Do you feel hobby stores which may be large, clean, and orderly have more knowledgeable employees than stores which look like a combination of several "garages" all moved into a small strip mall of a hole?

Give me the one that look's like the garage as it is proably ran by someone who has been there for a while. plus you never know what you might find stuck back somewhere. only ARF's in that fancy new store [:'(]

Yea, the places that look like a rat warren will have all sorts of stuff squirreled away that's made out of unobtanium these days.

I'll take the garage any day. If they have glow fuel oil on their pants then you know they fly. If the store looks like a modeler's shop (cluttered, unorganized, messy) its gotta be good.

I have to admit...the "garage" would, given no other info, be my first choice.

But I've found GREAT people and real duds in both types.

A combination of garages, you have to see Graves Hobby Shop http://www.gravesrc.com/aboutus.asp in Orlando Florida. If he doesn't have it you don't need it.

If you're ever in the Ft. Worth- Dallas area, Stop by here http://home.flash.net/~malhobby/MALkits.html They still cut their own balsa wood. Jim

Have seen 'em both ways. I'm usually much more confident of the knowledge of the sales staff in the garage type though. I can Give one execption though. The shop is in the Des Moines Ia. area, is in a strip mall, Very new, clean and well ordered, and somehow still has a knowledgeable staff. Not only did they not give me the quizzical "Dog hearing a new noise" look when I asked for T-Rex parts,, they actually had someone there who flew a T-Rex. Wish i could remember the name of that place.

Sounds familiar, Darkbird. My LHS, PAC RC, is in a little strip mall....when you walk in, everything is ordered, neatly hung on pegs or arranged on shelves...very tidy and well kept...and the owners, Mike and Maureen Dunphy, are two of the greatest folks you'll ever meet, and their knowledge and experience in every aspect of this hobby is light years beyond any store I've ever visited.

We have two in our area. Both are in 'strip mall' areas. Both are knowledgeable. One has a great stock of RC stuff, especially aircraft and associated equipment, the other does not have a good selection of RC stuff. So, my answer was 'sometimes' for that reason.

Just about all of the large hobby stores, with RC products, that i've been to, seems that the people behind the counter know absolutely nothing about the products they sell.

Agreed...wander into a chain store or something of that ilk, and chances are pretty good they don't know a whole lot about any specific item or field. Now, I must admit, there's a HobbyTown not far away whose owner is an avid RC airplane and car guy, so he's pretty sharp....beyond that, however, it's slim pickings.

This makes me fell better. My front half is half-way neat, but back in my shop I can loose a ball driver in my back pocket. The coffee pot is on in the morning and there's always cokes in the refg for lunch. Dennis

Chain stores don't typically pay thier employees enough to allow them to participate in the hobbies they are dealing with. Unless said employees have another source of income or still live with mom and dad, they seem to usually have one car or one plane and limited knowledge. Often, it seems, it is merely a summer or colledge job and interest will likely wane. It doesn't help that the employee discount at most any business anymore doesn't amount to much.
BTW DadsToysBG, I've been in your store and you could lose that ball driver almost anywhere. Still a great store though, and had some really good deals on some things when I was there(broke, of course)

I did say half-way. If it was completely clean i won't know where stuff is. Dennis