RE: The demise of the local hobby shop, another one bites the dust
The main reason hobby shops, particularly those that deal in mostly, if not all RC aircraft products, are going the way of the Dodo bird, is there simply aren't enough folks in the hobby/sport. The more hobby shops that go out of business, the more business mail-order will get. Then there are those who see they may save a penny (or dollar) or two by buying mail-order and can't figure out why their LHS closed. Then they have no choice but to buy from Towers or Horizon.
BTW, speaking of Horizon, I run a small hobby shop and tried to get Horizon's account. They told me I would have to buy $15,000 worth of products from them and GUARANTEE $500 of monthly sales to get their dealer account. Guess I won't be dealing in Horizon products. lol Locally, 3 hobby shops that dealt in Horizon products recently went out of business.
Like I said, I run a small hobby shop and recently, a new customer came in and commented on how small my shop is. I said, "I guess I should be as big as the local HobbyTown USA". Then went on to inform him that the very large local HobbyTown USA recently went out of business.
With apologies to Smokey the Bear, The hobby shop you save, might be your own. lol Or, SUPPORT YOU LOCAL HOBBY SHOP SO IT WILL BE THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT. Of course that won't mean much to the penny pinchers in the hobby. I do give them some slack as that the public isn't aware of the abysmal (10%) profit margin all hobby shop owners have to deal with. That, and the fact the tiny, tiny, customer base in the US, as compared to the 320,000,000 population. It's a wonder that there are any LHS's still in existence. I love the customer who comes in with their Tower's catalogue and demands that I match or better Tower's prices. Towers/Great Planes/Hobbico is my supplier and my competition. If I dare charge more than my supplier/competiton, I'm accused of "ripping off" customers. I'm just lucky that I don't have to make a living in this business. lol
fliers1