Hobby shops are no longer hobby shops
 

Its frustrating trying to support local hobby shops. If you are shopping for a car, quad or ARF you are set.. If you are building something out of balsa wood and glue, good luck. A few Dubro wheels but the wrong size, no hinges, I think we have kwik links. About ten sheets of crappy balsa. No 3/16 ply. I understand that the local hobby shops struggle to eke out a profit and I know scratch building is a lost art. The owners of the shops are really nice people and they aren't getting rich, maybe not even breaking even some months. The hobby shop has to stock their shelves with items that turn over frequently so cars and quads are the current money makers. Back in the 70's it was fun to go to the hobby shop just to look at the kits, engines and used planes for sale. I will still go to the local shops for stuff I need but it just isn't fun anymore. I guess I am officially a grumpy old man !

A friend of mine from high school (we graduated in '75) just got back into the hobby after a nearly 40 year absence. We flew R/C together and he enjoyed building rubber powered F/F (stick and tissue models) which were amazing. He sent me an email last week after visiting a local hobby shop. His comment 'where are the kits and building supplies?'. Thank goodness for the internet, but the days of 'browsing' at the hobby shop have changed forever. :(
I spent two summers in college working at my favorite hobby shop... I understand the need to make a living, but I sure miss the 'good old days'.
Not a grumpy old man, just nostalgic! I 'shop' on ebay when I want to find a kit.

Something our kids will never experience. Dang.

I think we should bring back the 'builder of the model' rule for contests.
If that happened I might be able to win another contest!

+1
I'd like to see BOM rules like control line stunt with points for quality of finish and a Concours d'elegance trophy for best finish

Is there really not any hobby shop that still have piles of balsa and all the "accessories" that is needed?
Maybe AMA should build up part of a good old hobby shop at their museum before it fade away completely?
When You see interior from old hobby shops in some of the old catalogs one really understand how fun it must have been to enter such shop and just watch all the things there. I'm sure I would have been able to spend a whole day back in the days in such shop (and probably today also if they where not all gone). Some of the larger hobby shops in my country had very big display windows and large store area and they must have sold much (probably rather much on mail order) since some of them had location in the city center (today probably not possible because very high rental cost). In my town when I was Young it was a combined toy store and hobby store. I bought my first control line plane there with a DC Sabre 1.5 cc diesel angine (when I was 10 years old). I managed to build it and fly it (but I was very dizzy after the first flight I remember). When I started to build and fly RC some years later I was member in a RC club and then we had to buy almost everything by mail order since our local "hobby shop" did not have any RC related things really.

/Bo

The LHS in my area has always catered to builders. If they don't have exactly what's needed they order it and have it in a few days. These shops are still out there.

Hey Bem ,
The AMA Museum really does have a Real Vintage looking Hobby Shop for display . So you can show your kids ,Grand kids ,how it used to be before the Internet took them away .....
Steve

In the St. Louis area there is Mark Twain Hobby in St. Charles, MO, west of the Missouri River along I-70, it's a good shop with a lot of building stuff.
Smith Brothers Hobby in Northridge, Ca just north of the Sepulveda Basin flying field in the Los Angeles area is a good one too.
Chris...

I know in the 80's builder of the model rule did not apply.. I Have all the AMA rule books and just looked in 80-81 and it stated did not apply... That was one cool thing about pylon your plane finish was judged.

But your right most hobby shops have turned into junk stores with stuffed animals and other none hobby items.

We lost probably the Largest retail Hobby Shop in Texas and possibly the entire southwest recently . Highway expansion was going to take half the building .With time and a legal Battle ,Mike's Hobby Shop in Dallas Texas finally closed with a settlement to relocate . Where and when is still in the works .Mike Darnell has moved several times over the years ,usually to expand the shop ,but this time DOT was the cause.

When I was a little kid in the 60s my Dad would take me with him to the local hobby shop to pick up control line supplies. I distinctly remember 3 things about that place; The smell of castor oil, the smell of butyrate dope, and the size of the planes hanging from the ceiling. Some of them were huge!

Carl

Fortunately, we still have two hobby shops in our area, Wild Bills, and Roy's. HobbyTown USA in Arlington and Fort Worth are toy stores and doesn't really carry much RC inventory. When it comes to donating to RC events in the area, Wild Bills and Roy's always supports the cause.

Frank

Roys is going all electric .

Why do people spread these kinds of RUMORS?? I have spoken with the owner of Roy's and he states that this information is TOTALLY FALSE.

These "SELF PROCLAIMED EXPERTS" are people that wants everyone to think they are the one IN THE KNOW! Many people come to this forum to get information and answers to their questions, but with people like this, they don't know if they are getting TRUTH OR FICTION.

If you don't know what you are talking about, you really need to keep your information to yourself until you get the facts.

Frank

flywilly

I realize the remark "thank goodness for the internet" was in good faith, but I believe it's the internet that is the biggest reason for the demise of the Local Hobby Shop. There's no way brick and mortar shops could stock the inventory and leave it on the shelves like the large distributors and maintain profits. Why would one go to a Hobby Shop and order something when it's coming from the same distributor that you can buy from online and ship it to your doorstep in the same time? A friend of mine owned a large shop and said a lot of people would browse the inventory at his shop and go home a order it online for less than he could sell it for. It's all about volumes and margins.

I live in an area of suburban Chicago where between mine and the neighboring suburbs have 500,000 residents and the nearest large hobby shop is 35 miles away. My Dad had a shop back in the day and I long for the nostalgia as you describe. Looking at the new kits, unrolling the plans, marveling at engines and new radios, even a train section. Bottom line, people don't build like they used to. ARF's purchased online are impacting the hobby shop materials being stocked. The next thing to go will be building materials as we remember. There used to be dozens of paint suppliers. Now there are a handful and I've never been to a shop that has it in inventory.

I'm afraid the steady decline is ongoing and will continue.

Bill

Frank that is what one of the employees at Roys told me you got it you self-proclaimed expert.

Hi Bill,
The internet has been a big factor, but you can't discount the effect of the 'big' players and their multipage ads full of discounted kits, radios and engines which started years before the internet appeared. Hobby shops have a limited amount of space to display their goodies and they want to make sales. The big, colorful ARF boxes with their finished contents have become very appealing. I fly pattern airplanes almost exclusively (classic to modern) and there just isn't enough demand/ interest to justify stocking those items. Current pattern kit producers (both wood and glass/foam) only produce kits on a pay-in-advance basis. F/F and U/C supplies are in the same category.
I try to support the local hobby shop(s) whenever possible, but I'm afraid your assessment about their decline is accurate.

You should have gone to the boss before you spread gossip. These kinds of substantiated rumors can cause problems where there was no problem before.

And for your information, I am no SELF PROCLAIMED EXPERT. I have never said I was an expert. And I don't spread false rumors.

You opened your mouth, you were proved wrong, now just apologized for spreading false information OR take your toys and go home.

Frank

Most all hobby shops are toy stores now.. Buyers now want out of the box ready to play toys.. no building skills needed.. Flat wood building is something that most people don't get.. there is great reward in cutting, gluing and sanding to build a beauty that flies.. Craftsmanship is slipping away..

Some people paint scale models in fantasy schemes that make other people that have very advanced painting skills retch. Should I diss someone that builds a kit and paints it blue with "invasion stripes" because I built mine from plans I drew myself, and then painted all of it with stencils I drew myself? I don't think so, live and let live.
Chris...

I was a youngster in the '60's, and have fond memories of riding my bike 5 miles to Larrys Hobby Shop on Jericho Turnpike in N.Y. I drooled on the counters at the shiny Enya .45's, huge .61 engines, and the criminally expensive Kraft "full house" radios. The smell of balsa and Ambroid glue wafted from the building room in the back. If I could go back in time, I would leave all my modern electronics to live the simple life. Today's youth has no idea what they missed out on.

P.S. I was an electronics geek back then, and lived at Radio Shack. It also is going the way of the Hobby shops.

Well Frank, I'm glad you pointed that out that Roys is not going totally electric. Might be Roys needs to talk to their employees. Because that's what we have employees far, is to help the customers. So form now on anytime you buy something at Hobby Shop you better talk to the boss . Are Frank the cop will be there to tell you you're wrong. Thank you Frank

PS I like Electric.

I can't comment on the current state of hobby shops as I have been out of the hobby now for about 15 years. My father owned a shop in the 80's and the early 90's here in the Chicago area, he was a builder and maintained a large selecting of wood and building supplies. He was even building planes for people right there in the shop, he called it his trainer special. It consisted of a built Sig Kadet, engine, radio and all the supplies needed to start the hobby.

There were several good shops in the area here outside of my fathers. There was Al's hobbies in Elmhurst, this place was meca for me after my father closed. They had everything there. I know that Al has passed but I believe the kids are running it now. I haven't been there in a long time but I am sure it has not changed much.

cllaurit,

Sorry to be bearer of bad news. Al's closed last year May 2014. Venture Hobbies in Buffalo Grove was also a great shop and closed 2 years prior.

There is nowhere I can go to pick up odds and ends while I'm building or something I might be missing to go flying like a prop or a gallon of fuel. You know, crazy out of this world accessories.

Remember sorting through the balsa, spruce or basswood to find the straightest lightest piece. Or browsing the wall of Dubro, Goldberg or Klett accessories. And my favorite, looking through the KS brass and aluminum sheets, rods, and tubes and the same for Plastruct parts I needed to detail a cockpit.

I now buy it all "on the line" from Tower or Horizon where if I need a 1/4 by 3/8 balsa strip I have to buy quantity 15. The good news is I get to sort through it in the comfort of my own home. The bad news, well anyone need 14 pieces of 1/4 x 3/8 balsa?

I'm not sure what the problem really is. There are some reading this thinking "whoop do", buy it online, it's a fact of life now. Yep, I guess I'm just getting nostalgic for the Hobby Shop culture. Guys hanging out, each one of them willing to help anyone and all of them with an opinion. How about the Christmas open house? The place was packed with customers. Not sure if it was the holiday specials or the free cookies.

I used to go to the Hobby Shop on rainy Sundays and spend hours looking at every thing. I was in my 30's. My future wife would go along and act interested. I just miss Hobby Shops.

Bill