Online shopping has greatly eased the buying process for NASCAR diecast collectors and opened a wealth of opportunities to score otherwise difficult-to-find models. Still, some prefer to peruse shelves, see diecasts in-person or support their local economy and diecast dealer. Though brick-and-mortar diecast shops are now few and far between compared to dicasts’ heyday, there are still businesses catering to these collectors.

Though their business models have changed over the years, they still provide the opportunity to pick a diecast off the shelf and add it to their collection — no shipping charge required.

Trackside Outlet continues a brick-and-mortar legacy

Phillip Shumate and his wife, Teresa, opened Trackside NASCAR Outlet in 2022 near I-57 in Farina, Illinois. It seemed destined the couple would also become diecast business partners when, while traveling on their honeymoon, they met JP Vandell in 1996. Vandell operated JP’s NASCAR Outlet in Crossville, Tennessee, for over two decades before he retired and shuttered the business in 2021.

“I looked at what [Vandell] offered, and I had never seen a store like that,” Shumate said. “He had probably 5,000-square feet. I have been an avid collector since the 1980s, and when shopping, I like to put my hands on things. He was my go-to guy. We’d make a weekend trip of it to go down and see him. We built a relationship. If I needed something, he’d always get it for me.”

That personal and business relationship remained ongoing for decades. Then Shumate said Vandell, “dropped a bombshell” on him.

“He wanted us to come down, and he told us he was going to retire,” he said. “He wanted me to buy everything he had, including the store.”

Shumate said he and his family didn’t want to uproot themselves to make the 400-mile move south. However, they did purchase diecast racks, apparel racks and other essentials from Vandell. From that point, Shumate said he and his wife “hit the ground running,” opening Trackside NASCAR Outlet in December 2022 adjacent to a self-storage facility the couple owns.

Though modest in appearance from the outside, Shumate said most people are shocked by the amount of diecast memorabilia inside.

“We keep around $38,000 of inventory in the store,” Shumate said. “It’s stocked with everything from diecasts to coolers, apparel, sheet metal, helmets. We say if it’s NASCAR, you can find it here.”

The Outlet has established a consistent customer base, and its location provides sales bumps throughout the year. The store is across the street from a truck stop along I-57 that accommodates 150 trucks, which helps to increase business, and its proximity of a few hours’ drive from Word Wide Technology Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Nashville Speedway often leads to an increase in foot traffic around race weekends.  

Though brick-and-mortar is effectively their bread-and-butter, Trackside NASCAR Outlet has adjusted to the demand for online sales. Shumate said his store recently kicked off the Outlet’s online buying portal.

“I’m not a big online buyer personally, but that’s the direction we have to go,” Shumate said.

Perhaps more importantly, Shumate said, the e-commerce website presents an opportunity for the Outlet to better serve its customers. The store only operates in the evenings and during weekends to accommodate the Shumate’s other ventures and personal lives. If the online experience can supplement the track’s revenue, Shumate said, the Outlet intends to hire an employee to expand the physical location’s operating hours. They are also looking to expand their marketing beyond physical billboards and their website. Trackside Outlet will sponsor an iRacing league this year.

Trackside NASCAR Outlet has shifted from exclusively in-person sales to offering online shopping while another brick-and-mortar diecast retailer took the opposite approach.

Diecast Depot: From garage to storefront

Roland Bagwell’s diecast dealing days began in the 1990s out of his home in north Georgia. Bagwell offered diecasts for sale online, but his inventory soon outpaced his storage.

“I was selling through Yahoo Auctions, which was in its (prime) at that time,” Bagwell said. “We established mail-order out of that where people could call or email me what they wanted, and I would mail it to them. But it became too much product to keep in my house. That’s when we opened the retail side in Gainesville, [Georgia].”

In its infancy, Diecast Depot’s physical location was limited to “walk-in” orders in which customers could order online or via phone and then pick up their order from the brick-and-mortar location. The company has since greatly expanded its offerings, which includes regular store hours in which customers can shop what’s in stock.

“Now we do walk-ins, phone orders, we have our website and eBay,” Bagwell said. “We used to do NASCAR shows at Atlanta or Charlotte, but after a while moving all that product from one stop to another got a little overwhelming.”

Bagwell certainly has a robust stock. He told Diecast Mag in August the company had about 2,300 items for sale on eBay and about 4,000 diecasts available through the retail store and website.

But that stock doesn’t move as quickly as it did when Diecast Depot was founded.

“When Dale Earnhardt died, it really took the legs out this,” Bagwell said. “It was a hard struggle there for a while. And you look at today, diecast production numbers are way down. That’s not a positive or negative, just a statement of fact.”

Still, Diecast Depot’s varied ways to buy have helped the business, Bagwell said. The store’s proximity to Dawsonville, Georgia, home of Bill and Chase Elliott, has been “a blessing,” he said, along with the increase in foot traffic on race weekends at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In-person purchases still account for only about 20 percent of the company’s sales, Bagwell said, but it was a particularly positive end to the year for online sales.

“Sometimes I wonder how much I can continue to do it, and then something will happen that turns things around,” he said. “I think it was two weeks ago we sold a diecast for $800, next week I sold one for $600 and another for $450. You know, this thing’s still got life. There’s no reason to start packing up boxes yet.”

Lionel expands its in-person shopping options

Lionel serves as the sole licensed manufacturer of NASCAR diecasts, supplying the cars the shops like Diecast Depot and Trackside NASCAR Outlet sell. The company also has its own brick-and-mortar retail locations where it offers model trains and accessories in addition to diecasts.

Lionel opened its first store in the company’s corporate office building in 2014. That storefront was later closed to coincide with the opening of its larger flagship location in the Concord Mills Mall in Concord, North Carolina, in 2018.

The company has since expanded with its second store, a 3,400-square-foot location, in Nashville’s Opry Mills in September 2022. The Nashville location was chosen for its “strong heritage of railroading and passionate motorsports community,” Lionel CEO Howard Hitchcock said in an email.

“Our retail locations are important to us because we get to meet and hear directly from the people who buy our trains and die-cast,” Hitchcock said. “Whether a shopper is a train enthusiast or hasn’t purchased a model train before, they have the opportunity to run a train on one of our layouts themselves. Shopping at one of our stores is more experiential than a typical retailer.”

The company has no plans to open another retail location at the moment, but Hitchcock said, “You never know what the future could hold.”