Thoughts?

Havent been to either of these stores. Id like to hear about others opinions of these stores.

hopefully military hobbies will keep there prices, i paid northstar a visit on there site and i see a few bucks difference between the two. and i hope il be able to order cod and hopefully military hobbies will have different brands of paints for sale.

Frank

I agree 100% with you Francois. Military Hobbies really needs to widen their choices in paints. I think they only carry one brand of paint.

Ive been to both stores.. Military Hobbies is a smallish store, seeing that most of his business is done online.. But a good bunch of guys in there.. Know their stuff... Northstar is bigger, more stuff on the shelves, a typical hobby shop.... I hope the merger goes well.. Military Hobbies brings to the plate, an established online business.. Northstar brings a bigger and well established store, with some serious experiance.. just my thoughts..

Dave

I wrote the Military Hobbies guy about the prices, and he told me to fear not.

I hope he's right!

O another thing i could point out...They could use more aftermarket parts. Hopefully the merge will enable them to do so.

Can anyone tell me how to order paints from northstar hobbies? when a look at there site i did have a choice of colors. one last thing, would ordering c.o.d be available from them also?

Frank

Hi as I heard the story , the old military hobbies store in Markham is closed and the whole works moved to North Star in the west end of Toronto.

I've been to both and bought from both (too much if you ask my wife )
Dave at Military Hobby has a background in IT and that was why he could concentrate on on-line sales. His stock was, as the name implys, military stuff with lots of plastic kits and 1/6 action figures.
Sheldon at Northstar was a bit more general with a good stock of trains and diecast cars as well as excellent stock of plastics kits and assessories.
I think the game plan is to get a stronger online presence through Military Hobbies background for more products from Northstar.
I would be suprised if we do not see a larger and more varied selection on-line in the future. Keep in mind that this more only happened a little while ago.
I always loved to go in and just see what catches my eye that day. Thats just the way I shop so its kinda sad to see another "brick and morter' shop go but for those not in the Toronto area, this is going to be a bonus.
Comments on prices aside, I think a "wait and see" is in order.

Was just in the store this week for the first time. Never seen such a large selection of paints in one place...

You can't judge what they have based on their website(s). If you want something particular I'd suggest emailing them and asking..


Martyn D

I have noticed that the website isn't updated as much as before. The "Whats New" section seemed to be updated every other day or so. Now it seems to a week or so before anything new is listed.

It was something I always looked forward to checking everyday.

The store itself is amazing. I just wish we had one like it closer to Barrie.

I second that..


Dave

Wouldn't it be nice if it was!!!!

Darryl

As my family discovered at Christmas time, the lack of website updates at Northstar are a problem.

They ordered the Revell 1/72 type VII for me as a gift, which the website still indicates as being in stock, though I was there last week and they still don't have any.

I know of several other stores with the sub in stock, so if it istn't shipped to me by mid week we will be cancelling the order and I will pick it up elsewhere.


Martyn

Yeah thats a big pet peeve of mine when it comes to ordering things online. Military Hobbies was pretty good when it came to keeping track of stuff in stock. Not perfect but pretty good overall IMO. Since the merger I have ordered a couple things that turned out to be not in stock when the web site said they were.

I can imagine that its not easy to do a merger like this but I hope they get it sorted out. I will throw alot of business their way if they can. Beats driving to the city.

Squadron is great this way. You know whats in stock right away and I have never had a problem when ordering anything. Of course they are a main order only kind of place so I guess its different then a normal Hobby Shop.

Cancelled my order. Northstar was very good about it. Hornet has them on the shelf so I will pick one up there this weekend (and save the shipping costs to boot)

With the exception of the online ordering Northstar has treated me well whenever I have visited the store, luckily I work 5 mins up the road. I picked up some Fruil tracks for a PZ III I am building, I didn't know which to get, there are 1/2 doz or more listed by Fruil for the PZ III. Of course I got the wrong ones (though the salesman chose for me) I was able to return them for the right ones with no problem at all. I will shop there again, but Hornet will be my first choice because Dave (the owner I think) always has time to chat and offer advice, I look forward to my Saturday morning visits to the store.

Next time you are looking for something give Hornet Hobbies a try, they don't have online ordering but I am sure they can do something via email and their prices are very competitive.

http://www.hornethobbies.supersites.ca/door/

Martyn

Hornet & Northstar are both great shops, whenever I'm in TO I make a point to drop by them both.

Did Dave at Hornet Hobbies show you the set up he has down stairs? I love the booth!! Dave always makes you feel welcome and my wife loves the fact that he has his dog in the store (we breed golden retrievers blackpoolkennels.com), and since our daughter is at U of T Scarborough I have lots of good reasons to pop in often.

Darryl

Yes I have been downstairs a few times, nice little area he has down there. I hope to attend some of their seminars coming up too. Dave is going to do a group build (Tamiya Panther) starting in March I am going to join in on. Kit, all the paints and store discounts for length of the build (8 weeks) get together every 2 weeks to learn techniques etc all for a good price.
Only just got into the hobby again after 15 yrs a couple months ago, and Dave has been a very big help.


Martyn