waikong -
Sorry - I forgot to give you an update on Maplewood Hobby. I've been there twice already. The kit selection overall is pretty good - while the shop itself isn't really big, they do have a pretty good supply of kits of all types. Cars are the most numerous overall and have their own side of an aisle. The other side is armor, then aircraft. Ships are inside the door to the right. The owner mentioned that he needs to restock after the Christmas rush, but I don't know if that was true or if he was just trying to talk me into coming back again. The paint selection is very good - they have Testors MM, MM2 and Acrylic, as well as Polly-S and Humbrol, and other Testors (for cars, I guess) and maybe one or two other brands I didn't recognize and can't remember.
They don't display their own builds, although a small workbench in the back by the armor section has either builds or repairs going on. They have a sizeable figures section and a large table where, last time I visited, they were coming to grips with a couple of new games involving micro-sized ships and small figurines. They have at least 3 racks of books (the Osprey rack is the best stocked) and the aisle side across from the paints is stocked with supplies for all sorts of kits, not just plastic. They seemed to be low on several supply items but said they were getting a shipment in soon.
As far as their kit selection is concerned, I was actually trying to avoid getting any kits at the time, seeing as my stash is so big and has waited (patiently) so long to be built. As I mentioned they have a lit of car kits, and the armor section seemed well-stocked - but I'm not looking to do any armor yet, so I didn't focus on it. I'm planning on starting with aircraft, and their selection didn't seem to be all that broad. They had a number of 1/48 kits from Classic Airframes and Hasegawa and Tamiya, but I'm a non-jet builder and they had a lot of jets, but besides that they had a lot of the same aircraft, albeit in different scales and from different companies. So from that point of view, the variety was not that broad. If you want an Fw-190 or am Me-109, or maybe an F4U - they will have it. For my part, I'll go back every so often if I need paint (it's 10 minutes from work and very easy to get to off of Route 78), and to see what kits they've added. But I'll keep my eyes open online and at other shops as well.
I guess I have a taste for non-standard aircraft, but I'm already tired of seeing all the endless variations on the same aircraft - Fw190, F4U, Me109 - and that seems to be what you see on LHS shelves more often than not. Can't blame them for making available what is popular, or possibly stocking what is available to them from the supplier - and it's impossible unless you're a warehouse to stock enough to make everyone happy. But seeing as it's the closest LHS I'll keep going back now and then for supplies and maybe the occasional kit - even if their prices may not be the best (and I don't know since it's the only one around so I can't compare with anyone else yet) it'd be a shame to see one more LHS bite the dust.
Next up, I'll see if I can find my way to Hi-Way Hobby in Ramsey. Sounds like an excellent shop!