Local hobby shop is closing.. another victim of the economy :(

[Finnster]

Sucks. Went by today (to buy glow plugs ironically) and the owner told me he's closing up. Sales just died lately and he can't risk burning his remaining savings trying to weather the storm.

It was a nice shop too and he just moved and expanded last year. Literally across the street from work, so very convenient too. That's about the last LHS in my area. There is another by my house, but its small, expensive, poorly stocked, and open strange hours. Stopped there recently and it looked on its last legs too.

The economy is a murder right now, and its depressing about the RC hobby shops. They seem to be on a decline for a while now. I've talked to him about how he basically has to compete against his own suppliers online (horizon hobby, great planes (tower), etc.) and they don't charge tax. The margins suck and you get to deal w/ some real idiots in the store. However, if all the LHS shut down, how is that good for the hobby? I love some of the online places like RCM, but you have to have the locals as well. Out bashing and break or lose one little part, do you really want to have to go online and roder it and then wait for days? The LHS has saved me tons of times.

Really sucks for nitro as its very expensive to order online. That will kill nitro and move people to BL faster than anything else.

Oh well, sad day. Know quite a few people who have been laid off out of the blue, and now stuff like this. :(

[E-Revonut]

Glad my LHS is alive and thriving! They still did their yearly special sale and give aways. Yes that's right, give away! In November they do a secret santa sale, that's just their name for an early Christmas sale. Everything in the store was 20% off and they gave away at least $7500 worth of merchandise! Granted they got most of it donated by their suppliers but they wouldn't be able to do that if they didn't do enough business with them. On top of that Great Planes gave the owner a fully built and equipped plane, a HUGE one. It has 2 nitro motors, 14 digital servos, about an 8' wing span, and weighs about 40Lbs. It was a surprise to him that I got to have a "small" hand in! When they carried it over to the demonstration area I got to help hand it over the barrier ( Like I said "small" hand). They also did a sale from the week before Christmas until New years that was 15% off everything. I do plenty of business with them and everyone knows my name. I called one day to see if they had something in stock and asked them to hold it, he said "ok, we'll see you later Joe" and I had never said who I was. If it wasn't for having a lhs I prolly wouldn't be into the hobby. It's also really nice that they are 10 minutes from me. It's really nice to be able to go pick up an axle carrier, arm, hinge pin, or whatever the same day I break it and be up running again as soon as I put it back together.

[kulangflow]

Two of the four hobby shops relatively local to me are closing as well. It's pretty depressing.

[lincpimp]

My LHS recently changed hands... That sucked as I had a sweet deal with the previous owner. If only she could have balanced her books correctly the IRS may not have audited her... Nice lady but a crappy business woman. I had all of her dealer logins, and kept a close eye on her business. It made good money, just needed some more dedication. Her husband opened it and they have 2 younfger kids, so it was just too much on her plate. I almost bought the place, but glad I did not as it would have stretched me a bit thin...

I would have made some serious money though, and my buddy would be the perfect guy to manage it, as he is very knowledgeable about rc... I am still thinking about opening a hobby shop... Not sure if i want to drop 50k on inventory and build another building...

[FG101C]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

My LHS recently changed hands... That sucked as I had a sweet deal with the previous owner. If only she could have balanced her books correctly the IRS may not have audited her... Nice lady but a crappy business woman. I had all of her dealer logins, and kept a close eye on her business. It made good money, just needed some more dedication. Her husband opened it and they have 2 younfger kids, so it was just too much on her plate. I almost bought the place, but glad I did not as it would have stretched me a bit thin...

I would have made some serious money though, and my buddy would be the perfect guy to manage it, as he is very knowledgeable about rc... I am still thinking about opening a hobby shop... Not sure if i want to drop 50k on inventory and build another building...

Come on up here to Dallas and buy the only outdoor 1/8th track. It's for sale, maybe you could make it what it could be.

[Finnster]

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?

[BrianG]

To get a good car/truck client base, I think a store should have some type of race events, perferably physically at the track. It would bring people to the store and sales are bound to go up. Not to mention the sales it would get from the broken parts practicing before a race, parts broken during a race, and broken parts on non-race days when people are just there playing around. This assumes that there are enough people in the area to make it worthwhile.

I too buy online mostly unless the part I need happens to be in stock at the store, which is kinda rare. Gotta face it, the parts/supplies most of the people need here are specialty, especially with all the custom stuff we do. I don't know how many times I ask the LHS if they have something (aluminum, plastic, etc) just to get a blank look.

[mkrusedc]

The LHSs on the southshore are good to. There was 3 here one closed, but he had recently opened and was doing mostly boats. The other two are banging. Just more of that magic New Orleans economy that is at least for now bucking the national trends.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by mkrusedc

The LHSs on the southshore are good to. There was 3 here one closed, but he had recently opened and was doing mostly boats. The other two are banging. Just more of that magic New Orleans economy that is at least for now bucking the national trends.

I have not been to hobby hut recently, but those guys seem to know how to run a hobby shop. Is blackhawk still open, who is the other shop? I may have to take a ride over there one saturday with my rc buds. I have been to springfield (near hammond) a few times. His track is ok, and his tiny store is stuffed with parts. He does sell alot of buggies and truggies, I am sure the track helps with that.

[mkrusedc]

I have not been to hobby hut recently, but those guys seem to know how to run a hobby shop. They are rolling. The kids are running Metairie and Mike opend another one in Hammond near the track.

Is blackhawk still open, who is the other shop?Blackhawk is closed. The new one is on West Esplande just west of Causeway.

I may have to take a ride over there one saturday with my rc buds. I have been to springfield (near hammond) a few times. His track is ok, and his tiny store is stuffed with parts. He does sell alot of buggies and truggies, I am sure the track helps with that.[/QUOTE]

[pedeboi364]

:( my lhs is closing in 3 months. Killer deals (got $270 worth of stuff for $150) but it's the only one near me, the next is like a hour away... maybe I'll get to have a tower supersavers account tho

[ssspconcepts]

So that means you paid what it would have cost had you bought it online Ahem...sorry that was a cheap shot. I am really sorry guys. I don't want to turn this into a political discussion or a discussion on work ethics...but I don't have a lot of sympathy in the era of laziness and government bail outs. Most often is the case (as Linc pointed out) businesses fail for a reason.

Originally Posted by pedeboi364

:( my lhs is closing in 3 months. Killer deals (got $270 worth of stuff for $150) but it's the only one near me, the next is like a hour away... maybe I'll get to have a tower supersavers account tho

[JERRY2KONE]

No offense taken at all. I agree with you Sir. Businesses fail for a reason, and more likely than not it is because they are lacking in some way to do what we expect them to do as professionals just as you so elequently stated. Laziness is the key along with complacency that comes over time of just squeesing by, putting forth the minimum of effort into what you do for a living hoping that it will be enough. That is the problem with a lot of American thinking these days. I love our country, but there is just way too much of just that going on and we are letting things slip through our fingers to other countries like Mexico, Korea, and China.

If a hobby shop has to close its doors it is because it chose the wrong location up front, and because they failed to supply the local /economy with what they need due to not paying attention or asking enough questions of its customers. Look at MonsterMike here. He listens to the requests that pile up in here and he comes up with a solution for us with custom one off hybrid stuff. That is pure business sense of wanting to please your customer base and support whatever it is that they want &/or need. UE started out that way, but forgot the main reason they got into the business in the first place. Retail sales, customer service has to be number one or you are going to loose out, and your business is going to fail. Being nice is just not enough in todays society. Give the people what they want or pack up shop and go home.

There was a really good program on AFN TV last night that revealed a lot of information about why the automakers and oil companies conspired in keeping battery and electric car technology down in the USA, and it was all for the sale of oil, and keeping us dependant on both the oil, and the repair parts from the auto makers. It all mades perfect sense to me after seeing what they did an how they did it. Now we are trailing everyone else as a nation, because they got greedy and tried to keep it all for themselves thinking that they could hold inevibility back like a tsunami rolling through. I am a realist, and I believe that you get back what you put into it.

[Finnster]

So Ive been thinking more about this and what caused them to fail, and I've decided all is not lost for the hobby

More than anything I think it was run just poorly enough that its such a competitive business that the store just wasn't good enough, and a slowing economy made wounds far worse. The guy had just moved and expanded to a much bigger and better location, in part to increase the offerings (rockets, "science" crap, etc) in the store and gain visibility, but...

The stuff they had and introduced was not all that unique nor well priced, nor in great variety. You get most of it online for less, and sometimes had to or special order it bc it wasn't in stock. I had to order lots of things special as he didn't carry them. Even stuff such as paints. Sold shells, but barely any paints. Forget about airbrush paints. I had some airbrush paints ordered, but eventually just went to Micheal's instead to buy createx paints for way less.
Bought one set of tires there in 3 yrs as they were too much over tower. Rims were ok, but hard to find the right size/style. Wrong hex or offset.
If it as a revo, savage or tmaxx part, it was in stock. Other stuff, IDK, hit and miss.

Now I know you don't want to tie a bunch of money up inventory that doesn't sell, but to a certain point, if people are just going to expect you don't have the parts, they are not going to bother going. Esp when they will have to special order or buy online anyway. Basically that is what I did when I no longer had any TRX, losi or hpi veh. And might as well just buy the stuff he did carry I needed as I could just up the amt on Tower/Amain and use a bigger coupon and save shipping.... (Another hobby shop that closed last year was like that, "would you like to special order it?" "Uh, no. NM". They did have a popular 1/10 scale track on site as well. Not enough to save them.)

Lastly, customer service. As said he claimed he would use great CS service to make up for the higher prices to drive people to the store. Too bad his CS wasn't that great. Little stuff added up I think. He could be a real d1ck to kids coming in the store, and talked to them like they didn't know what they were doing, or they were just there to steal stuff, or both. Plus he had a bit of that NJ smartass attitude. Kids may not have a lot of money to spend, but they do have parents, and often get hooked and become future customers.
Personally, I bought my Sav XL there. Now I paid more there than I would have online (by a bit too,) but A.) was promised and expected some help w/ the nitro motor as it was my first time using one. B.) felt weird always coming in to look at them, not buying one, stop looking, then show up looking for parts one day lol. Plus thought I'd throw him a bone.
Ok, so I had a spare motor from another model I got on ebay and later sold off as a roller. Motor was fine and used it a bit, but I'm a nitro n00b and let it get hot a few times, 300F, so didn't feel right selling it. Better to keep practicing tuning on that motor and sell the K5.9 as new and bring down the total cost of the kit some. Ok.

Now I've been running the Sav w/ the motor for about a liter and its doing alright, but working it out still. Go to run it one day, and it will not start. 45min and nothing. I was so pissed I was ready to quit nitro for good. But, notwanting to give up so easy (and knowing it was something prolly simple) and went to the LHS to cash in my "one free tune w/ veh purchase."

So I go in, explain the situation. He's giving me some advice. Try buying a new glow plug and try to start it myself out back. Nothing. Go back in. He tells me, "yeah, I can have the repair guy/nitro guru look at it, it'll be $35. "
-"$35?! What about the one free tune? I just bought this 2 weeks ago."
"Well its not the stock motor. You put in a diff motor."
-"Dude, its a stock losi 427. You sell those things too. This isn't some exotic motor."
"Sorry there is nothing I can do. I would still have to pay the repair guy."

At this point now I'm really pissed. I've been a loyal customer for 3 yrs, (and he often reminds me of this) paid more than I need to for the truck to support the store, and the end of the day, it shouldn't matter if they are turning needles on a 5.9 or 427. Its all the same, and quite easy. (why he didn't offer to do it personally IDK.)

Fine then. Screw it, I'll figure it out myself. Took the truck home. Turned out to be the glow ignitor batt was low. Knew it was something dumb. That was in Sept, and I've barely bought anything from there since. Just a gallon of fuel, and one a-arm. Everything else online or the one other lhs (more fuel lol.)

So I guess the moral of this incredibly long story is that successful stores have to first have good prices and good inv, and secondly have good enough CS that you don't chase customers away. If that makes your margins tight, then wth do you want from me. I'm sure there is someone else out there who can do it cheaper and friendlier.

[ssspconcepts]

Right on target...successful LHS ingredients:

1. Fair prices
2. Inventory
3. Good CS
4. Activity base (i.e., indoor/outdoor race track)

Back when we lived in WV is when I built my first brushless monster truck. Nothing special...it was a FLM Maxx with a novak BL motor/ESC combo. Everything that I had built prior to that came from a kit and was pretty much easy to assemble. However, that FLM Maxx had some parts that required a little grinding/polishing to make eveything fit just right...and the drive train had to be strengthened to handle BL power. At that time, I was using 32P gears and had a RR steel sur with the stock junk traxxas pinion. That thing was eating those traxxas pinions left and right until I figured out the problem (steel and aluminum don't mesh well!). So I ordered a couple steel RR pinions online...and in the meantime I figured I'd drive up to a LHS that was about 35min away and buy a few more RR steel pinions so I'd be able to run my new BL monster truck over the weekend. Not only that, I was psyched to take my just finished Maxx up to this hobby shop that advertised a track, large inventory (to include RR gears), friendly service, etc. When I showed up with my truck and asked the owner if he had any RR 32p steel pinions, he indicated that they no longer carried them. BTW...he didn't know or understand what 32p meant. Well I hated to waste a trip...so I tried to strike up a conversation and see if there was anything else I needed or was interested in buying. Apparently this irritated the blob (and owner) behind the counter because he looked at me and said "whut do ya do with that pritty alum truck? Drive it around the living room?" Not the smartest thing to say to an adult customer that comes strolling into your establishment with a $2500 truck under his arm. With any amount of luck, that customer just might spend some serious loot if you are nice to him. I mean what a dumb ass...he had tons of 1/5 scale stuff (FG and MCD) and I was trying to talk to him about the pros/cons of those RCs versus the nitros. I was genuinely interested in buying one and I had brought proof into his store that I could indeed afford to buy one of his FG/MCDs! Freaky thing is that another customer in the store looked at me and looked at the owner behind the counter and said "I don't think he's interested in your FGs anymore..." LOL. I have had numerous similar experiences so I just stay away from the LHS scene unless I am in pinch for connectors, CA glue, diff fluid, etc. LHS CS awlays seems to be the same...some blob that knows it all or some kid that doesn't care and certainly isn't trying to figure it out.