Just heard that the SoCal Speedshop outlet north of Houston has closed its doors. My friend Richard was there this morning and they were packing things up in boxes. He may have been the last retail customer. Bummer. Presumably Bruce's Rod Shop, to which the SoCal store was adjunct, will carry on as before.
I'm not surprised to hear that. They are waaaaay to expensive and if you really want the part you can order it from the one actually in SO-CAL.
Dang - I hate to hear that. I knew they were no longer open on Saturdays. I was just there a week or so back getting some doo-dads and noticed the retail shelves looked a little sparse, but Brad said it just 'cuz they had gotten rid of the pickup stuff that wasn't selling (?!).
Got the same thing when I checked the website when I saw this last night . I believe Lindig owned that store & is a principal in the HQ in Pomona. Wonder what's up with this company , They have had several owners/investors within the past several years. With all the self promoting ink being generated one would think all is well . Maybe this is just an isolated circumstance? I hope Pete,Carol,Tony, Jimmy & all are not affected by this. A friend of mine with a speed shop in Azusa & I supply parts to SO-CAL, so I'll have him put in a call to see what transpired there in Tejas.
The new IL So-Cal is in BFE too. I might drive down there to see it at some point, but Hot Rod Chassis is a licensed So-Cal dealer and about 50 miles closer to chicagoland.
Location may not have everything to do with it but the "Houston" location was way the hell out of the way for about 90 percent of the metro area. Of course there just may not be much of an economic case to be made for an actual retail outlet for this kind of stuff with the enormous range of products available and the overarching prominence of web shopping. The Lindigs got the "I can get it cheaper on the net" refrain all the time.
according to the answering machine, the messages states they are being "relocated" and to call the store in So-Cal... Who knows....
The ad they had in the paper here just said that they were relocating... and they had some big sale this past saturday to clean up stock or something ..... it wasnt that far out of the way .... just about 20 to 30 minutes north of Houston
Relocation, if it comes off, will no doubt help but it's going to be damn hard to get around the web shopping aspects of the situation. Lots of retailers dealing with this issue these days. I used to be a fairly active model airplane flyer and "mail-order", now almost exclusively web-based buying, has almost entirely killed off the local hobbyshop. There are a few left, even in Houston, but the inventory problem is even worse than the streetrodding end of it. The range of product is so huge that no retailer can stock even a tiny fraction of what's available. Best of luck to 'em. I miss the open houses they put on.
hi folks this is danny from Bruce's Rod Shop ,and yes we will and allways be here to help any way we can.if i can help please call or e-mail. bye for now. -danny 281 376-5932 ps i have allready introed my self awile back,if you want to hear it again just ask.
NO! Not another DANNY intro... I can't take all the drama! Glad to hear all is well for the Burroughses.
hot rod pro? You drive the Caprice wagon with surf stickers, lake pipes, moon discs, and white walls, right? Just messin' with ya, Danny. As for So Cal, I think it had some to do with location, some with price compared to internet, and a lot to do with hours. They were open 9-5 M-F and closed on weekends. That makes it hard for people to come and spend their money with you. It was really nice, though, when I needed some parts for my coupe and didn't have time to wait on shipping. A few bucks more at that point wasn't worth having the car sit for a few days waiting for parts.
How is Spring BFT? It's really just "North " Houston. And there are plenty of guys in the Houston area. Oh well.
This is true-but the majority of Houston is definitely of the import/MustangCamaro/musclecar bent. The big shops are places like Carboy and shit. I know-I moved from there 3 years ago after growing up there for 25 years. Every time I drive my car into town (which I have to every other weekend), I might as well be rolling in a ufo! I do like the attention, though
I bought some stuff from those guys and they were always great to deal with...Bill gave me the "Nickle Tour" one day....who would have thought that loads of Deuces and Model 40's were tucked away in those buildings...some of the nicest Hot Rods and Street Rods I've seen....As usual, location is the most important part of many business ventures. A good retail location would have given them access to many "fringe" buyers who will come to look at the hardparts and go home with a t-shirt...many Harley dealers make more $$$ on appparel than they do on sales and service!
Hell....I live 15 minutes from them and it was way off the beaten path. If you didn't know where it was....you couldn't find it. It should be out on the highway and have normal business hours. Maybe closed Sunday and Monday and leave the Saturday open. My buddy and I bought stuff when they were opened on Saturdays but since they closed that down.....
Suggested hours for a streetrod retail store. Thursday through Monday 1-9PM. Sucky days and hours to work but ya' gotta be open when people need want/need to buy.
Hate to hear this, nice folks. Liked to go in there and just be surrounded by all the cool stuff I couldn't afford.
I found the place Friday evening on the way back from a Honey-Do run near Ol' Town Spring... Could you pick a worse location?
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