sigh - another one bites the dust........

Its really sad that this keeps happening. Though i must admit its probably because of people like me who buy everything on line that it does happen.

But the LHS i go into, and i go into our nearest one every time i am in town, just doesn't stock what i am after. Ashide from a couple of tins of paint now and again, they don't have what i want when i want it. I just find it easier and cheaper to do an online order once a month and get everything from one place.

Well I've had to go to on line sources a few times as well recently. There were a few aftermarket decal sets that I was looking for, his supplier was back-ordered and he admitted that when they are back-ordered you can't predict when/if they'll be available again. I gave Sprue Bros. a shot, they had all of them in stock at a decent price. I added a few items that I wanted to try on my ongoing P-38 and everything was in my hands within a week.

Kits & supplies I almost always bought at this source though. I doubt any big box store is going to stock my Humbrol enamels or Tamiya acrylics though. I guess I'm in for more frequent trips to Freddy or online shopping.

Bummer Vance.. got any of them thar Deer Whistles ??.. work on dem moose to ey...

I hear on the LHS... the good one in Bangor closed a while ago.. the one here in Ellsworth is ok.. but high priced on his items...

p38jl

Bummer Vance.. got any of them thar Deer Whistles ??.. work on dem moose to ey...

I hear on the LHS... the good one in Bangor closed a while ago.. the one here in Ellsworth is ok.. but high priced on his items...

Nahh, every time I stick my head out the car window to whistle at the moose I get bugs stuck in my teeth... I've been told the best defence against moose is a loaded semi truck anyway.

I guess the good news is that I had already decided to stop buying kits until my stash has been depleted a little, it's not like I'm hurting for options. But it was great having the supplies sitting next door. Man, I'm going to have to go stock up on paint etc. soon before somebody else beats me to it.

That does suck. Hate it for the little guy. I guess it is hard to stock all things for all people when the internet basicly has anything you can ever want and it comes to your door.

Between my LHS' and my trips around the country to other peoples LHS' I really dont have to use the internet, but if I could not find it I would not hesitate to use it.

I too have had to see the LHS around here go belly up.It,s NOT the internet ,but the plain old cost of operating a small business in this tax and permit overloaded society. The LHS units out there are respectively 35 and 48 miles from me. Yup , one,s in AUSTIN-45 miles and the others are in SAN ANTONIO they actually are 35 and 41 miles from me to tell the truth. If I can,t get to them then it,s the internet!!  Can,t get around it. Even though it,s nice to go to the LHS and get to talk with other modelers as well as the shop owners and staff. They CANNOT carry all the stuff that say SQUADRON in CARROLTON ,TEXAS has .The same goes for all the other on line "stores" Ah ,well, the times they are changing , darn it !   tankerbuilder.

Well Vance sorry to hear your LHS is closing out.

I was in Halifax on Monday, I like the 'Mom & pop' feel of 'Marine hobby & craft' yet his main area or income is SCUBA gear. 'Maritime Hobby' has a decent selection yet high kit prices is a turn off. Neither had a Ho 229 in stock which is ok as I have to whittle down the stash before new purchases. he he then I will splurge for the Airfix 1/24 scale Mosquito!

I envy you being only 90 minutes from Fredericton. Elm city hobbies is the best shop in the Maritimes, if not eastern Canada. They had a huge selection at the two contests I attended last year, one at Shearwater Aviation museum & of course CAMS in Fredericton. I had to ask if they left anything at the store! Prices were reasonable, plenty of resin figures, AM accessories, decals and approximately 100+ kits!

ouch the i have a hobby store thats about 10 mins from my house but its more car oriented the good one is also some time away sigh. i wish there were more hobby shops in my area.

SuppressionFire

...I envy you being only 90 minutes from Fredericton. Elm city hobbies is the best shop in the Maritimes, if not eastern Canada...

Good to hear a favourable review Jason! I'm on their email list already & want to make a point of getting to the next CAMS. I guess the other good point is that I have in-laws in Woodstock, another hour beyond Fredericton. Soooooooo if we happen to make a run up to visit...

VanceCrozier

OK, this is probably what I get for being so smug about having the LHS literally across the road from my place.

I was in just after Christmas, gift cert. in hand to take advantage of a Boxing Day sale and had suspicions then, but it was so crowded I couldn't get near the owner except to pay. I see this morning on the way out of my driveway that my local guy now has a Closing Sale advertised on his window. I've been buying from this shop, under 2 different owners, for almost 20 years.

Next closest brick & mortar is in Fredericton, about 90 minutes drive through a moose infested highway.

Yeah, it hurts, it hurts...I was a customer of the LHS since 1962, and even after they relocated, I was still buying kits from them.

The last thing my LHS owner said to me was "Dominic, you don't have to do this, you don't have to do this...."

I didn't, he owed me about $400 in undelivered. I should've pulled stuff off of his walls, but in the end, it was the end...after 50 years or so, I was happy to buy my last kit from him.

Hey, I found out in August, he had collection "on consignment guys" to the tune of 30K.

The Bear Claws on the way down.

Besides, for 10 cents on the US for all of the collection stuff I bought, I figure the $400 is but a small, small percentage.

I coulda' snagged another few Trumpeter releases, but darn it anyways, I burned 2K in gas just visiting the guy's shop!

Lesson learned, dig for the cash register if there's nothing left on the walls!

That's a shame Bockscar, Manny would've advised you to grab the first $229 kit you saw,

Hi VanceCrozier! I was wondering what you were referring to when you said CAMS. In ARKANSAS in the late 70s early 80s we formed a model club and it was IPMS sanctioned. It was called the Central Arkansas Modelers Society- ie- C.A.M.S.. So when I see the CAMS mentioned I wonder what it could refer to where you are. I mean EASTERN CANADA is a BIG place! Just thought I would chime in as I used to go to LEWISTON and MONTREAL when I could. Picked up some nice kits when I did too. The BORDER guys were always fascinated when I would answer to the question"Do you have anything to declare " and I would open the trunk and show them ALL the models I bought.They spent an inordinate time checking me out, but that was more because of the questions about my modeling choices. That,s where I first heard of HUMBROL paint by the way .Best darned paint I ever used!.  Well gotta keep moseying.   tankerbuilder

Based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada CAMS = Capital Area Modelers Society as Fredericton is the Provincial capital city.

Montreal is Canada's oldest & most historical city, next time do take a day or two and check out the sites. Also home to Canada's national Aviation Museum. Also known to have the best night life east of Vancouver!

Jason nailed it with the NB interpretation of CAMS. As for the Mtl nightlife, I can't say.

Well if I qualify for RedBull Crashed Ice I will let you know!

If you qualify for crashed ice, you may be more interested in hospital facilities!

From the ashes... a phoenix rises... OK, I'm not actually sure yet, but there could be hope, Across the road from my office $ about 2 blocks away I have just spotted a new sign for what looks like an R/C shop... maybe with a little arm twisting they could carry some of the basics for us plastic modelers? Maybe they already do??? Too freakin' cold up here today to think about walking to it, stay tuned!

Let's hope so!

More and more, I feel lucky that I have two hobby shops within a twenty minute drive from where I live in Phoenix. One is Hobby Depot in Tempe, the other is Andy's Hobby Headquarters in Glendale.

Jim,

I just came back from Phoenix today. I made it over to Hobby Depot. Suzanne was extremely nice. I had been in the store on a previous trip and was not that impressed with the guy working there.

Anyway when I explained that I was travelling and could not take any paint back on the airplane she offered to ship them for me for a low flat rate. Needless to say I bought so much Gunze stuff that I can not get here, that I am sure I will be well stocked for some time.

Great place to spend lunch hours browsing and one heck of a selection of paints and glues.

Sorry for the bad news VC......

All I can say is make sure you have enough rounds for your "Moose-schreck" and "Elk-Faust" to last you thru the return trip....

oh...and at the "Closing Day Sale"...cant spend more than $229.00 or there will be hell to pay

Carlos

less than $229 on the last trip - you're right on that one Carlos. I was already over last weekend for a "really need this stuff" run that totalled about $50, glue paint, some scratchbuilding stuff. I'll keep an eye on the discount % sign (it is across the road), when it hits 50% there are a couple of ships I may pick up, but I have no need to increase the stash too much.

Alright, finally made it across the road to the NEW shop I spotted. OK, not actually new, he's been there since April, but just got a billboard sign & vehicle advertising. (Note to those who doubt advertising!)

So, the bad news: he is indeed an R/C guy, planes trucks etc. running a very small shop, catering to the biggest R/C flying club in the area.

Good news: he used to build plastic kits, hasn't in ages. He has a few kits in-stock to make sure he's not leaving anyone out. He can order just about anything from his existing suppliers, but doesn't know what the most "saleable" items are that us plastic guys want. (Manny, I'll tell him he is obliged to stock at least one Zuiho and one Tirpitz at all times...) Sounds very willing to deal with this stuff, seems like a very personable fellow. His small shop actually has room behind it to expand into.

This could work, but I must train him. I've had good luck on line, but I'd still prefer to drop into a shop & physically pick something up.

can he get a HO-229 for me....I starting to feel the pressure from our leader...

C

wellll, he said he can track down just about anything!

Sprue Bros has one of the RoG left:
http://store.spruebrothers.com/172-revell-germany-horten-go-229-4312-p4565.aspx

tankerbuilder

I too have had to see the LHS around here go belly up.It,s NOT the internet ,but the plain old cost of operating a small business in this tax and permit overloaded society.

People just don't get out to small stores any more. They shop online, or in malls. LHS's are usually stand-alone stores, and let's face it; they're expensive. There's at least a 20% and even up to 60-70% mark-up on any given kit in my local LHS compared to eBay. For instance; a car model now in the LHS is averaging $22.00. I can get the same on eBay for between 9-14.00 w/ 7.00 shipping.

And it comes to my door. No gas bills.

It's a sad fact that "bricks & mortar" can't compete against the internet in most markets. I live in a geographically "disadvantaged" area (south western Vermont) when it comes to things like LHSs.

Let's say I need some acrylics for a tank project that I'm doting on (trying to keep pace with the high level of professionalism I see on Forums every day). I'd very much prefer to patronize the local HS about 15 miles away, but firing up the 13 mpg (highway) Surburban costs me a little over 3 gallons of gas (before ya'll jump on me, the mileage drops significantly in town: it's a 3/4 ton with a 6 ltr). At any given instant, based on the walking-wounded dollar, that's $10 right there. Tires, oil, brakes, time...

Then, said LHS is selling fairly mundane goodies at MSRP+, and offers a slim selection of Testers, and Testers only, but not everything.

Pet Gerbil food is a pretty good deal, though.

I have, at least, eliminated all searches on the internet sites but "North America". For models.

Paint...well, that's another story.

Well I dropped in at lunch for what will probably be the last time in the place. (I may shoot over on Saturday to grab some more paint at whatever the final discount is). Sad state seeing the place look so empty, but I picked up one more kit that I wouldn't have without the discount - the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 FW-190 A8 (a re-box of the Eduard kit IIRC). Popped the box open & am suitably impressed with the plastic & decals. Despite the really sturdy looking box, one of the canopies and one of the windscreens are both cracked right down the middle - weird! Anyway, there are multiple options provided for both of these, I'm sure I can make do.

This is just an extension of other discussions. Blaming taxes is easy, but inaccurate. 'the doog' has it right: The internet has done in "brick and mortar" stores of all sorts, including some we never would have imagined.

This hobby lends itself well to the internet business model. You don't need to hold the kit box in your hand, the picture on the computer screen is sufficient and shipping fees are less than fuel to drive if you are the type who orders less than the amount to get free shipping.

It's too bad this hobby contracting rather than expanding but even if it were, the sheer cost of inventory would still doom the LHS.

I think inventory is probably a killer for the little guy. Case in point on mine - I was digging through the stash, looking for the next couple of projects and settled on a Revell P-38 and a Hobbycraft Seafire. I wanted aftermarket decals for both, and while my guy had a decent selection of decals, none for the two kits I was looking for. His supplier was showing "on order", with no date. Off to the internet I go, finding one shop that had a copy of each sheet I was looking for. There's $20 that didn't go local, but how long would he have sat on that inventory waiting for me to get the urge to build a particular kit? Hard to do in a small community.

tankerbuilder

I too have had to see the LHS around here go belly up.It,s NOT the internet ,but the plain old cost of operating a small business in this tax and permit overloaded society. The LHS units out there are respectively 35 and 48 miles from me. Yup , one,s in AUSTIN-45 miles and the others are in SAN ANTONIO they actually are 35 and 41 miles from me to tell the truth. If I can,t get to them then it,s the internet!!  Can,t get around it. Even though it,s nice to go to the LHS and get to talk with other modelers as well as the shop owners and staff. They CANNOT carry all the stuff that say SQUADRON in CARROLTON ,TEXAS has .The same goes for all the other on line "stores" Ah ,well, the times they are changing , darn it !   tankerbuilder.

You're right in that the cost of operating a store front is outrageous. The taxes, fees and red tape is enough to kill even the most energetic shop owner. I worked for a very successful small business for 8 years that went out of business almost over night when the economy turned down. We were sponsorship based (television show) and lost 2/3 of our income in a matter of weeks. Internet stores get a bad rap some times but honestly they are probably not what's killing the brick and mortar shops. Many of the distributors that LHS use are also online retailers like Dragon USA. For example the LHS here just picked up Pacific Coast Hobbies as a supplier, they are also a internet based shop. The LHS sells the products for exactly what PCH sells them for and it's actually cheaper because there is no shipping. Some of the distributors are just high on their prices regardless of the actual market value. Anyone can log onto Stevens International website which services a LOT of hobby shops and see what they charge for a kit. If anything is killing the shops besides the operating expense is that some of the more prolific destibutors are out to make a mint on each individual sale, not that the online shops are undercutting.

Personally, I buy a lot of kits from the LHS depending on the brand. Dragon kits are fairly even it seems but other kits like Trumpeter, Hobby Boss and Bronco can vary widely in price. I can save 25-30% on a kit (including shipping) by ordering from over seas in some cases.

BTW, Squadron is a bad example since they are all but getting out of the model industry. Having seen their newest catalog for hobby shop owners it's mostly toys can crap like that. They have virtually no AM stuff in stock any more it seems.

I feel very fortunate that our LHS is doing well because of a smart owner with a diverse line of products.