The State of Modeling and Hobby Shops

The retail environment is brutal for everything right now.

But I'll agree with those who call this a golden age for the hobby overall.

And here in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, after going a couple years with no hobby shops at all, we just had two new ones just open up.  A new Golden Age!

Where are they, I'm in the area and would love to do business with them.

Are you familiar with Nankin?  Its a local Ace Hardware franchise that's always had a great hobby section.  They just opened two or three hobby only locations in the metro area.  But the Ypsi location is on Washtenaw just west of EMU.  Its heavy on RC, but they have a nice scale modeling section, and all the paints, finishing supplies and tools I need.  The staff is young guys who are more in to the RC, but they've always been friendly and helpful to me.

The other is "Model Cave" downtown Ypsi, at Michigan and Huron.  Its a smaller store overall, but ALL scale models.  VERY nice selection of both kits and supplies.  This is a true "mom and pop" store; the owners are friendly helpful and knowledgeable.  The only knock I have on this place is that they're closed Monday and Tuesday, my days off.

Nankin also has a store in Farmington.  It burned a few years back.  Mostly RC stuff and a friend who was fighting the fire that night said it was one of the hottest he's fought in 20 years of firefighting.  I figured it was done but they actually rebuilt and I get in about once a month.  Their scale model stuff makes up about 25% of their stock but they continually add great items.  Recently they brought in MIG and Vallejo products.  No photoetch yet.  They used to price their models way below online and I would sit in the aisle with my phone and price shop but now they price accordingly.  Most recent addition is the Meng M2 with interior.  Really happy to have this shop in my hometown!

I travel a lot, and if I have any spare time, I like to look up model shops on Google Maps, call the shops to see if they're open, and go visit. Given how volatile the world of retail has been for the past decade, you never know until you talk to a store employee if a Google Maps listing is current and the shop is still open. (Back in the day, before Google Maps hit its stride in terms of place listings, the back pages of FSM used to be my source for hunting down shops.)

It seems that most hobby shops these days cater to RC (which is fine by me, because I'm also an RC enthusiast), but I still love browsing through rows and rows of plastic models.

On a trip to Portland, OR earlier this year, I was happily surprised to find a handful of shops that were within 20 minutes driving distance of downtown, including Bridgetowne Hobbies. Unfortunately, soon after I made my visit to Bridgetowne (and purchased a few things), the store closed.

Last year, I was motorcycling my way up through CT, and I dropped into Time Machine Hobby just east of Hartford. Wow — what a place! Luckily, I had enough room in my top case to fit a few models and other toys.

In Pensacola, the LHS count is quite high (understandable since there's a big military population there), and even the local Hobbytown stocks a decent selection of models. Bobe's in Pensacola impressed me even more — a great store worth visiting if you happen to be in town.

Like Pensacola, the DC metro area seems to have a healthy number of shops — although none of them really stood out to me enough that I felt I needed to make a second visit.

And if I'm anywhere near Marlborough, Massachusetts, I try to make my way to Spare Time Shop. The store has rows of model kits, floor to ceiling, including many vintage and hard-to-find kits, even in this age of being able to find things so quickly online.

Anyway — with all that said, I'm not sure if there's truly been a hobby shop revival, or if it's just that Google Maps (and other online resources) have made it easier to find open hobby shops.

I loved the Spare Time Shop when I was stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. When I was stationed at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, I used to travel to visit various National Guard and Army Reserve units in the Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi area. One of the first things I'd do upon reaching a destination was to check the local phone book to see if there were hobby shops near by. I also learned that you had to scour the yellow pages to figure out how/where hobby shops were listed. The section of Fine Scale Modeler where local stores paid to list themselves was very useful.

I imagine the internet would make this a much easier endeavor than it was in the mid 1990s.

modelcrazy

 My LHS doesn't/won't carry the variety of paint I need, instead, they can order it for me. So I look at the cost of driving my F150 down to the store (7 miles away x 13 MPG), ordering the items, waiting for them to call me, drive back down and pick them up. I can get my paint cheaper w/ shipping, and in the same amount, or less, time.

Steve,

I know exactly which HS you are talking about, since it is the closest one to me as well.  Yes, I had the same experience the last time I was down there.  I was looking for some Alclad II and asked the kid in the store if they carried it; oddly enought he didnt know what I was talking about.  I finally found it on my own but the bottles they  had looked very old and the labels had turned yellow.  They didnt have the color I was looking for but told me they would order it for me.  After finding out the price they were going to charge for it, I was able to buy the color I was looking for and another color for the same price they were going to charge for one.

I think it's a shame that the good ole "mom & pop" type hobby shops are closing.  I remember when there were quite a few around that you could spend hours in.

My LHS while good, they mark up the prices in the last year, a revell car model is in the 35 to over 40 bucks, I can find the same kits for 22 ,  I pretty much stopped buying there, other than things like glue and BMF,  also the store use to be 2 whole stores wide, earlier this year they have shrunk down to one side of the retail space, and shoved the models in the basement. With the top floor being art supplies.  I shop more and more at Michaels with the 50% off coupons than support the LHS, and prefer to order from an online hobby shop located in another province, since the prices are drastically cheaper even with shipping!