Good news for a change...

[ZTony8]

We're lucky in the metro Detroit area. I can count 8 hobby shops, 3 Hobby Lobby, 3 Michaels , and a Hobby Town in the metro area all  within an hour's drive from my house.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

2 hours ago, jaymcminn said:

East coast sucks for hobby shops anymore. I remember Orange Blossom Hobbies and the sad day my buddy and I drove over there to find the doors shut. I'm guessing the blank stares you're experiencing are from the guys at Micro Macro Mundo? I've tried conversing with them in Spanish as well and discovered that bad customer service transcends the language barrier. They do have a nice shop, though. I'm fortunate to have a great one here in Naples (Family Hobby Center, 55 years old and counting, run by the same family for 3 generations) and a really good one an hour away in Port Charlotte (K&K Hobbies). Family Hobby does consistently good business and Cary, the owner, is a great guy despite not selling me the Pocher Fiat f2 he has in his private stash...I was kidding with him that the only reason he still had it was because nobody wanted it in the '70s!

Yes, Micro Macro...I only speak two languages, English and broken English. I go there to buy Tamiya paints (at least I used to) there is a train place that has Evergreen....I have been to Family Hobby in Naples, nice folks but a 1.5 hour across Alligator Alley is a bit much....-RRR

[StevenGuthmiller]

I just returned from my only small local hobby shop this afternoon after not being in for some time, and it appears that they must be doing well.

Fully stocked with all kinds of models, and I was quite surprised to see that their paint section had gone through a complete and total transformation!

Gone were all of the old Testors paints......and I mean ALL OF THEM!

Not a single bottle of Testors enamel to be found!

I have to say that I might miss the Testors enamel jars, more for the familiarity than anything else, but chances are good that I'll get over it really quick.

 

Now my shop has 5 full racks of Tamiya spray paints, and Mr. Hobby and MCW acrylics and enamels, as well as all of the corresponding primers, thinners, etc, etc, etc!

My eyes began to glaze over after a few minutes and I had to engage with the owner to help me figure out this giant array of paint in front of me!

 

I guess I've got some research and learning to do to figure all of this stuff out now that Testors has bit the dust!

Goodbye Testors!

I really can't say that I'll miss you very much!

 

 

 

 

Steve 

[moparfarmer]

6 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I just returned from my only small local hobby shop this afternoon after not being in for some time, and it appears that they must be doing well.

Fully stocked with all kinds of models, and I was quite surprised to see that their paint section had gone through a complete and total transformation!

Gone were all of the old Testors paints......and I mean ALL OF THEM!

Not a single bottle of Testors enamel to be found!

I have to say that I might miss the Testors enamel jars, more for the familiarity than anything else, but chances are good that I'll get over it really quick.

 

Now my shop has 5 full racks of Tamiya spray paints, and Mr. Hobby and MCW acrylics and enamels, as well as all of the corresponding primers, thinners, etc, etc, etc!

My eyes began to glaze over after a few minutes and I had to engage with the owner to help me figure out this giant array of paint in front of me!

 

I guess I've got some research and learning to do to figure all of this stuff out now that Testors has bit the dust!

Goodbye Testors!

I really can't say that I'll miss you very much!

 

 

 

 

Steve 

Is that shop the one in Fargo on 17th avenue?

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

59 minutes ago, moparfarmer said:

Is that shop the one in Fargo on 17th avenue?

 

 

Yes.

The Hobby Hut on 17th Ave, right off of 45th street.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[moparfarmer]

18 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Yes.

The Hobby Hut on 17th Ave, right off of 45th street.That is the one I meant..Maybe in the future I can get to Fargo and we can meet up and have a steak at the place on 42 and 13..Forget the name..Have another friend in Fargo I could meet up too..Take care and stay healthy..

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I guess I'll just go surfing.... -RRR

[Tabbysdaddy]

Colonial Photo and Hobby, Mills Avenue downtown Orlando. Been there a long time. Model stuff, train stuff, camera stuff, etc. 

[tim boyd]

5 hours ago, ZTony8 said:

We're lucky in the metro Detroit area. I can count 8 hobby shops, 3 Hobby Lobby, 3 Michaels , and a Hobby Town in the metro area all  within an hour's drive from my house.

Tony....I presume you are including the Model Cave in Ypsi, MI, and the Nankin Mills Hobby shops in Westland, Farmington Hills, and Ann Arbor/Ypsi in the "8" listing above?  TIM 

[ZTony8]

12 hours ago, tim boyd said:

Tony....I presume you are including the Model Cave in Ypsi, MI, and the Nankin Mills Hobby shops in Westland, Farmington Hills, and Ann Arbor/Ypsi in the "8" listing above?  TIM 

Yes, along with Whistle Stop, P&D, Great Lakes, and the Nankin in Southgate. There's a place on 11 Mile by I-75, too, but that's  military centric, no car/ truck stuff except for paint items.

[OldTrucker]

My sis-in-law and her husband just closed up their shop.

He is on his way out with severe COPD and heart disease but tat isn't what closed him down.

His RC sales was booming as well as board games and puzzles but his model kits were limited and he could not get a decent wholesale price because everyone wanted too large of orders to get a good deal.

What killed his business was shoplifting and beak-ins and one armed robbery while my sister-in-law was there alone.

On shoplifting and break-ins the police would not even come there. They had to o to the station and write up a report and list of items taken.

They were operating on a shoestring as it was and it just because a fruitless cause.

[slusher]

I have to order supplies and any kits but only have a hobby lobby and not much on the shelf..

[maxwell48098]

On 11/18/2021 at 4:05 PM, ZTony8 said:

We're lucky in the metro Detroit area. I can count 8 hobby shops, 3 Hobby Lobby, 3 Michaels , and a Hobby Town in the metro area all  within an hour's drive from my house.

Don't forget Great Lakes Hobby on Van Dyke in Sterling Heights.  HUGE collection of models, maybe the largest I've seen in the mid-west, plus the prices are discounted 20-30% off retail.

[Richard Bartrop]

On 11/17/2021 at 5:22 PM, Dave Ambrose said:

I'm going to hypothesize that the hobby shops per capita number directly correlates with the length and temperature of the winters. 

I'm looking at the 6 Micheals in Calgary, plus 3 real general hobby shops (PM Hobbycraft, Model Land, Action Hobbies), 2 more that specialize in model trains, and one devoted just to Gundam kits, and some more gaming and card collector shops, and I'm thinking you may be on to something there.

[Tom Geiger]

Locally there are stores that have me scratching my head.. we have a cup cake store and another that only sells Bundt cakes.  There’s a flag store and a beef jerky store.  The new vape shop seems to do well.  But somehow a hobby shop won’t work?! 

[stitchdup]

My nearest hobby shop is an overnight boat trip away. Theres a local record shop that has some airfix kits but its all military/planes and not really my interests. For paint i can get duplicolour and plasi-kote but everything else has to be posted. And since its paints and glues they charge a load more to ship to the islands, so i get it sent to one the crew that lives south so he brings it up for me. You guys with hobby shops nearby are lucky

[leafsprings]

 I see a bright future for hobby kits to continue long past the pandemic if we continue to get the subjects we want to build.  Many of us  "car culture" people miss the vehicles we no longer see in everyday outdoor world,  and the list keeps getting bigger everyday,  and hobby kits or resin trans-kits help fill that void in the indoor world.

[ZTony8]

On 11/20/2021 at 11:43 AM, maxwell48098 said:

Don't forget Great Lakes Hobby on Van Dyke in Sterling Heights.  HUGE collection of models, maybe the largest I've seen in the mid-west, plus the prices are discounted 20-30% off retail.

I included that store.

 

[lordairgtar]

On 11/19/2021 at 9:41 AM, OldTrucker said:

My sis-in-law and her husband just closed up their shop.

He is on his way out with severe COPD and heart disease but tat isn't what closed him down.

His RC sales was booming as well as board games and puzzles but his model kits were limited and he could not get a decent wholesale price because everyone wanted too large of orders to get a good deal.

What killed his business was shoplifting and beak-ins and one armed robbery while my sister-in-law was there alone.

On shoplifting and break-ins the police would not even come there. They had to o to the station and write up a report and list of items taken.

They were operating on a shoestring as it was and it just because a fruitless cause.

There's a name I hadn't heard in a long time. I lived not too far from Herscher. I lived in Kankakee and Campus (a very small town...200 people), also a short time in Bourbonnais. Sorry to hear about your SIL.

[tim boyd]

On a note of further good news, from what I am hearing there are several new kit projects/topics underway that are not in the public domain as of now; in at least one case there isn't even any speculation that I am aware of on that particular kit topic.   While it will be a while, I presume, before these new projects become available for sale, in seems to me to be a development further in support of the now-upward trend of model cars and trucks, as commented and reinforced by many of you in your comments above in this thread.   

This seems to me, at least, to be in stark contrast to just a couple years back when things were looking very dark in the category of new kits - the Revell/Hobbico bankruptcy and its fallout, Moebius sold by Frank Winspur to a new owner and kit development seeming, at least at the time, to have stopped, and various grumblings about the heavily reissue based Round 2 business model (since upended by newly tooled replications of old kit topics like the Nova wagons, 442 Olds, IH Cabover, and now the Garbage Truck which apparently is pursuing new levels of accuracy).  Not to mention all the newer smaller-volume kitmakers here in the States and abroad, who are bringing old kits back to us that have not been availablefor decades, and new kits and kit topics that are appearing for the first time ever.  

Best all....TIM  

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by tim boyd
update

[Straightliner59]

Denver has always had a strong hobby shop scene. Unfortunately, one of my favorites is a mere shell of its former self. Caboose Hobbies always had the best selection of scratch building supplies, paint and tools, in town. It was sold, and moved, and has nowhere near the selection or space the old owner had.

One of my favorite hobby shops, ever , is in St. Paul. Scale Model Supplies is absolute nostalgia in a basement! If you're ever up there, I would recommend a visit.