garylee
The Internet murdered the Hobby Shop.
I'm not sure I would agree completely with that sentiment. The hobby was changing and shrinking before the internet even got cracking. There has just been an explosion of different leisure products and activities the last 30 years or so, even before these computer thingys started catching everyone's attention.
The internet has certainly made access to information and people willing to sell at a discount easier. But they were out there before, too. One local seller to me used to run a 2 -3 page ad in FSM every month, undercutting just about everyone else's prices. Any old timers here probably remember the retailer in question. And this was back in the early 90's, before everyone was trying to dial up AOL.
Tastes/interests in the model hobby have degraded it from the point of being mainstream and in every store, to a niche activity that even specialist shops in it cannot always make a go of it. A lot depends on the economy of the area they are in. I am not saying the hobby is dead, modelers have never it better in regards to the number and quality of kits, information, and accessories available. The hobby has changed to the point where a brick and mortar store is not always the best way to reach those niche modelers out there.
It's great to have a place where you can see stuff, and talk to other people. But that is a lot of overhead, and often a lot of people who just come in to talk and complain and never buy anything, too. The store needs to be a viable business, or it too is just a hobby. It's nice if one can do that, but it seems to be less and less likely in the economic times we are in and headed for.
It was the local economy, or lack there of, that did in or left struggling the local stores here in Central NY. The economy here had been largely based on manufacturing, and as those jobs disappeared starting in the 70s, so eventually did the people with good paying work and disposable incomes. The last blow was in 1995, when nearby Griffiss AFB was 'realigned' out of existence. The loss of thousands of military & civilian jobs was a blow not close to recovered from over 15 years later.
It goes without saying many of those airmen were modelers, as were the civilian workers supporting the base. One local shop owner told me he regretted trying to stay open a few years past the base closing; he said he knew he should have shut down the moment it was announced. He is still a friend and modeler to this day, but not a business owner. Today this area is a wasteland of dollar stores, liquor stores, strip joints, and prisons. Now even the prisons and the strip joints are closing too, as the state government runs out of money, and nobody can afford tucking a dollar bill into a garter any more. All the civic 'actiivities' here seem to revolve around another excuse for a drunk-fest. Reminds me of what they used to say about people drinking themselves into oblivion in the former Soviet Union, because there was nothing else to do to escape the realities.
Well, anyway, I agree the internet was a factor in the demise of local stores, But not the only or major one, at least around here.