Hobby Lobby

Yeah, I noticed this too with all the Hobby Lobby's and Michael's in chicagoland. It doesnt help much that most of the mom 'n' pop shops are closing their doors. I just moved out to Cali so hopefully there's some good shops out here...

Lately, the HL stores in my area have been marking clearance as 40 pct. off maximum..

At one time, the manager would reduce clearance sale prices even more if a kit did not sell after 3 weeks.

I also used to be able to obtain 40 pct off clearance kit prices and bought a couple of large, usually  expensive kits that way.

Sadly, those days are gone in the Chicago area.

The regular retail prices are high; however, it's the omnipresent 40% off weekly coupon (which comes in Sunday papers or can be downloaded and printed off as many times as you wish from thier website) that make the purchases worthwhile.

Also, when they put things in the clearance aisle, the kits are normally half priced.

They do odd things like have a half dozen kits on the shelf at regular price and then a handful of the exact same kits sitting in the clearance aisle at half price.

At least one week a month they have a 30% off model sale. I do not believe I've ever bought a kit there at full retail price. I've always used the 40% coupon, 30% off sale or grabbed something from the clearance aisle.

Additionally, they carry airbrushes, compressors and other modeling supplies. The 40% off coupon can be used on those high ticket items making them quite a bargin.

Biggest, most expensive model kit I've ever bought there was that giant sized Revell Type VII U-boat using the coupon. It was a good deal with the coupon.

The HL in Columbus, GA seems to have a pretty good selection.... First time I've ever even seen one, none in Northern Virginia. Picked up a 1/72 P-51B 'OLD CROW' ($11) and 1/1200 USS Enterprise ($9) about 10 minutes ago!

RedCorvette

Never been to a Hobby Lobby.  The nearest one is over 60 miles away and it sounds like there's no reason to make the drive.

same here, my main source is a place called the hobby center. But from what I've heard about the prices about this"hobby lobby" I'm Glad I've never shoped there.

Never been to a Hobby Lobby.  The nearest one is over 60 miles away and it sounds like there's no reason to make the drive.

Our the past 25 years there have been a dozen hobby shops that have come and gone within 15 miles of my house, including one that featured wooden ship models exclusively.  Now all we have left  is a Michaels and one model railroad shop.  At least I can still get get paint and other supplies at the train shop.

If it wasn't for the Internet I don't know how I could stay in the hobby.

Mark

The Hobby Lobby stores here are the same. Lots of cars, a few ships and armor and mostly Revell aircraft. So what they've become is.......Michael's!!!

I believe there is another thread floating around about this where someone had done some more research and spoke with their local Hobby Lobby manager.  I wish I could remember exactly where I read it but the conversation definitely indicated that Hobby Lobby was scaling back and possibly eliminating their plastic model / model accesories section. 

Stoped by the Hobby Lobby yesterday and they had a grand total TWO (2) armor models and maybe 20 military airplanes, all the rest was autos. They used to have two whole rows of models with the military stuff on one side and the autos on the other. Now they are all on one side. You can tell by the looks of it that they are getting out of the military modeling.

Hobby Lobby's prices are very high. I only buy kits there when they are on sale for 30% off or when they have a 40% off coupon and it's a kit I want. I've gotten very good Dragon armor kits there, but not recently. Their armor tends to be a couple of newish Tamiya and Academy kits, a couple of ancient Tamiya kits and usually a couple of newish Trumpeter kits. The pre-painted, screwdriver assembled Testors kits rounds out the selection.

They also carry those insanely overpriced Italeri armor kits that were repackaged by Testors along with a display case. They aren't worth the price though.

When they mark down the kits, they redline them at 50% off. It makes the kits well worth the trip for me. I have not seen Dragon armor at HL in quite some time, but I admit I do not go as often as I used to go.

I can't shop at the local HobbyTown, their prices are outrageous. I noticed the same thing at my local Hobby Lobby, I was hoping they were moving old stuff out to bring in some new stuff... now I highly doubt it. I have a good local source thankfully, but I guess I will be buying a lot more kits online.

I'll still buy misc stuff at Hobby Lobby though, but now it seems they're becoming another Micheal's. The one here has only been here for about a year too, but now that I think about it... they never brought in new kits, just kept ordering the same stuff over and over again. As far as I can tell they've been turning over their inventory pretty regularly but the car section as certainly expanded and the military stuff has probably been reduced 2/3.

Shucks.

Yeah, as far as I can tell, HL is going down the drain as far as modeler's interests are concerned.  To heck with them.  They seem to be specializing in artsy-fartsy stuff for little old ladies now. 

 I will shop at Hobby Town as much as possible, although our local store is small and very limited in selection of stuff I need.  Alas, I guess I will have to shop more on line now, for most of my tools and supplies and kits.

The local Hobby Blobby is going down the tube. NO Armor, sorry aircraft selection and about 15 high dollar ship models.

But there are two aisles full of cars, you can get cars anywhere ....even the drugstore!

 They used to carry Dragon, Tamiya, Academy then started replacing them with old outdated stuff. I haven't bought a model there in over two years...  just miscellaneous supplies.

I've got two within 40 miles of me, both in Louisville. I went earlier this week, but since they had just finished a 30% off models sale, the pickings were slim. However, the clearance aisle (more of a center display table) had lots of good deals, just nothing that appealed to me.

That's going to make a few of our members quite disappointed. Since I don't have one nearby, I'm thankfully unaffected.