I dont want to turn this into a "Local hobby shop bash " but lets go there.
I have the luxuary of traveling the USA in my real line of work and I am not drinker so my free time is spent ( when on the road ) looking and visiting and shopping local shops.
With the exception of one in Allentown Pa, The florida Marklet , Minn, Texas ( Dallas) 1 in SanAntonio , 1 in southern Cal, one in Seattle, a few in Michigan , ILL, St Louis , Columbus , North Carolina there are very few good shops around .
My two favorite in MN are Hobby Warehouse and Big Sky hobbies , they get it , they carry imports, they are located with used eye candy for sale hanging from the ceiling, the help /owners are great and cost are great .
When you see a hobby shop that ia barron and "we can order that " well thats great because so can I .
Our hobby suffers from new people getting into the hobby becaue they cant stumble into a well stocked fun store.
MOst of the Hobby Towns ( most ) not all are not owned by RC people more owned by people who are train or craft oriented and carry RC as an afterthought .
I have seen some shops that have great locations with low rent opportunities miss the boat completley because some people simply cant run a business its that simple . The hobby shop industry is not hurting from virtual sales shops , its hurting from inexperienced business owners who dont know how to add accesories , after market hop ups, fun scale parts, and so many other things to add sales .
Have you ever gone into a Hobby shop and seen or been suggested or led to buy a plane and a scale reffernace Squadren Signal book on the very same Plane ?
Have you ever gone into a shop that is an old warehouse with great space that is barren but could easily carry used planes , cars , boats on consignment that when sold the revenue earned must be spent in the shop ? These are things I have seen in the good shops and tried to help the struggeling shops but they dont want help , they want to complaine on how there busines is just ok .
Local shops suffer because of inexperienced business owners #1 reason , not virtual shops !