There are not many hobby shops you can go to that are dedicated to your type of hobby be it Trains, Planes, Automobiles and the sort.
Next month the proprietor of Top Shelf Models plans to retire and close his doors for good.
Any of you that live with in a reasonable drive might want to go visit Mr. Stuart at his shop in Awasso,Ok. before it’s to late.
Im near Bowie Texas and headed there today , I’ll be there about 3.
I went into the first hobbyshop in decades…of all places…St. Ignace in da U P der “A”. We drove past it so many times that I just couldn’t pass by it again.
Annnnnd…it was very different than the Squadron shop in Hazeltucky or Bobies in Pensacola.
My LHS is still up and running for the past 50+ years. The issue with him is zero online presence. I still support it with visits 1-2 times a month but most of my kits and PE/AM purchases are online.
The interesting thing going on with online purchases is the issue with many vendors no longer accepting USDs for transactions. Some like BNA and Hannants honour the country you reside in.
BC Hobbies in Victoria BC (formerly BC Shaver and Hobbies) has an amazing store in the Hillside Centre shopping mall.
A great selection of RC, trains, LEGO, plastic kits and all kinds of other stuff. They even had some 3D printers that they could print your projects on. Just bring in a flash drive with the model and they would print it out for you. Three out of four were humming along steadily while I was there.
My closest thing to a LHS was a pretty well stocked Hobbytown,it got destroyed in Helene and never made it back.
He has a 30% off all models “going out of business” sale.
Wife and I drove up there last night and I bought 1K of stuff.
5 models , a bunch of paints , glues and p.e.. and saved $300 ! That is hove I know I bought 1K worth of stuff.
He will sell over the phone and ship , at 30% off that should cover shipping in the conus.
The last real hobby shop left in D/FW area in Texas was Wild Bills Hobby’s in Irving. The local Hobby Town bought him out and moved the operations to south Dallas and raised prices , also fundamentally changed it to mirror other hobby towns where the focus is on RC..
In Austin, TX, there’s King’s Hobby on Burnet Rd. And we make a monthly trip to Kyle, TX to Lionheart Hobbies, another fantastic shop. If you’re passing through central TX you should check those out. There’s also a Hobby Town in Austin.
Welcome to the group sir.!
Im interested where these places are …
They’re all worth a visit, imo. Kingshobbyatx.com (7325 Burnet Rd, Austin TX) has been in Austin since '73 and has an amazing selection of vintage kits. Hobby Town (2500 W Parmer Ln #80, Austin TX, Parmer and Mopac by where Fry’s was, for those that are familiar with Austin) carries the type of mainstream kits you used to pickup at your local K-Mart or Gibsons in addition to RC and kids things, and Lionhearthobby.com (5500 FM2770 #101, Kyle, TX 78640) carries high end kits (X-Plus and others) as well as other hobbies (Rolife, games, if that’s your thing). San Antonio also has some LHS, which I haven’t visited yet, but hope to sometime soon 
I’m going to drive up to MosquitoCon in NJ at the beginning of April. I’ll stop at Modellbahn Ott (Boyertown PA), Kenvil Hobbies (Kenvil NJ), Zeppelin Hobbies (Wayne NJ) and then the soon-to-be-retired AAA Hobbies (Magnolia NJ) on my way back south. I’m not going to Tony’s in Coplay PA due to time and routing.
Scale Reproductions in Louisville. An amazing hobby store. Everything from trains to Model rockets. When my father flew control line planes, and RC, he would load us up in the station wagon on Friday afternoon, and take us to the Hobby Shop on Preston Hwy. That’s where I was first introduced to Plastic Model kits as a kid. It was small, but packed to the gills with stuff. It closed in the 90’s I believe. Scale Reproductions is the only hobby store left in Louisville. It’s a shame all the brick and mortar stores that are closing.
I have been to a few in San Antonio but nothing in Austin.
Im not sure why Austin slipped through my search. I travel for work and find myself in or through Houston, Pleasanton , Hondo , San Antonio so living in North Texas that puts me driving up/down interstate and u.s.highways between here and there.
There are two in San Antonio i still want to visit and now two in Austin. I try to avoid Austin at all cost including the toll road but Austin being a couple hours away i might just try a trip like I did to Tulsa yesterday.
I will be attending some air shows in San Antonio , Houston, Austin , Waco this year. This presents an opportunity to visit these hobby shops.
James
Ps
Wife and I discussed opening/starting a hobby store of our own up in our area near Wichita Falls.
The online pictures of the inside of that place looks awesome.
Shelves packed like Wild Bills was.
Anybody starts a hobby shop in TX, let us know. We’re looking for places to travel to Hubby and I are planning to visit Houston shops when we go for ModelMania in early May, and I’m planning a loop of San Antonio shops as we speak.
The two must visit shops in San Antonio are on the west and north west side.
I have two that are within a half hour drive of me. Dad’s Toy Shop in Wapakoneta Ohio is the one I go to the most. It caters mostly to RC and Trains, but they have a decent model section for the size of the shop. Paint, glue, scratch building supplies, and some PE and aftermarket. I visit the other one in St Mary’s once a year, maybe once every two years. It used to be a lot larger but they have moved 5 or 6 times and down sized each time. Used to have a wall of military models and a wall of automotive models. Now they all fit in a 6 by 10 section. After that, I am driving an hour to Dayton Ohio for hobby shops. There are several down there.
I had one for about five years. Then they closed the store to merge with their other, bigger store which is a two hour drive from where I live. And since they’re mostly RC, I think I’ll stick to online. But it was nice while it lasted. I envy you guys with one nearby. The brick-and-mortar stores are sadly few and far between.
I used to always go to MosquitoCon when I lived in NJ always a good time.
A few of us will be making the trek to MosquitoCon again this year.
Steve