Another HobbyTownUSA Bites The Dust

The two best HobbyTowns that I've seen are in Augusta, GA, and in Kennesaw, GA. Especially the one in Kennesaw. They bought an old two-screen movie theater and converted it. It's HUGE on the inside, and they have the largest selection of everything hobby-wise that you would ever see. RC, plastic kits, dolls, electronics, puzzles, knitting, crocheting, etc. Just about any hobby you can imagine is in there. Wish all HobbyTowns were like that one........

Aw crap, which Charlotte store was this? Not the one in the South Charlotte strip mall near the Carolina Place mall, near Pineville?

That be da one. The last HobbyTown in Charlotte, and it was closed by the sheriff's department on May 16. I take it you never got a chance to get out there and look around?

That's too bad. I've been to that Hobby Town. It was indeed a pretty good one. Well, if you're on that side of town, you still have the Hobby Stop nearby in Rock Hill. I hope everyone who can will spend a few dollars there as often as possible to help them stay open. Barrett

Devil Dawg

That be da one. The last HobbyTown in Charlotte, and it was closed by the sheriff's department on May 16. I take it you never got a chance to get out there and look around?

(sound of chairs crashing, breaking glass, general destruction)

No, I actually used to live just two blocks away in Waterford Square Apts, and used to go there a lot for supplies--paints, glue, styrene, etc. It was a pretty goo shop. Even now, living in the Universtiry Area a little more north, I would go there to get paint and whatnot.

This TOTALLY sucks! I have absolutely nowhere to go for genuine modeling paints and supplies now except like, AC Moore for Testor's liquid cement. I won't step inside of a Hobby Lobby so I'm going to have to make a road trip somewhere now. What a bummer!!!

Well, there's always the Internet. And Michael's. But I know exactly whatcha mean, and I feel the same way. I'd rather go in to well-stocked dedicated hobby shop to buy my hobby stuff. There is The Hobby Stop down in Rock Hill, SC,  which is a right turn off of I-77 South Exit 77. I've, and others, have mentioned it previously in this thread.

If you ever get up to Fayetteville, NC, you gotta visit Hayes Hobby House. It is an EXCELLENT hobby shop!

Did you have a bad experience at a Hobby Lobby? I used to really enjoy their selection of Tamiya and Academy kits (especially with the 40%-off coupons), but the ones in the Charlotte area seem to have only Revell and Monogram kits now.

Devil Dawg

If you ever get up to Fayetteville, NC, you gotta visit Hayes Hobby House. It is an EXCELLENT hobby shop!

Did you have a bad experience at a Hobby Lobby? I used to really enjoy their selection of Tamiya and Academy kits (especially with the 40%-off coupons), but the ones in the Charlotte area seem to have only Revell and Monogram kits now.

As for Hobby Lobby, I boycott them for personal reasons of which Must Not Be Spoken Of Here.

We're fortunate in the DFW area, as far as Hobby Towns go anyway, with three good examples, at least two of which are owned by the same guy, who just happens to show up at at least the two annual IPMS events here, and more in neighboring states. I have seen a couple of truly excellent locally owned genuine hobby shops fall by the wayside though, which given the relatively low profit margin on plastic and accessories and the high cost of keeping a brick-and-mortar open doesn't surprise me one little bit.. Blame the internet all you want, but when most if not all wholesale suppliers ALSO sell directly to the general public, I'm not at all surprised.

My commitment is to buy as much as I absolutely can in the way of sullies, tools and references from the nearest to me Hobby Town, even if i pay a little more. I also pick up just as much in the way of general "art" supplies as I can from local art supply shops, same motivation: to support independent business as much as I can.

There are a couple of independents in the several towns we travel to on a regular basis, and I always make it a point to go in, say hello, and BUY SOMETHING, whether I really need it or not.

RBaer, I like your approach. DFW does have some great shops. I try to visit Wild Bill's every time I get to Dallas. Great selection. Great owner.

Well, I certainly wont' mention what must not be mentioned.......if I knew what to mention..............

Down to two Hobby Town USA stores in the Chicago area though the three that closed did sometime after 2001 while the two that exist opened about 6 or so years ago.

Barrett, Wild Bill's is a gas to hunt through. There's stuff buried in those stacks that hasn't seen the light of day in years, or there used to be, haven't been by in a couple of years.

Which means I need to go.....   :)

I feel blessed to live near AAA Hobbies in Magnolia, NJ. Best hobby shop I've ever frequented (aside from the old Squadron Shops which no longer exist).

I just recently moved to the DC area and was surprised at the fact there aren't any Hobbytown USA stores here. There used to be but now the nearest one is a hour or so away. I figured being such a populated area there would have been enough folks that build to keep those stores open.

Sprue-ce, I visited a pretty good LHS in Chicago last year called Chicagoland Toys and Hobbies on Northwest Hwy. I thought they had a pretty good selection of WWII stuff. They didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon. Have they closed?

You've been told .

   When you move to a new place , make your first purchases at your local Hobby Town and LHS.

BD;

When was the last time you bought a bottle of paint ? Last one I bought was $ 4.25 + Tx.

tankerbuilder

BD;

When was the last time you bought a bottle of paint ? Last one I bought was $ 4.25 + Tx.

Good heavens man. What paint?

Because of the lack of the LHS in my area I have to rely on the ol' interwebs. I was able to get MM Acrylic for $2.59 each.

Tanker, I'm not sure I get your point. Do you mean that you paid $4.25 + tax for a bottle of paint at a LHS? I can believe that. They have to charge more in order to have a location people can go to and get their supplies immediately. If you mean you paid that on the Internet, I don't know where you are shopping. It shouldn't cost that much by itself. However, a bottle of paint will cost you more than $4.25 total on the Internet unless you can get free shipping, and to get free shipping, you'll usually have to buy a lot more than a bottle of paint.

Huey, I live in the DC area, too, and it's pretty bad in the District. There are some good shops around, though. If you live on the north side, which I know best, there is a Hobby Works store in Laurel that is about as good as a decent Hobby Town.

Wow, OK, we just lost ours here in Boise ID. 

Here is a quote for their Facebook page.

"Friends both old and new,
I have sad news for you. With all the trials and tribulations that HobbyTown USA, Boise has faced lately I have not been able to save her from the giant iceberg impact of the recession. Everyone here has been trying hard to bring things back to normal for the last several years and it seems that each time we patch a hole we find a new leak in the hull. In about 2008-9 folks in the valley began to have a lot less to spend on their hobbies. Obviously mortgages and car payments had to come first. After that there were things like the power bill or repairs of the air conditioner and that didn't leave much left over for the fun stuff. 
Its not all on the recession though. We should probably not have tried to increase convenience by opening our Nampa location, at least during the recession anyway. We also got forced to move to the other building by our landlord in 2012. Although our new space looked very nice we ended up having conflict with our landlord regarding a couple of points in the lease and as a result had to do without about $40,000 for six months after that move. That seriously hampered both our moving advertising, our holiday advertising and our ability to keep bringing in cool product for our customers to consider for purchase. The new side of the parking lot also happens to be a lot less visible from the street and not near any other normal retail location that we could share customers with. Do you remember the good old days of Moxie Java being next door? How about Ace Hardware or even Coast to Coast Hardware? They and our other wonderful neighbors helped make business better for all of us over the years. 
That brings us to where we are now, behind on rent, not earning enough to bring in all of the great new product out there and continually being faced with "showrooming" that practice where people spend hours questioning our staff about various products and then still go and purchase it online because it is 5% less on a website. We still pay our people for that time, well not anymore I guess. Please don't worry about your friends here at the store.

Silver

On line ordering on just Amazon alone killed many hobby shops in major cities and local areas .In my area their is a hobby shop that stays alive by purchasing modeler's collections.Hard to find kits and then some.

 

In the end, what modelcrazy just posted points the finger at us all--we're all to blame for the demise of local hobby stores. If we can "get it for 5% less online" we do it, without even considering the ramifications of our own myopia. Human nature, I guess; will we ever learn? 

modelcrazy

Wow, OK, we just lost ours here in Boise ID. 

Here is a quote for their Facebook page................We also got forced to move to the other building by our landlord in 2012. Although our new space looked very nice we ended up having conflict with our landlord regarding a couple of points in the lease and as a result had to do without about $40,000 for six months after that move. That seriously hampered both our moving advertising, our holiday advertising and our ability to keep bringing in cool product for our customers to consider for purchase. 

 

the doog

In the end, what modelcrazy just posted points the finger at us all--we're all to blame for the demise of local hobby stores. If we can "get it for 5% less online" we do it, without even considering the ramifications of our own myopia. Human nature, I guess; will we ever learn? 

 

Sadly, I could not agree more.