RC-Monster Forums - View Single Post - Local hobby shop is closing.. another victim of the economy :(

Finnster · 01.23.2009, 01:16 PM

Glad to hear some shops are still doing well. There was actually another LHS/indoor track that was close that closed last Feb or so.

Out of curiosity, how do the prices in the thriving stores compare to what you can get online? At this lhs, parts tended to be maybe 10% higher than online, but it was hard to ever buy vehs there as they were quite a bit more, and creative searching online could find deals better than what he could nearly buy it at. Its really hard to match the prices of ebay chopshops on large sets of parts. Admittedly I get some things online, and some at the lhs. Its hard to support everybody. I do what I can but i'm not a charity.

Also, the store was much more heli/plane oriented. The owner said that was most of his base, else RTR truck guys. So mostly TRX, HPI and Losi parts. Never OFNA or mugen or higher end stuff like that ( do love my savvy XL, don't get me wrong.)
I was the only BL guy ever there. My trucks were the only BL they've really ever seen. It started changing a bit lately, but he never really had any good BL deals, and what was there was 1/10 scale. Batts were always high, and the only lipos he ever had were small thunderpower packs for helis. He said he did sell a ton of emaxxes, but always suprized he didn't catch the BL earlier. I tried to educate him, but they were more nitro heads or only into small BLs for helis.
Tires were always way expensive, and almost never bought them there. I can't see paying an extra $20-30 for a set of tires. I'm sure being in Jersey where taxes, rents etc were high does not help either. He tried to make up service for higher prices, but I'm not so sure how well it worked out.

So what makes a good & successful LHS that people have seen?

	(#1)
Finnster KillaHurtz Offline Posts: 2,958 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Bucks Co, PA	01.23.2009, 01:16 PM Glad to hear some shops are still doing well. There was actually another LHS/indoor track that was close that closed last Feb or so. Out of curiosity, how do the prices in the thriving stores compare to what you can get online? At this lhs, parts tended to be maybe 10% higher than online, but it was hard to ever buy vehs there as they were quite a bit more, and creative searching online could find deals better than what he could nearly buy it at. Its really hard to match the prices of ebay chopshops on large sets of parts. Admittedly I get some things online, and some at the lhs. Its hard to support everybody. I do what I can but i'm not a charity. Also, the store was much more heli/plane oriented. The owner said that was most of his base, else RTR truck guys. So mostly TRX, HPI and Losi parts. Never OFNA or mugen or higher end stuff like that ( do love my savvy XL, don't get me wrong.) I was the only BL guy ever there. My trucks were the only BL they've really ever seen. It started changing a bit lately, but he never really had any good BL deals, and what was there was 1/10 scale. Batts were always high, and the only lipos he ever had were small thunderpower packs for helis. He said he did sell a ton of emaxxes, but always suprized he didn't catch the BL earlier. I tried to educate him, but they were more nitro heads or only into small BLs for helis. Tires were always way expensive, and almost never bought them there. I can't see paying an extra $20-30 for a set of tires. I'm sure being in Jersey where taxes, rents etc were high does not help either. He tried to make up service for higher prices, but I'm not so sure how well it worked out. So what makes a good & successful LHS that people have seen?