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Beaties Model Shop

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1 hour ago, jameswrx said:

I really miss going in to model shops.  Seem to be a thing of the past as far as living in Kent goes!

Yes James , it is a sign of the www. times . The high street in general is gradually declining into clothes and food shops it seems .

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1 hour ago, KEV THE REV said:

Yes James , it is a sign of the www. times . The high street in general is gradually declining into clothes and food shops it seems .

It’s all charity shops and pound shops round here :(

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It's a depressing thing at the moment after work driving past all these closed shop even on different shifts the shops wether they are open or closed they still have presence but at the moment they are dark and very sad so I'm hopeful or hoping that we never lose the high street! I know at the moment its taking an absolute hard bashing while the likes of Amazon are cashing in (and at the same time are being less that economical with their tax affairs and worker's terms and conditions but that's an argument for a different day!) The best times of my childhood was Saturday going to my local Beattie's in my nearest city (Newcastle at the time) and just in ore of how well stocked with every hobby from different types of slot cars to plastic model kits obviously the whole tamiya rc range, trains etc etc just everything! Young people of today probably have never experienced that type of magical store which in my opinion is very sad my almost LHS is trying to recreate that so I for one am keeping my spare cash to invest in returning to support him when he is allowed to re open (mind you I can't understand why he don't do local mail orders but that's another question for another day?)

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Didn't really use Beatties. I think I went into the Bullring one in Brum a couple of times. 

The Beatties I used to love was the department store in Wolverhampton. The toy department was always well stocked with Tamiya 1/32 Juniors and static models. I could spend ages in there. There was also the Jolly Giant toy store on Wolves ring road (think it's a chav sportswear store now). They always had loads of Juniors, think I picked up a Marui one. Always wanted a Ninja lol.

For RC I remember JS Racing in Wolverhampton. He showed me and my Dad a Boomerang...I really wanted one but ended up with a Grasshopper (still loved it though)

Bagnalls models in Stafford was another, got my Optima Mid from there. Still makes me sad walking down Salter Street and it just being estate agents. I think the Bagnalls shop turned into a ladies gym or something daft. You'd think I'd know since I still live in town lol.

Shrewsbury Model Centre was a great one. They had two stores in the same town which was just awesome. Seem to remember one was more static models and the other RC. Went to see if they were still there a couple of years back without really knowing much about the modern hobby. Sadly gone. At least there's some decent bike shops in Shrewsbury still :-P

The only shop I can think of that's still about is Penn Models as far as I know. Sad that all those others are gone but I guess that's 'progress' :-(

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I found this a few weeks ago when I got my Bear Hawk out of the loft after 25 years!

Still had a brand new set of tyres in it for the Hawk.

908E9FE2-A3D6-4EBD-AA16-5B89A913A569.jpeg

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blast from the past ....

Cardiff was my store ...we go into town with a group of us ..do the shops and allways the model shops ..beaties being the main one large two floors ..cars on demo crowds all around as you say someone was looking at a kit readyvto buy ..

Mt first kit was a Hornet .came with a 1200 battery andgot a free carry bag to put all in ..the black and yellow ones ..my mate had  grasshopper .soon upgraded as the hornet was faster ..Then sold it on to get a Monster Beetle when it first cameout ..then up grade again selling all the old ones to kids in school  ,as we would take them in the use on break times on tennis court or wet day in the gym ..you would just see a large group follow us around to watch us race up and down ..My mate went on to get a Clodbuster ..(selling fags to the kids to get money)..I still had the Hornet .one day he ran over the front of mine only to snap the shock arm ..So another excuss to go back on saturday and get parts ...but we found beaties did not help us out as much as parts .well had to order in ..so we had another shop BUD MORGANS ..small shop with SOOO much stuff on shelves and in boxes of kits ..spares and parts ...It was here we had our eyes open to what we could really do with the cars .etc..

Sad times ..never notice the shops stop selling and i left RC  for a long time ...

I even recall Argos selling Tamiya..only two kits i recall ...Hornet ..and the Lunch box ...even they stopped doingvthe build kits and only do the ready yo go models now ...

 

Good old day's....

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Beatties Glasgow for me, I even had the holdall that I got when I bought my monster beetle back in the 80s. Had it until recently when some theiving junkie broke into my house and used it to carry his swag off into the night. With some old copies of RC car still inside, and some spare beetle parts too. 😤

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Beatties in Staines. My parents got me a Sand Rover for Christmas 1983. Which I loved and is the car I bought on eBay 5 years ago to return to the hobby.

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This is a shameless bump but does anyone have any pictures of Beatties in Merry Hill Centre? Google cant help me. Just for nostalgia purposes

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On 11/13/2023 at 9:26 PM, Kpowell911 said:

This is a shameless bump but does anyone have any pictures of Beatties in Merry Hill Centre? Google cant help me. Just for nostalgia purposes

Haven't got any pics but I do remember going in there as a kid and looking at the built Tamiyas at the back of the store... great days.

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I got my second and third cars from Beatties in High Holborn WC1. That would be my Lancia Rally and my Falcon. The place was huge and always busy but the rent was ridiculous and I doubt the place ever broke even let alone made a profit. Not only was it full of stock it was full of knowledge in all things modelling. I still have my Beatties holdalls and I'm kind of happy that I went there before the changes happened in the world.

It isn't just the hobby shops I miss. Over the years I have watched Central London change into a shadow of what it once was. Now it's expensive coffee shops/Cafes, offices and high rise housing. The wastelands we used to play on as kids have gone, the specialist shops have gone, everything that gave character has gone in exchange for an influx of homogeneous housing and businesses that give nothing back to the society around it except for overpriced bad food and drinks. I'm guessing the rest of the UK is heading the same way.

In my experience it isn't the WWW causing the die off of all these shops, it's the high rents and gentrification. If I had a shop I could get to within 30 minutes and get or order parts I would use it. My other half lives in South Wales where an industrial unit that'll hold 8 cars will cost £450+vat+rates a month. Same unit in Central London you are looking at upwards of £60-80k+vat+rates a year except you won't find one because they have virtually all had their planning use changed so they can be used for coffee shops and the land lords have added 25-50% to the price. For that tenfold increase in rent you won't see a tenfold increase in business.

Sorry to be serious but...

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It was Beaties in the Grosvenor Centre for me. I loved staring at all the kits I couldn't afford at the time which were Blackfoot and Monster Beetle for me.
Finally I could afford a Tamtech Lancia LC2 for me and the Ford Probe GTP for my brother. 
We zipped around in them for a while but when I couldn't race it at the local school on Friday nights (There was no class for a 1/24 model!) I sold them and bought a Kyosho Turbo Optima. 
After that the rest is history.

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