On my latest trip to HobbyTown USA....
 

I was pleasantly surprised! Usually each trip cost me the better part of $100.00 or more. All the little collars, screws and such add up fast. But this time my total was only $38.77. I didn`t get too many items this time, but I noticed a gallon of fuel had gone down to $15.29, and all the other stuff had been discounted pretty good.
Weird, when I think the latest trip will be the last `cause there is hardly any thing left in stock, the next time the pegs are all brimming with stuff. Sometimes I`m tempted to just come out and ask "Hey, are you guys going out of business?", but I won`t do that.
Hopefully the store will not be shuttered one day on a trip. It`s an hours drive, but part of a huge retail complex where there is always some other kind of store or eatery to check out. On the occasional special trip I might call ahead.

Lucky you,, our local HT suffered a long slow death,,, I finally stopped driving the 20 miles to get there just to see the empty shelves

Yes it appears the days of the hobby shop is numbered, expect to see more toys and cars on the shelves as the owners try to survive in an environment were it's dog eat dog. the profits seem to be divided by the manufacture and distributors that force the store owners to purchase things that don't sell so they sit on the shelves and collect dust. I believe the the shops survival will depend on a collaboration were the distributor buys back items that don't sell in six months or so and replaces these items with items of equal value to the store.

I long for the days when the hobby shop was the place to be, the smell alone was calming, the employees knew what they were talking about, and what you needed was on the shelves, advice and a feeling of belonging prevailed.
Yes, time has brought on changes but the future as I see it is gloomy, Greed, indifference, and a me, me, me I want it now attitude while texting as your fellow models are ignored by you (and vice versa) seems to isolate us all. It feels like we are being conquered by the the divide method only to look up from your computers and realize we ain't in Kansas anymore and all alone. not that it would be known where Kansas is on the map anyway.

I'm in Nebraska. I know where Kansas is. I even know where Liberal, Kansas (Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz's hometown) is.
As for looking up from the computer in a state of astonishment:

Holy mackerel! I had forgotten about that. It looks like mankind's future and speaks volumes but is anyone really paying attention? other than being entertained? Does anyone really even care?

We have an "Almost Hobby Town" over in Fresno. Same thing... it's quite a dwindling store. I don't even drive the 8 miles to it, as it's rare they have anything I'm looking for. When I do go, it's for something specific on the slight chance they might have it. Calling ahead does no good. Nobody knows a thing about RC planes... and they've given misinformation on the phone over the years due to just that.

I remember those kind of hobby shops that are mentioned above though... oh yeah. There was one here in Clovis back in the 80's that had a round table near the back area, and a pot of coffee going most of the time... free to all customers.. I'd just go in there to kill time and shoot the breeze with fellow modelers and talk about projects over a cup of coffee... and spend money every trip.
Made friends and learned alot there. The gentleman finally shut it down, not because of lack of business, he just wanted the space to do other things in life... as he owned the building... still does apparently... but he's got to be in his early 80's by now.

I just heard 2 things on the news this morning that gave me pause and go along with Flyboys dystopia video. One is Apples foray into warning people about being on their phone too long, the other is more and more states signing on to letting parents putting an X next to their child gender box on the birth certificate.
Asexual humanoid beings staring at a screen all day programming robots. Sheesh! Wall-E has a heart where all of us are losing ours.
Oh well, I`ll keep making the trip to HTUSA till they close up shop or I do.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d45f7a3177.png

Says it all.

How many people out there in lala land that ever went into a Hobby Shack Store in Southern California? I lived in San Diego back in the 80's for a bit and I was so amazed at how much airplane stuff they actually had at the time and Yes they are gone now. Its a real shame because they where the first Big Box RC store in my book.Their catalog was so cool at the time and I bought my one only ARF, A purple Pilot 1/2a from them in 1977. I went to the original Hobby Town once in Lincoln Nebraska in 1978 and bought some model airplane covering from them. The store was so small and packed to the ceilings with merchandise. It was so hard to find what you where looking for. Hobby shops are dieing and this hobby is suffering big time.
Michael

Not so lucky me anymore. I just called the number and it`s been disconnected. R.I.P. HobbyTown USA in Chattanooga, TN, I guess. I`ll have to look around for any more places within driving distance.
Which leads me to ponder about what most of us have probably realized long ago. Since computers,video games and cells phones have become the norm, not just hobbies, but the word itself will eventually fade into distant memory.

I'm lucky Propshop Hobbies Warren Michigan. Even though I live across from Detroit in Canada its well worth the trip. As far as I know he even does mail order. To bad the web site isn't more intuitive though.

Prop Shop Hobbies, Inc.

Looks first rate to me. They seem to have just about everything. Mail order looks like a breeze.

Amazing,Wish I had one of those near by