Local Hobby Shops

[rich]

I beleive in supporting the LHS but when they are charging $200 more than the prices that I see on-line the support stops.... any one else feel differently??? I can see buying parts and other 'small' stuff but that is just stupid to waste money.

Rich

[QUAKE&SHAKE]

Dont have that problem where I live (anymore)the LHS matches Tower Hobbies prices and has parts.
This place I believe drove the others out of business. They are friendly and helpful have a big selection of products. Guess I'm lucky
But there are times they give some strange advice.I have a Nitro Quake
and they told me to get like a $350
fail safe radio instead of a throttle return spring that costs $2. I got the spring.

[KAMAKZI]

LOL
sorry I have to laugh
but I had that prob and I went else where
hey it ur big opertunity open up a hobbie shop and charge the prices the way they supposed to be http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/smile.gif
then get mail order too so U an ship people stuff out of state across america all those wanting to save a buck will flock to your store obviously there aint another hobby store for miles which mean there is a demand for parts with in the area especially if they charging that much http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/smile.gif

hey think of like this it cheaper to burn a little gas or ride bus or train to hobby shop
then pay shipping and handling plus you dont have to wait for mr UPS to knock at your god forbid he come when your working and it happens 3 time that means you have to wait even longer cause the will have to ship it out again

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Warning this RS4MT can evade high speed persuits at 60mph 5 minute run hehehe you cant catch me

awww he all juiced out. I keep goin and going
SECTOR 51 (http://www.geocities.com/djtriplem)

[DeSmet Spartan]

I have to disagree. I order most of my parts from Tower and Hobby Shack. They leave the stuff at the door and it only costs like $6 for shipping. I have mostly HPI and Tamiya car with are hard to get parts for where I live(St. Louis, Mo). So, the lhs has to order the parts which means another long trip and it take about twice as long for them to get the part. Also most of the workers never are able to help me out so I go to the HPI Forum for the answers. I think ordering stuff from home by phone or internet is a lot easier than going to the hobby shop. The only downside I see is that you can only use credit cards.

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St. Louis RAM
1999 Super Bowl Champions

[chucksolo]

I also order a lot of stuff on line since I have experienced a lot of brand bias at my local hobby shop. I order mostly from eHobbies.com and HobbyPeople.net. If you order over $25.00 at eHobbies.com, the shipping is free. Prices are a little higher than at HobbyPeople.net though.

[Ronin]

Yeah most local hobby shops will rip people off i think. Unless you know the people who work at one dont even bother, many will give you the most expenive quick fix, and then it is realy crap and you have to order from the larger companys anyways.

[KITT]

HAHA,SUCKERS!! I have a hobby shack less than a mile from my house and it's dirt cheap too. It's cheaper than what I see in most of the magazine ads. it's like having a stairway to heaven on your front porch (for r/c-ers anyway). It's so close I could carry the model kits I buy home even those big r/c kit boxes. HAHAHAHAHA I rule all Fwahahaha!.

(disclaimer: the views expressed here in do not reflect the attitudes or nature of KITT "the almighty poster" and the afformentioned will not be held responsible for any and all results due to the preceeding post.)

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[fockewulf190]

I have a Galaxy Hobby where I live. They buy a lot of stuff directly from Tamiya America so they can sell it cheaper than Tower!!!!
Prices
My LHS:
TA03F Pro 89!!!!
Ta03F stock 79bucks!!!

Tower hobbies:Ta03 Pro 179

So if your in Seattle go to Galaxy Hobby (actually in Lynwood)

[chucksolo]

I would dearly love to go to my LHS and buy stuff with no hassle. The problem is that I have gone in there and the employees there don't give you the time of day if you are not a racer. They have repeatedly ignored me whenever I mention the word "Traxxas." They act like they're too good to answer questions for the non-racing customer. I have spent about $1300.00 this year on R/C stuff; most of it online because of this type of attitude. I wanted a Traxxas Nitro Rustler with the EZ Start and one guy went on and on about how Traxxas was trash and that I should buy an RC10GT. When I told him I didn't want to hassle with a pull start or a starter box he basically just walked away from me. I had $400 cash on me and would have bought the thing then and there with all the accessories too. He wouldn't even order one for me, saying that he couldn't get them for a month. I ordered one from HobbyPeople.net the same night and got it two days later!! The only hobby shops I have gone into that don't have this attitude are Discount Hobby in San Diego and Ultimate Hobbies in Orange, CA. One is 45 miles from my house, the other is 50 miles. I find it more pleasant and more convenient to order stuff over the 'net. I think the non-racing customer is just as important as the racer. C'mon guys show us non-racers some respect, our money is just as good as the racers.

[KITT]

dude you live near san diego (southern cali rocks!!!!) and you said that discount hobby doesn't give you the "RACERS ONLY" attitude. I believe you are mistaken the only people i could get help from were the people at the R/C helicopter counter and i was lucky that one of the guys at that counter was into cars also. and I live less than a mile from several hobby stores hobby shack (now, hobby people), discount hobby, and a small yet amazing low priced mom and pop store (can't remember the name). and to me Discount hobby is way over-priced ($369.00 for a RC10T3 team; hobby shack sells em' for $169.00). Discount hobby had one, I repeat one and only one traxxas kit the T-maxx and they only had 1 in stock. one thing i do like is they carry the nitro thunder king by MRC. oh, yeah and they wanted around $500 for the T-maxx.

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[KITT]

oh, yeah I forgot to mention that my grandma wanted to get something for me for christmas and she said why don't you show me what it is that you want so we went to ultimate hobbies ('cause she lives off of culver in irvine [I live in san diego]) and you that place was huge compared to what i'm used to seeing (not that hobby shack doesn't carry alot of stuff it's just that it's a small location) and their prices are decent and the service is five-star.

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[chucksolo]

Kitt,

I guess I must have gone to Discount Hobby on a good day! I have gone there a few times and they were decent to me. I go there to buy fuel because they always stock a lot of it. Attitude at Hobby People next to them ***** though. It does at Hobby Town in San Marcos too. You are right though, I just went up to Ultimate Hobbies a week ago Saturday and the place is great. I talked to the owner for about a 1/2 hour and he is planning on getting some great stuff. I felt like a kid in a candy store up there. They had the most stock of any store I had ever seen. They even carried the OFNA F1 Colt with Radio for about $180.00 They had Andy's prepainted bodies for my Nitro Rustler and a bunch of others!! I wish there was a store like Ultimate Hobbies down here.

[KITT]

yeah, see I guess it's who you know and when your there because hobby shack(people)is my main hobby place and to me they have the best service of any hobby store i've been to but at times i've seen them shun "non-regulars". but I'm also applying at hobby shack on top of working the library.

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[ChazMan]

Ok guys. Let me give you a little info from the inside. I work at a Local Hobby Shop in St. George Utah. I travel a lot and have seen a lot of places such as you guys are talking about. We luckly have a nice place ran by a guy who knows his stuff and works 9 hours a day 6 days a week keeping up with everything. So we do alright but other shops don't have that kind of shop. It is part time to them and they can care less what happens in service.

But in pricing. It is hard to compete with mail in people and Hobby Towns that order from companys by the thousands. You can bet they are getting a price break. Another thing is if the local shop goes through Great Planes distibutors. Since they own Tower Hobbies almost every item they sell to the shop is only like ten dollars under what they sell it for through Tower.

Final statement: Buy as much as possible through your hobby shop. Even if it is like 20 to 30 bucks more that's what keeps them alive is the big stuff. Go mail order and the shop closes, so when you break your last ball cup or stip out a gear and need a new one for the weekend it is a bugger to mail order it.

But if it is like $100 more somebody there is just a moron! =)

The one and only,
ChazMan.

[KITT]

yeah, I see what you mean but it's not really the price I care about it's the service. now, at discount hobby they're way over-priced have poor service and I can tell you this from experience I "interned" there for two-weeks got sick of it and left. (we had to have interships for school) the guys at the counter were more interested in where they were going to eat lunch than making sales. I remember a ten year-old boy came up to the counter and he had saved his money to by an rc10 sitting behind the counter and they just ignored him. I was at this point not allowed to service customers yet. so I told the kid to go down the street and look for hobby shack. a couple days later he came back to race at the track (back when they had a track) and all he had to do was mention "race" and suddenly he (and his cash he had left) became visible to the guys behind the counter. this is a sad yet all-too-true story . http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/frown.gif and this is when I quit and vowed never to let service like this get by un-rectified http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/mad.gif !!!!!!!

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[ChazMan]

Yeah see....they don't consider it a real job. It is like a part time thing to them. They'll talk to you if they want. I understand. I would tell them to take their shop and shove it if you have a better one to go to. I try to help everybody as much as I can but it gets hard sometimes. When you have to help person after person after person and trying to be friendly everytime, especially when they are telling you "the watchyamacallit popped out of the dohickey and got all discobulated" hehe....gets a little redundent after a while I guess.

ChazMan

[KITT]

well... here's an idea point to the magazine rack if your store has one and say "subscribe". this works after a few issues your customers will seem to smarten up almost instantly. this is good way to prevent "newbie blabber" and such. or here's another one of my ideas put out all your old issues of rcca and have the customer read the issue that explains the problem and have him fix it right there in the store. just my two cents (actually mmore like a buck-fifty but, whatever) http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/smile.gif

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[ChazMan]

WHOA NO! I've learned the hard way. Even if they read the article, you explain it, you draw it, you show them, and then you let them do it, it will just take me twice as long to fix what they screwed up and they still won't know anything more. hehe. Maybe I'm negitive but that's been my experiance 95% of the time. And trust me I try and get everyone to work on their own cars and buy kits, not RTR's, so they can fix it, but when they don't I end up doing it.

Thanks for your five bucks worth though.

Oh yeah...most don't want to subscribe they just want to read them while I fix the car. =)

ChazMan

~I don't know everything. But there's one thing I know for sure: R/C car racing is the funnest!~

[KITT]

maybe i'm just a quick study but I learned almost everything in r/c that I know from rcca and testing what I see in the magazine. and on the subject of RTRs to me half the fun of the hobbie is the enjoyment of racing something YOU built and customized YOURSELF otherwise you only experience 50% or less of the hobbie. http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/biggrin.gif as the wise Mr. pheonix(from mystery men)once said "we are number 1 all others are number 2 or lower" or as Issac Hayes put it "shaft is a bad mother.. (shut yo' mouth) I'm just talkin' 'bout shaft (we can dig it)" or the immortal words of bill&ted "Excellent!(guitar riff plays)" or "Whoa, totally bogus dude" but the three stooges put it best "oh, a wise guy huh?!-why cointenly-nyuck*nyuck*nyuck".
(B.T.W. does anybody watch "mobile suit gundam wing" I have some Q's about models)

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http://karrnet.freeservers.com/Karr1.gif

80's
monster trucks
girls

dlwill1@pacbell.net

[chucksolo]

You're right Kitt, for you that probably is half of the enjoyment of this hobby. Those of us that buy RTR kits do so for one reason or another. I personally have very little time or desire to build a kit. I build complex computer networks and equipment for these systems all day at work and do not want to have any part of any "assembly" of any kind on my spare time. For me the appeal of this hobby is seeing intricate machines such as these R/C cars run. I haven't built any of my cars, and I have performed repairs and maintenance on them my self. RTR kits serve a great purpose for R/Cers like me and a lot of others too.

[chucksolo]

Well, it happened again. I went to Hobby Town today and a lady and her friend brought back an OFNA nitro buggy because they said it wouldn't start. Seems her son had saved for a long time for this car and it wouldn't start. First off the salesperson gave her an exasperated "That's why we don't recommend nitro cars for kids! I'll try and start it for you. But the settings are really way off." He then checked the high speed needle and found a broken "O" ring on it. The other guy behind the counter chimed in: "So much for quality control!" much to the chagrin of the two ladies. The first salesperson put the broken OFNA car asside and then proceeded to get parts for one of his racing buddies (they greeted each other warmly by name) who had just entered the store, leaving the ladies to wait there while he helped and chatted with his friend. This went on for a full 10 minutes while the ladies waited patiently by. I left with the ladies still waiting, and obviously annoyed. This is definately not right. The salesperson's buddy should have waited while he took care of the ladies. See what I mean, if you aren't a racer, you are not important to these guys!!! If Hobby Town wasn't the only "game" in town for me, I wouldn't go there. Well, I hope they know that a Hobby People is going in just a couple of miles away from them by the end of July. I only pray that the sales people at the new store are more customer service and "non-racer" aware.LOL!!!

[Greg_Hager]

Well, if ya look at Towers price for a DuraTrax Maximum ST (249.99) and what i paied for mine at my LHS (349.99), SLIGHT http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/wink.gif differance. And Towers price includes everyting, and a Hitec Lynx radio, i got a Futaba 2DR, 54.99, AND IT IS DISCONTINUED. Basicly I got, never mind, G rated Forum. http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Greg Hager
DuraTrax Maximum ST

Taillight City, aint it pretty? :D

The WVRC Club (http://www.angelfire.com/wv/rcclub)

[chucksolo]

Yeah, sounds like they gave it to ya alright. To be fair, the LHS probably has a higher over **** percentage wise than Tower does, but 100 bucks is a really high difference. On the other hand, at Hobby People, I consistently get great prices (not always service). As an example of this, I run Duratrax Red Alert fuel in my Nitro 4-Tec and they list it at $8.99. I have bought three quarts there and each time I have only paid $5.49 at the counter. I bought bearings for my Nitro Rustler today at Hobby Town (12 miles form my house) and they charged me $10.00 for 4. Hobby People in San Diego (35 miles from my house) had them for $8.00 for 4. Happily, Hobby People is opening a store just two miles from Hobby Town! Excellent!!!

[B3_Racer]

I really feel empathy for you people. Every hobby shop i go into treats me with kindness and respect. Maybe because i race Associated but even when i was getting started they were nive to me. Not saying i haven't seen what you guys are talking about but i don't see it as much as you guys are talking about.

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[StephenB]

Those of you who have GREAT local hobby shops, support them!! There aren't enough out there. I, for one, am nearly 70 miles away from my "lhs" and it costs me more to drive there than it does to mail order. Plus, I normally save $$ mail ordering AND don't have to pay tax!

The only thing is, for beginners or someone who lives close to a LHS, it's invaluable. There's nothing like hands-on help. Whenever possible, buy from your LHS, but I must admit it IS your hard earned $$$...so the dollar wins every time when I can save. Sorry to say so, but it's true. That's what happens when you're 70 miles away.

[ChazMan]

I hear what you guys are saying. I have a semi-humorous side note though. Everyone knows that Great Planes owns Tower Hobbies now right. Well, in Tower Hobbies you can by the Duratrax Real Race Simulator for about 79.99 How ever, when I looked it up on the computer at work through Great Planes Distibution our hobby shop PAYS 129.99 for it. Then have to make a profit margin??? How! We're buying it for more through The Great Planes distibution center than we could through Tower.

So LHS have some problems with items like that. You can't expect them to sell it to you for less than they payed and loose money. It's too bad though. Some people don't seem to realize this.

On service though....I don't know what to say. Not much you can do there.

ChazMan

[KARR]

hi it's me (KITT), i'm logging on from my cousin's system in L.V. but on the subject of hobbie shops I have been talking to my mom about starting a local hobby shop in vegas with my inheritence and her retirement fund but so far nothings going. there is a practically untapped market out here (= lots-o-business).

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formerly known as KITT (i'm on vacation when i use this user i.d.)

[KARR]

hey, chucksolo, is the hobby people that's going in near you the one in ESCONDIDO because i'm up for the car sales person position (they haven't called me back yet) my whole philosophy is "the racers can generally help themselves, but the young bloods need more assistance." this attitude is why i think i would be a shoe-in for the job. (and if i do get it i'm going to quit the library.)

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formerly known as KITT (i'm on vacation when i use this user i.d.)

[Grant Tokumi]

Untapped market in Vegas? We have a Hobbytown, Hobby People and a few LHS. 2 off-road tracks, and 2 onroad tracks here in Las Vegas. Its well tapped =). But there does seem to be lots of business here if thats what you mean by "untapped". The stores keep busy and the track is always crowded. And we do appreciate store competition that helps keep the prices down.



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Grant Tokumi
R/C Archive
http://www.rcarchive.com

[chucksolo]

Karr, yes, the Hobby People is going up in Escondido! I can't wait. I'm weary of going to the one in San Diego or Mission Viejo. The one in San Diego has more stock. Good luck on getting the position!

[chucksolo]

Karr, we desperately need a real hobby shop in the Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista area. Hobby Town moved from their old location in Oceanside to San Marcos, but I think that their old location in Oceanside really stunk. There was no where they could run races there because the parking lot is too small. It would be great to have a track in that area too. I for one am running out of places (church parking lots) to run my Nitro 4-Tec. I run my Nitro Rustler at a local BMX track just down the road from me, but I know that land will be developed in a couple of years. Then I will be SOL. Give it some thought. We R/Cer's in the north west San Diego county have no real hobby shop or track!!

[Simon SuperHornet]

Hobby stores here in OZ tend to only by stuff once a year in big cartons , the big problem is most of the good stuff goes really fast car , buggie and truck kits included . Means your waiting for months for stuff on backorder which can be a pain if your car is off the road for an extended period of time .
Cost are ok but special models usually don ' t appear here I was after the special Blitzer Beetle with a crome body and sports engine but they don ' t ship that here .