N
NP2626
Guest
We should probably keep in mind that On-Line hobby retailers likely have something to do with the demise of the Brick and Mortar traditional hobby shop!
A really good friend of mine used to own Baker's Hobby in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He sold it around ten years ago, the guy he sold it to, pretty much ran it into the ground, it was rescued and sold again, purchased by the "Hobby Town" Franchise. I visited this hobby shop about a month ago...[trimmed]
As far as hobby shops go , where I live there are now none . All gone . Within my State , Tasmania , Australia there are only two of note now . McCanns in Hobart and Nick's Hobby Shop in Sorrell ..Nick's Hobby shop , I'm told now refuses to mail orders out .You must buy in store. I live three hours away so that rules them out now if that's correct . I've bought a few things from McCanns here and there and got some 40ft stack containers there about a year ago and some model cars for scenes . My nearest city is Launceston with a population of about 100,000 with not one single hobby shop although a couple of the toy shops carry a little bit of stuff . Birchalls carried a fair bit of train gear in it's heyday and as a kid I recall being in awe of some of the train sets. Later on plastic model kits for ships , planes , cars etc and also remote control gear . Totally gone now . Tiger Models and Hobbies were quite big and ran hobby events regularly for many years . Also gone completely now .I'm lucky in that there are a several local model railroad shops around. Granted, local for me is within an hour. But the shops are there for me. Three of them are really good. Two others, so-so.
Whenever I travel, I try to visit hobby shops where I go. In some places, the last hold out is all there is and it's in sad shape. I highly encourage people to take their copy of MRR or RMC with them when they travel. Plan a trip to the advertisers in the back of the magazine. Buy something.
Do I buy off Ebay or the internet? Yes, but I try to find ways to buy local first. When the Bachmann 4-6-2 K4S Streamlined came out, I found a deal and got my local hobby shop to match it.
If the local hobby shop is to be saved, it's up to us. Do your part.
If the local hobby shop is to be saved, it's up to us. Do your part.
I would much rather walk into a "Brick & Mortar" hobby shop, find what I need, purchase it and take it home and use it right now, as opposed to waiting for it to be shipped to me.
I agree on the "sucks" part Mark! I am just old enough to remember how it once "was" and have seen it change before my eyes. But just as our way of life has changed, those changes are tricking down into the hobbies, for better or worse as they say. As long as we are having fun, thats whats important! Mike the Aspie