Our Michael's is a joke

[Mike999]

12 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

I miss K-B Toys. They stocked a great selection of model kits. Every year, right after Thanksgiving, they leased large spaces for their Toy Liquidator stores. I picked up heaps o'kits for bargain basement prices. I paid 8 bucks each for about a dozen different Tamiya 1/12 motorcycle kits. Great deals on slot car and train sets, too.

K-B was great.  I don't recall the Toy Liquidator spaces on the West Coast, but they had 2 large permanent outlet stores in the L.A. area.  They usually had entire walls of recently discontinued kits in every genre.  I still have some old kits with K-B price tags on them. 

One outlet store was in Ventura.  The other was in the Citadel Outlet Mall in Commerce, built in 1929 as a factory for the Samson Tire Co.  And that is a building you cannot miss...

 

[SfanGoch]

Impressive! That looks like something left over from a Cecil B. DeMille epic.  

[TonyK]

Our Michael's has always been a joke. Might be a 3 x 3 foot area of kits and that includes some planes. My daughter in law worked for Hobby Lobby for a few months and they treated her and other employees like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH so she quit. They're putting one in not too far from me but I see no reason to patronize a store like that after what I've learned.

I remember KB Toys and Toy Liquidator. Used to get so many kits at great prices there.

[iamsuperdan]

lolz. Try going to any Michael's location in Canada. Dismal.

[moparfarmer]

Our Michael's store in Winnipeg are BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH..We have two Hobby shops here..Eliminator Hobbies is like an old hardware store..Creaky flooring and tons of models/RC cars and such..Great selection and prices..We also have Celler Dweller in the North End..Great guys to  deal with too..Lost Gooches but these two keep going..Good to see them keep at it..Guess the R/C stuff is big..

[highway]

23 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Hmmmmm...Michaels...ribbon for seatbelts, beading wire for plug wires, rubber beading line for small hoses, brushes, acrylic paints, X-Acto stuff, miniature chain, MANY kinds of markers and glues, general art supplies, sometimes jewels for lights or dress snaps for seat swivels. That's all I can think of. Did I leave anything out? Maybe balsa, or embossed dollhouse floors and brick for diorama work.

But like the man said, if you're big into "macaroni-on-velvet artwork", or papier-mache-and-popcorn replicas of the Pieta, they got you covered.

Actually you did leave out one thing, embossing powders in various colors for flocking interiors. 

[Richard Bartrop]

One crafts thing I've been finding extremely useful are those googly eyes for dolls.  A couple of bucks will get you a bagful in any size you want.  Remove the backs (sanding works if you don't want to fiddle around with an X-acto knife on the tiny ones), and you have a clear plastic dome that can be used in so many different ways.

[Greg Myers]

Not all Michaels of Hobby Lobby stores are bad.

At this point in our hobby we ought to make the best of what we have and in many cases these stores are it with so many Hobby Shops closing.

Take the time , talk to the people that run the stores, make your concerns known.

This may be the last hoorah before we only have the interweb as a hobby source.

I must be blessed, the stores mentioned here in my area are all worthy. Of course having a son in law being a manager in one sure helps.

and let's not forget those 40% 50 % off coupons. 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Greg Myers

[Bucket T]

Lousy selection of kits here.  Just clipped the 50% off coupon.  Might go in this weekend to see if they still have the "32 ford.  Picked up one last year and had one left on the shelf.

[Daddyfink]

I stopped at a different Michael's and found they had the Revell Bronco and stock Torino, otherwise it is all the same stuff. Picked up a Stearman biplane instead! 

[abelaxe]

On 3/16/2018 at 5:33 PM, Mike999 said:

What a coincidence!  A HL is opening near me next month too.  And I notice we're on opposite sides of the country.  I can't wait either.  It's a 30-mile drive for me to HL right now.  Or Michael's, to get back on-topic.  The HL and the Michael's are only a couple of miles from each other, and there's an Ollie's in the same area.

Michael's did help me out a few months ago.  My old Aztek airbrush finally died (after several re-builds).  Michael's had the airbrush I wanted, and I used a 50% off coupon to get the price down.

Michaels is ok for some things...They are more of a craft store than a hobby store...And our Michaels here has a very small outdated selection of kits and model supplies.

[DanR]

On 3/17/2018 at 12:32 AM, Ro3bert said:

I feel for ya'al. There is a HobbyTown USA in New Milford that is a real supermarket of hobby stuff. The owner also builds models and really knows his stuff.

I've been a customer for some years and he is a wealth of information. Anybody in Western Connecticut should stop in.

Robert

Craig is a good guy and his wife Robin is so sweet. I'm in Cincinnati now, but for a time, when they relocated their shop to the Brookfield/Danbury line, I was in there almost every weekend!

[DanR]

We have a mixed bag of Michael's stores here in Cincinnati/Northern KY. Some of them are the crappy, bare bones stores with a minimal amount of kits and supplies, but some of them have things that I like - Testor's CreateFX stains and washes, One Shot lacquers, and also brushes - all purchased with a 40% off coupon. I also purchase inexpensive craft paints in various colors - they can be used for some modeling applications. I also buy the large cans of Krylon spray paints at Michael's, as well as large cans of flat and satin clear coat. They do occasionally have models - the Revell Bronco and Olds both appeared recently. Stray away from the model aisle and look around. You might be surprised at some of the things you'll find that can be used for modeling.

[Draggon]

I don't even bother with the ones by me anymore. Either they haven't sold a kit in years, or they have multiple cases of old, unpopular kits. 

[jas1957]

On 3/16/2018 at 5:14 PM, Lizard Racing said:

Since our LHS Hobbytown USA closed last year, we have been dependent on the local Michael's store.

The last few times I was forced to go there, Model kits have been diminishing and the stock of Testor's paint (the only brand they sell) was dwindling.

It's like they are trying to get out of the model business to make more room for frufru stuff like wreaths and fake flowers.

Our alternatives are to buy totally online or drive 20 miles to a Hobbytown. 

Anyone have a similar predicament?

First off every Michael’s I have been in has a very poor model section, forget them.  Second, only 20 miles to a Hobbytown ? Consider yourself lucky.  The three nearest full service hobby shops to me are 35, 39 and 53 miles away.  Get used to it as that is the new reality,  20 years ago I had 6 shops within 10 miles of me.  Didn’t realize how good I had it.

[El Roberto]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 3:53 PM, abelaxe said:

I cant wait for our Hobby Lobby to open up next month!

Hobby Lobby carries decent models............sometimes.  Usually just junk.

[abelaxe]

12 hours ago, El Roberto said:

Hobby Lobby carries decent models............sometimes.  Usually just junk.

Compared to what our Michaels carries hobby Lobbys selection is FAR superior both for models and modeling supplies and tools.

[Jordan White]

1 hour ago, abelaxe said:

Compared to what our Michaels carries hobby Lobbys selection is FAR superior both for models and modeling supplies and tools.

x2, the Hobby Lobbies I've been too have lately exceeded the amount of kits that Micheals carries by at least double it seems. 

[RickRollerLT1]

It depends, some Michael's stores have a little bit more selection and can get random kits on occasion (Years ago some stores has tons of GMC Syclones and one of the local ones I went to recently had a Baja Bronco along with the stock Bronco, one 85 Olds FE3X lumped together with the 83 Hurst 442s and a bunch of Revell '70 Chargers R/T stock versions lumped with the F&F version). Ditto for AC Moore though due to the way they their selection priced as an assortment (rather than grouping each kit with a certain price like Michael's and HL does) they have even more random kits than those two combined at times.

 

At various AC Moores on occasion I've seen some recent releases at various the LHS's normally carry like the new '67 Camaro, Mazda Miata, 49 Merc Woodie, Sox and Martin 70 Plymouth Hemi Cuda, '62 Corvette 2 in 1, 1/25 Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne, and some Round 2 reissues like MPC 69 AMX, '79 Ford Pinto Wagon, DOH Dasey's Road Runner, AMT Camaro  and Corvette snaps, and PL kits like the Batmobile and BTTF Deloreans.

[MeatMan]

Michaels may be a craft store, not a hobby store but they can learn to restock paint, put paint where it belongs, and keep a neat store. No excuse for that!

I go for material and not models, occasionally I'll use the coupon and get a kit to part out.

[Rob Hall]

I went into a local craft store, Pat Catan's, yesterday to get some framing done for art.   They have a decent selection of Revell kits and lots of interesting tools and supplies.  NE Ohio chain I think.

[OldTrucker]

Ours has less than half an aisle now and the selection is poor.

[goldfinger]

though sometimes they have 50% off coupons which are good on the few models they have. But I did notice today that they have not restocked any Testors paints. the racks were almost empty. too bad. I dont live close to any hobby shops

[martinfan5]

On 3/16/2018 at 8:09 PM, SfanGoch said:

I miss K-B Toys. They stocked a great selection of model kits. Every year, right after Thanksgiving, they leased large spaces for their Toy Liquidator stores. I picked up heaps o'kits for bargain basement prices. I paid 8 bucks each for about a dozen different Tamiya 1/12 motorcycle kits. Great deals on slot car and train sets, too.

We had a K-B Toys outlet store here back in the mid to late 90's, I remember going there every week or when I had money ( I was a teen) and buying kits for about $5 at the time.  

[russosborne]

Jonathan,

Was that the one in East Mesa on I think Power Rd? In a center with a bunch of other outlet type stores?

If so I used to go there a lot, used to live out that way back then.  bought a bunch of models there with the idea of using them to practice with, but never did.

Russ