SEARS : the New Online Hobby Shop ?!

I used to buy Hasegawa models at Sears in the toy dept. back in the 70's .Yes , that has nothing to do with the internet now . Just thought i'd show how old i am .I know , who cares .

As a kid I have many happy memories of models available in all the department stores- Sears, J.C.Pennys, Montgomery Wards. Many of my kits came from there for many years. I never set foot in a hobby store until I was 9 or so, when one opened down the street. I will have to take a look at what Sears has to offer online.

I recall my K-mart had a pretty decent selection of Mongoram birds and perhaps armor back in the early-mid 70's. I picked them up for something like $1 or a shade over that. Still a lot of money to a kid with no allowance.

$43 for Arii 1/48 Zero. WTF? Arii? I wouldn't even pay that much for a Hasegawa kit. 

Selection is slim. They have a few of the Trumpy KV's for $27, so that isn't too bad.

$52.14 for Tamiya's P-51B?

Think I'll stick with my other sources, thanks...

tigerman

I recall my K-mart had a pretty decent selection of Mongoram birds and perhaps armor back in the early-mid 70's. I picked them up for something like $1 or a shade over that. Still a lot of money to a kid with no allowance.

My K-mart had both sides of one long isle and 1 side of the next isle with models and paints. (mid 60's)

Gibsons had both sides of one long isle.(mid-late 60's)

Skaggs (Albertsons) had one side of a long isle. (late 60's early 70's)

Woolsworth, Kress, and TG&Y had mediocre selections (60's) Woolworth is where I missed the Westing house Nuclear Reactor.

Woolco had a pretty decent selection.  (early 70's)

Toys R Us had both sides of one very long isle. (late 80's-early 90's) Missed all of the "Alien" movie models

Jiffy and Toot n Totum convience stores had a handful of models on a spinning rack. (60's)

 In all honesty I dont remember Sears ever having models and my mom worked there!

Trumpeter Wellington for $150 while it's $66 At Amazon?  It's like going to Costco.  Ya gotta know your prices

I presumed prices would be higher than other web sites, but I'm only familiar with prices of kits I see in the LHS as I don't yet order online.

I'm just surprised at the variety of kits Sears now sells.

Two thing i would not of thought I would hear today......Gibsons and TG&Y. I spent some $$$ in those place's.

Were these just in the South????

Thad

KINGTHAD

Two thing i would not of thought I would hear today......Gibsons and TG&Y. I spent some $$$ in those place's.

Were these just in the South????

Thad

Might be.

I don't recall seeing them in Chicago while growing up.

Sprue-ce Goose

I presumed prices would be higher than other web sites, but I'm only familiar with prices of kits I see in the LHS as I don't yet order online.

I'm just surprised at the variety of kits Sears now sells.

That's as may be...but $52 for a Tamiyastang is absolutely laughable even against Hobbytown's ridiculous prices (I think they charge what, $35 for it?). Online it's often easily found for about $20.

Also...I don't think Sears is actually doing the selling. If you look, the kits are actually being offered by different vendors selling THROUGH Sears. Very much like the Amazon model.

DoogsATX

 

Sprue-ce Goose:

 

I presumed prices would be higher than other web sites, but I'm only familiar with prices of kits I see in the LHS as I don't yet order online.

I'm just surprised at the variety of kits Sears now sells.

 

 

That's as may be...but $52 for a Tamiyastang is absolutely laughable even against Hobbytown's ridiculous prices (I think they charge what, $35 for it?). Online it's often easily found for about $20.

Also...I don't think Sears is actually doing the selling. If you look, the kits are actually being offered by different vendors selling THROUGH Sears. Very much like the Amazon model.

I suspected as much but did not have time last night to investigate further.

I am curious why Sears management would choose to offer an expanded range of models on their website.

Presumably, Sears was approached by the vendors offering money. I cannot believe management actually decided offering model kits online was a wise business decision considering competitors are cutting back and Sears is losing business in other areas.

That was the reason for my astonished ?! symbols at the end of the thread Subject Title.

On the internet, inventory costs are near zero, especially when all you're doing is hosting a marketplace for other resellers and taking a cut of their sales.

That's what Amazon does (if you set up as a seller, you get access to a crazy-huge customer pool, Amazon gets a small cut of your action). 

I get your thinking Bondo . It is strange that in this day of Sears straining to keep the doors open that they would now start offering kits . Since K-mart carries Sraftsman tools now maybe K-mart will start offering those kits ? They used to carry Tamiya along with Revell and Mongram .

I'm thinking South and West.

TG&Y rocked!!! Probably a Dollar General store would be the closest thing today except add a  live Pet section and a Millinary Dept. 

My grandparents lived in a small town where TG&Y was the major retailer. All others were local mom and pop stores. If we visited on a weekend my grandmother would take us to TG&Y on a Saturday afternoon to buy a toy. Ahhhhhhh life was good!

I remember Gibsons as a disorganized sleazy type of store.

We also had Howards and The Globe------see Gibsons above.

I forgot they had a pet dept. I remember there were always yellow and blue birds flying around the inside of the store.

Thad

KINGTHAD

Two thing i would not of thought I would hear today......Gibsons and TG&Y. I spent some $$$ in those place's.

Were these just in the South????

Thad

TG&Y made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean in So. Cal. I used to walk there with my mother and grandmother when I was a small boy. I do recall a nice model section in the toy aisle. I want to say that at least a original series USS Enterprise I built came from there. They had all the Star Trek stuff in that store...

Ad well after having a look at Sear's pricing online of kits... well I won't be purchasing from them anytime soon. It was good for a memory, but like an old girlfriend the memories are better than today's reality.

The price tag on all the dragon kits is at least 100$ though

I must presume the kit sales are aimed at impulse buys and not the informed shoppers.