Offbeat Places You Have Purchased Model Kits?

[Daddyfink]

3 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

I got several models as a teenager from our local Winn-Dixie grocery in Marathon, Florida.

I remember in the early 70's, I must've been around 6 or 7 years old, a full on Revell Display with all kinds of cool kits in the back of a Super Market in Tijuana, Mexico! 

 

[Mike999]

5 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

I remember in the early 70's, I must've been around 6 or 7 years old, a full on Revell Display with all kinds of cool kits in the back of a Super Market in Tijuana, Mexico! 

Back in the 1990s, I saw some Lodela (Mexican Revell) kits in Mexican department stores.  As I remember, only a few kits, all aircraft and none interesting enough to buy.

That was a work trip, to Mexico City (the Ford plant) and Puebla (VW plant).  For anyone needing another scale model project, the VW plant had some neat pick-up trucks made out of old Rabbits. They were dented and beat up, and only used for parts hauling on the factory grounds. They couldn't be driven on public roads. 

[Greg Myers]

12 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

I've seen models in gift shops.  The gift shop on the Queen Mary in Long Beach had Revell ship models..

and that is unusual how ?

[Motor City]

I sporadically bought kits from '65 to '70, then got out of it the next two years.  I drove to the Sears store several miles from my folks' house for some Craftsman tools and saw  model kits (it wasn't Christmas season).  I ended up buying the original issue of the MPC '73 Cougar.  Some of the local drug stores, dime stores and chain hardware stores carried a good selection.  Those were the good old days.

[Chitown]

On 2/18/2020 at 6:30 PM, cobraman said:

Long ago there was a place in Chicago called " Starks Warehouse". It was sort of like a railroad salvage. You never knew what they would have so it was fun to go and hope to see some kits. They almost always had some and my dad would always buy me one or two.

Starks! My brother and I used to go there, they had a couple locations. It reminded me of an Army-Navy surplus store on steroids. Don't recall ever seeing models there, maybe I just never found them, the places were so big. I do recall they always had electric guitars, the real weird low-end and off brand ones. Wasn't interested so much then as I just wanted a Fender. Wish I could go back and get a few of those now.

[cobraman]

Didn't know there was more than one. We went to the one on Harlem Ave.

[thatz4u]

Bay Pines VA Hospital Canteen, Bay Pines, Fl

[Daddyfink]

There used to be a Discount Clearance style store near my house that carried quite a few Aurora kits and weird import stuff as well. I would check every few weeks to see what would come in and get cleared out. Family style bargain stores where also pretty good hunting grounds. I remember one having a bunch of Ertl farm vehicle kits for just a few bucks. 

Wish I still had some of the models I scored there. 

[Chitown]

On 2/21/2020 at 11:55 AM, cobraman said:

Didn't know there was more than one. We went to the one on Harlem Ave.

There was also one on about 16th and Canal in Chicago. It might have been the first location. We went to that one for a while before discovering the one on Harlem.

[robertw]

Growing up  I used to go into a stationary store, their  basement was full of games that were particularly popular around Christmas every year and shelves full of Airfix kits. The shop closed when the owner retired and I grew up and moved but years later I ran into the owner, now quite elderly, and he still remembered me. Still have a lot of the kits I bought there.

Again growing up about once a year the family would go away to visit close relatives. The business area was always closed on Sunday except for one drugstore which carried an excellent selection of kits including hard to find IMC. A trip there was always sucessful and years later I met someone else who had also been a shopper in the drugstores model corner.

The city of Brandon, Manitoba has a great aviation museum but it also hase a nice hobby shop that shares space with a house paint store. Seems like an unusual combination but if it helps keep the hobby shop open I'll  support it.

Stopped in once at a garden supply store and found that they had a decent selection of kits, never been back that way though.

In the nearest city to me there is an engraving shop, trophies and such, but in a back room the owner had an excellent selection of older kits.

The problem is that these out of the way finds are becoming the rare exception rather then being something that you're merely surprised to find.

[Aspieguy]

Thrift stores, rummage sales, swapmeets, storage units i buy etc. 

[afxmustang]

I was stationed in Portsmouth, NH in the mid 1960s. There was a sporting goods store that had toys and models on the second floor. Right around the corner from my high school there was a small TV repair shop. They had one small shelving unit next to the counter that had about 20 car kits. You sometimes wonder how you managed to stumble upon these places.

[VW93]

I found some decent buys in a pawn shop when I would visit a friend on Florida's west coast.

[Brudda]

Went to a antique store and there were several collections of plastic. Bought several jo-han kits for $15 each and a union model ford mk 4 for $20. Sometimes they do not know what they have. Oh and a revell 1970 Torino cobra for $10

[SfanGoch]

On 2/23/2020 at 12:23 PM, robertw said:

Growing up  I used to go into a stationary store....

I hate stores that move. It makes it difficult to enter and exit the joint. 

There were two stationery stores in the neighborhood which sold model kits when I was a kid. There was Ted's Stationery (closed in 1974), which had a great selection of kits. I bought my first Johan Turbine Car there for a buck and change. The other was Jam's Stationery, which recently closed. That was my go-to place to buy MAD paperbacks. The model section was located in the rear of the store and, like Ted's, always had a large selection. I bought plenty of Aurora models plus Hawk and early Hasegawa aircraft kits. The guy who was store manager looked like David McCallum's character in the Outer Limits episode "The Sixth Finger" if he wore Clark Kent specs.

 

[GLMFAA1]

Colonna corner drug store on the way home from school, Cherry cola and a look at the model kits.

greg

[Casey]

Anybody near Lancaster County, PA been to a Good's Store and found model kits there?: https://goodsstores.com/pages/locations

https://goodsstores.com/pages/search-results-page?q=model+kits

[ChrisBcritter]

...or at Lucerne Valley Market and Hardware? The hobby aisle has a little model section with some Tamiya armor/aircraft and Atlantis kits, plus a rack of Testors enamels. Little town way out in the CA high desert about 35 miles NW of Yucca Valley and about 15 miles SE of Victorville.

[ChrisBcritter]

Another childhood memory popped up: Topps discount department store in Niles, IL in '66 or so had a big tray full of unboxed '65 AMT promotionals. I got a turquoise Galaxie 500 hardtop and a white Falcon convertible (both played with to death long ago, although I've replaced the Galaxie).

[slusher]

In 95 I bought two kits I a comic book shop.  62 AMT Bel air and a monster truck. Only models in the shop…

[Sledsel]

I bought a Monogram '58 Thunderbird (Special Interest Series) at the Henry Ford Museum gift shop.

[The Junkman]

I bought 2 aircraft models at an antique collective.  Went there on Saturday and they had a sealed Revell Porsche Exotics set for $49.  Thought about it but the only kit I didn't have that was in the pack was the 914.  Passed

[robertw]

How about a store that sell house paint as its main stock and trade. Haven't been back there for a few years but the last time it had a nice selection of kits, model paint and train stuff. Don't remember the name of the store but it was in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

[Richard Bartrop]

I picked up a couple of airplane kits at the Alberta Aviation Museum.  The nuseum itself is definitely worth a visit should you find yourself in Edmonton.

[cobraman]

Starks warehouse in Chicago. You would never know if they would have or what they would have. That made it kind of fun. Big yellow building as I recall.