[JERRY2KONE]

It is really simple economics. The Wal-Mart type stores will eventually run all of the mom & pop stores out of business. They have the huge advantage of buying bulk at lower prices and that turns into lower prices over all. Due to our situation of traveling from one country to another 99%of my hobby stuff comes from on line purchases, either directly from the major suppliers, or from second hand buys on sites like this one. I have only been in an LHS like two times in teh last three years. I guess it is a pain in the rear to have to order everything on line and wait for it to come in, but that is what I am used to.

Hey Linc I would love to see you open up your own R/C shop. From my observation the only way to make it work would be to have a track area connected to the store for sure. Like BrianG stated you would have a lot of business during track events that would keep things active on a regular basis. Not to mention the diehard R/C'rs who just have to run throughout the week testing their builds in preperation for weekend events. Plus I would either build or buy something cheap (building wise) that would not cost an arm or a leg to open and pay rent on. Keeping your overhead down would be a real deal breaker if you have to pay others just to keep your doors open. Install a wind generator, and somesolar panels to keep your electric bill reasonable orhave them paying you for power. These are all doable things that would make owning your own shop a profitable business, and that would make it pleasurable to. Low stress is the key to owning any business, and having good people working for you. Life is good.