No kits at Wally World?

I truly wish that Wal-Mart would just dry up and blow away.

subfixer wrote:

I truly wish that Wal-Mart would just dry up and blow away.

It's weird.  The places that I used to by models as a kid, Toys R Us, Walmart, K-mart, Target, no longer carry models.  Places that I would not have thought to look for models, Ace Hardware, have a pretty good selection of supplies and kits.  There are four ACE's within 20 minutes drive-tiem (Ace is popular here), and between thefour of them, you can find all the main model kit makers, good paint selection, glues, and tools.  Also have a pretty good LHS if I want to drive for about an hour.  Now ACE is certainly a store that is demographic driven, so modeling certainly isn't dying here.  One of the stores just recently redid their hobby section.

My youngest son's mother-in-law has worked for WalMart for years.  She told me about WalMart's plan to drop models and modeling supplies from their inventories several months prior to it actually happened.  She told us a month or so ago that the next thing to go is going to be Fabrics and the Art & Crafts section this coming spring.  If it happens, it'll be entertaing to watch - they might be able to ignore a bunch of PO'd modelers - but I would worry a little about POing that many women (let's be honest - who controls the purse strings in most families?)

qmiester wrote:

but I would worry a little about POing that many women (let's be honest - who controls the purse strings in most families?)

What can I say? When your right, your right! I know for a fact that my Mothe will be one of those women raiding Walmart with torches and pitchforks when/if it happens...

qmiester wrote:

My youngest son's mother-in-law has worked for WalMart for years.  She told me about WalMart's plan to drop models and modeling supplies from their inventories several months prior to it actually happened.  She told us a month or so ago that the next thing to go is going to be Fabrics and the Art & Crafts section this coming spring.  If it happens, it'll be entertaing to watch - they might be able to ignore a bunch of PO'd modelers - but I would worry a little about POing that many women (let's be honest - who controls the purse strings in most families?)

They've already discontinued the fabrics/arts&crafts here (there are 18 Wal-Marts in this area) which is a good thing because it means that some of the small stores will be coming back again.

I believe I have said my stance on walmart here opnce before, I hate the place with a passion, it ruins the country.  It doesnt pay fair wages, doesnt pay overtime, uses praticly slave/child labor in third world countries to make their good, and drives small buisnesses out of buisness.

I may sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but one day, all stores will be walmart, the price of food will be jacked up to the point were ALL our money goes to walmart, then it will be the USW united states of Walmart 

we got wind a while back that WW was purging thier non moving toy inventory (HAH!)

so all models and supplies were discontinued, this was in the spring, and I purchased as many kits and supplies as I could for our club raffle.

This is how I see the WW model market:

The same six kits over and over and over:  Revell F117/ SR71, P40, a couple of revell car kits, usually low riders with rims, and often a stock car kit.  Pretty much the same stock inventory everywhere I went.  Two years ago I saw a couple of NON Revell kits show up on Walmart shelves, and hoped that it wold be a turn for the better, hoping that it would introduce a new group of people to a higher quality kit.  Apparently that plan backfired and the models were yanked in favor of diecast colletables (Century21, etc).  Those are now littering the dicsount shelves and during my local store's overhaul the entire toy department was redesigned.

Now there is no model shelf space anyore and only a relatively small selection of diecasts, and all of them are NASCAR. The big Star Wars Clone Wars toy selection was pushed from two shefl slots to one in favor of Iron Man and Hulk toys in September, which is good for me because the SWCW toys will be discounted soon and I can grab a clone helmet and start mods on it. Looking at the shelf space allotted the push has been for more Nerf space, more movie tie ins, more electronic toys, and with the upcoming holiday season more RC.

My OTHER local store was quite unique in that it had a selection of Polar Lights repopped WierdOhs kits, people did not know what to make of them and they did not sell well at all. Ipicked a few up when all of that was beign cleared out and finished one just in time for the BCS championship.

David

 

 

Well what can I say,I work at wally world and if Sam was alive he would be appauled at what is happing at his stores.As for the mom and pop places,they asked for it and would not compete with others.A lot of them would not keep there store clean or pay a little bitter in order to keep good workers.I was driving a truck for 18 years and saw this happing with the truck stops just as well and with the stores.As for pay,wal-mart does pay good but only for those who will work and not for the lazy workers.I do get payed good for what I do and actually make better money then what I was doing driving trucks 48 states.I work 40 hrs a week insted of 130 hrs + that I used to do.Now with that out of the way Wal-mart is discontinuing the model and arts/craft stuff do to Micheals and Hobby lobby.They started doing this as of jan the 1st of 2008.Now if the mom and pops places are smart then they can fill a hole that these gaints are leaving.Also there is a lack of parents teaching there kids to work with there hands.Thanks to playstations and xboxes.If more parents would quit buying this stuff and take time with thier kids what would happen then..............Digger

Digger,

My local WM is a pretty good place to shop.  The LHS I used to go to went under before we got our WM.  Hopefully in the future some kids will get bored of video games and try doing hand crafts.  I know that when I was young, scale modeling took a back seat to computers and Atari but when I gained maturity I got back into it again.  

Dave

 

smeagol the vile wrote:

I believe I have said my stance on walmart here opnce before, I hate the place with a passion, it ruins the country.  It doesnt pay fair wages, doesnt pay overtime, uses praticly slave/child labor in third world countries to make their good, and drives small buisnesses out of buisness. I may sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but one day, all stores will be walmart, the price of food will be jacked up to the point were ALL our money goes to walmart, then it will be the USW united states of Walmart

Soooo.... you realize then, the best thing to do is....

.

.

Buy Walmart Stock!

the doog wrote:

Try Michael's or A.C. Moore's. Better companies, and with a weekly 40% off coupon, you can pick up a kit for like $8.00--and then get a "50%-off next Saturday" coupon for next week's "steal".

I take it that Michael's and AC Moore is larger and better stocked where you live. Here in Hickory, NC, Michael's has a very small selection and AC Moore has nothing. At least we have a Hobby Lobby with a some what selection.

Jeff

jtrace214 wrote:

My opinion is kids these days don't like them or have never been introduced to models in my walmart they were in thentoy department. Kids play video games and computers, they don't even go outside anymore I went with one step brothers family to a county fair one of the kids started crying cause he got dirty. I remember as a kid playing army in the woods and swamp all day long comming home and my grandmother (she raised me) hose me down with a garden hose before letting me in the house lol. then after dinner down to the cellar and build models till bedtime. Did't even have cable till I was like 18-19 years old. just my two cents.   John

As a member of that generation, I can safely say that is how it is!  I build models, but I also play video games (nowhere near the intensity of others.)  In fact, my video gaming on flight sims was what started my modeling!  Wal-Mart caters to the majority; we are a minority, so we can't expect much from them...

-Red

diggeraone wrote:

As for the mom and pop places,they asked for it and would not compete with others.A lot of them would not keep there store clean or pay a little bitter in order to keep good workers.

I completely agree with this observation.  We have 2 LHS here, one has been around forever, and when I went in there to "start" my hobby I was greeted by an unhelpful clerk who followed me all over the store like I was going to steal things.  I gave them a break and went back, same story, different clerk.  I will never shop there again.  The other one is clean, well lit, the guy there recognozes me and always says hi, he is always willing to jump out from behind the counter and help me find a kit or a specific paint color, and if they don't have it, he will find it and order it.  Their only downside is that they are expensive (82.99 for the HB A-10 that I ordered on-line for 61.04 shipped, I realize that 83 is MSRP but if I can get it shipped for that price there is no reason they should be charging that much).

We also have 4 wal-marts and no kits at any, a Michael's which is ok, mostly car kits and the only plane kits they carry are revell, and the basics at that(p-51, p-38, f-14, etc...) Otherwise, we don't have much else.  I haven't tried ony local hardware stores though...

Sorry that turned into a bit of a ramble, but that's my 2 cents...

Anthonyb wrote:

diggeraone wrote: As for the mom and pop places,they asked for it and would not compete with others.A lot of them would not keep there store clean or pay a little bitter in order to keep good workers. I completely agree with this observation.  We have 2 LHS here, one has been around forever, and when I went in there to "start" my hobby I was greeted by an unhelpful clerk who followed me all over the store like I was going to steal things.  I gave them a break and went back, same story, different clerk.  I will never shop there again.  The other one is clean, well lit, the guy there recognozes me and always says hi, he is always willing to jump out from behind the counter and help me find a kit or a specific paint color, and if they don't have it, he will find it and order it.  Their only downside is that they are expensive (82.99 for the HB A-10 that I ordered on-line for 61.04 shipped, I realize that 83 is MSRP but if I can get it shipped for that price there is no reason they should be charging that much). We also have 4 wal-marts and no kits at any, a Michael's which is ok, mostly car kits and the only plane kits they carry are revell, and the basics at that(p-51, p-38, f-14, etc...) Otherwise, we don't have much else.  I haven't tried ony local hardware stores though... Sorry that turned into a bit of a ramble, but that's my 2 cents...

I must disagree with the statement you agree with. Saying they "would not" compete with others isn't a fair statement. All other things aside, the LHS has a hard time competing with the big stores because of the price they pay for items. If Wally world buys 20,000 units from a manufacuterer they're going to get a heck of a price vs the LHS buying two or three from the distributor who bought 50 from the manu. The LHS can't compete with someone who paying half the price of an item they are. They'd have to sell it under their own cost to even match the price. Online retailers have it even better, often not having a store front, few employees and lower overhead.

The LHS can do other things to be a better source for items. Friendly, knowledgable help and a clean store are good starters but even then you said yourself you would not pay the price for a kit you could get for much less with shipping.

In the end the LHS "can't" compete when it comes to price. Nice stores or not they are going out of buisness everyday be cause WE will not pay the prices they HAVE to charge in order to pay the bills and keep the doors open.

My .02

As much as I hate to say it, I'm afraid the days of the local hobby shop are drawing to a close, for all the reasons listed.  Almost universal internet access gives hobbyists easy access to the big vendors the LHSs can't hope to compete with in price. 

I have fond memories as a kid of almost weekly trips to the LHS in my hometown.  It closed long ago due to the owners sickness, and the only other decent store went almost 100% RC, keeping only token kits.  I still occasionally buy a kit from small stores, just to help support them, but seem like its always 10-20% more than what I would have paid online.  With the economy worsening, I'm afraid the slide will only continue.

As for Wally world, their hobby section is worthless and weak!  As far as model building is concerned, they're only good for a trip every 3-4 years to buy a new bottle of Future!

What LHSs need to do is to have their local store, and an online site with their stock on it.  So people outside of their walk in distance can buy from them.  That way they can get that internet buisness and walk in traffic.  I know www.gundamstoreandmore.com does that, they have a store out in michigan.  Most of their buisness is done online though, but the store stays open, they use it to not only sell, but display completed kits, and put up photos of those who buy stuff online from them and send in pictures of the finished kits.

I have two hobby shops in town of about 35,000, one's a local guy, been here for years and years, and the other is a Hobby Lobby... My local guy owns the building, rents out the 8 apartments upstairs for a ridiculous amount of money that the ISU students are more than willing to let mom & dad pay for, has a one-man operation, three aisles, and caters mostly to model railroaders for on-site stock, and to parents with models cars for junior... BUT, he keeps enough armor and aircaft on-hand to handle military modelers (all three of us) and plenty of paints, tools, and scratch-building materials...  He gets all my tool and supply business, with occasional kits.  It's also a plus that he travels to shows all the time, and I let him keep his trailer in the parking lot of the building I manage.  Rather than pay me stall rent, he pays me in kit and supply discounts, lol... It's not unusual for me to go in and pick up five or six bottles of Model Master, couple of rattle-cans of MM, Evergreen stip and sheet, and some Plastuct shapes along with a bottle of Testor's cement and a 15-20.00 Revellogram kit and walk out for 20-25.00 bucks...  He's getting a break on trailer parking, I'm getting a break on supplies (I'm a big believer in bartering), so it's a win-win... Plus, I and a couple other guys can hang around in there like it's Floyd's Barber Shop or something, just battin' the breeze...

Hobby Lobby gets my kit business though, but only when they have the 40% coupons... I know the manager there as well, and she'll order stuff for me provided she can get corporate to let her, and doesn't care that I use the coupons exclusively... Kits are so far down the list of their total sales that it's negligable, and we're buds anyway...

On-line stores get a little business from me, but not enough to matter, since the shipping charges usually cancel out any savings I may have percieved, but I when I need X-number of figure sets, right now, I'll order 'em enough of them to make it worthwhile...  Saving 4.50 on a kit but paying 18.00 shipping is no bargain... But such is the cost of convienience...

Farther south, about 40 miles away in Des Moines, the hobby shops that are owned by individuals have branched out into the RC category, as well as adding games, toys, and "collectables" (read: Geek-bait)...  They've gone that way to survive against the chain-stores, but still know their customers and will stock what people will buy, rather than have someone somewhere else in an office tell them what to sell.

Bottom line?  Get to know your hobby shop owners and managers...

 

Went to my Wally World about 4 months ago and I had to stop to pick up a kit, and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No overly cheap, China-made, leaded junk for a quick build! I'm going through withdrawl...

Easy Boba!  Close your eyes.....relax.....inhale deeply......as we hold you under water..... 

Bushi wrote:

the doog wrote: Try Michael's or A.C. Moore's. Better companies, and with a weekly 40% off coupon, you can pick up a kit for like $8.00--and then get a "50%-off next Saturday" coupon for next week's "steal". I take it that Michael's and AC Moore is larger and better stocked where you live. Here in Hickory, NC, Michael's has a very small selection and AC Moore has nothing. At least we have a Hobby Lobby with a some what selection. Jeff

Actually, that's more like it here too--ac's has about 12 kits, and Michael's has a good stock of mostly cars and some planes. No armor to be found anywhere though. Never seen a Hobby Lobby up here...

Anthonyb wrote:

diggeraone wrote: As for the mom and pop places,they asked for it and would not compete with others.A lot of them would not keep there store clean or pay a little bitter in order to keep good workers.   I completely agree with this observation.  We have 2 LHS here, one has been around forever, and when I went in there to "start" my hobby I was greeted by an unhelpful clerk who followed me all over the store like I was going to steal things.  I gave them a break and went back, same story, different clerk.  I will never shop there again.  The other one is clean, well lit, the guy there recognozes me and always says hi, he is always willing to jump out from behind the counter and help me find a kit or a specific paint color, and if they don't have it, he will find it and order it.  Their only downside is that they are expensive (82.99 for the HB A-10 that I ordered on-line for 61.04 shipped, I realize that 83 is MSRP but if I can get it shipped for that price there is no reason they should be charging that much). We also have 4 wal-marts and no kits at any, a Michael's which is ok, mostly car kits and the only plane kits they carry are revell, and the basics at that(p-51, p-38, f-14, etc...) Otherwise, we don't have much else.  I haven't tried ony local hardware stores though... Sorry that turned into a bit of a ramble, but that's my 2 cents...

 

I must disagree with the statement you agree with. Saying they "would not" compete with others isn't a fair statement. All other things aside, the LHS has a hard time competing with the big stores because of the price they pay for items. If Wally world buys 20,000 units from a manufacuterer they're going to get a heck of a price vs the LHS buying two or three from the distributor who bought 50 from the manu. The LHS can't compete with someone who paying half the price of an item they are. They'd have to sell it under their own cost to even match the price. Online retailers have it even better, often not having a store front, few employees and lower overhead.

The LHS can do other things to be a better source for items. Friendly, knowledgable help and a clean store are good starters but even then you said yourself you would not pay the price for a kit you could get for much less with shipping.

In the end the LHS "can't" compete when it comes to price. Nice stores or not they are going out of buisness everyday be cause WE will not pay the prices they HAVE to charge in order to pay the bills and keep the doors open.

My .02

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I must say that I too had two LHS where I live.One is 8 miles away and the other is 5 blocks away.The one that way 5 blocks away went out of buisness and was dirty,nice people thou.But also they did not keep a good stock.The other one that is 8 miles away is still good strong and this is due to the way they do buisness.One it is clean,two if they don't have they can get it and the price is comp.with the on line stores and hobby lobby.Three they are friendly and very helpfully which makes me want to do buisness with and I do a lot.So like I said most don't compete agains some of these stores and that is what buisness is about.

hkshooter wrote:

subfixer wrote: I truly wish that Wal-Mart would just dry up and blow away.

Aint that the truth.

When I consider how small the hobby shelf used to be at my WalMart I don't see how they can cut into a real hobby store at all.  They carried practically nothing of what I would buy to build models.  I think the real reason why LHS's are vanishing is because of online vendors.  When I had a LHS I used to support them vigorously.  Two more LHS's down the tubes and now I would have to drive 1 1/2 hours to reach a hobby store.  I buy everything except Future and thinners online now.

~Dave

I only buy paints at my LHS, the kits are just to expensive.  but even they dont get any new stock for paints, and dont have things like laquer or acrylic...