Dirtnaper

My Feedback: (11)

There is not really a forum for this but its a good question.

Its been years since I was in on the retail side of the industry but I still have some friends that are. I guess some are cutting it extremely tight every month. There seems to be quite a few people out flying and this "should" be a very lucrative time of year. However its not panning out.

Other shops experiencing the same slow down?

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

The LHS is still there but I notice he has let some of the inventory sell down. It appears to me that things are very slow for him. He has no engines or big ARFs since back in the summer. Only a few foamies. He has built up inventory in other hobby areas not of interest to anyone on RCU

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

What I see, locally, is a lot of RC car inventory, and not so much on the building or flying side.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

Ram Jet

If my local hobby shop proprietor is financially failing, he deserves to. I've been going there for the past four years and every year his inventory gets leaner and leaner. This is the same guy who moans and grans about customers turning to the internet for their hobby needs. Three years ago I asked him to order some Hobby Lobby aileron covers. They have not arrived yet. Two years ago I asked him to order some Testors enamel. Week after week "distributor problem". I finally said that I would order directly from Testors and that he did not have to worry about it. He blew up! He said I couldn't order directly from them. I said I could. He fumed about the $1,200.00 he had to spend on their display rack. Oh, well. If I had the money I'd like to buy him out. The nearest shop to me and others is one to two hours away. I only stop by if I'm going by the shop snyway. He's closed on Sunday - idiot! The average hobbiest has 5 days plus in their work week and has to weave his hobby in and around family, children and sleep. Close Monday moron and be open Saturday and Sunday. The owner is a very nice guy and so is the Pope but neither are an asset to me in my pursuit of my hobby. This is my situation. Another problem is our children. All they want to do is open a bag of potato chips, push buttons on a computer game or on the TV remote. They do not have the desire to convert a box of plastic parts or sticks of balsa into something to admire and learn skills and the ability to creat something with their own hands. I dare any of you to go to Wal Mart anywhere in this country and find Testors glue, plastic kits, paint brushes or model spray paint. You could two years ago. I feel sorry for anyone trying to make a living selling retail hobby products. Their market is disappearing and only the ones that are willing to work hard, work smart and give a damn about customer satisfaction and loyalty will survive and they won't get rich doing it.

Hurry, visit your local hobby shop before they do themselves in or companys like Tower and the like eat their lunch for them. If it weren't for "baby boomers" they would have died a slow death a quarter century ago.

[&o]

Bill

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Ram Jet, Your LHS owner is right to carry paint you much order all and the display rack. Since I don't sell plastic i don't have the paint either. I would have told you I can't get it tho. I am closed on Sunday too. That is my only day to fly. I need to be out with my customers. During the flying season I'm closed also on Mondays. During the winter months I'm here 6 days a week. In RC it's hard to find help that knows enough about the hobby to of any use. The last thing i want is a teenager that can't help you. My friends in the club help out on vacation days or when I go to fly-ins.
Things have slowed down for me too. You can't put new stuff on the selves if the old stuff doesn't sell. Even with a 10 or 15% sale things are not moving right now.
All I can do is hold on and hope things get better. Maybe I should go to DC and ask for a hand out too.
Come this spring the clubs will still want free stuff for their events, if I still here.
I match internet pricing in most cases. I will spend most of my flying time helping you at the field. I'll even take you to the store on Sunday if it means keeping you flying that day.
There's a reason plastic kits aren't sold in stores any more. The internet price is to low for a store to put it on the shelf. Some things I used to stock I don't anymore because of matching theirs prices. But I will have it here in 3 days.
If I wasn't having fun, I would have quit a long time ago. At least here you can come in and have a cup of free coffee and talk planes and I will stop whatever I'm doing to make you fell welcome. Dennis

Dirtnaper

My Feedback: (11)

Yeah, the only thing I could send back (this was 10yrs ago) were some of the sneak preview items from Horizon.

I personally don't know how shops are making it. We made "way" more off a kit than an ARF would ever produce, however you had to stock more inventory. Also some one was more likely to try to repair a kit which they had built than an ARF. We thought ARFs (this is what the distributors said) would invite more into the hobby however the .com shops have taken over. OR you can go on ebay and buy an arf that the mfg is back door selling out of China, Singapore, etc . RC sales are generally low margin anyway compared to other items.

All this with an economic slowdown.....glad Im out.

DadsToysBG: When you run your own business it seems like you are always at work even when your off. My hats off to you.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

My closest LHS is getting out of planes and sticking mainly with RC cars. There are a lot more customers for cars, they have almost no learning curve to drive them, and start out much cheaper than planes, so even the kids an teenagers with limited $$$ buy them up.

I buy 95% of my stuff from online stores, and most of the guys I know do the same. The local shops that carry aircraft & accessories typically charge 10%-20% more than the online stores, plus I have to pay 6% sales tax.

telejojo

Our LHS is going ok,but he carries a lot of everything arf's,foamys, heli's, cars, and supplies, parts and everything you need.Also he will match any online prices and have for you in a few days.I buy very little online.It is probably one of the best LHS in the country if you need it most likley he's got it or will get it and I try to buy everything I want or need for this hobby from him because it's nice to drive across town and get what you need when you need it.

jetmech05

You can't fault the guy for closing on a Sunday....He wants to fly or spend time away from work just like us.....Yeah I know Sunday is a good shopping day....."I buy 95% of things on line, and my friends to do"....this is why hobby shops are dying....then you'll ask your LHS to support your events.....
I don't have the answer...I thought of buying a shop a few years back....glad I didn't

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

I find it interesting how threads like this drift toward kit/arf debate. Since it's heading that way, it occurs to me to mention the one place I know that's totally devoted to builders. That's Eureka hobbies. I see they've picked up another supplier's line of foam wings, and some other things. Sounds like they're doing fine, without any cars or ready-to-fly products.

Just musing.
Dave Olson

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

I can't fight the sales tax. If I don't pay I go to jail. The government has done me no favors in allowing mail order to not collect sales tax. I can't sell everything to everybody. What I can do is offer free advice on setting up a new plane. Just yesterday a good customer came in and asked if I could match a price on a Saito he had seen in another city. After checking I told him that their price can't be beat, and offered my phone for him to make the call. All I ask is a chance at the sale.
Now on the other side of the coin I will do everything I can to help you and the company if you have a problem, but if I didn't sell it your on your own.I may give you the phone #'s and a name but that's all.
The one thing that really gets to me is if I spend hours researching a project for you and hand you a list of things to look at and find you went elsewhere for things without even giving me a chance. Will that's just doing business. Maybe the next time I'll be to busy to help much.
I fly with my customers, most are friends that can be a asset or liability, but one thing for sure if I'm wrong I willhear about it.
Well back to work. Got inventory to log in and a Bob Truforthy Pitts Model 12 to recover.
If any of you are ever in the area stop by , the coffee hot and you can tell me what I'm doing wrong with my builds in the shop. I do all my work here. Many of the new guys hang out and I try and teach them what little I know.
One thing I've learned in 20 years of flying is I'm better them some and worse then others. And 10 years in the business is no matter what I put in the store I never have the right thing. Dennis

BillyGoat

It's tough right now. The best shop in our area has drastically reduced inventory. Have not heard anybody complain as they understand it's better to keep the lights on, then hold several thousand dollars worth of merchandise that just isn't moving.

Another shop only a few years old closed it's doors recently.

jetmech05

There is a hobby shop in Maryland that has been in business since at least since the late 70's tomorrow is their last day....the owner got sick a couple of years ago..the kids tried to run the place but alais...sorry to see this happen.....
Support your local hobby shop even if you have to pay a bit more...if you don't..there won't be anywhere to go for that quick fix part to keep flying....
It maybe cheaper on line...but you can drive up, get it, and drive away with the part...
Good Flyin to ya all

telejojo

I've found that depending on what you order the shipping is more than the tax,so I buy local and pay the tax rather than the shipping.

eagledancer

when i was in kansas, i would go to the lhs, and over the years the items that were of intrest to my type of flying and building dwindled so there was less and less i could buy, i was pretty much forced to order over the net, ended up saving tons of money over the years, but would much rather have spent it local. i have moved to orlando recently and been to a few of the shops here, have spent some money in one, and will again, another one has quite a few kits there and i am sure i will be spending money there also. but i am also sure i will be searching the net for items none of the shops here carry

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I was just at my LHS today and they are doing great as always. He has very little in car items but the other two shops just down the road take up most of that. No big deal, he caters to the flying crowd and stocks most anything any pilot needs. As all the other shops he has very little in kits or even wood to build, some but not A lot. Gets it for you in about 3 days though. He has what you need in the way of building items like glues, coverings of all brands, silk, onandonandon. This time of year he stocks up on items that will sell for xmas, radios and ARFs but he does lower his inventory for A lot of stuff that doesn't move during what we would call the off season. After all the years he has been doing this he knows what and when to stock. Not open on Sunday but even god rested on the 7th day!!

krproton

Well, I hope I don't regret chiming in on this one, but I have a unique perspective. As my signiture says, I work in the R&D dept. at Hobbico. I've been there 20 years. But before that I worked at what I felt was the best hobby shop in the world - the original Rider's Hobby shop in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. I used to go in there as a kid and was in awe at the "big guys" who worked behind the counter and I used to stare at all the cool planes hanging from the ceiling. In the summer brothers and I used to ride our bicycles (about 6 miles) downtown and buy stick-and-tissue and CL models, build them, destroy them, and go back for more!

Well, I grew up and one day my dream came true and I got a job at Riders. I couldn't believe it. I worked there for five or six years and partially put my self through college. I never had access to any accounting records or income statements, but as far as I know the shop was successfull. What made the place "go" were a few things. The owner and one of my mentors, Jack Busch was a hobbist and knew the value of teaching - both employees and customers. He cared. But his wife and busines partner did some (much) of the business side of things. All of the employees were active in at least a couple facets of the hobby and others were encouraged to learn. For the most part, the people behind the counter were knowledgeable. Eventually, I got into helicopters and became the "helicopter guy." There was always somebody behind the counter who could help a customer.

The owner also conducted "training night" at a local R/C field where he and others (including my self) would give free flying lessons, so customers who were interested in R/C could rest assured that if they bought a plane there would be help.

Jack (the owner) used to curse mail order, but we always had discount stickers on "big ticket" items such as engines, radios, kits, etc. and never sold those items for full retail. So while mail order was a burden, we acknowledged it and competed. Often a customer would walk into the store with a Tower catalog in hand not even knowing the situation. But we would compete with their price (less shipping).

One day several years ago I went back for a visit to one of the other Rider's stores in a neighboring town. I was disappointed in the lack of service. I think I walked all the way through the store and none of the teenagers behind the counter seemed to care that I was there or probably even saw me.

And that's the same thing I see all over the place. Poor service. People complain about the economy and mail order, but when you go to your local store (hobby shop, hockey store, kitchen and bath store, etc.), the service is often crap, so why would anyone want so support that?

I empathise with retailers who have to keep low invintory and take other cost-saving measures, but when the service is poor or non-existant, when nobody in the store even seems to care you are there, that's what happens.

And the Rider's I worked at was open on Sundays for part of the day.

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

I've had the pleasure to work with some of the RD guys at GP (aircraft) and at Horizon. Both companies are very interested in feed back from their dealers on product and take great pride in what they do. I got one of the first 44% Ulitmates from Horizon and during a call to tech I heard Mike in the back ground say "whats he doing to my plane" All the RD guys take great pride in the work. I've just recently had a lot of fun with GP and their new 38% 330. This plane turned out to be a lot of fun.
When someone comes in my store and I don't know them I'll introduce myself and ask if i can help. If they want to look around I leave them along, but stay close to answer questions. I'll invite them in the shop to see what I'm working on. I'll also offer to let them use the flight sym to try flying first hand. I can tell if they are just touch'rs or really interested by the look in their eyes.
Another thing that is fun is that I get to try all the new stuff. I was the first to move to 2.4, now more the half of the club has made the move. Just started to use A123, now I'm getting a lot of interest and sales are picking up. First to have GS planes and a trailer, now it's hard to find a parking place on Sundays because of the number of trailers and big planes.
Since i opened this store I've our club grow from 20 members to almost 90. We now have a 800ft black top runway with electric and water. The club only had a low key fly-in on Memorial Day. Now we do 3 shows a year. Jets, GS and War Birds. I'd like to think that part of this growth has something to do with me being here.
Yesterday I thought i had something stolled from the store. A few of the guys where in at the time. This morning one of the club members called and told me he had bought 2 of the batteries, not one (a123). I had not taken it out of the computer. This is the kind of customer base I have. To think that someone you know would steal makes you sick. Now I can go back to trusting my friends.
When your customers care about your feelings you know you must be doing something right. Dennis

flaminheli

I have seen three LHS go out of business over the years. One was a Hobby Town USA, which was ran by a very good guy that would go out of his way to get you what you needed and he would get it quick. He was the best stocked shop to date. The problem he had from what I noticed were the teenage kids that ran it when he was not there. If you went in looking for something they would not make an effort to assist you in any way what so ever. All they worried about was playing with the mini-Ts in the store, plus the fact that they would try to tell you what you needed instead of listening to what you wanted. I told one of them one day that I had been flying RC planes before he was a twinkle in his momma's eye so do tell me what I need. I finally told Andy "The owner" one day to let me know his work schedule so I could come in when he was there so I could get what I needed. About a month later he closed down.
Andy, we miss you man. The last shop just quite stocking things and started selling those cheap chinese scooters and 4-wheelers, I did not like going to this one anyway because they followed you around like they were affraid you were going to steal something. This guy had hundreds of old kits from the 70's and 80's that would make you DROOL! But none were for sell. It was more like you were on a "gaurded" tour than a shoping experience, along with the fact that if you did not belong to thier local flying club they treated you like an outsider. I have heard a new shop opened up in Downtown Bryan, November 1st and have not had a chance to check it out yet. I mainly get all of my things from Tower Hobbies. If I need something I order it on Sunday and usually have it by Thursday. Just in time for the weekend. I don't have to put up with a bunch of teenage kids or go on a "gaurded" tour.

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

This seems to be a common complaint i here all the time. The man that covers for me is a RC pilot himself and even when I'm on vacation he can call me on my cell if he needs help. My cell worked 50 miles off shore fishing this year.
If you can't find knowledgeable people to cover for you sometimes it's best just to close the store when your gone then to make your customers mad. Dennis

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

My LHS is just starting out, and I was excited to try to help out as I was just getting in to this hobby. I ended up driving 45 minutes to pay cash, up front, only to have orders 'forgotten' to be placed within a week, complaints about not charging enough money for ARFs, complaints of ordering lots of 'small, dollar items', and $45 gallons of fuel so he can pay rent. He has offered to help with stuff, and gives plenty of (bad) advice at the field; just very poor practice. Another thing he does is give away things like mis-matched fuel filters, used wheels, etc. in hopes that you buy his $45 fuel. Something seems really wrong about that. I'd rather pay for the wheels and parts and pay a normal price for fuel.

I get most of my stuff from Tower, a little from Advantage, and hopefully a lot more from now on at Central.

One thing I've noticed is that the LHS owners who actually own the property (especially have the mortgage paid!) seem to be the most successful. Selling props and glow plugs won't pay a mortgage these days, and when the LHS owner is not stressed about making ends meet, he's got plenty of time to fly with you and show you the ropes.

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Come on guys there must be more good stores out there then bad. Am I the only one that cares about the hobby? Dennis

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Back three years ago, I lived in another part of the country off and on for three years. I had grown up in this other area as a kid but all my adult life have lived where I presently live.

When I was a kid in the South there was a sporting goods store up town that had a model airplane section. In the late 50's they would have McCoy 35's and Babe Bees as well as Berkley and Sterling control line kits. When I returned to this southern area there was a Hobby Town store out near the mall. About a third of the store is R/C airplanes. He has most of what you might need. His wholesale source is mainly Horizon Hobby but does some business with Hobbico. While I was down there I bought most of what I needed at the Hobby Town. The owner supported the local club in letting them have their meetings at the hobby shop and he gave the club a riding lawn mower to mow their field. He also flew with the club on Sundays. I don't think the owner is getting rich by any means but he is managing to stay in business.

During the mid 60's in the town in Ohio where I presently live there was the same typical sporting goods store up town with the small control line model airplane section. In a close by larger town there were two hobby shops. One that had a little of everything but a whole lot of nothing (mostly trains). Then there was another that was strictly R/C planes and had most anything you would need until the guy had a sudden heart attack and passed away in the early 70's.

Currently, out by the mall, there is a good sized store named Hobby Force that is patterned full line after a Hobby Town and I referred to this store in my previous post at the top of the thread. There have been many different R/C hobby stores in that city in the last 35 years. At least 5 owners and probably 10 locations have gone by the wayside. This makes me think that the retail hobby business is a tough one and brings to mind the biggest competitor was mail order and now the Internet. There are several big cities within 70 miles of my house. I can think of a pretty well equipped R/C store in every one of these cities. In the late 60's - 70's my work had me traveling all around the region and visited these other shops. I dealt with AHC and the predecessor to MRC back in the 50's/60's and remember the emergence of World Engines (not a mail order or retail store but essentially a importer) in Blue Ash Ohio. Then came the discount mail order places like Indy R/C and Tower in the early 70's.

Seems like the biggest need for local hobby shops is Glow fuel due to Hazmat costs. Back years ago, the clubs would buy a 55 gal drum and all the members would bring their glass gallon jugs and get fuel for $3. Now I go to the Toledo show every spring and buy my fuel for the year.

I could go on and on about the hobby in the last 60 years.

TFF

We use to have the best hobby shop here 15 years ago; it was open a long time, but when he retired no one could take it over. There are three now that I know of, one chain and two independents. Plenty of hardware and Monokote, but not 10 kits between them and nothing special that you have to have. One has a good selection of ARFs, one medium, one few. I tend to have to go to all 3 to get what I need for a plane. Tower is my last resort which is coming more and more. When I was a kid there was 5 good shops and my first RC plane came form a shop that my dad went to as a kid.

flaminheli

It is a sad fact of life. As with everything else in the US. The Cooperate America is putting the little man out of business. Like Alan Jackson said
"GODBLESS THE LITTLE MAN". Unless they just don't know how to run a business like some of the LHS we have had around here.