so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

me and one of my friends have driven around all morning to the hobby
shops in the area. well no euro semi's all king haulers. but i get this second to last one. and i find a old still in box Tamiya Mercedes-Benz 1838 LS! i was like wow really cool. but then i saw the price! 625$ :eek: and the lady at the store was like that is a great deal!!!! i told her ya thats a great price just little more than i wanted to pay, and left laughing to myself. i can get the from ebay for like 350 and the hobby shop i finally had order me a truck said one of his supplier had it for 380$. woW

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

yes there is a hobby shop local to me and they are selling kinghauler kits for $725 :jaw:...i told them thats crazy..the kid said thats what the msrp is and thats what they are selling them for:eek: but they were not popular anymore and they are hard to get now...,needless to say the kits had a ton of dust on them..i bought my screw bag and left the store:confused:
they need to get with the times ,i bet if i looked some more probably would have come across a vintage r/c kit or 2

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

ouch! that is a discontinued truck now to. Ebay sells for 308 but the shipping etc.

I have the whole body for it. just dunno what to do with it...

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

gotta love the LHS.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

And sadly, that's why their sitting there covered in dust.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

And that's why all the local hobby shops are disappearing with the likes of the butcher, the shoe maker and the appliance repair man.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

no!!! I'll pay for what the butcher can do for me. but the hobby shop
that does not realize the internet is out there and thinks banging you msrp +++
is ok. should go the way of the dinosaur.

my LHS is good for paint plastic exacto blades and the small stuff.
I've known these guys for 10 + years and seen some real shady crap from them
like selling 7-11 $30.00 helicopter's for $100.00 to the dad that wants a HOBBY SHOP
helo...for his kid

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

The hobby shop near me has some pretty competitive prices. I bought a Traxxas Grave Digger monster truck for $199+ tax. They really try to be competitive with the Internet.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

Ive got four all in my relative area and three of them are a huge ripoff. Then there is this Rc shop called Unreal rc n all he has is rc vehicles, but he specializes in rc offroad n on road high speed cars and planes n choppers both gas n electric. Hes now getting into boats, so I asked the owner rich about tamiya semis and showed him my king hauler, he loved it but said "in the three years ivr been open your the only guy thats been looking for them or interested in them." "I dont think they would sell so I dont carry them". Which sucks for me cause if he did carry them, juding by how indepth he is with all his other products he sells, he would most likely have a large selection of parts n running gear instock which would be nice.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

My LHS in town is a the size of postage stamp that actually purchases what you want off of Ebay for you at a 20% mark up. I asked the guy if he had any "reputable" distributors that he orders from and he said, "Sure, all the time on Ebay." I kind of figure I can order from Ebay and save the 20% for spare parts.

- RCT

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

we have one LHS left in my area of Chicagoland. It sucks because before I had options on where I wanted to shop now I'm limited to one. I will say that it seams the LHS are now more stream lined to the masses and people just getting in to a specific hobby. I worked at my LHS when I was a kid and we would match prices from other shops or magazines.
when the internet became popular it was almost impossible to match prices because of the overhead of owning a store front.

the smart owners will try to sell you a RC car, Boat, Ho scale Train etc...at a reasonable price and then make the extra on other stuff that goes with the hobby. These are the ones that will last. Most Hobby shops will tell you they cant just rely on selling glue and sheet styrene to stay in business.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

Complain about that local hobby shop all you want but remember where you go on sunday to get that servo or part that you want right now, then stop and think about when you sold him out for $5 for the part or kit you bought online. A reputable hobby shop will match Horizon or Tower Hobbies prices since that is where they get it from to begin with.
I have a great relationship with my local hobby shop, I get treated like one of the family and there are members here I have taken into my LHS that can back me up on that.

Basically dont complain about what they don't have and be happy with what the do, our hobby is a niche market and not easy to cater to. Ask them to price match Tower or Horizon and the hobby shops get free shipping from their suppliers so you can save on that too regardless of the size of your order. I know some Mom and Pop places are higher and and don't care, so move on and find another place and if there is not one then you will have to live with shopping online.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

Travis gets taken care of very well by his LHS better than most of us do by our own families, but can say if his LHS was closer I would go in there all the time for sure. As a business owner I can say one thing every business owner is just trying to make a living and by making a living we are not getting rich in the process. The local hobby shops are trying to compete with the internet but it is very hard to do when they have to buy their inventory from Horizon and Tower and then try and compete with them too, the only way to get their prices on the wholesale market is to commit to high quantity orders and their are not to many LHS owners I know who can commit to 30,000 dollar minimum orders to receive the big savings. The internet is good for some things but the local hobby shops are good for others. You never know they may have bought that Mercedes some time ago and paid more than they are now but who knows.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

Yeah, I get what you're saying Travis, and I agree.

Thank God I live near the Tamiya-America office. I can order a part/kit and it arrives next day via "standard" parcel post. And PMD is just a stones throw away.

- RCT

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

I was going to buy a trailer that I like from ebay. as my LHS wont order stuff
like this then I thought nobody on here has this trailer, WHY????
so after searching I found a post about tam-amer and the trailer
was $100.00 cheaper then ebay. ordered Monday got it sat

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

Always double check your product BigFord. :cool:

I never make an impulse purchase. If I really like an item, I'll research what it is, where it came from, and how much the "current market value" is - then I'll determine how much I'm willing to give for it, or if I really want it after finding out about it's detail information! :)

Glad you found out about the trailer before you made a $100 mistake. Some times people don't get so lucky. :eek: ;)

- RCT

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

At least you have shops that are willing to work with you. Of my local three one was willing to order my first truck . He had been a shop for 20 years or so and never heard of a semi kit.

Doesn't want anything to do with this part of the hobby.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

the only LHS to me is in my own town and ive been going there since i was around seven years old. Over the years ive bought all my Tamiya kits from him, parts, etc, but when i got to my twenties and started to get into the Axial SCx10 and all these new companies with aluminum beadlock wheels, winches ya know "scale" parts my LHS couldnt get them or the prices he wanted was over the moon! when i got into the Tamiya semi kits he could get them but again the prices were NUTS and his answer was always extra shipping costs and MSRP crap....... when i got my son his SCX10 truck a few months back my LHS gave me a price cheaper than any seller on eBay so go figure. But when i stopped in last week to get some prices on traxxas 2075 servo for steering again his prices were over ten dollars more than any eBay seller so i cant figure the guy out. But ive been going there for twenty years now and when he gives me a deal i order and wait a full week to receive my order.

Re: so the this hobby store is crazy!!
 

At least some of you have a LHS . I got a HT an hr away and all they're good for is batteries if that Oh and styrene glue :rolleyes: