local hobby shops in the edmonton area have lots of supplies however is there a website everyone goes to, to order supplies? example: no one stocks ak interactive washes, or mr surfacer 500-1500, not to mention the kits are lacking they can order them in but why buy from the middle man, when you can get it cheaper from the distributor

I tend to order from Lucky Hobby or Sprue Brothers. As for weathering agents, I order from True Earth out of Italy, they make water based weathering agents that are just awesome.

Take a drive to Calgary....PM Hobbycraft (go to their website) stocks AK Interactive, MR Surfacer, and pretty much anything else you need.

Not enough for you?....then stop into Modelland, Hobbystuff Depot, Phoenix Comics, Chinook & Hobby West, or Uncle Bill's in Calgary....more hobby shops than you can shop at in one visit.

Jason

Is Hobby Stuff Depot a real store. I Google Street viewed the address and it is some old house, in what looks like an industrial area.

Kevin

Sort of...no official storefront but it is real...and it is in an old house! Customers can pick up their orders there.

It's not an industrial area...it is part of downtown Calgary in an area called the Beltline.

Jason

Thanks!

Kevin

There is also Elm City Hobbies if you are looking for a CDN online (also store front) that carries AK Interactive, among other items.

https://www.elmcityhobbies.com/shop/

Alternatively, you could ask your local shop to bring in those items for you and therefore help to keep them in business. Do you belong to a local club? Maybe do a group order and get the shop invested into keeping you supplied and get your club invested in keeping the shop alive. Win-win situation.

Yah, for kits it's pretty expensive around here, and selection is...limited. Have you been to Hobby Wholesale? Not bad for paint selection and supplies, good prices on Tamiya.
Depends on what I need, I order from several sites when needed (especially when there are sales!). AK stuff right from AK USA, mostly Lucky Model, Hobby Easy; occasionally Jadar, Sqaudron, Sprue Brothers and then direct for specialty stuff. If you're interested, the local IPMS Club meets once a month.

Jim

I would buy more from my local hobby shops, if they would charge at least reasonable prices. When news kits come out, their prices are alot higher then any where else. And if you order something in, well it is almost like they charge you a premium. I do buy my paint and all other supplies there, but if they were more reasonable with kits, I would.

I am not asking to match some of the online retailers, just be a little more reasonable. Exammple, when the Bronco Buffalo 6x6 came out, local store was just over $100 CDN, where I could get it at Lucky for $60, and I beleive SprueBrother was about $75. At say $80-$85, I would have bought it local. And we won't even get into Tasca kits.

And even some of the Canadian Online retailers are getting up there, I asked a on line retailer in Canada once for prices on an AM set, the price was way more then double I had seen it anywhere else.

Ok, I will get off my soap box, just felt a little rant this morning.

yea this months meeting is tonight from 7-9 i just got home from a busy day, guess there is next month haha, i have been to hobby wholesale and yes the paint price on tamiya paints is awesome everywhere else is .5 to a buck more.

and have at er for ranting, i just find not alot of the special supplies is readly available, not to mention my m55 tank by renwal needs major gap filling, but what do you expect from ancient models and old spruce methods

Divide the retail price in a hobby shop by 5 and that is pretty close to the actual cost to produce the kit.

Bronco Buffalo...Retail $100...actual cost to produce...$20.00.

That maybe true (and in reality likely less than that), the problem arises when 99% of the places that sell kits, can't buy direct from the factory, that is unless you like buying a full shipping container of kits.

So then you get into the world of importers and distributors that all put their own markup on it.

Take a North American hobby shop. Dragon USA is the North American importer for Bronco, while it may only cost them $20 to buy that kit from Bronco....I would venture a guess that it is likely somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-$7 per kit to have it shipped to the US. SO lets say now a landed cost of $27 per kit, plus I would assume there would be customs fees on it...say that brings it to $29/kit. They then sell it wholesale to a distributor, at say a 20% markup, so now you are at $34.80 plus the cost of shipping from importer to distributor, say another $2/kit, which brings it to $36.80, that distributor then turns around and puts another 20% markup as a selling price to the dealer (LHS), now you are at $44.16, most LHS have a min. of roughly 40% markup, plus say another $1-$2 it costs them for shipping, (seems like alot, but when you factor in LHS rent, insurance, heat, lights, wages, etc, etc, doesn't leave much on the profit side), which brings the grand total to about $65 retail.

That is just spitballing out a few prices, I know what I use for a markup strategy, however I don't know exactly what shipping costs and importer/distributor markups would be, but I have a feeling that it pretty close.

Not to mention the face that the price of oil reflects on the cost of the kit right from the time it is manufactured (because what is the main ingredient in styrene?....oil), as well as every transportation step along the way is oil dependent. Fact of the matter is that it isn't 1985 anymore, the price of EVERYTHING, has gone up, so really why should our hobby be exempt?

Not saying I like paying the higher prices....I would love to be able to sell the latest and greatest armor kit in the sub $50 range (or less), but with the cost of the kits...it just isn't feasible.

I am getting to the point where I see a new kit come out, and if I think the retail price I need to get for it is more than what I think my customers will pay for it, then I just don't bring it in. I can't remember the last time I brought a new Dragon kit in unless a customer has specifically asked for it....prices for them are just getting too far out of wack...especially when you have companies like Hobby Boss and Trumpeter (among others) putting out stuff at a still reasonable price.

To me, Dragon and Bronco have gone off the rails as far a price goes, Tamiya was off the rails long ago.

Scott,

You are stuck between a rock and a hard place...or should I say a rock and a brick and mortar store. No envy here.

Actually the price of styrene is low and was even record bottoming out until recently due to the Asian financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis. The demand for Styrene was down and therefore the price was too. That shouldn't equate to more expensive production prices.

You can't blame oil for everything!...Oil is down today on the markets...it may be a small factor but not the root cause.

Kit still has to get to market, and last time I checked, ships, planes and trucks still run on petroleum or diesel. While styrene might be cheaper, delivery costs sure aren't.

Correct...you made your point in your last post and I agree with you about all the additional costs associated to ordering kits and having them shipped over 12500 kms from Hong Kong to you in Hanwell, New Brunswick. This is nothing new...the Asian market dominates the model industry and all the associated links to get them to your shop wants their cut first.

You own a hobby shop and appear to be fighting for your business, passion, and livelihood...Keep fighting! Those are the cards you have been dealt and as raw as they are there is no changing the producer to importer to distributor to retailer to customer situation...unless a second oil sands is found in New Brunswick and Dragon opens a model plant in Fredericton.

i understand that scott, and its the way the world of business works, thank you for putting in your time into your hobby shop, would you by chance has a web addy for it?

Hey there Spencer, click on the banner in my signature area. If it isn't showing up, then just click this link:

https://www.elmcityhobbies.com/shop/

Scott,

For experience the hobby shops in Edmonton have a markup of usually 85%. I used at one years ago (which is no longer in business) and that was our standard markup on wholesale costs. And from what i know of wholesale costs today that seems like it has stayed the same.

John