How's Business?

Just my opinion, but I think the Local Hobby Shop business is in decline. A lot of us guys like to hang out at the local shop but then buy on the Internet or by Mailorder to save a few bucks. From a new kit perspective, however, things are looking great. The new releases in all scales and particularly the re-birth of 1/32 and 1/24 scale is very surprising to me. The new Companies from China and Eastern Europe are providing some very interesting subjects and their quality is rapidly improving.

Rick

Don't mistake the decline of local hobby shops as a sign of the hobby's decline. As seen by the increased number of magazines, web-sites, and the growing popularity of this forum are a testament to. However, the same things that are making the hobby stronger are killing the little guys: the Internet. With venues such as Squadron, Greatmodels, E-bay and others, the smaller stores just can't compete with the volume. Sad, but true.

Apparently, some of the local hobby stores are realizing the infulence of the internet. At a recent visit to my local hobby shop, the owner asked me if I wanted to become one of his "Ebay distributers". I have gotten a few decent deals as a buyer on Ebay, but I have no plans to sell on it. So, I declined. His plan is to get several "Ebay distributers" to help sell his stuff. Hope it works out for him.

Ted

I would agree that the hobby is growing at the moment. My fear is that it's a temporary growth spurt. WW2 has been the trend for a while now. There are plenty of aftermarket resin, pe and decal sets out there to build anything you want. The quality, detail and price of kits is increasing exponentially. Companies that don't keep pace with our thirst for ever more complex kits will fade away.

The big problem, as I and others see, is that with fewer kids entering the hobby our future growth is very short term. I believe that price and subject matter are the two primary reasons kids are not modelling as much these days. The price issue is self explanitory. Subject matter is a topic I think model companies must address. Just by the shear nature of what is being produced today, they are targeting adult modelers. The average 10 year old is far more sophisticated than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The type of model that captured our imaginations will go unnoticed today. If the industry does not adapt, it will be extinct.

As for the internet, it's a great tool that will help our hobby as a whole. It will all but kill the mom and pop shops though. I personally make all my purchases at a local shop as much as possible, even if it costs more. It would be sad to see the small shops go.

Darren

I try to buy as much as I can at several local shops because I don't want to see them go. They do seem to have slower business in the past few years though. Of course I do go to ebay/squadron etc. to get some things. Ebay for out of production and mail order when stores charge way too much.

I think the modeling 'internet' of the 1970's etc was Kmart as Kits were a little less expensive there but all the modeling odds and ends i would get at Mom & Pops because Kmart didn't carry all those goodies.Another big change since then is for $20. i could by enough kits and supplies to last me for a couple of months. I need say no more about that.I wonder if the popularity of WW2 aircraft comes from the same source that makes railroad STEAM engines facinating...at least to me. I tell everybody that if it don't have a prop on it it's not an airplane.The only jet i've ever built is the A-10 and that was for my son-in-law who is a career Army man and has called in A-10's for support.I do admit that jet has almost as much personality as a WW2 aircraft. Rambling on about this, I'm wondering how long the WW2 craze will last.Will the younger modelers continue to model in that era. It seems that a lot of the contributors to this forum are young and maybe they can pass it on to the next gen. I was intoduced to modeling when i was very young by relation and an older next door neighbor who modeled and i've tried to do the same .This is a great hobby and given the right conditions like late at night with 1 or 2 of your favorite beverages put away i'll faintly hear the whine of a starter and an an Allison coming to life.Or did I?
Teise

I'd like to expand on a point that Darren brought up about kids entering the hobby. While I too think it is sad that kids now adays are less inclined start modeling, I don't think that price is the only thing putting them off. Today's kids have far more options to capture their interests than I did as a kid in the 60's and early 70's. When I was growing up, I was hard pressed to find someone who had not built at least one model. But now, judging by my friend's children, as well as my own pre-teen nephews and nieces, they've never even heard of model making, as a hobby anyway. Why do that when there are video games, internet chat rooms, cell phones and loads of other things to do ? Though I acknowledge that there must be still some who would like to get into the hobby, the vast majority of today's youth seems to "have better things to do". Maybe the model companies saw this, and decided to target their market towards us "older folks" who crave the ultimate in detail and at the same time have much deeper pockets, for the most part. They're looking to survive too, and would not stay around long offering cheap detail-challenged kits for a market that is not that interested in them to begin with.

Just my view.

Ted

2 cents from the retail side of things. I own a bicycle shop in a small town for six years (closed the doors in 2001) and was absolutly amazed at how much folding cash the kids carried with them. Hope this reply isn't to far off topic.

I go hang at my local shop with my friend the manager, and he mostly complains that they're barely staying in business. He says if they had to rent the building they own, they'd have closed their doors a year ago. The decline, according to him, is fairly general across the hobby board - trains, car and plane models, and sci fi. R/C is dead, resin and vinyl is dead, according to him. Their best sellers seem to be the Breyer horses, for which they're an east coast distributer, but even those are in a decline.

This is a good discussion everybody. Dan: Are they spending anycash at the RC store? John P: Does he think the decline can be blamed on internet buying or just a lack of interest? Maybe both? I've been giving my old Finescale Mod Mags(the ones without an article thats key to me)to neighborhood kids and have sparked a LITTLE interest.
Teise

Actually at our last club race on Tuesday night half the racers were high school age or younger and they do spend money.

I have noticed a large upswing in modelling, but not in the traditional sense. At my local hobby shop, Warhaamer is getting quite popular. For those unfamiliar with the game, it uses scale models of fantasy or Sci-fi armies to fight battles on a large playing area. Basically, it's a large-scale Risk game. THese models are getting very popular, and I believe it's due to the fact that after creating and painting these masterpieces of plastic, the kids can actually use them creatively instead of just letting them sit on a shelf to be admired. Each kit has a specific purpose in the game, and it makes them more appealing to the younger crowds. In a nutshell, they're models used as toys.
Yes, Dan, the kids have money in their pockets to spend, and they spend it freely. I ran into a 12 year old kid while doing a demo game, and he asked me what he could use to improve his army. When he came back the next week, he had 2 of everything that I had mentioned to him! When I asked him how he could afford over $100 worth of miniatures, he just said that he used PART of his allowance for the month. I remember scrounging and saving everything Icould for 3 or 4 months to buy my next cheap kit!

Sorry I went on a bit long. The main point is, the interest is there, it just has to be re-directed a bit.

demono69

Great Discussion.

No doubt the Hobby Industry is changing, but I would not say decining. I agree it must be harder and harder for the "ma and pa hobby shop" to compete with the internet and the uber-hobby and craft stores (Hobby Lobby).

I'd be darn interested to see Hasegawa's, Tamiya's, or Revelogram's Financial Statements over the last decade to see how healthy they are. I'm also very interested in their market strategy: More big-scale (1/32, 1/24) kits? More high-detail kits? Aftermarket Items? Modern or WW2 focus?

I think with all the recent militarty conflict, modern subjects such as the F-18E will be very hot (Revelogram and Trumpeter are each comming out with their 1/48th scale offerengs). Here's hoping someone will re-tool an A-10!

Little off- subject: It's about time for a Hollywood movie (think Top Gun) to capitalize on the craze also! Hmmmm....Top Gun 2 anyone?

demono69 is correct. I think the basic interest is there, It just hasn't been sufficiently peeked! My 10 year old son loves certain model related toys. Zoids and Bionicles are the two I see the most. Both are multi colored plastic kits that build up into some sort of sci-fi robots. The Zoids come with a sheet of sticker "decals" to dress it up. I think the attraction is being able to build and play with them. My son has also just recently discovered Warhammer. We are checking those out to see if it's something he'd be interested in. It would appear that kids today want to model with a purpose, not just a static display.

Darren

I have a Nephew who loves legos, he likes to build things and then play with them, I did when I was his age but then my father got me into modeling I changed gears, but the only kicker there is that you couldn't play with the kit after it was finished, but I think the kids these days are not into building models as much because of the computer, and their games, lets face it kids today have better eye & thumb cordination then we do by playing Game Boys, X Boxes, Nentendo and Etc.... and also with these games come a shorter attention span because new games are coming out faster then the newest model kits are released
but as for Us old Fuddy Duddies we have this hobby to give us an excape from everyday life and we are the ones who are looking for the best deal on the kits by using the internet hobby shops and putting ole Ma & Pops shops out of business, because they can't compete with a World Wide Web Site they get maybe a hundred customers a week when the web has hundred customer an hour, now if they get that bug and go and make themselves a website then they may make it as a supplier or distributor in the hobby business
Ugly Butt Well Hung; Hawgs
Cuda