winship

Most hobby shops cater to the beginner which is great. All hobby shops need to carry the main lines of ARF airplanes for the person who is getting into the hobby without building time but need to stock products that cater to the builder. Walk into a Hobby Town and ask someone how to use silkspan and dope on a sheeted scale model such as a Zirolli and they probably will not know what you are talking about.

I visited Diamond (spelling?) hobby in Oshkosh WI which catered to electric R/C almost exclusively. It was a nice change since they carried the full line of electric equipment and stocked stuff that is not normally found in the chain shops. I do not fly electric but know where to go if I need that type of product.

I like hobby shops that carry the full line of product. If you are going to carry Sig dope carry the full line and not just one or two cans. Same goes for hardware and radios. If you sell JR sell all of the servos and support equipment.

There are many cottage industries out there selling specialty parts for different types of airplanes and I believe that it is hard to sell some of this stuff in large enough quantities to justify stocking it. Mail order or Internet sales will help move some of this specialty product and still keep it on the shelf for the local people.

For a shop (brick and mortar) to thrive I believe that it will have to utilize mail order sales and web site sales and carry unique products along with the entry level products.