Brick and Mortar hobby shops fading fast? Sometime back on a...

Brick and Mortar hobby shops fading fast?
Sometime back on another site a modeller asked a manager at some Wal Mart store if they would carry more model kits. He was given an answer that it was their policy that they would not and he always thought of the hobby as a dumb waste of time. Well, I had mentioned the same question to a Wal Mart manager in the greater Houston area. The manager was friendly and had an appreciation for the hobby, but told me that apart from Hobby Lobby brick and mortar stores were becoming a thing of the past. He also told me that if Wal Mart does get involved that it would be through "Wal Mart Marketplace" a third party online selling site hosted by Wal Mart, but probably not happen anytime soon because the guest seller would have to be ready to go against more established online hobby sites. This was years ago when "Marketplace" was an idea brought about at Wal Mart Headquarters. The manager suggested that I visit a store on the westside of Houston named Hobby Island,"a bit of a drive but worth the trip". I did go to that store and became a repeat customer. It was small but very well stocked and had lots of variety. Hobby Island closed in 2007 due to a rent increase that would make it hard to stay in business. I'm just curious if the future of the hobby shop will just be that of online sales with the small ones becoming more and more scarce?

Hobby shops are becoming a thing of the past. They cannot compete with online stores. There is a member of this site that I believe had a store and closed because of this issue.

yes, unfortunate, but true. you might want to check out the "craft" stores though. we have a chain around here called michael's, and they carry a small assortment... not sure if you could make any special requests though.

Sadly it's the way of todays modern world. The small bricks and mortar shop is a dying breed. Here in the UK small model shops are fading fast, the big discount model supermarkets such as Hattons, Rails etc take a lot of the trade the small shops once had, net margins for the small model shop are often around 5% in the UK or even -5% on things like train sets.

Every train set I sold in my old shop was sold at a 5% loss to compete with the big boys. If you didn't sell it near their price you didn't get the sale and the all important repeat business.

The manufacturers aren't generous with margins as a rule for the small trader and you are often on the end of the food chain when it comes to getting stock and the latest items. Spares and manufacturer support often ranges from poor to non-existant.

Manufacturers trade terms can be very restrictive as well, one main stream manufacturer insists you give up 70% of your model railway display space to their product as a term of business.

Increasing EU regulations and red tape carry you down into seas of paperwork and extra expense.

Massive Business Rates cripple you from day one, then there's the VAT man, and the normal tax man to cope with.

Then there's customers......Some good, so not so good. Shrinkage is an issue, finding empty boxes at the end of the day doesn't help. Customers who break something by stealing parts from it then bring it back demanding a refund saying it doesn't work, time wasters taking up time that could be spent selling to genuine customers and dealing with mounds of paper.

You get people who moan like mad and slag you off on the net if you dare to close the shop to go to the loo or to go to lunch and they happen to find the place closed when they visit.

Recession of course plays a part as well.

And so it goes on.

IT's not just the model shops that are going at a rate of knots, my village had a thriving post office/shop and another shop, both doing very well, both have now closed down. Big supermarkets such as Tesco etc have killed the small grocery shops.

Big DIY chains have done for the small hardware shops.

Most supermarkets now sell electrical goods, newspapers, camping gear, some have their own mail order catalouges. The small electrical shops are now a rare thing to find as well as are newsagents shops.

All have gone there.

For anyone contemplating coming into the model business, I would say DON'T BOTHER, there are better ways of performing financial suicide.

I am sorry to be negative, but having done the small shop thing for many years I tell it as it is warts and all.

so sorry.....and so sad! In the days when i was younger, kits were everywhere, and they were practically falling off the shelves...there were so many. I remember the 606 shop we had in Manchester, N.H. they had at least a 20 foot glass case, just for the trains {they were a high theft item}. sad day when that closed down. department stores devoted an entire isle to models, but not any more. we do have a hobby store that opened up though, just recently. they don't seem to carry a big assortment though, probably due to the fact that they can't afford to shoulder a huge inventory.
the other factor that saddens me, is the failing interest in model building as a craft. our next generation of young people are losing sight of the craft as a viable means to entertain one's self. i feel that we have lost on both fronts....big time!

This is only the tip of the iceberg. With all the shops disappearing less people are modeling. Manufacturers dont seem to realize that some people still do not have the ability to shop online. With the shops going down the manufacturers have less and less places to have the product on the shelf. I think it wont belong until you see some of the manufacturers drop out too. There was a rumor that "Hobby Craft" was going to close it's doors. I had heard that they had closed April1 2010 but it seems the products are still available online. They were the people who recently retooled the CF-105 Arrow in 1:48 scale.

This might be a good time to plan ahead and perhaps buy a kit once a month or so. In the event thing do go sour we will have kits hidden away.

I agree Polarbear, grab those kits whilst you can. It's the same with model locomotive and train spares, grab them whilst you can for the models you run.

I have friends who are giving up their shops next year, at least four small model shops will go from this area next year along with another six this year. All family run old style shops too. Until three years ago my village had two thriving shops, one of which was a lovely post office and shop, but big aggressive supermarket competition did for them, when Tesco's opened up down the road in the nearby town. The supermarkets are more like giant cartells here in the UK with little to stop them, prices being roughly the same at which ever big supermarket chain you shop at, buying up land so no one can build small shops on it and then leaving the land idle, under cutting smaller local shops even if it means selling at a loss, it's all there, big capitalist greed as it's best.

Interesting that you brought up the waning interest in hobby by the next generation. The door greeter at the same Wal Mart I had visited mentioned that he is an avid builder of "ships n' subs" but even though a younger person would admire his work he felt that the hobby was kept going mostly by the "boomer generation" (he was retired and a US Navy Vietnam Veteran). It was his view that video gaming was mostly preferred by the younger generation as a pastime. Even though there would be those who would delve into the hobby on occasion, but not with the same enthusiasm and numbers as the "boomers". What may be hurting the future of the hobby as is the emphasis and cost of aftermarket parts and other details to complete a more realistic model that has already cost quite a few dollars. I am not knocking the idea of more detail,(I enjoy photo etch but it is not for everybody). The trend of appreciating the finished kit as an adequate replica of the real thing seem to have taken a back seat to the emphasis on getting it all right to the last number on a plane's fuselage and if it is up to precise scale. Such demands will turn off those who want to take up modelling just for the fun of it. With the fun factor being not as favored as it once was for the moderate time and money spent and satisfaction of the results; the days of modelling as an attractive pastime will be even further numbered.

well said! many articles that I have read echo the same fears. filling your closets with kits is a good idea, but no need to rush...there's still time. but before too long, kit will start to dwindle and the prices for them will go up as a result. then there will be no time to be picky. think of this though....we could go into another "scratch built" era...!