Stopped by my favorite hobby shop yesterday to get a few items and was amazed to find a note on the door saying they had moved. Went to the new location and it was in a very small and out of the way place and they are clearly cleaning out lots of the plastic scale model stuff. Looks like the focus will mostly be the RC car hobby. These folks have been around for decades and they are just the latest in our city to either shrink or close the doors all together. I wish them well with the RC cars and hope they survive, but I will miss the days of having a hobby shop where static scale modeling was a big focus. You know the ones, when you walked in the door it was crammed with every kind of kit imaginable and had the faint aroma of Floquil paint and liquid cemet wafting from the back room. And you were likely to find lots of model railroad stuff on display as well. And there was always an older guy at the counter to answer questions and encourage you to join the local model club to help learn and improve your skills. I guess it’s tough to compete with the Wii and X-box 360, but somehow I think there are things to be learned from building a model that are a bit more useful in life. I’m not knocking the gamers, I enjoy them too. I just can’t help but think the scale model hobby is seeing a paradigm shift and may never be the same in many areas. The advent of the internet and “virtual communities” like this one are invaluable and enjoyable, and I am grateful for the internet hobby stores but will always miss the local mom and pop places. If you have one in your area that you enjoy, stop by and give them some business, even if it means shelling out a few more bucks.
I just talked to another big. well known hobby shop owner who is regretful that he ever opened a retail shop. Says that one of the huge importers is the reason kit prices are so high–so high that it’s killing his retail sales and making it impossible fo rhim to survive. He’s thinking of closing the store and going completely internet-based sales.
I try to support the local hobby shops here in the Phoenix area. I went to one just yesterday, Hobby Depot in Tempe. I needed some #11 blades and a paintbrush. They didn’t have the paintbrush I wanted but I did get a couple of packages of blades.
LHS need to really evaluate their product mixes…putting too much into one category is a huge mistake unless you can sustain it. R/C though popular has seen significant declines in sales and revenue. Plastics is actually on the rise.
Last year at iHobby the best attended division counsel meeting was the Plastics and Diecast…the worst was the R/C. Second in the running was the General Division. The general category is the back bone of a hobby shop, those stores not adequately stocking tools, paints and other supplies are cutting their own hamstrings.
watched one of my favorite lhs close its doors after years of being open. loved tat place as it had everything and then some. and anything you wanted, just ask and you had it in a week!! [sigh]
I thought that the old hobby shop here which is about 10-12 miles from me, Hobbies Unlimited in San Lorenzo, CA had closed as well as I passed by the shopping center it was in a while back and the space was vacant. I was kind of saddened as that place has been there for over 35 years I believe. Well, recently I see that it is indeed still open, they just moved a few miles up the road to a newer, bigger location. That seems rare these days.
I’ve got three primay LHS here in the So Cal LA/OC area which I frequent, and thankfully all three appear to be doing solid business. A few years back one changed owners, and the neew owners since then have really boosted the vitality of that shop, bringing in all sorts of kits from all over the world. Another has been holding firm for years, and the third has moved to a smaller shop and has reduced his business hours. But that is primarly the result of an injury the owner sustained last year. His regular customer base appears as strong as ever. I firmly beleive in supportng them before I go on the internet to find an item.
Which hobby shops are these?
Military Hobbies in Orange, Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove, and The Military Shop in Long Beach. All great shops.
i was in there the other day to ge the plastic polishing kit and decided to get some exelorater for my CA and the guy said the ASU students are buying up alot of the stock.