I heard a rumor the other day - although the source is pretty reputable - and I wanted to pass it along. There is a possiblility that Hobby Lobby will no longer be offering models at 50% off as they have in the past.
According to my source, during one of the recent sales, a MAJOR error was made nationally on a kit and this error resulted in substantial losses for Hobby Lobby. Essentially, a $146.00 kit was entered into the national computer system as being $46.00. This resulted in a price of $23.00 during the 50% off sale. Needless to say, HL took quite a hit on these kits!
Although he did not say that the sales woud absolutely be discontinued, my source did indicate that there are evidently some serious discussions along those lines. At a minimum, the sales could be radically changed, i.e. 25% off, 10% off, etc. Even if the sales remain as 50% off, they may occur far less frequently than we have become accustomed.
I will be watching the HL flyers for sales in the future and would appreciate it if other members who look for these sales do likewise.
I can understand that happening. It’s too bad their employees didn’t catch that price discrepancy. Last spring I saw the Acadamy 1/32 F-18 (the $100 one) marked one day for $32.99. I showed it to the manager, and told him that couldn’t be right. Lost out on that deal, but still picked up an AMTech Ju-88 up for $2 on clearance, so it wasn’t a total loss.[;)]
I have had a few shops where the kits were marked wrong, always ask the staff if the item is marked correctly.
Nice law over here is that even if the Item is marked wrong the sticker price is what it sells for, so if they undermark they have to sell it at that price.
No, Hobby Lobby is a chain hobby store with locations pretty much limited to south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Rockies. Their exact store locations can be found at www.hobbylobby.com
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!..NO…NO…NO…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
[:O][:(][:(][:(][:(][:(][:(] …oh well, atleast i got about 30 kits from them while the gittin’ was good, but dang i wanted that academy 1/48 tomcat and hornet the next go around!!!..and the tamiya 1/48 Bubble top P-47. shucks…maybe they’ll come out ok and keep it up soon. later.
I wonder if that was the Hobby Craft 1/24 Spitfire I just bought… it was like 120ish and one day I walked in and found the lot of them marked down to 40 bucks…
I missed the half off sale again this year? [:(!] I was trying to watch for it…
Why don’t they just fix the problem so it doesn’t happen again rather than take the sales away? I’m sure it’s not the first time any store has had a problem with price in the system. It wasn’t the model’s fault. Somebody entered the wrong price. Maybe they should double-check their work instead of making the public pay for their error.
Well, I ain’t saying’ it ain’t so. But, I am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to be at Hobby Lobby on Monday morning of the 50% off sale, when the doors open.
Although my main interest is in flying thingys, I have a habit of looking at everything on the shelves. Just in case there is something that grabs my attention.
In the last 3 or 4 sales I can only recall one “boo boo” and it wasn’t a hundred dollar “boo boo”. In fact the only kit I have seen at our HL that would even qualify in that price range is the Academy 1/32 F/A-18C at $149.00. And it has been priced exactly that!!!
I know it has been awhile since the last 1/2 off sale. So I guess we wait and see.
You hit the nail on the head. That kit is priced correctly now, but when it was first released, it was incorrectly priced $100.00 less than that nationwide. The release also happened to coincide with one of the sales - about two or three weeks later.
Anyway, it’s only a rumor and there are several things that can happen.
The sales resume as before…happening about once per quarter and staying 50% off.
The sales are changed…either happening less frequently or with reduced savings.
The sales are discontinued completely…I personally think this is unlikely, but possible.
I’m the cause, I’m guilty, I thought that their loss was my gain, I was wrong, they won in the end, I’m sorry. But I did ask the clerk about the Tamiya Wildcat being marker $12 on a $24 model and she charged me $6 for it. Same for the M41, she wrung up $4 because the pricetag said $8 on a $24 kit. It seemed that they marked them 1/2 price and forgot to tell the register clerk?
Well, if this rumor proves true, then I guess it was fun while it lasted. I really built up my collection that I otherwise could’nt have afforded to do. Not to mention all the kids with limited allowances who got to buy models than they otherwise couldn’t of afforded.
I go there at least once or twice a month because there’s ALWAYS a bargain like that… I could kick myself for not buying all three of those 1/24 spitfires for 40 bucks… I just got the one… I missed out on the 1/48 Ju88 AMtech because I didn’t think there was much to the kit but it went down to 5 dollars… been picking up kits here and there like that… I’ve yet to build them but it makes for a nice rainy day project when I get bored with the ones I am working on…
Got a nice Tamiya Tiger for 8 bucks there once. I sure hope it won’t go away completely. I’ve noticed the HL in my area also has a 1/3 sale every so often as well.