TOPIC:

There have been many discussions on other forums over the years about hobby stores closing, and so forth. I was just wondering if you guys here had already discussed that, and if not, what is/was your favourite hobby store and what was so great about it?

Most likely your favourite store is now closed, or no longer the way you best remember it.

My favourite was most certainly a place called Yennora Hobbies, in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Until the early 2000s, it was close to being the largest store I knew, but was particularly great for having a lot of R/C, but a lot of everything else as well.
They had a great display cabinet as you first walked in that was filled with either new or second hand cars for sale, and in the case of many Tamiya classics from the 1980s, this was the first time I had ever seen these vehicles in the flesh.

I only discovered this store in about 1994 or so, but it was still in it's prime from 1994-2000. Unfortunately, around 2002 or so, it was taken over by new ownership and the business (which had existed for decades) fell apart within the space of a year or so. There were also many thefts which apparently did not help.

I wish I had a picture of this place - it was just a small entrance to a long, narrow building, and was located in an industrial area (not a commercial shopping area). You could easily drive past and miss it, except for a small sign above the door. But when you walked in - it was huuuuge. And anyone who was into hobbies knew where it was, so business was good for many years.

I bought many items there over the years, particularly old Tamiya spare parts and used parts, like entire gearboxes and things that I used in restorations. My Dad and I used to travel almost 100Kms to visit Yennora, about once every 3 or 4 months, just to see what was new.

cheers,
H.

A few come to mind.....

Bricknells in Fore Street, Bodmin (Cornwall): This was more of a "toy" than "hobby" shop, I spent a lot of time in there when I was knee high to a grasshopper (single figure years anyway, so mid/late 1970's), I remember it being absolutely cavernous & having everything a kid could want. I went back to Cornwall for the Solar eclipse in 1999 & revisited some of my old haunts - the place had shrunk to tiny proportions

I just looked on Google maps/streetview - the sign is still up but the shop is empty & it has "to let" signs in the windows



Eaden Lilley, Cambridge. The toy department was in the basement & somehow seemed a bit more special because of that, slightly secret ... It was very quiet down there, so the lack of sales may have had something to do with their later failure I'm not suire of the exact chronology, but I seem to remember that they branched out in several smaller towns/villages in the area, ran out of money & closed the flagship store (the building is now a WH Smith (newsagent/stationer/bit of everything), a Borders, and a coffe shop (though not the ubiquitous one)), then all the branches went rather low rent, and eventually folded. The one nearest me is now a Tesco Express





R&D Models (late 70's/very early 80's for me - my OO train period ) - 1st in Burliegh Street, Cambridge, I remember it being a fairly large store with kits & stuff on the ground floor, trains upstairs ... then in a much smaller shop in Kings Parade, which I remember as mostly trains, but they must have had some RC stuff in there too... then back to the same place in Burliegh Street, although just upstairs (the ground floor being a laundrette by then) ... apparently it closed in 2007




Model Junction, in Bury St Edmunds (early/mid 80's - my RC period). Of course there were other suppliers in the Anglia region, but if your RC wasn't a Tamiya, and it didn't come in one of Model Junction's big red plastic carrier bags (usually with boxart of the "latest" Tamiya Car on it - I remember it mostly being a Hotshot - then you weren't badword

The place is still going - though of course it seems much smaller & less well stocked now - RC & paints on one side, trains on the other, warhammer & plastic kits out the back




Now ... TBH I tend to buy all my stuff online & I'm really not all that loyal to any one supplier, apart from maybe Fusion Hobbies, where most of my re-re kits have come from.

It's a little sad I suppose, but things move on ..

When I was a young kid, the whole world of toys & hobbies was limited to what I could see in one or two shops, but seemed unlimited - there were way more things than I could ever play with/build, even if my pocket money could cover it all ...

I got older & found there were whole new areas of hobbies that could be accessed by going to a different sort of shop ... then came mail order - fine, it took ages as you had to buy a magazine, write to suppliers, wait for them to send a price list back, take cash to the post office & get a postal order, then sent that off to the supplier, but it opened up new possibilities, even it was the beginnings of the loss of innocence ... pah, I'll stop trying to romanticise it - if you want poetry I can lend you some Phillip Larkin, otherwise, no chance ...

Now, no one shop can ever compete with the range & prices of the whole of the internet ... I think sooner or later we'll end up with just two sorts of shops - Tesco, and small, anonymous looking corrugated steel boxes on industrial estates, trading solely on the internet & mail order.

Actually, just regarding Google Streetview, if a hobby shop you liked has a pic on there that shows the shop front, post it if you can! This thread could be filled with actual pics of hobby shops this way.

I'll see if I can find some.

H.

Hibernaculum wrote:

Actually, just regarding Google Streetview, if a hobby shop you liked has a pic on there that shows the shop front, post it if you can! This thread could be filled with actual pics of hobby shops this way.

I'll see if I can find some.

H.

Model Junction
10 Whiting Street
Bury St. Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 1NX

Also remember another one - a model shop in Linton (Cambridgeshire) - I think it was called "The Signal Box", & not surprisingly specialised in model trains ... It's long gone now, it's a newsagents called "Sweet Talk News" - I think from 1982 onwards?

I don't think it's a coincidence that most shops started disappearing with the rise of the internet...

There was only one real option for myself for about thirty years.
It is where I got my Grasshopper and it wasn't that far (about 20 km) but in the middle of nowhere nonetheless.
No way to get there other than by car of bike - last time I visited (a few years ago) was by pedial propulsion.

But I've learned it isn't the brilliant place I though it was when I was still impressionable.
The last few visits were far from succesful...
They didn't provide the correct amount of bearings for my Grasshopper and asked 2,50 each...
A brand new metal geared servo went up in smoke because of their wrong advise. Didn't know about Acoms myself then.
I had to spend 40 euro in the end for that single servo. No leniency either...
Most of all - I got inside info that they actually revel in selling expensive and unnecessary stuff to naive customers.
High fives are given out for the customer that gets ripped off most...
So I'm never visiting there again. And not mentioning their name.

Not a lot of other options around here...
Of the two or three shops that had anything, one seems to have gone belly up recently.

So I'm very thankful for the internet...

My 1 & only was Barney's Models in Lynn in the 80's. There were/are other shops, but they appear to be run by idiots. A bloke called Andrew Greene used to run the place & he himself was into all things model making & RC, & the shop reflected that, only stocking stuff (To the roof & beyond) that was actually relevent to hobby model making (ie no RTR or toys, just kits, spares & raw materials). The shop also dealt with second hand models & parts & ran a sort of personal account, where you could sell stuff & they'd look after the money for when you needed something, or would let you have stuff NOW & pay for it later by swapsies or sale of your stuff. Really friendly too, several times he (Or his sidekick "Dennis" (Denise)) would drive out into the sticks & pick my brother & I up to go racing at the local club. He taught us quite a lot of tweaks n tricks, a lot of which I still use today, not just for model-related stuff. We used to spend our school lunchtimes in the shop, just socialising & talking about zombie films, toy cars etc. The place slid south after Andrew left, & in more recent years has closed down. Most local shop now is King's Lynn Model shop (Not interested in anything other than money, although their stock seems reasonable) or "Modelhobby" (Which is purely race-car orientated & run by a tries-to-be-helpful-but-no-I-still-haven't-ordered-the-bits-despite-it-being-12 months-on nuisance). Other than that it's Snetterton if I want something Ebay can't provide, but they really are clueless in there

In my case,
I bought 90% of my rc's at JJRC in France it is one of the oldest shop since1984 I think.
The boss knows me when I were 5 or 6 years old... since 25 years. They were at longjumeau and they are now at bretigny sur orge. It is maybe the last professionnal rc shop in France.
For they, Tamiya is a real passion. they have good prices and they are reals advisors.
Thanks to them

JJRC sounds really great.
When I was in France, I went to a shop called EOL in Paris, which despite my minimal ability with the French language, were helpful enough and understood when I said I was looking for old Tamiya parts. Ended up buying their remaining vintage Supershot and 959 parts, which was nice!

Apologies for not posting pics in this thread as I had earlier promised, but I've taken to writing about some lost hobby shops on my blog, and there are two such entries so far if anyone is interested...

rcmemories.word...ps-zigzag/
rcmemories.word...a-hobbies/

Obviously they're about shops I knew in Australia, but I think the sentiments are the same right around the world

cheers,
H.