Just wondering if any of you have ever gone in and wondered if your LHS is going out of business ?because they never seem to have any new kits and many of the kits they do have are years old.

My LHS is fairly well stocked. New stuff rotates in all the time. My complaint is that they never get enough new kits. They only get 5-10 kits at a time and they are usually already sold to pre-order customers.

They also sell a boatload of that Warhammer stuff.

The one thing I notice about all the local hobby stores, one independent, two Hobbytown, and three Hobby Lobby stores, is that the new stuff sells immediately and the old stuff stays there until they mark it down. The independent store, Complete Games and Hobby, will get in one or two of a new release, they might sell in a week or so, then it's months before they get any more, if at all.

arrrggg! my lhs is pissing my off ive orderd a tam jagdpanther and a m-8 3 weeks ago, called 4 times: first time they said they didnt know about hte order! second time they forgot, and third time they forgot, and fourth they forgot! so il have to go to my other lhs wich closes at 6 everyday! and closes at 1 on saturday and isnt open on sunday! so how am i supposed to get here??? and when i do get there, same old kits! because there to expensive!

Frank

Overall, I'd rate my two LHS's pretty good. They usually have enough new kits along with old. My major gripe is that they don't carry enough aftermarket items.

local hobby shop? are you kidding? we only have 2 left in israel and they're crap.

A hhh... a Local Hobby Shop? Don't think i've seen one of these for a few years.. Certainly not where I live... My LHS is what i'm sitting at. It might move locations from Madrid to Barcelona or to Tokyo or Hong Kong but it's still pretty local to me...Jim :-)

I guess you could say I'm in the Local Hobby Shop Mecca.....
The closest one I pass everyday going to and from work, (now working midnights... he's closed, so I usually stop in on my days off) another is about 5 miles further west..... for rare and long out of production kits there Ridgefield Hobbies about 40 miles east. (I know he got a lot of old rare out of production stuff..... He bought my collection when I went from a house to a small apartment)......... :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) (took him 2 days to remove the collection by the way)
then there's my buddy up Ramsey, always got a good collection. My closest one carries just about every paint brand except Humbrols and Revell. Evergreen plastic, and just about anything you need for ground work. (mainly a Model-railroad shop)
If I want to head a little south east, I got Hobby-Masters, Maplewood, Hobby-Haven, all with in a 50 mile drive.
And I'm sure I missed a few smaller ones.... Oh yeah.... Hobby Hut.... about 15 miles east of me.... mostly RC aircraft, but always got all the squadron books, and foreign magazines.

My LHS is Hobby Lobby and they MIGHT have 8 old Tamiya kits. They even cut back on their Model Master paint selection to where the only way to get Panzer Grey is in a rattle can. How am I supposed to use my new airbrush and compressor with that!!!

Rant Off!!!

You are a lucky man Dave (GOM)
I have a few LHS around the area, about 1 to a town, where I live you have to travel to get anything. Lots of little small towns divided but miles and miles of nothing. The I go to in Paris TN is mainly trains, they have a few models but trains is there main game. In Murray KY they are into R/C good place to get balsa and Evergreen stuff but again R/C is there thing. In Paducah there is a Hobby Lobby we all know what they have, there are a couple of other small shops around but nothing that makes me drive out of my way for. I've kicked around the idea of opening one ... but I'd have to research the market. Long as I made enough to live I'd be happy.

Dave

Well my LHS is only a 20 min ride. They have just about everthing execpt for aftermarket decals, reain and PE. I don't understand why, i had asked there reply was "not much intrest". Can't see that happening. There are many kits rolling out the door everytime i'm there. I asked a few of the costumers about this and they feel the same. So any aftermarket items that i need will have to be ordered the the net.

Not sure if its the Nintendos or the big box stores but we're down to one LHS in my town and their prices are insane, I beat them by 1/2 including shipping, through online services. I do buy my paints there and keep checking their prices but to no end. I really miss the lhs of the "old days" , gruby little shops that seemed to have everything as long as the owner could find it. They would sit and gab with customers for hrs, not so now adays "time is money" they don't bring in anything that may not sell in a week. I guess that's the way of the world, good old days are long gone!

Cheers
Slug

My nearest LHS, Pioneer Valley Hobbies, (3 minute drive) carries a good selectio of current product, but does not handle aftermarket to speak of. They'll order anything from the VLS distributor catalogue, no S&H, and 10% off for the club discount. Excellent supply of scratchbuilding material and several lines of paint. Next is a wargame place that has some Vallejo paints. Moving down I-91, there's Craftec (20 minutes) . Super selection, good aircraft aftermarket and decals, some armor aftermarket, very knowlegeable staff, with Jim being an award winning car builder. Further down is War in Pieces (45 minutes) . Lots of aftermarket, modified Vallejo line. Heading east a ways is Spare Time, (90 minites) with a super selection of decals, paints and aftermarket, with a virtual libary of references. Further still is Hobby Bunker (hour and 45 or so) , the closest significant figure dealer.

Well I must admit its not to bad here in Pa... near allentown/reading area...

got 1 hobbytown usa near reading about 15 miles away. and another (my primary place to shop and unfortunely they know me by name there) 15 miles over in allentown... carry all the new kits and a very good selection of paints and tools.. (modelmaster is my brand)..

in Downtown reading we have Iron horse hobby's a mom and pop type store. lots of stock mostly older kits with newer ones now and then. well stocked nice store...

over in allentown we have 1 small hobby shop serving the "minority communtity" (pardon my language) about all they carry is models of Caddy's and Low riders.....(seriously i'm not kidding)... and another mom and pop type store that has quite a lot of stock of older stuff but more focused on model railroading..

and just past allentown in easton is the Mecca of old kits.. a store just crammed with model kits kept in no apparent order whatsoever.. Lots of old kits and if you really dig you can find bargins.. as they never seem to keep up to date with their price tags...

so I guess i'm in modeling mecca also....

We have 1 Hobby Town USA in the area. It's a 45 min. drive and way off the main shopping areas but they carry a good selection of kits of all types as well as after market stuff . HT has abroad slice of hobby stuff, models to R/C to trains and miniature doll house items. They even have a slotcar track! :-)
I do order alot of stuff online, it's not always practical to come down the mountain for hobby runs
The HTUSA is the ONLY hobby shop in our area!
Cheers!

Howdy fellas,

My LHS is Colpar Hobbies in Aurora, Co. I've known the guys there for quite a few years and I am considered a 'regular'.
I've ordered stuff from them in the past with completely unpredictible results. Sometimes I get it, and sometimes I don't. I try to support my LHS by purchasing there instead of the Internet, but to be honest I really don't feel any gratitude for the effort, so my frequency of visiting there has waned considerably of late.
My latest complaint (and something I still don't understand) is that they NEVER got any of the new Dragon M4A1 re-release kits. And even more surprising than that was the fact that when I asked them about the kit, they had NO idea what the heck I was talking about!?! You would think that if your business, the thing you do for at least 8 hours a day, is models and model kits.....you would at least be up-to-date on new releases.......No?

Tread.

Looks like things are pretty much the same all over. My LHS has a kit section that used to be 1/2 the shop & is getting steadily smaller. They do keep a good selection of newer stuff, I think they are trying, but I think that the big thing at the moment seems to be RC, they have lot of that. They do seem to get old clearance stuff from time to time. They are basically the only game in town. They don't stock any resin or aftermarket bits.
If I want more choice, have to go to London. Advantage, only about an hour away. Disadvantage, that's by motorbike, so I can park when I get there. But can't carry anything too big! Bought a resin kit from them, when I got home some of the smaller pieces were broken, but I couldn't complain as it could have been vibration! Thing is, if I'm buying anything expensive I like to able to look at it first!
Seems to me that looking at the bigger picture, armour & aircraft modellers are in a minority, model railways still strong as always, a lot of people want the more "toy" end, ie something that does something. Not knocking this, only have to look @ 1/16 Tamiya stuff. But it does look as though we lose out. It's not like when I was a kid, everyone was at it. Seems to have consolidated back down to dedicated modeller.
Can't blame the shopkeepers, they are after all trying to run a business, so they stock what sells.

Wow! I must be really lucky to live where I do. My LHS is L&J Hobbies, the owner and I are pretty good friends. Although he doesn't carry much in the way of aftermarket stuff, he usually can get it for me in a day or two, and he gives me a good discount. He carries Tamiya, Dragon/DML, AFV Club, Academy some Mirage stuff, and Revell products. For paints it's the usual Model Masters and Tamiya acrylics, but for airbrushes he has Iwata and Pasche. Best of all for me, the store is about 3 minutes driving time from my house. We also have a Riders chain store, which is good for Evergreen and Woodland Scenics products along with Polly S paints. We also have a Hobby Lobby and a couple of good art stores for things like oil paints, pastels, and good brushes.

".....My LHS has a kit section that used to be 1/2 the shop & is getting steadily smaller......"

My LHS is precisely the same way.....it is being (not so) slowly devoured by R/C stuff......

Tread.

Do you guys think that online stores will slowly overtake local ones? Don't get me wrong, I love walking through a store..but around me it seems like they are disappearing. It also seems like their ability to compete is slowly washing away as well....

Sean

Personally I think this is the way of the future. Big advantage to us is the competition promotes good prices, also selection should be %100 & lots of info for each product. Besides not stimulating the local economy , I like this new way of shopping just means planning alittle farther ahead.

Don't forget to buys shares in a parcel delivery company :-) .

cheers
Bruce

Treadhead isn't Great Model Webstore in Colorado? I bought my Dragon M4A1 kits there. Of course at the time they didn't say pre-order so I had to wait a two months before I got them. I actually pre-ordered at two places hoping that at least one store would be able to fill my order. As expected only one, GMW, came through. Not even my local hobby club sponsor who runs Michigan Discount Models had enough.

ShermiesRule - Great Models is located in Utah.

I think internet shopping does put a little "hurt" on the B&M stores, but I really think that the costs of running a store in today's world are hurting even more. The retail market overall (not just modelling) is moving towards the "big players" (i.e. Walmart, Target, etc.) and the little guys keep getting forced out. For example, numerous local grocery stores keep going under as the Super Walmarts and Super Targets roll into town. How often do you find a small family run grocery store anymore? Or even a small drug store/pharmacy? Everything is associated with a chain, the bigger the better it seems.

As for the hobby, my closest shop is a Hobby Town USA. Not bad, a little pricey, but too much emphasis on R/C. If they do get new releases, they sure disappear fast. There's another shop closer to downtown Pittsburgh, but sometimes the traffic and parking hassle isn't worth it. I find myself ordering more and more things from the internet shops and relying on online feedback and reviews rather than the knowledge of the guy behind the counter.

I find it very interesting that more and more "chain" hobby shops keep appearing - Hobby Lobby, Hobby Town, etc. The bigger these are, the less business the smaller, more involved guy is going to get, especially since these chain stores are very prominently located (usually). The unfortunate side effect is that by the time the new modeler gets to the point of looking for aftermarket stuff and more advanced kits/subjects, the dedicated LHS that we've come to know and love is long gone...

Sounds like Grumpy is the winner, with all he has close to where he lives, and I guess he is right, just about all the good ordering places are up in his area. A lot of us would love to have that selection at hand.

Either that or clear out on the other side of the country, no in-between.
To what I read about most, we seem to have it about the same in most spots, old models, super high prices, and they don't really care if you buy or not, they are selling their other things, models is just a side line for them, if you buy then OK, if not, look out they got other customers. Then a few have a few good places, but not a full line,still a lot of mail service.

But welcome to the computer age, I would be like Tread and like to support my LHS, but it seems they don't want supported, if I order something, I can get it cheaper else where, and way faster to, cause most of the time, they either didn't put the order in, or some excuse, cause they never stock anything I need. I'd fall over if I went in there and found something I could use.

The paints they have none were military when I went there to start with, and I told him how can you sell these armor tanks with no paints. He tried to tell me they didn't use them, now come on no flat paints.

Before I had to order through him cause I had to use cash, and I could wait months, but now that I got a card, 3 days to a week, it is here every time through the computer.

Then they wonder why they go out of business, even simple things like MM paints, I told them to order them in, and I will buy them, and it has been over 3 months and they still won't get them in, and they promised 3 days,so now I'm going to buy else where.
Kerry

My LHS reopened some months ago, but only carries a small amount off model kits. Has a lot of R/C too, and general toys and fishing stuff. He's a 10 minute walk from where I live. I like the way our brothers and sisters across the pond seem to regard a shop which needs a one hour car journey as 'Local'..... :-) I hate to think what you would consider to be ' some distance away'.. :-)


Cheers
Henk