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 !
That pretty much sums it up I think. I'm sure online sales have put a tiny dent in local sales, but nothing to close them down. I'll share two examples in my local area.
Time Machine: located in an old factory. Top floor is all trains. half the floor is boxed train stuff, the other half is a huge train track set up. Open to the public twice a week for a few hours. Main floor is every type of toy you can think of for all ages. The rear 1/4 of the store is RC. Lot's of Horizon BNF stuff, but they stock Hobbico and even look for local vendors and stock their stuff, like RA Cores. They don't have every do dad out there that a RC guy might need, but they will order and get it within a week. They also offer 10% discount for AMA members. The basement used to be used for all types of gamers activity, D&D, Magic the Gathering etc. It was so busy, and so popular, they had to expand, and bought a building next store for the gamers. The place is packed all the time. They have been around since 1999 and going strong.
RC Hobbies and more: Located in a strip mall in booniesville. About an hour from Hartford, in a mixed use commercial area. The store is packed every time I'm there. This place does have every do dad out there for almost every type of RC. Rockets, Cub scout stuff, board games, and metal detecting stuff is big there too. Does all types of repairs and builds too. Has an ever changing selection of consignment planes and trucks for sale. Will host birthday parties in the store and builds an indoor race track for RC cars for the kids to play with. Next door to his place is a huge field where he has built two dirt tracks for RC cars. The place is jammed constantly. The owner and his employees write articles for different RC mags, are members of multiple clubs in the state, and give generously to them in terms of event donations. Oh, he'll match any online price as well, including Tower's discounts.
There have been at least 3 shops I can think of that have closed recently, one just this month. All 3 for reasons that had nothing to do with online vendors.
Let's be honest too....this anti HK crusade really isn't about helping new folks to the hobby. One only has to look at the venomous comments constantly repeated by the same people, usually in the form of personal attacks, to see that altruism isn't the goal. It's really a vendetta against one company, and some folks have who have good dealings with them. The chances that brand new people to the hobby are coming here, or to any other RC site to see if they should use HK are slim and none.