Feel Its Your Duty To Pay More At Your Lhs?

[richard.tufty]

I am happy to use my LHS for a lot of things. I bought a Frog kit yesterday from Hobby People for $135, which when you figure in postage is about the same (to within $5) as ordering from Tower, who don't have it in stock anyway. I'll buy paint and touring car bodies from them too.

We have Hobbytown USA and Hobby People nearby. Neither stocks much Tamiya stuff (the Frog, Lunchbox and Grasshopper are about all, and only at Hobby People) so spare parts have to come from online. I asked at the Hobbytown about stocking Tamiya stuff last week and the lad behind the counter said they would order in bits as requested, but won't hold stock because there's not a high enough demand.

I think the main problem is people (and by people I mean the youth of today!) are now more lazy than we were 20 years ago and don't want to build kits, they'd rather buy a Traxxas that comes prebuilt and run it as soon as they have charged the battery. Me, I like the building, especially since you then know what goes where so you have a good understanding of what might be wrong if it's not running properly.

[HereBeMonsters]

Just been to my local hobby store, and they have the re-re Lunch Box kit in stock at 65. Cheaper than most online places!

Reserved it until payday...

[akemag]

Wow, looked for some Tamiya TS paint for my soon to be Pajero! 2 cans would set me back 50$!!!! I dont find that very cheap at all. Its from the same place as the Subaru i told you about.

Now im gonna look for some Humbrol spray paints from a local Toystore. Theyre 3 or 4$ a piece. Ok, the Tamiya TS paints are VERY good, but sometimes to much is just to much.

[yellow-dragon-70]

Wow, looked for some Tamiya TS paint for my soon to be Pajero! 2 cans would set me back 50$!!!! I dont find that very cheap at all. Its from the same place as the Subaru i told you about.

Now im gonna look for some Humbrol spray paints from a local Toystore. Theyre 3 or 4$ a piece. Ok, the Tamiya TS paints are VERY good, but sometimes to much is just to much.

I know I just slagged off my lhs, but Ive just found said lhs (Howes in Kidlington) selling acoms recievers for 12 each, not too bad I reckon, Im still going to hate going in there though

[Biggins]

I have normally been supportive of any local shop, use it or lose type of thing. Not anymore. Paid 240 for an esavage from one of my local shops. Online at the time was 225 delivered. No problem I thought, if I want the local place to be there when I need spares I should support them. Broke a part, went to local shop "sorry, we don't stock spares for that model, we can order it for you, it'll be about a week". Ordered it online, arrived in a couple of days and cheaper than the local shop. It seems if I want ready supply of spares I should have bought the model on line in the first place.

I'm not going to get started on the friendlyness of the staff!!

[richard.tufty]

I know I just slagged off my lhs, but Ive just found said lhs (Howes in Kidlington) selling acoms recievers for 12 each, not too bad I reckon, Im still going to hate going in there though

I used to go to Howes all the when they were in Oxford, just round the corner form Blackwells. Have they moved now? I've been away from Oxford for many years and live in the US now. I always found them really helpful and friendly, I bought many cars form them over the years, they used to have a great 2nd hand selection too, I got a used Kyosho Big Brute from them, only to find when I took it to my mate's house that his brother had sold it to Howes! That's 20 years ago now though...

[yellow-dragon-70]

After all the bad things I have said about my local shop, I feel I have to do some back pedeling.

I popped in yesterday to have a look about on my way back from somewhere else.

I came out with 2x Acoms recievers for 20

4x Acoms AS17 servo's for 9.99

and 2x Mtronix 3700 stick packs for 30

I like to try and wind them up sometime too, so I said I could get the Lunchbox for 65 delivered, (thinking they wouldn't believe me) and they said "sure we'll match it" and any other price I see for any other models, wow.

They dont keep many Tamiya spares in granted, but the internet is there for that.

I take most of what said back,

[Wrc action]

well thats good to hear some compedative prices coming there, I do think that model shops are beginning to listen and often to sell on ebay themselves as thus opening up a larger market themselves letting them lower prices as there sales are increasing proportionately.

Tho I do find some model shops still fail to realise about scale running and insist that something be as fast as possible or have these tyres even tho they are nothing like the real life model that you are trying to replicate.

Regards

Ryck

[terry.sc]

Tho I do find some model shops still fail to realise about scale running and insist that something be as fast as possible or have these tyres even tho they are nothing like the real life model that you are trying to replicate.

Maybe this has something to do with you being the only person they ever have in the shop who has any interest in scale r/c.? No point them buying in a wall full of scale tyres if you are the only person who will be buying them.

Shops don't decide what the r/c market is, the customers do. There is only one reason the shops are all full of RTR nitro trucks, because that is what sells and what keeps them in business. If they didn't cater for what almost all their customers want then they go out of business quickly. Scale4x4rc.org has all of 3000 members worldwide, compare that with 30,000 racers in just the UK which again is just a small niche market compared with the 300,000+ bashers. If you were a shop owner who would you cater for?

No shop in the UK has any Pro10 stuff, which I race regularly and is an even smaller section than scale r/c. Yet I can order any part I need from my ever helpful LHS if they can get hold of it. Remember a lot of this is down to the distributors not the shops themselves. I ordered a replacement axle for one of my cars, and I knew they should be available in the UK. After 3 months of the shop actively chasing up the axle for me (added it to every weekly order, rung them up when it didn't arrive - they don't just order the part and wait until it turns up) I ended up contacting the distributor who pointed out they didn't have any axles with the part number I had given. The manufacturer had changed the part number, yet the packing staff hadn't thought to send the new part instead. I ordered again with the new part number and it arrived 4 days later. How many people would just be complaining about shoddy service from their LHS instead of finding out what's wrong?

Another example. One of my LHS got a good deal on a bulk order of Xray tourers a while ago, so sold them on discounted the same amount. When the distributor changed they were told they had to put the price back up otherwise they would not be supplied with any more kits. Yet we will all complain about the prices at our LHS.

I have good relations with them just by stopping by for a chat when they are quiet so they get to know you. They have my phone number so if anyone brings in an old car they pass my details on to them. Because they know me I get a 10% discount off everything in one shop while the other will go out of their way to order stuff for me and allows me to go through their vintage spares in the back if I want anything. I don't have anything bad to say about my LHS apart froma shame they are both closing due to lack of sales.