You can have a copy of mine…
Nuthin’ wrong with that… It’s cheaper than buying the rag off the stand, and it also opens up the entire FSM website for ya, which has a lot more stuff that they can’t get in the magazine…
What value you get from the “Subcriber Only” content of the site is strictly up to you though… Myself, I use it a lot…
Bottom line about LHS’s though, is that they’re all gonna go the way of the dodo if they don’t go where the money is, since the prices of kits keep going up & up, and the LHS owners aren’t gonna stock many kits for a niche market, which is what we’re fast-becoming…
Heck, there’s a brand-new hobby shop that opened up about 35 miles from here about a year ago… I went down there, was gonna drop a couple hundred bucks (that’s a LOT for me) and guess what ? Not ONE scale model kit in the entire joint!!! It was ALL R/C, CDs, Games, and Game Stations! And it actually had “Hobbies” in the name!
I thought that Hobby Lobby had a small selection of models, but when a hobby shop doesn’t carry ANY model kits, that’s a death-knell, IMHO… I used to be able to treat my local “mom & pop” shop like it was Floyd’s Barber Shop, but those days are gone, same as that LHS…
This used to be an inexpensive hobby, but the kit-prices have gone out of control in the last ten years… Luckily, I have enough on-hand to keep me gluing styrene for the next 20 years or so, if push comes to shove… By the time I run out, my kids will have put me in the Old Soldier’s Home anyway… (Although, I told my daughter I’m moving into her basement if her Mom goes before I do… Then I’ll see how SHE likes it when I sneak out at midnight with my whole SS check and a fistfull of really good prescription stuff, lol…)
We need that!
Ha! With some people whose parents are living in their basement, the kids end up taking the SS check and leaving G-ma & pa with nothing but an empty bank account. [8o|]
I agree with all that’s being said here. I remember it wasn’t too long ago when WalMart was labeled the bad guy for selling models at a fraction of the cost the LHS was selling kits. Then WalMart stops selling kits and people complain they can’t afford to go anywhere else to buy kits.
When I was in the LHS last week and was browsing what few models he had, I saw the new Revell funny car releases on the shelf. He is getting $29.99 per kit. Well, while I was at K-Mart yesterday getting outdoor stuff with the Missus, guess what I found. There was a whole rack of models. The drag cars my LHS is getting outrageous money for is going for $13.99 there. On top of that, they had all the tom Daniels re-releases and several other kits on the shelf. Now, I agree the cost of kits has increased with the times, but c’mon people. There isn’t THAT much of a markup for the LHS. I also am turning more to the internet to find what i’m looking for and will most likely begin making the longer trips to bigger shows to hit the vendor areas and get them that was as well.
It’s just ironic now that WalMart dropped the kits that K-Mart has picked them up and is selling them at very reasonable prices.
Never like WalMart’s selection only because there were only like 8 aircraft kits to choose from, and was the same ones over and over… Gonna have to check K-Mart though… Haven’t been in one of those for 10 years, I’ll bet… I remember that they USED to carry Tamiya kits…
Hans:
K-Marts I’ve visited in Chicago metro area sell only Revell / Monogram kits.
I actually visited WalMart because of the 21st Century kits
Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up many because the kits weren’t stocked regularly and sold out fast.
Print has never been harder than it is now.
But my local shop doesn’t sell much to me from the shelf. I am an impulse buyer to be sure, but I need to get what I want, not pot luck. Thus, I order my kits. My local shop has wisely seen to it I get last years catalogue if not the current one for Tamiya and Dragon. That and she is good about giving me the occasional discount. To look at the shelf in the store, one would wonder ‘Is she doing any business at all?’. But I came out and asked a while back and she mentioned ‘Oh yes I have a number of guys that come in regularly and get kits special order’.
So not all of a store’s sales will be readily apparent. But if they do nothing to inspire ordering, I guess their days are numbered.