In the early days of 1999, our company began by creating a website and offering our customers left over model train stock from a hobby shop here in Southern California. The stock had accumulated over time, some items for years. Our name was Discount Trains Online. We became known as the place to shop to find new, "hard to find" and "discontinued" model train products. We were the primary source for obsolete items and became known for our great low prices and responsive customer service. In those early months, Internet companies were falling by the wayside left and right. Many consumers didn't trust the Internet. But our business grew. Soon, we were offering new model train products too and we built our vendor relationships carefully allowing us to expand our product lines even further.
By the end of the first year, we had moved into a warehouse. We continued to grow and expand and ultimately added different product lines such as plastic models and die casts and eventually figurines. As our business continued to grow it seemed that we needed to change our name to become more recognizable in other hobby areas such as RC and NASCAR etc. So, in June 2005, we incorporated under the name Go Hobbies, Inc. and began transitioning our customers to our new identity. In October 2005, we began operating as GHI and have tried to focus on developing our product lines in RC cars, planes, helicopters, and boats. Recently, we've added NASCAR related products on our website.
In July 2006 we moved for the 3rd time into a larger facility to accommodate our growth. We now occupy nearly 10,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space where we process all of our orders. Our helpful customer service staff serves Will Call customers and walk-in customers every business day. Emails are always answered quickly and professionally. Occasionally, when problems arise, we resolve them quickly and always with a focus on providing great customer service. Our shipping department carefully packs each order to prevent damage during shipping. Our goal is to make sure that each order is shipped in a manner that we would like to receive it if we were the customer. During our more than 7 years of business, we have sold only brand new products and always ship in new boxes. We do not sell "used" products. We take pride in all areas of our customer service and make every effort to provide a high level of customer service that is unmatched by any other Internet retailer.
Holding true to our origins, we have maintained our Discount Trains Online website and provide a link to it on our Go Hobbies, Inc. website. Many customers today, still remember us from our early days and continue to shop with us today.
While our product offerings are more than 100,000 items, we're still family owned and operated. We promote a team environment among our employees and cross train everyone as much as possible. Doing this helps us to maintain our website to make sure the information is current and provide the best possible customer service from the time orders are placed until they are delivered. The key to our success is maintaining customer relationships and we never forget that providing excellent customer service is key to achieving those lasting relationships.
