Several years ago, the closest hobby store was about 20 miles from me. It closed down and then there was a hobby store 30 miles away that I frequented. Just found out today that that one closed down, and had to drive over 50 miles to find the closest hobby store. The store owner that I talked to today said there is no money to be made in this business. And guess what, he said he may be closing down at the end of the year.[:(!]
I’m wondering how far I will ultimately have to drive to get my hobby goods. And beginning to wonder if I’d save money from the commute by mail order.
Just wondering how far you all drive to get to your’ Local Hobby Store (LHS).
i drive 80 or so miles to the nearest HS. i usually just buy paints and supplies from the HS, then go online for kits, AM stuff, or wait until Hobby Lobby has 1/2 off sales on kits, then mop up. later.
I drive about 23 miles, which in traffic near the HS it translates to about 1 hr to a little more to get there except on Sun… I have been buying all my kits online and beginning to buy paint and stuff too because the LHS no longer stocks MM Acryl… I have also started watching ebay and found a few good deals on kits there, especially OOP kits…
And like Chris, I watch Hobby Lobby for the specials… I’ve been watching these 1/24 Spitfire kits they had there, I think they are AMT. They started out new on the shelf at 109.00… went to 80.00, went to 65 dollars… now they are 40.00. I have the feeling if they don’t sell soon I may be able to pick one up for 20 or so…
It depends on which one I go to [:)] One is sort of on the way home from work (not really, but less than 10 miles out of the way), a Hobby Town about 15 miles from home and another one about 25. Hobby Lobby at 15 and 30 miles, and a mom-and-pop shop about 15 miles away.
Depends if I can catch the two lights just right it is 3 min. If they turn red on me it takes about 5 min.
The only other one around is about 67 miles away and it is about an hour and a half drive.
Well just had a Hobby Town open up about 20 minutes away which is right across the street from a Hobby Lobby. Or I can go about 15 minutes the other direction and hit a hobby shop/ gun shop/ pawn shop. Or I can drive about an hour to go to another shop which is just a plastic paradise. There are a few others as well within an hour.
Well how shall I put it?My hobby shop is 5 blocks away from the house.I can walk to it which is 10 mins or less or drive to it at 2 mins = depending on the light you can add a min.Digger
Here, it’s not so much the distance, but the time involved (fighting traffic, finding parking, or taking the subway), it’s about 45 minutes to any LHS except the little RC place pretty close to me which is okay for paint, but has not much else for static modellers.
Al
Grrrrr… you got me jealous there… problem is my LHS is slowly turning into a RC shop… seems that’s where the money is for em so I can’t fault him… but still… once again I say… you think the fifth biggest city in the nation would have better hobby shops…
No… indeed it’s all turning to RC here… ::sigh::
Tho9900,well about two years ago I useto live in N.E.TX where the lHS was not that good so I had to drive 80 miles to S’port-Bossier city,LA to get to a good hobby shop.Latter hobby lobby came to texarkana,tx and that is still the same way today.Digger
Where I work in the Melbourne CBD I have three hobby stores located in about a six block radius. Depending on what I’m after I can pick one or all three to walk to during my lunchtime [:D][:D].
The closest one to where I live is about a 20 min drive away, so it’s good for a drop in visit on the weekend.
I buy almost all my kits and paints from the local stores, but always order from the US for detail sets or decals, as it’s cheaper and quicker.
My store is about 30 minutes by bike. that’s my usual mode of transportation(at least for a little while, i’ll be getting my Learner’s license soon). sometimes when i plan on getting something big, my dad will drive me. but he wants me to bike there most of the time.[tup]