I live in the 16th largest city in America by population and we do not have any local hobby shops. The closest thing is a Hobbytown USA about 25 miles north of Charlotte. There are rumors there will be another HTU in Charlotte this year, but nothing yet. To buy a kit locally, one has to shop at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I have bought more and more online as the LHS in the area have disappeared. I don't view HL as a hobby store in the same sense as what I grew up with back in the day, but more like a retail outlet like I remember as a kid like K-Mart.