i dont know about this hobby anymore

[jshiigi808]

i hav'nt been posting for awhile because we dont have a hobby shop any more.i dont know if i should stay in the hobby and just order my parts or just quit, and we dont even have the money to get a race track to run on so thats a sad thing about this town.the guy the works and owns the only hobby shop we have on this whole island just past away last week so now all his stuff is all going to his church that he goes to and they are to going to sell it so, that means cheap kits and parts but that is not the point,even though they going to sell it for cheap we dont have a hobby shop now.i dunno what for do, but i love this hobby but now its going to be hard to find or get parts now.

[gattm99]

If there are like minded individuals like you on the island I'm sure you can find something. A track could be made with a tiller and some elbow grease, it doesn't have to cost a bunch of money.

[72mr2]

If you have fun then stay with it...the online places like Tower are good folks to deal with, I am sure others are as well. As long as you and your friends get together and have fun that all that matters. Look at the brite side...this sale may get more people into the hobby....everything happens for a reason. Your frinds passing has a purpose you may not see it right now.

[rocknbil]

Dude I've been in this hobby for 10 or 12 years now. I live in a small NW Oregon community, not a big city. When I started there were a couple hobby shops at first and they all dried up, because back then the hobby still had a small following. It never affected the play.

There were no online resources at the time so I began ordering all my parts through mail order from a large warehouse. Now that the internet is buried with hobby sales sites, you can get parts from various sources. Even in Hawaii (presuming that's your island, you lucky dog! :D ) if you Order It, It Will Come. :D

My point is not having a local hobby shop should not inhibit your RC'ing, in fact you'll see you can get a lot of things your LHS didn't have, and there's ALWAYS an empty field for offroading and an empty parking lot for onroading!

[Nosaj-Maxx]

If the shop was viable why not buy the hobbyshop and run it yourself? Assuming you are old enough....

[RCRACER2471]

You could do that but theres a lot of work involved and repsonsibilty. Dont let an LHS bring you down with them. Just buy your parts online. There plenty of online hobby shops in this world...The only bad thing is that you wont get the parts as quickly...

[FLYBOY7]

GOSH DERN there are sooo many blind/ignorant people in this sport....

if this sport is EVER gonna grow, it's gotta have LHS's....

let's say, you love baseball... but let's say a new bat comes in 200 pieces, and needs tuning to work right, and then it still breaks every 2 weeks...

when your bat breaks, you can drive to about a half dozen places in 15 minutes, look at new ones, or just buy the part you need to fix your old bat...

the sport is fun, the bats are a pain, but the fun outweighs the 15 minute drive to get a new one....

now let's say you could only get a new bat or parts over the internet... it takes a week every time you break.... soon, the pain and trouble it takes to keep your bat going outweighs the "fun" you get by it... so you get out of the sport....

Horizon and Great Planes are the Devil...
LHS's are not perfect, but would become MUCH better if people would truely support them... and if people support them, they will start carrying more parts you need.... and more people will get in, and Stay in the sport...

you buy on-line, or mail order, you are just adding one more nail in the coffin of this dying sport...

[rocknbil]

As someone who has been actively in this hobby for over ten years, 15 if you coult in the air, I can tell you that is the biggest snow job I've ever heard.

You can only support a hobby shop if they make some meager attempt to service the customer and be competitive. If they're charging $159 for a kit you can get from mail order for $89, well then you're just going to "blindly" lay out the extra extra $70, aren't you? Of course you are.

If you repeatedly ask your shop to stock this part or that part, you're breaking them all the time, and your shop owner says they don't sell enough of them and wants to charge you extra to "special order" them, well you're not going to even bat an eye, are you? And if you wait week after week for your part to come in, and when you ask them about it they say "whoops! Sorry! We forgot!" You're not gong to open one single catalog to get your part, you're just going to let your RC sit on the shelf and collect dust, aren't you? Sure you are.

And when your wife tries to pick up an RC that you specifically describe in detail as a gift, and the goes to the shop and the a-hole tries to sell her something she knows isn't what you described, and the moron tries to tell her they just don't make what she's asking for, that even if they did they couldn't get parts for it, your blood doesn't boil one little bit, you don't have the urge to run down there with your full-color catalog to show him who has it for almost half what he wanted to charge for something you didn't want, you wouldn't even think about cramming said catalog into the dark place of his posterior, would you?

Course not, because you are blind. All of these things HAPPENED, personally to me, and and DO HAPPEN to many I know. It's not the customer that kills a hobby shop. It's the high-brow SOB behind the counter that puts himself at the top of the universe and you at the bottom. I have yet to meet a LHS owner that at least gave half a rat's tail about anything to do with a customer except what's in his wallet.

If I ever do, they get my business. Until then, it's not my problem someone doesn't know the facts of good business.

A week? I get my stuff in three days, no BS, no one trying to tell me what I need when I know I don't, no smart ass looks or comments, and it's cheaper even with the shipping.

[KMac]

Excellent perspective. When my LHB (Local Hobby Borg) quits employing a bunch of ignorant blowhards, I'll support them more. There's no excuse for them continually trying to BS their way through everyone's questions; if they don't know they should just say so and move on, instead they'll BS you every time and try to sell you a bunch of useless crap!

There's a huge difference between a privateer hobby shop and these useless cookie-cutter chain hobby stores. That's right HobbyTown (Hobby Borg), I'm shootin' straight at YOU!!!

Unfortunately its the privateers who are falling by the wayside.

[highroller]

I understand your problem, in my area we had a big involvement in RC both in terms of racers, stores (5 within 20-30 minutes) and 3-4 tracks. The decline caused me to put racing on hold, parts were obtained by mail order and cars were run in vacant lots or basketball and tennis courts. Tracks and stores have opened again but driving distance is further 1-3 hours but at least it's some where to go and have fun - although not as often as I use to. Once it was 3-4 times a weeks, curtailed down to once or twice a week to maybe every other week now.

[vtl1180ny]

Most of my LHS's are horrible... They'll carry a kit and no parts for it so you are forced to go online to get spares...

We had one LHS with a track a while back... At the end of the racing season, prizes were awarded, but you didn't know what they were... Seems that the owner decided he'd hook up his buddies and give crap to the rest of us, even if the rest of us did win overall first place in our class... That's not how you do business...

[cartmen34]

Originally posted by rocknbil
As someone who has been actively in this hobby for over ten years, 15 if you coult in the air, I can tell you that is the biggest snow job I've ever heard.

You can only support a hobby shop if they make some meager attempt to service the customer and be competitive. If they're charging $159 for a kit you can get from mail order for $89, well then you're just going to "blindly" lay out the extra extra $70, aren't you? Of course you are.

If you repeatedly ask your shop to stock this part or that part, you're breaking them all the time, and your shop owner says they don't sell enough of them and wants to charge you extra to "special order" them, well you're not going to even bat an eye, are you? And if you wait week after week for your part to come in, and when you ask them about it they say "whoops! Sorry! We forgot!" You're not gong to open one single catalog to get your part, you're just going to let your RC sit on the shelf and collect dust, aren't you? Sure you are.

And when your wife tries to pick up an RC that you specifically describe in detail as a gift, and the goes to the shop and the a-hole tries to sell her something she knows isn't what you described, and the moron tries to tell her they just don't make what she's asking for, that even if they did they couldn't get parts for it, your blood doesn't boil one little bit, you don't have the urge to run down there with your full-color catalog to show him who has it for almost half what he wanted to charge for something you didn't want, you wouldn't even think about cramming said catalog into the dark place of his posterior, would you?

Course not, because you are blind. All of these things HAPPENED, personally to me, and and DO HAPPEN to many I know. It's not the customer that kills a hobby shop. It's the high-brow SOB behind the counter that puts himself at the top of the universe and you at the bottom. I have yet to meet a LHS owner that at least gave half a rat's tail about anything to do with a customer except what's in his wallet.

If I ever do, they get my business. Until then, it's not my problem someone doesn't know the facts of good business.

A week? I get my stuff in three days, no BS, no one trying to tell me what I need when I know I don't, no smart ass looks or comments, and it's cheaper even with the shipping.

Amen. This sort of thing happens....ALOT. It's a shame, but I'm not about to give some $%*head LHS owner my money when he won't even keep the store open late on a raceday to service the racers who need parts.
I get SOOOOO tired of my LHS tell me that the part will be here in 3 days, only to have it show up 2 or 3 weeks later. I need that part before that! No part = no race, so I don't get to play while I'm waiting for my parts. I don't have to worry about that online. I get a tracking number, I know the parts on it's way, and I'm happy....and I get to race on the weekend.

[RcVet]

Ya,

I live in a city with about 150,000 ppl, and we have only one LHS. All his stuff is 40 to 50% higher than on-line stores. I even told him that and he doesn't believe me. Then he wonders why he can bearly stay open. Plus, he's only open on certain days and he closes up shop @ 5:00 pm.

So how can ppl say that you should support your LHS when they pull this kinda crap on you?

What was the origianl purpose for this thread? Oh ya, stay in it, use the on-line stores. Cheaper, more selection.

[vtl1180ny]

I don't mind paying a few dollars extra to be able to walk into a store and have a kit or part in my hand, but not when the prices are close to double...

[72mr2]

Don't heap all Hobbytowns in together...there three in our town, one north one south and one east. All three are owned by three different people. The south one is great..stuff with in a couple of % of online and will match online major stuff. The staff is helpfull...still all kids, they have fun..but they work in a store that you are to have fun at. The one on the east was a rotten as rotten can be, just like others talk about, It died a slow painfull death and the owner could not understand why.

It is the people that make the store. I support my LHS but I do still buy some stuff online. The LHS can't carry or get everything.

[FLYBOY7]

when i said most people in this sport were shortsited and ignorant to the LHS issue... i wasn't kidding... LOL...

from my perspective it's easy to see the "entire" picture... from the average r/c racer/driver, it would be extremely hard to grasp....

but... to get you guys on the trail to what's really going... we'll start here- answer this question....

"why are most LHS's so dern horrible?"

the most immediate answer is that people don't SUPPORT them, and haven't supported them for years... r/c's don't make them enough money to warrant a good inventory or staff....

so next question....

"why haven't the racers/drivers spent their money at their LHS's?"

because..... they have been buying from mail order and the internet... they do this because mail order and the bigger internet sites DO make enough money on R/C cars to support a large inventory....

but.....

mail order and internet sites are NOT good for "most" newbies that need hands on assistant and lots of replacement parts...

this sport requires a lot of "support" to keep a new person in it (parts, tips, ect)... mail order and internet sales do offer support, but it is not immediate, and nor is it hands on.....

today's society is everyone wants everything NOW.... don't ya get ticked when your Big Mac takes more than 2 minutes to get into your hands?? don't ya get ticked when that car ahead of you on the road is going the speed limit and won't get out of your way??

the small percentage of "hard core" r/c newbies will suffer through mail order and internet service... but the majority of "i want it now" newbies simply will not put up with the waiting and leave the sport... that's not good for the sport, the manufactures, the LHS's, or the mail order joints...

if this sport is to really GROW, the LHS's have to be healthy and alive for the "i want it NOW" crowd (which is a huge majority of newbies, the ones you don't see at the track, because they are already gone)...

most of the "now" crowd wouldn't even have time to have read my entire post, let alone wait a week for a freak'n a-arm.... LOL....

[rocknbil]

I'm sorry but everything you say there is so far from reality it's actually scary.

I've spent thousands at our local hobby shops when they were open. THOUSANDS. Even when I didn't have to. And every time I walk out of there, the distain and funky looks we'd get made us feel like we did something wrong by trying to support their business. "By the way guys, YOU'RE WELCOME!"

This hobby is not dying. 6 years ago I'd have said it was dying. Today the cities are so overrun with nitros they are thinking about establishing legislation to restrict their use, if you can see as much of the "big picture" as you say you can, you'd know that. Go search for bug_racer' s recent posts in Off Topic, it is happening NOW.

My comments about hobby shops have to do with a LOCAL situation. I refuse to support selfish, greedy a-holes. They don't deserve it. Period. I don't care if it's fishing gear, auto parts, or RC equipment - bad business is bad business. I don't feel one twinge of guilt for not supporting BAD BUSINESS. It's got nothing to do with supporting this hobby.

Speaking of reading entire posts, apparently you don't even have a clue as to what this thread is about. The very last hobby shop on his island is closing and he doesn't know where to get parts. That has nothing to do with supporting hobby shops. Apparently he tried. But the shop closed anyway. Darn, guess it was his fault the hobby shop owner couldn't run a business.

As for the best place for newbies . . . I can't count the times I had to stand there and grit my teeth when someone asked them, "where can I get a cool paint job" and the shop owner told them the only thing to do was hit it with a spray can of Pactra and buy some stickers FROM HIM, knowing full well he knew of at least five kids who loved to paint bodies. The man stood there and bald-faced LIED to this kid. He just didn't want to part out the business. If he could squeeze three more bucks out of this kid he was going to do it. Some of these guys are the WORST place for newbies.

To "support" a hobby shop, the owner has to meet the customer HALFWAY. This means treating them like a customer, not trying to squeeze the unknowing of every dime you can get, being competitive in your pricing, and knowing that "I don't know" is often a better answer than some answer that's going to make you a few extra bucks.

I advise seeking the help of a really good psychologist to assist in resolving your psychotic break with reality . . .

[72montedude]

Rocknbil i totally agree with you but i must say i actually like my lhs much more than tower hobbies or any other online store. things there are actually cheaper than an online store. The man who own it is extremly knowledgeable and so are the employees. Whens the last time anyone here heard the owner of thier lhs actually tell his customers not to buy his parma paint and to go to micheals and buy createx cause its cheaper ans it sticks better? i just did today then theres this other hobby shop. yes the sell r/cs - mostly tamiyas- but i am yet to see an esc, motor, battery, radio, parts, etc in that store - just goes to show all the owner is interested in is profit , not the customers i think mail order has both helped and hurt the hobby. i think it has made it harder for people to get into the hobby because there is less exposure of it but it has also made parts more readily available to peole into the hobby

[jshiigi808]

sorry but i didnt read all the posts but im only 16 and that guy who owns the shop is not my friend but if i was older i would buy the shop buts its to late cause last tuesday i drove by the shop and it was nothing in there. and theres something bad about it to im the olny one in my bunch of friend who is into rc and making model cars cause one of my friends was into it but he is not now,no body over here is really into that kind of stuff, back in the day we had a club but now nobody has the time and money to build a race track or to build a club.this is a small town with no money for that kind of hobby.you are right this hobby is not dieing but over here it is but if i go to honolulu on oahu they have i think on on road and one off road but theres lots of hobby shops but i want to race but i dont have the money to go up there and race tickets are to much.i love this hobby and im trying to stay with it but its hard and boring when you are the only one you know who is into this hobby.im trying to stay with.