Supporting your local hobby shop

[POLAR BEAR]

My local was crap thats why its closed down!!

[PsiLo]

I'm lucky, my local is Inwood Models and they have lots in stock at excellent prices. And Nick (the heli guy) is really helpful

[spunkmyer]

I normally use my local shops for things like blade and plane parts but order online for raptor parts

[Boggy]

im lucky living in yeovil. i have the smith bro's on the doorstep. its very rare to go into the shop and have to order something. last time was a metal gear set for an oldish hitec servo. after looking through dozens of packs Jane had to order one set (they had two in stock )

hobby hangar rocks. and tbh i dont care if certain items are slightly more than elsewhere it worth it to support them,(aide/Stu if you read this i want sponsored by boggy on your next canopies)

[Rotorhead]

but poor old Mr Hard-Done-By local shopkeeper has to stock what sells in order to make a living.

Its funny you say that, my local shop is ok for the most part generally nice people, but they cant be accused of that really, you could go in there today and go in again a year from now, and I promise you most of the stock will still be there.

It will still be the exact same model in the exact same spot, there is a lot of stuff in there that just isnt moving and clearly hasnt done for a long time, and the only thing that I can think of that is keeping the shop going is R/C cars, the support stuff for planes, the bits and bobs, engine mounts etc, not kits, excluding the ones that are specially ordered.

The weird thing is considering all that, all they seem to want to shift kits, and when they do instead of seeing it as an opportunity to clear some space and rethink what they should be stocking, what do they do, order 10 more of those kits just because they sold one and then wonder why they've got 10 sat on the shelf and out back for several months.

When it comes to helis especially they tend to jump from one brand to another every so often, instead of being smart about it and sticking with one brand and actually stocking the spares for that range, I've said to them for a long time they need to focus on a brand like Align, and I mean really focus on it, not just get the odd kit in, but really make an effort with the spares aswell, and not keep changing each time they find they can get a slightly better mark up on something else.

To be fair, they've improved on the spares issue, but they still have room for further improvement.

Ok, they may not get as much of a mark up with Align compared to some of the ones they do stock, but they'd make up for it in increased custom, rather than stocking a bit of Align, a bit of Century, a bit of Hirobo and a bit of Thunder tiger, spend that stock budget on the obvious choice Align.

If they spent a bit more time planning what to stock, I'm sure they'd see it benefit the business, I would even say they really need bigger premises, but if they just continued as is they'd just fill that aswell to the point where you can barely walk in the shop.

[andylinney]

Ron, I totally agree - I would have been perfectly happy to pay a few notes more for the convenience of having the stuff in my hand so I could go and get the model ready.

[Buddha1584]

Planning on a little ride down to Skyline tomorrow and I bet I will leave there with my bank balance quite a bit lighter.

Cheers
Chris

[del19_82]

Like Paul said Andy, if it was PMC then the shop has been like that for months now. I went in not so long ago for Gyro Pads & a couple of bits and pieces and ended up with some fuel tube and that was it. It's kinda irritating when you have spent a small fortune in the shop (I bought my rappy and 600 there plus various cars and the usual nonsense) and he promises that they would be stocking parts for the 600 and dont. I have had the 600 for 5 months now and still no sign of spares back up from them!

Fast Lads here I come

[chris jones2.4]

my local model shop is shit, they stopped doing helis and stopped sponsoring me, i use fst lads now

[Jamin_00]

Think I can honestly say that in the nearly 2 years I have been flying I myself have never gone to my local hobby shop and brought something for the helis.

Internet all the way

[raptorheli2]

fastlad, revo, middy etc are my LHS......move the mouse about 6" and click once.....how local do you want? they come to my pc!

cheers

[Boggy]

fastlad, revo, middy etc are my LHS......move the mouse about 6" and click once.....how local do you want? they come to my pc!

cheers

James (moonmanflyer) had a paddle with stripped threads at 2.00pm yesterday at 3.00pm his new paddles were delivered to the field! now i'll bet none of your mentioned lhs can do that for you!

[Kozmyk]

I don't have a LHS any more. It's 40 miles West or East to find one these days.
Local modellers tried to encourage the Swansea HS to keep going and he did stay for a while but he's finished now unfortunately.
It's a shame when a long standing shop just can't compete any longer.
A resource you don't get to value until you lose it.

[andylinney]

A resource you don't get to value until you lose it.

Koz, the issue here is that as a resource for basic bits, they failed in spectacular fashion.

Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Andy

[StuSmith]

James (moonmanflyer) had a paddle with stripped threads at 2.00pm yesterday at 3.00pm his new paddles were delivered to the field! now i'll bet none of your mentioned lhs can do that for you!

Lol!!! Always a pleasure, never a chore