How can I convince them we need a hobby shop here?

[JollySipper]

Hey, Guys..... I live in a small rural town in south east North Carolina. Those from here probably know of Elizabethtown...... We have absolutely no kind of hobby shop! If it wasn't for Wally World and the parts stores, I would have to order all my supplies online....... How can I convince a chain to put a small hobby store in this town? or even a "Mom & Pop" shop would be nice....

Thanks for any input............

[skymnky721]

Hey, Guys..... I live in a small rural town in south east North Carolina. Those from here probably know of Elizabethtown...... We have absolutely no kind of hobby shop! If it wasn't for Wally World and the parts stores, I would have to order all my supplies online....... How can I convince a chain to put a small hobby store in this town? or even a "Mom & Pop" shop would be nice....

Thanks for any input............

Thats  a tough one,,if theres  quite  a   few modelers  in your area,,start your own store out of your garage,,or  rec room.  Theres a  few around here that do that.. it is more fun to  "handle"  a kit or product  in a LHS  firsthand,,instead  of just looking at it on   a  puter screen. Good luck on your searches!

[thatz4u]

Try a small ad in the paper, see how many like minded people  are in your area. It's a place to start...

[StevenGuthmiller]

With the thousands of the hobby shops that have folded their tents over the past few decades, it will be hard to convince anybody with any business acumen to take that kind of risk.

I would love to open a hobby shop of my own, but I know better.

 

Steve

[disabled modeler]

Thats  a tough one,,if theres  quite  a   few modelers  in your area,,start your own store out of your garage,,or  rec room.  Theres a  few around here that do that.. it is more fun to  "handle"  a kit or product  in a LHS  firsthand,,instead  of just looking at it on   a  puter screen. Good luck on your searches!

I like that idea.  if its out of your house the overhead should be very low other than for some stuff but one could get or find others that have stuff they would like to sell off or get rid of they could put in your own garage store.  You could even have tubs of parts for sale like one I use to go to years ago that folded in St. Louis,MO. called(Highway Hobbies) owners name was Roy Bean...real nice guy as builder himself.   Id love to have a small shop here to go to as well but with a Hobby Lobby in town all of the ones we had closed up...bummer.

[Mike999]

If you "start your own store out of your garage or  rec room," you should probably keep it quiet, depending on what you're doing.

Years ago, I got ripped off in a model deal by a pretty notorious con artist from the Chicago area.  (But eventually got my money.)

The internet was just starting up then, and I posted about him on the Usenet rec.models.scale forum.  Other victims responded. He had ripped off quite a few modelers in old-kit deals. 

Several people in his area mentioned this: he had convinced some big hobby distributors that he owned a real brick-and-mortar hobby shop.  That let him buy new kits wholesale, in case lots.  But he didn't have a store.  He sold the kits out of the trunk of his car, and at shows/contests.

That seriously annoyed legit store owners, who had to pay overhead, taxes etc.  They reported him enough times that distributors quit selling to him.  

So it might be OK if your "store" is a small operation by modelers and for modelers.  But you should probably be careful about going into the local Hobby Lobby and bragging that you can get it cheaper at Joe's Garage Hobby Shop. :-)

Edited May 9, 2017 by Mike999
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[JollySipper]

Thanks for the responses......! There's no chance of me opening my own "shop" as I live in a small apartment.......

I think that a hobby store could do good here. There's plenty of stay-at-home moms who could benefit from a craft section, maybe some RC stuff for the kids.... Paints and styrene for builders......

[426-Hemi]

Thanks for the responses......! There's no chance of me opening my own "shop" as I live in a small apartment.......

I think that a hobby store could do good here. There's plenty of stay-at-home moms who could benefit from a craft section, maybe some RC stuff for the kids.... Paints and styrene for builders......

I feel your pain TJ..... I live in an area too that has Michael's, Craft store, and 1/2 hour ride to Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart used top have kits local in my town, but clearanced 'em all out and are gone now! Closest hobby shop is 45 minutes to an hour, and one that is an hour away isn't all that bad, and has some interesting things, the other one thats slightly closer has a lot but the prices are just a bit steep.

I do however pick up paints and glues as needed at the further away shop....  He treats me VERY WELL there, and has decent prices!

[DumpyDan]

With the thousands of the hobby shops that have folded their tents over the past few decades, it will be hard to convince anybody with any business acumen to take that kind of risk.

I would love to open a hobby shop of my own, but I know better.

 

Steve

I am with you Steve, I have thought many many time about doing this but it is tough thing to get into and if you did you would have to go full bore into trains and after market parts anything and everything to stay alive.  Just go into a book store and look at how many train mags there are compare to model mags.  Wish you luck TJ

[DumpyDan]

Hey TJ, I just looked at where you live and you are an hour and a half from Myrtle Beach, I have spent a few winters there and there is a hobby shop in town, it is not great but not bad either.  Where I live I am a hour from any  hobby shop and the next one is the other way 90 mins away.

[niteowl7710]

Not to be Debbie Downer, but I doubt you'll succeed.  You're 40 miles from Fayetteville and there are several hobby outlets there.  Personally if I was looking for a place to open up a shop, a town of 3k people in a county of 35k, just up the road from major competition wouldn't be my pick.  There's simply not enough customer base to justify a shop where you live.

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

With the thousands of the hobby shops that. ave folded their tents over the past few decades, it will be hard to convince anybody with any business acumen to take that kind of risk.

I would love to open a hobby shop of my own, but I know better.

 

Steve

My local shop ( Paradise Hobbies CA) just  closed its doors. I'm sure he would have sold it if he could. Now looking around to find a place for getting supplies. More kits not an issue.

jollysipper do you have any clubs in your area. Might be able to get a large order together to help defray the cost of shipping.

 

[JollySipper]

jollysipper do you have any clubs in your area. Might be able to get a large order together to help defray the cost of shipping.

 

Hey, Bob....... I believe there may be a member or two here that meet in Fayetteville.... Maybe if I ask nicely, they could pick up some things for me at their next meeting?

 

[Tom Geiger]

A few years ago when I was between jobs, I did an analysis on the option of opening a hobby shop here in Pennsylvania.  No matter how hard I tried I could not make the numbers work.  

Some of the old time shops were still alive, not because they were money makers, but because the owner owned the building free and clear and had income from the other storefronts or apartment over the stores.  The owners and their families were working long hours for no or little pay.

 

With suburban strip mall rents in the $3,000 a month range for starters, and paying people to work there at legal rates, the numbers just aren't there.

 

[mr68gts]

Your own building on your property would be the best bet if you were not in an apartment. To have to pay the overhead of rental space and such makes it too costly to operate something that is a very little money maker if any at all. Even then there are insurance costs involved with a home business. Home owners insurance does not cover the business side of things. And small time operators may not get the best deals on kits and such as there I am sure different levels of discount. I have looked at doing something similar but in truth would really only be a playground for me and an outlet for my hobbies. Probably not something I want to do on my days off. To convince a chain to come in would be more work than worth. There are I am sure certain criteria that must be met in order for them to even consider looking at an area, The company will not want to start up a new location if the retail structure isn't there to support it.

Unfortunately for many of us who would like to have a retail store of our favorite hobby, it is a pipe dream that takes more work and money than most people are willing to put into it. Not saying you or anyone else wouldn't succeed and I certainly hope you or anyone else does but the likely hood according to statistics tells otherwise and quite frankly, numbers don't lie, unless you are lying to yourself about the numbers.

Paul

[Mike999]

Has anyone else thought of just putting on a big model sale some weekend?  Or have you actually done it?  If so, I'd like to hear about it.

I've thought seriously about doing something like the Kit Collector's International sales in Buena Park, CA.  I loved going to those sales when I lived in Los Angeles.  Bob Keller started the KCI shows in 1975 and his family still runs them today.  They are held in March, July and November and if you ever get a chance to visit one, don't miss it!  KCI is on Facebook and elsewhere on the internet. KCI shows are buy-and-sell only.  No contest or anything else included. 

Putting on a show like this looks fairly easy. Which is what I always say, just before I step on a land-mine.  First, it would take a suitable place like a hotel convention room or similar: a big room with plenty of free parking, and easy access from outside for vendors to unload.  Then some rented 6-foot tables and chairs for the vendors. Hire a couple of workers, I'd guess, to help out. 

Biggest problem I have now is the same problem many of you have: I live in mostly rural Upstate SC.  There are lots of available hotels.  But I'm not sure how many people would be willing to spend a day (or weekend) driving here just for a model sale. 

[oldcarfan]

It would be hard to get someone to build one. Hobbytown for instance does demographic studies before they allow a franchise. As others said, you might try starting one as a hobby and see if it grows into a business. I know a couple of people who run 'informal' hobby stores in their areas, buying kits and supplies online for friends who don't have access to order for themselves and making a small profit from it. They also put ads on Craigslist and in the local papers that they buy old models and collections and then resell them either locally or online depending on the situation.

[Brett Barrow]

Yeah, looking at the demographics on Wikipedia it would be a tough place to make it work. My hometown in VA is 4x the population and a bit higher median income and they couldnt support a hobby shop. Heck, where I am now is 15x the population and more than double the median income and I can tell you from experience how hard it is to keep a hobby shop going even in this part of the country. It's a changing world w/r/t brick and mortar retail. I've seen at least 5 established LHS  close since I've been doing this and only one new one that has made it more than a year (a shop that specializes in Gundam and Japanese sci-fi kits). Tabletop and card gaming stores seem to do alright, they're places where people meet to play the games so they have a built-in advantage over buying online. But a couple of those have gone under, too. Same with R/C shops that do service but that's a tough business now, too. 

There's only one part of the country I feel like has a dearth of hobby shops these days and that's Florida. 

[jas1957]

Good luck, I live in an urban/suburban county of 1.2 million people. There is exactly one hobby shop in this county & it is on life support. To my knowlage there are three other shops within 50 miles of my home.  One of those looks like it will be closing soon.  Between less & less people being involved in hobbies & internet sellers it is a VERY tough business to be in.  20 years ago I had six shops within 10 miles of me, didn't appreciate how good I had it.

[Xingu]

Look for a mom & pop or other small general store and see if you can talk them into setting aside some space for models.

[JollySipper]

That's not a bad idea, Michael........ The thing that made me ask the question in, um....... question.... is the fact that this town is expanding at an alarming rate. In the past 5 years we've gotten a Taco Bell, Arby's, Walgreens, Hardee's, businesses that have been here a while are expanding, we've built a new jail..... They are even building an overpass out on the bypass.... All this money going into expansion is telling me within another 5 years we won't recognize the town any more!    

Just would be nice if someone saw what others see that owns a hobby-type store and thought we could use one................

[mikemodeler]

That's not a bad idea, Michael........ The thing that made me ask the question in, um....... question.... is the fact that this town is expanding at an alarming rate. In the past 5 years we've gotten a Taco Bell, Arby's, Walgreens, Hardee's, businesses that have been here a while are expanding, we've built a new jail..... They are even building an overpass out on the bypass.... All this money going into expansion is telling me within another 5 years we won't recognize the town any more!    

Just would be nice if someone saw what others see that owns a hobby-type store and thought we could use one................

Your argument for a store sounds great TJ, but let me ask you a question and please don't be offended.

How much money do you spend on hobby supplies and kits per month?   Depending on your answer, you will see why a hobby shop is or isn't a viable business in your town.

Basic math: You spend $100/month X 12 months = $1,200 gross sales. Let's say the store makes 25% gross profit on your purchases or $300 for the whole year.

Quiz time: How many shoppers like you will it take to support a hobby shop? At least 500 is my guess because using the basic math example, I would suspect a store would be spending roughly $12,000 per month on expenses (rent, utilities, wages, taxes, insurance, advertising, inventory to name a few).

Now ask yourself, how many other model builders do you know in your county?

I remember when Hobby Lobby first carried models and aircraft/military had one side of the aisle and cars/trucks had the other side and now they don't even make up one side of the aisle together! You can bet they studied sales history and which models sold at regular price and which ones sold at clearance. If they could justify having more models (sales demand) you can bet they would. Hobby Lobby has the benefit of being a craft store so they can carry things that are sold across multiple hobbies like Xacto knives, spray paint, paint pens, etc.whereas a small hobby shop may not be able to do the same.

The idea to open up a little store in a corner of an existing business could give you an idea of how successful a full on hobby shop might be and would be a whole lot cheaper to start with.

 

[Rob Hall]

Good luck, I live in an urban/suburban county of 1.2 million people. There is exactly one hobby shop in this county & it is on life support. To my knowlage there are three other shops within 50 miles of my home.  One of those looks like it will be closing soon.  Between less & less people being involved in hobbies & internet sellers it is a VERY tough business to be in.  20 years ago I had six shops within 10 miles of me, didn't appreciate how good I had it.

That is unfortunate...I'm in the process of moving from the Phoenix area (county of 4.5 mill) to the Cleveland area.    I remember there being a lot more shops around when I lived in NE Ohio 25 years ago.   I buy most of my kits online, but I enjoy going to a shop for supplies and browsing.