niagara Hobby was a retirement business. Now run by the son of the deceased original owner. Ridge Road Station I believe was also a retirement business?
Tony/Joan - UltimateTrains, eastern hills of the Cdn. Rockies
Maurice - VectorGardenTrains, central Canada
Also
John - WinonaGardenRailway, eastern Canada
Matt - MD Trains
Rob(?) - RLDHobbies
Al - semi retired, formerly SanVal…
I don’t know about the rest of the country (would like to know) but here in New York State, hobby/train shops are dropping like flies. We first lost a major Ridge Road Station. This year other than K-val, Lyell Hobbies, and the store in East Rochester closed. Dan’s Craft has reduced their trains to a single table of HO and N, leaving Rochester with no real source for model rail road. One of the two stores closed in Syracuse and the only one in Utica closed this summer. In mid/ western NY, G scale is mostly limited to Wholesale trains(Lantz) and the store in East Aurara(Buffalo).
Similarly, The RIT show only had about 20 veendors and some did not sell model trains but morbilia. The Syracuse show had less than 1/2 the vendors of 5 yrs ago. Our train club has within the last few months been approached by 4 people who are trying unload entire collections with original vallues of $5-7K. DieselDude, one was Rich of the Buffalo club.
Yes, the train type hobby shops have been folding up around here too. A.B. Charles, A shop that has been around since forever is now gone. Also gone are Hobby City, Family Toy and Hobby, Iron Horse and the list goes on. Hobby Town has some trains, but mostly RC cars. J.C.'s has a lot of RC airplanes and cars, and some trains.
So I am with you in questioning weather a train type hobby shop would even be viable in your location. With enough money to invest, you might be able to draw the clientele from the other defunct stores, but then again, you could just end up with a nice store full of stuff and a lot of debt.
How to make a small fortune in the hobby business.
Start with a large fortune…
Most have closed up around here also- Too much work for most kids, and not enough action.
It’s no longer a hobby for the masses
If Delton, Aristocraft, LGB, and other manufactures couldn’t make it - It says something
I’ve got a cellar full of merchandize from when I closed up