tankerbuilder
Yes , this is quick.I just got handed mine by the faithful postman. There was a question asked (see above) in the SCALE TALK column. Here,s an answer I never see , but , in these days of costlier models and supplies it,s a valid one. There is for all intents and purposes a TAX that is supposed to be fair? It is called by many names such as floorplan and stock tax. Plain and simple it,s an inventory tax!!
If you have say, this many dollars in inventory at tax time you are taxed for it! This means you pay a tax on stuff that you will collect a sales tax on too!. I attempted to buy a FULLY STOCKED and EQUIPPED shop here in the MIDWEST. The Taxes I would,ve paid to open my doors equaled the net worth of the shop BEFORE an inventory was taken!! Now , I have to ask , How many folks can afford that anymore?? Not to many.
I am therefore grateful for those who have bought shops that otherwise would,ve closed. There is a heavy cost to doing business today in person! That,s why so many are mail order or internet .There is no inventory tax!! SUPPORT THE SHOPS THAT ARE OUT THERE!! they are a dying breed!! We MUST show that we appreciate their efforts to be there for us.After all the secondary option is as close as this keyboard!!
I personally prefer to drive the thirty five or forty five miles to my locals.There are so many fascinating modelers to meet and exchange info with face to face. No keyboard gives you that!!! tankerbuilder
Sorry about editing your post but it was kinda hard t' read...
I still hit my "Mom & Pop" LHS ('Cept it's just "pop" runnin' it) for paint and other supplies, but I can't buy his kits at retail when the same kits are up at Hobby Lobby and there's a 40% Coupon on the HL website... Granted, he doesn't charge more than HL does, they're pretty comparable as far as prices go, not much variation between 'em, maybe a buck, never more than two... However, I buy all my "Hobby-brand" paint from him, except for Testor's MM (the only brand of model paint that HL carries), Testor's "Classic", and he's got all the Tamiya, Polly S (yeah, really), and Floquil (I don't use it) plus all the "railroad" colors one could ask for... His main focus is model railroad stuff anyway..
He has six shelf-runs in three aisles, and four are all model RR and associated lighting and equipment/structures/landscaping materials, with the remaining shelving holding cars, ships, planes, armor, and sci-fi, with a sprinkling of balsa flying models on one side and paint, glue, and tools on the other..
Cars make up the majority of plastic kits, then aircraft, armor, Sci-fi, and ships, in that order of descent.. At any given time, there's only a couple dozen armor kits, maybe twice that in aircraft, with various scale, 1/72 being the predominant A/C scale, for some silly reason... The Hobby Lobby here has about the same set-up of kit quantities, only nowhere near the paint, and about the same in armor, and aircraft selection Doug has. However, most, and mean a LOT, of my paints are Craft Paints from Hobby Lobby since the acrylics, even with their goofy "chick-name" colors are far and away cheaper than any "Hobby-brand" paints... A 3oz. bottle of craft paint, depending on brand, runs .99 cents to a 1.50, vs 2.50 for a 3/4 oz. jar of Tamiya...
The biggest "hobby shop" near here is one that absolutely infuriated me... They opened about a year and a half ago, called themselves ( 
) CD & Hobbies, and there ain't ONE scale model kit in the whole joint! But they're floor to roof with RC planes, cars, helicopters, and video games, yet they don't stock paint or Plastruct/Evergreen materials, no brass or aluminum, no casting materials, landscaping, nothing a diorama-builder like me needs... "Hobbies", my ***...
I'll continue to buy from Doug and HL... There's other hobby shops around, but all are outside my "perimeter", so I seldom go to any of them.. Maybe once a year, if I happen to be in the neighborhood and remember something I need.. Besides, Doug's sho is a genuine "Floyd's Barber Shop" as hobby shops go.. I can kill an afternoon there, just shootin' the breeze with him and the few guys that still do scale stuff..
At any rate, I don't do a lot of mail-order buying (except for Ebay, which is my main source for kits and Mattel Vac-U-Form sheets) because any savings I might realize from them is lost in shipping charges. However, Doug WILL order any kit I ask him for if he can get it, and he doesn't take advantage of anyone for a special order by tacking on a 10-20% "special order charge".... Try THAT on-line...
Sadly, I can see Doug's Hobby Shop going away in next couple years... He makes his money selling his commision RR rolling stock and engines, and from the apartments he has upstairs, not us little ol' scale modelers, and The Villages, Florida is calling him, lol... Gonna miss him.. He's the only hobby shop owner that'll let me behind the counter to look at stuff like tools and such up close, and dig through his "junk boxes"... Just one of several reasons why I still "subsidize" his place...