I was in my LHS yesterday, Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove, and for the life of me I have no interest in armor of any kind. Please don’t condemn me everyone who likes armor lol. I just can’t get into armor for whatever reason, even though I’ve pondered it. What, if any, aisles do you guys avoid while looking at your LHS?
Well, ours doesn’t have an isle, but i never take any notice of the civilian vehicle section.
Avoid is a strong word. And where I used to have three good LHS, now there’s only one and it’s two hours away.
Back some time ago, I used to spend a lot of time at a hobby store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. There was a decent model railroad department. R/C was run by a big loud guy who talked blue all day long. He could be heard all over the store. It drove me nuts and I stopped going there. They closed a couple of years ago.
I guess my answer is that I wish I had a LHS that had an aisle that I could avoid.
Bill
I “try” to avoid the checkout isle…
Hi,
I don’t know that I actually “avoid” any aisle, but I guess that I spend a lot less time in the sci fi and Gundam sections than any other.
Pat
Sci Fi for me too, and I wish they wouldn’t even carry the violent video games.
One aisle I’ve been eyeing is armor, never built a tank but want to try one. Also cruised through the boats, been thinking of a sailboat with planking, a real art I think. Love the lines of the Blue Nose.
GM, what a bum deal about a two hour drive to HS. I feel very fortunate, with a really well stocked 4th generation HS in my town.
Patrick
I avoid the electric train aisles. That’s one more hobby I don’t need to invest in!
I go straight to the modeling aisles only…the rest of the place does not exist [:D]
The only isle I “used” to avoid was Armor until I was talked into trying it “once”. Well, I built it, then another. I’m working on #3 and #4 with 2 more in the stash. Still working on other builds too.
Now I can honestly say that I don’t pass up any isles in a store because you never know when something will strike your attention. The only worry is will the wallet Ok it.
Jim [cptn]
I’m not into R/C so I don’t walk around there. That leaves pretty much all the other aisles open to browsing.
Bill, I remember Franciscan Hobbies [:D]
One day mid-August 1974 was in what today is The Village At Orange shopping center, had a hobby store, this when near every large suburban shopping mall in California had one, unusual about this one is they had inoperable guns for sale, including what lookled like a beat-up Thompson M1928A1. Wasn’t at all sure then if it or any other “gun” they had for sell was for real but was extremely tempted to buy the Thompson, getting it by PSA baggage check at John Wayne Airport however gave me pause so passed on the opportunity.
Generally I tend to avoid the Sci-Fi, Space section but other than that, I am like a kid in a candy shop when I go to my local hobby shop.
The macrame section. Bead craft isn’t my thing.
Big fan of Brookhurst Hobbies - I haven’t been there in a few years but used to go up to SCAHMS figure contests and some of the OC IPMS contests - including the nationals and I’d always go into Brookhurst.
Hmm… I like everything. In the past I mostly did 1/48 military aircraft but find deviating a really fun experience. Mostly because I don’t know much about the subject or genre so I just build - very relaxing. I suppose if I had to pick, I’m not interested in the comic book type figure stuff - though I really appreciate ones that are well done.
Pretty much this, I’ve even been known to venture down the “artists” aisle, back when I was in a town that had a good LHS. Since moving here, however…the closest thing to a “LHS” is 2 hours away not counting the RC Plane store/airfield. We had a HobbyTown USA franchise relatively close, but it closed down in June, not sure why. I went in there a few times, but I wasn’t back to modeling yet.
I miss my good LHS’s/towns that had them; even though they weren’t always the cheapest I supported them, as the friendliness, advice, service was far superior!!!
The HobbyTown USA store in my area closed just about the same time I started back with modelling. There is a local train store owned by a very interesting guy, and I will go there for styrene rod and the like. He has a few kits, but it really is a train store, and I CANNOT afford to start that hobby no matter how much I want to.
When HobbyTown was open, I checked out everything, everytime. N scale trains, R/C, every kit. I only ever bought WWII aircraft and armor, as well as supplies, but I liked to browse.
Now my favorite locally owned brick and mortar is an artist supply store.
I’ve been trading with Colonial Photo & Hobby since 1973. It has been a family owned business since 1954. In that time I’ve bought lots of models and lots of stuff for my photography hobby as well. When I go into the store, I try to look at everything in the model department. I never know what will strike a chord with me, so I try to see everything I can. Today, our IPMS chapter has a build day at the store, so I’ll probably be doing some browsing and maybe spend a little of my allowance on something I may or may not need.
We do have a Hobbytown nearby, but I generally only go there for a monthly build day. Plus they tend to cater more to the RC crowd than to us modeling folks.
None,I like to browse the whole store,always might find something interesting.
There are several armor models that sort of bridge the gap between one genre and another. For instance, a car modeler could try a military HMMWV, Jeep or other wheeled vehicle like a Stryker. Or find an armor kit in the scale you usually build in, like if you build 1/72 or 1/48 scale aircraft, build a tank in scale with you usual kits. For a ship modeler, build an amphibious tank that is similar to a small boat with tracks.
When I visit my local hobby shop, I tend to not go down the car aisle, boat aisle and train aisle. Not that I am avoiding the aisle, but in the limited time I have in the shop, I’d like to spend it looking at any of the available new armor kits. If I go in there and there aren’t any new kits or anything marked down on sale, I might check out aircraft or sci-fi model kits or the clearance area for any bargains.