ORIGINAL: weathervane
There is a Hobby Town U S A not to far from here. There prices are not to bad on some things. BUT the people working behind the counter are any thing but helpfull. If you are not in ther little in group, you will not be helped. I saw a guy knock on the door go in and get a bunch of stuf, meanwhile 4-5 people are waiting outside for them to open.
I would be more than happy to support my LHS if they would just learn some coustomer service.
This is really too bad. I have only dealt with two HobbyTown USA shops, the new one right here in Tracy, Ca & another one last year up in Chico, Ca. They both give me excellent service, or at least they try to. I must admit that the new one here in town doesn't have all that much knowledge about planes but at least they are freindly & willing to learn. Whenever I come in & one of the two owners or their wives are there they allways play 30 questions with me. Mostly trying to find out the kind of things I would like to see them stock on a regular basis because they know I am a local plane guy.
They also try to get involved with our club functions & I think they will be supporting the club to some degree at our raffles & thinga like that. I know they have already invited all of our membership to customer appreciations days that they have had with free food & drinks & $5 off coupons. Things like this are not a huge deal but at least they are making an effort to get involved & to get to know us which I think is good business. It's working too. I rarely walk in there now without running into someone I know. Usually one of our own club members.
The store up in Chico showed me a way to save some money on my fuel when I was up there. I went to the counter with some name brand fuel that was close to $20 a gallon & he tells me, " hey let me save you some money" then he walks me back to the fuel & shows me this stuff for $11 a gallon with the same oil & nitro content. I told him I saw that stuff but didn't know if it was any good. He assured me it was. Told me some local boys were making this stuff & that it was all that the local club in Chico uses. So I saved the money & tried the fuel. True to his word this fuel was as good as anything I've ever used. Fact now that I think of it, I need to make a run back up there & stock up on that good fuel for cheap.
The point is I think these HobbyTown USA stores are generally pretty good. They are franchises so I guess it kind of boils down to the attitudes of the people that buy them. Both of my experiences have been good. I would not let one bad store turn me off to all of them. I know for a fact some are run by good people.