Some drug stores carry model kits. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, one can get some good deals because the store employees didn't know the retail prices of kits. If a Tamiya M1 sold for $30 online, they'll price it $15 because there was no pricing reference and the Net was still young.

Nowadays, the drug stores still don't know how much kits cost, but instead of pricing cheaper, some kits have prices through the roof!

I just saw a dented and battered box of an AMT Star Wars "Virago" kit. MSRP of this kit is around $20. Online the kit costs $14-$16. One can get it on eBay for around $10-$12 if lucky. And what does the drug store price it at? $46!!! :-)

Whoever buys that kit...

Most times these drug stores don't have a supply vendor for kits. So to correct the pricing doesn't mean the kit will be replaced if sold, meaning who knows how much the drug store paid for that kit to sell.

On the reverse side-yesterday I picked up the Tamiya Leopard for 10 bucks on the clearance rack at the drug store. :-)

There's an old time department/discount store near here that has a bunch of the old sci-fi kits for $20. They have the Babylon 5 station, Lost in Space movie robot, and a bunch of the Star Trek Voyager Kazon Torpedo kits.

They've also got the Naboo fighter and Droid fighters from The Phantom Menace for $7. I remember buying a bunch of these for $2-3 bucks at the PX at Ft. Dix because they were clogging the toy aisle (which was also the lawn/garden shop in spring time.

On the flip side, people say that Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Big Lots, and those discount stores sell kits consciously for dirt-cheap prices. The only quirk is that each store carries different model kit stock, *if* they carry model kits at all. Just don't go to them looking for a specific kit like an AFV or plane because chances are they won't carry them.

I saw a Wal-Mart sell 1/25 AMT clear plastic car display boxes for $5 retail price. Normal LHS price is $13.

KB Toys also consciously sells model kits for dirt-cheap. Some modelers claim to have found AMT Trek and Star Wars sci-fi kits there. I haven't, but I can say KB's prices are super-cheap. I found 1/32 and 1/48 Kitech plane and ship kits for $8 and AMT 1/24 Monster Truck kits with paint and glue included for $5...buy a second 1/24 truck kit for 50% off = $2.50! One almost can't get a tube of glue for $2.50!

These discount stores are great places to go for sci-fi kitbashing fodder...

I found them at a KB outlet store in an outlet strip mall near Six Flags in NJ. Back then there were all sorts of large boxed sci-fi kits (Trek, Star Wars, Lost in space, etc.) for $3.99-5.99 as well as some of the big Revell-Monogram aircraft kits. It's been a few years, but I know they still pop up in the Big Lots stores from time to time. I found most of the AMT/Ertl Batman movie reissue kits for $2.99.