I will be in the Twin Cities area all next week for business. Does anyone know of any good hobby shops I could check out? I will be staying in Chaska, so the closer to that area the better.
Thanks!
Hell yeah, schmidty ! Get yourself on over to Scale Model Supplies in St Paul. They’re at 458 Lexington Pkwy just off of University Ave. They take up half a city block in a basement. Look for the doorway with an old R.R. Crossing sign. Their hours are Mon-Sat 9am-9pm, Sun 11-5pm, phone 651-646-7781. Your best bet for finding them is take I-94 to the Lexington Pkwy. exit (Exit #239B). Plan on spending a couple hours (and a couple hundred bucks) in there, as the place is huge.
Between them and Dairy Queen is Aurora Street (looks like a driveway). You’ll see the entrance to Scale Model Supplies as you turn into this driveway.
Thanks Bill! I went to their website, and that place looks AWESOME! I’m as excited as a kid before Christmas to get down there and see that place! Ha-ha!
Around here, the only thing even close to an LHS is a Hobby Lobby and a Michaels. I’m happy to have them, but I sure am pumped to visit a real LHS!
I will be down there an entire week. Do you (or anyone else) have any other good ideas for places to visit?
I’m don’t live in the cities but I know there is a Hobbytown USA in St. Paul? Last time I went to the cities I used google maps and searched for hobby shops, and found a few nice stores. Have fun!
Thanks Nathan. I’ll look for a Hobbytown, too. When we had one here it was pretty decent.
I tried Google maps, but wasn’t having much luck looking closer to the Chaska area. I’ll expand my search. But if any locals have any favorites, I’m all ears! Thanks!
We do have a number of good choices and Scale Model Supplies is certainly one of them, but it will be a drive from Chaska to St. Paul. You do have a closer option in Richfield called Hub Hobby. Like Scale Model Supplies they have a huge selection of kits and supplies. Check out their web site at http://www.hubhobby.com/ for direction and store hours. Enjoy your trip to our fair city…
Thanks Ross! I like that drive a little better. Although, I suspect that I will get bored enough in my hotel room to probably make the drive to St. Paul one evening as well!
Ever been in the Twin Cities, schmidty? Roughly half the freeways are always under construction and traffic there is insane. Worse than most cities ten times their size. But, if you avoid commuter’s hours and use the freeways, you should be able to cross the entire metro area in about 1/2 to 1 hr. And luckily Scale Model Supplies is only a couple blocks from the freeway.
Yes Bill, I’ve been there a handful of times before. And yes, driving here (I am there right now) is a major PITA. But today being MLK day, the traffic wasn’t as bad as normal according to the local news.
So, I figured if I was going to go to Scale Model Supplies today was the day. Boy am I glad I did! That place is awesome! A BIG thanks to you for recommending it!
I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area. They have all the supplies you could need and tons of kits, new and old. And the owner is a real nice guy. Next time I’m in the cities, I am going there again.
By the way…if you or anyone you know is into model railroads, they also have a train-load of that stuff.
I KNEW you’d enjoy it, Mike. I forgot to mention their extreme hoard of R.R. stuff. They also have an aisle of Breyer horses, dollhouses and puzzles n such. And yeah, there’s quite the cast of characters running that place too.
So I just got back from Hub Hobby’s Richfield location. Very nice! Thank you rossjr for suggesting it! I scored three models from their discount area. All new, and all about half off! I would certainly recommend Hub to anyone.
But as great as Hub is, Scale Model Supplies in St. Paul is just astounding. If you are ever in the Twin Cities area you HAVE to go to Scale Model Supplies. I am just getting back into the hobby and have been to very few good hobby shops, so I may not be the best judge of this. But, I can’t imagine there are many hobby shops in the country that stock more kits and supplies than they have. Long isles of shelves packed with kits, including a lot of out of production kits as well. And we are talking serious shelves. I am 6’ tall and I was tilting my head all the way back to look at the ones on the top shelf.
If you ever get to the Cities, drop the wife and kids off at the Mall of America and spend an hour or two wandering around Scale Model Supplies!