Burbank’s House of Hobbies is one of the hobby shops I visited that I liked a lot.
Oops, my friend Elias photo bombed the picture! He’s deep in thought about purchasing a 1/700 ship model.
They had a good selection of everything at good prices. The people were friendly and listen to good quality 80s music too. 
But they don’t qualify as an LHS, as I live over 2,500 miles away.
Great shop! I buy from them online frequently.
I am pretty lucky in San Antonio.
Dibbles started in 1905 as a bike shop, slowly evolving into a toy/hobby then hobby store. Good selection of older and newer kits (cheap to expensive) and a consignment section. Good selection of paints and supplies.
Hill Country Hobby doesn’t have a great selection of models but is my go-to for paints, washes etc.
Hobbytown USA opened up 16 months ago, fair selection of models, but a lot of Gundham. Tamiya and Vallejo paints, fair selection of putties/tools.
King in Kyle is an hour away, nice store but I only go if I am already nearby.
We have a new store in Boerne (pronounced burn-ee), The Model Box. He is still building stock but sponsors a build night on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. He has build tables (free for use) and airbrushes for rent.
Hobby Lobby has supplies that are competitive, so I am not shy about going there.
All of us would kill to have a place like that,yet at some point earlier in our life,we probably all had a place or two like that near us.
I still deeply miss D&J Hobby in Cupertino and San Antonio Hobby in Mountain View. Great stores sadly gone.
The shop in Kyle is Lionheart, I thought? King’s Hobby is in Austin. Or do I have those reversed?
I live in Katy, so those are 3+ hours away, but I’ll stop whenever I am in the area.
When I lived in San Diego my go to was Discount Hobby Warehouse. Great combination of RC everything and plastic models. I also made it down to Andy’s Hobby Headquarters when he was in San Diego. Funny - moved to AZ 3 years ago and Andy’s is about 20 minutes away now.
Yes. Unfortunately, the only decent stores left that I have found in the Bay Area is the ACE Hardware in downtown Berkeley and Loose Caboose Hobbies in Napa.
Sheldon’s hobbies has now concentrated on RC models and their stash of plastic models is getting smaller and older.
If you know of others, please let me know.
Apologies. I have not lived in the Bay Area in fifteen years. I am surprised to hear that an Ace store carries hobby goods. Best of luck in your search.
In Tucson, Arizona, there is the largest ACE hardware store west of the Mississippi that has a great hobby store with a good selection of kits and paints. It is on 22nd St and Kolb.
Its nice being able to get Tamiya or Mr Color paints in a store instead of on the web.
That’s a nice and loaded shop!
I had the choice of at least three local hobby shops when I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. They are of course all long gone now. I have been using Sunward Hobbies in Mississauga, Ontario for about 5 years now. They have a terrific on-line order business and I typically get next day delivery. They relocated from North York in Toronto to Mississauga a few years ago. It is about a 40 minute drive from my house to their bricks & mortar location but it is very much worth making the trek. Nothing better than hands-on shopping. They also have a section for selling “estate kits” that is always worth searching. I have picked up a few discontinued or hard to find kits and there are a few from my youth that tempt me every time I am in the store (though I have too many kits in my stash already and not enough years left to dissuade me from making the buy).
You are correct, I reversed them.
Man, I wish I had known that. I use to make a trip to Tucson every January.
Yes back in the day, hobby shops were fairly common. We had Pete’s Modelcraft in at least three shopping centers (Ala Moana, Pearl Ridge and Kahala Mall), Hobby Things and Craft Center, and the Legionnaire which was a wargame store but with a lot of model kits.
And there were lots of other places that sold model kits like Longs Drugs, Woolworth’s, Ben Franklin, Penny’s, Gem, Thrifty’s Drugs, and even those seedy mom & pop stores that sold liquor and adult magazines(!).
Yep, I remember Ben Franklin and Woolworth’s stores. And models could also be found in Kay B Toys & Hobbies store as well as Toys R’ Us stores. Another place I remember from my childhood was Hobby Horse store in the Brookfield Square mall in Brookfield, WI. Boy, those were the days. Had some great times going to all those stores.
In my earlier post further above about Model Empire, I forgot to mention the following: They are closing. 
Yep, you heard that right. Another brick and mortar hobby store will be closing during the first quarter of next year. Model Empire has been a family run business since about 1970. The people are retiring and want to take more time to spend with family.
Are they in th NE part of S.A.?
Yeah, I’ve got nothing within a real 90 min and they are only open crap hours so I can’t get there.
Really unfortunate, Colorado Springs, CO, is a hobby shop wasteland. The last hobby town in the area which was only marginal at best for plastic models closed a few months ago. The closest decent hobby shop which is also a hobby town is 48 miles away.
Our local Hobby Town closed and was bought out by a different owner and is still opened but not a Hobby Town. It has less models, more RC and toys.