Past hobby shops remembered

[OCD 514]

9 hours ago, Hibernaculum said:

Brief note... some years ago I traveled in the UK, and the USA, and elsewhere. And on my journeys, I visited many hobby shops. But there were two which I saw, but did not have the actual time to visit. One was in Cambridge, UK. The other was in Oakland, USA.

The latter seemed much bigger.

I suspect neither of them exist anymore. Does anyone know if a) they still exist, and b) if they used to be any good? Basically I have always wondered if I missed out on something great, by not stopping by either of those. Both probably had a boxload of original Audi Quattro front bumpers and Willy tyres sitting on the counter.

I've lived in Oakland for 20 years, and cannot recall there ever being a hobby shop here in any form. I am curious though. How long ago was this?

We had some decent shops in the area up until the mid-aughts, but most the the good stuff started drying up once the recession hit. My last "localish" shop I could buy Tamiya paint from, just closed their doors this Winter: https://www.eastbayexpress.com/CultureSpyBlog/archives/2018/01/24/boss-robot-hobby-in-elmwood-closes-after-15-years-in-business

It was far from an ideal LHS, but was close enough to home that I would try to stop in at least a few times a year. The shop owner, Johnny, is a true hobby junky and japanofile, and was dedicated to keeping the shop friendly to all ages and interests. Clearly a labor of love and I suspect that he kept the place going long after it ceased to be profitable. RIP Boss Robot!

[Hibernaculum 933]

1 hour ago, berman said:

Hobby City

Sydney had a Hobby City store in the 1980s as well. Could this be related to the one in New Zealand?

Of course, I even have some ads from it... e.g. These are from 1986 and 1987...

 

[Hibernaculum 933]

22 minutes ago, OCD said:

I've lived in Oakland for 20 years, and cannot recall there ever being a hobby shop here in any form. I am curious though. How long ago was this?

It's entirely possible I am remembering the name of the town wrong...

Oakland, Oakdale... hmmm

Put it this way, I was traveling from San Francisco, to Yosemite National Park. I didn't have time to stop, but saw a large hobby shop in a town I was passing through. It looked old-ish, with a wide-ish shop front. This was in 2007. I actually looked it up once on Google Streetview and found it, but alas my brain seems to have the town's name wrong at the moment.

A quick check of google maps again has helped...

Ah, there's an Oakdale!  Ah the wonders of the internet these days...

This was it.  Just wondering if it was any good. Probably not

[OCD 514]

3 hours ago, Hibernaculum said:

It's entirely possible I am remembering the name of the town wrong...

Oakland, Oakdale... hmmm

Put it this way, I was traveling from San Francisco, to Yosemite National Park. I didn't have time to stop, but saw a large hobby shop in a town I was passing through. It looked old-ish, with a wide-ish shop front. This was in 2007. I actually looked it up once on Google Streetview and found it, but alas my brain seems to have the town's name wrong at the moment.

A quick check of google maps again has helped...

Ah, there's an Oakdale!  Ah the wonders of the internet these days...

This was it.  Just wondering if it was any good. Probably not

Huh, well how about that? They're still operating although their Yelp reviews seem less-than-favorable. It reminds me of a lot of other shops I've visited that were nearing the end of profitable existence: Lots of dead stock and an owner that gave up the dream years ago. Makes me happy to see RC getting a whole section amongst the yarn and puffy paints, even if it's just the standard Traxxas greatest hits.

[berman 5315]

4 hours ago, Hibernaculum said:

Sydney had a Hobby City store in the 1980s as well. Could this be related to the one in New Zealand?

Of course, I even have some ads from it... e.g. These are from 1986 and 1987...

 

I cannot confirm this, but it wouldnt suprise me!

[OCD 514]

Just saw this on YouTube yesterday:

 

Presented as more of a tour around some Helsinki hobby shops, but seems to answer his own question early in the segment.

Why are model hobbies on the decline?

He speculates that it might be the internet, or a general lack of interest in "physical" things, maybe kids are lazy, or maybe just not interested in creating things from scratch. All of the typical arguments that have probably been made since the beginning of time. Seems like adults have always been suspect of the next generation's ambitions

However, he did make one statement that resonated with me -- his recollection of receiving exactly enough cash from his parents to be able to buy a new kit every week. That's 52 kits. Every. Year.

52 kits that require: paint, glue, consumable tools, and more. I'm guessing he saw the inside of that hobby shop a lot. This was the kind of commerce that kept shops in profitable existence. While I'm sure the internet had a real impact on this traditional outlet, I think the biggest change is actually people's spending habits. Most of my friends' children received electronic devices by the time they were in their teens, which seems to have supplanted the traditional "cash allowance" kids used to typically get on a weekly basis. No longer is there the fistful of bills that could be spent exactly as the lucky child desired.

Now days? Monthly phone bills. Bank/credit card balances from all of those online purchases. The extraordinary costs of food, fuel, and shelter. Wages that haven't scaled with inflation. Where on earth does extra money for "hobbies" come from?

Sadly the answer is increasingly becoming obvious that having a hobby is a luxury, and privilege for those than can afford it. In my opinion, kids aren't actively avoiding hobby shops, they're being lead away by the modern economy. 

 

[Parkesy 103]

In Melbourne, Australia there was a great store in the CBD but I can’t remember it’s name and it closed a while back. In the late 80’s early 90’s it was packed full of Tamiya kits. Not sure what it specialized in but there were so many kits up on the shelves and plenty of spares and radio gear and if you went there on a weekend it was pumping! I was about 7 or 8 the first time I went there and remember the day really well. The whole family went in and picked up a new TV at the Myers department store, then Dad suggested we call past this store and him and I went in and walked out with a Fox and all the accessories to go with. Was a great memory! On school holidays I’d sometimes go in to work with Dad who worked nearby and at lunch break we’d wander down for another browse and pick up spares or new tyres. 

Now there’s only Hearns Hobbies in the city and I would say that RC cars and especially Tamiya probably aren’t their main products, mainly trains and drones. But there is still a few they carry, and bought a couple of kits online from them, and was in there a month back and got a Frog. Prices were great. Dad sometimes goes in for a look and the owner told him they’re going to close at some point soon so that’ll be both city hobby shops gone from Melbourne! Still quite a few in the suburbs, some better than others, but for Tamiya kits I’ve really gotta go online. The other shops I’ve been in, they all wanna tell you how Tamiya are rubbish and only good for the shelf, and how I should be buying a such and such....🙄

[Hibernaculum 933]

9 hours ago, OCD said:

Sadly the answer is increasingly becoming obvious that having a hobby is a luxury, and privilege for those than can afford it. In my opinion, kids aren't actively avoiding hobby shops, they're being lead away by the modern economy. 

Breaking it down...

Cost

You do have a point here OCD. When you consider say, that almost every 14yo kid has an iPhone (or similar). And these have monthly fees and payment plans. It's quite a burden. Yet this is seen as "essential" for today's teens. When we were kids, we weren't locked into costs like that. I used to save my pennies doing chores, or selling things at markets. Every dollar was saved toward buying things I actually wanted.

I also despise the new trend toward subscriptions for everything - TV, Movies, Music, data storage, antivirus, MS Office, etc. Of course they want us to rent everything - long term, companies make more money this way! Yet people think it's better value? I prefer to own what I like. That includes CDs/Vinyl/DVDs/Blu-rays, software, mobile phone, etc. I'm no luddite - I've tried just about every subscription service out there including Netflix. But I refuse to drip-drip-drip money to them for the rest of my life. 10yrs worth of Netflix fees = a $1200 new in box vintage Tamiya kit of some kind. Which of these options has the better long term value?

Distraction

I do think that cost + distraction go hand in hand. The very things kids spend more money on these days - smart devices - are the ones causing endless distraction. Many kids just sit playing with iPads all day. I visited a friend's place recently and stayed for 5 hours. His 9 year old son played sat on a sofa, on an iPad, the entire time I was there.

And look around us everywhere - people have become smartphone zombies. On trains, at bus stops, in doctors waiting rooms, in the street, in the lift, at home, even when driving. This video says it all.

Growing Up

I also think that kids are growing up faster and faster. Between the age where a child might have some pocket money, and the age where they are expected to be on "social media" ... what time is there left in which to both be a kid old enough to have pocket money (say 9 or 10 years old) AND not be feeling peer pressure to live or game your life away - online? (13-14 years+).

I don't have kids myself - by choice. And one small part of my thinking over the years, was always "I would hate to be a kid today"  

56 minutes ago, Parkesy said:

Now there’s only Hearns Hobbies in the city and I would say that RC cars and especially Tamiya probably aren’t their main products, mainly trains and drones. But there is still a few they carry, and bought a couple of kits online from them, and was in there a month back and got a Frog. Prices were great. Dad sometimes goes in for a look and the owner told him they’re going to close at some point soon so that’ll be both city hobby shops gone from Melbourne!

Oh man... seriously? That's a shame.

To my knowledge, Hearns is one of the oldest remaining Hobby Shops in Australia. They were there in the 80s. Their current location - right in the CBD of Melbourne and situated sort of underneath Melbourne's Flinder's St railway station - is itself a relic of the past. From an era when such independent toy or hobby stores could often survive in these kinds of central city locations. Picture the working father catching the train there, and stopping by the big hobby store on his way home to buy a present for the son...

I last visited Hearns Hobbies about 18mths ago. While I was there, I chatted to the staff a bit, asked whether they did much Tamiya or Kyosho etc. Pretty sure they had a couple of reissue kits. They had one reissue Kyosho Beetle - just one. They said they'd had it for months. And by some fluke, while I was there, it sold to a customer. I always liked the store for its location - a few steps down from the street, within the historic facade of the station building...  even though they didn't have any old vintage parts stock left of course. It would have been magical to go there in the 1980s.

The current Google Maps view (dated Dec 2017) shows tons of scaffolding over the Flinders St Station right over the shop - and I am not sure how any business could survive this... least of all a hobby shop paying (probably) massive rent, in the increasingly overpopulated and overpriced cities of Australia.

H.

[ncpantherfan71 133]

When I was a teen in the 80s I out in the "country".  Tower was my local hobby shop. I ordered my stuff COD, charge on delivery.  I remember working all summer to get enough for a hornet kit, battery, and charger.   I didn't have enough for a transmitter at that time and my brother let me use one of his extra units. 

Fast forward 35 or so years,  I'm retired from the US military and working in one of the last remaining family owned shops in the state, Hayes Hobby House, store has been in the same location for 50 years this year. Mr.  Hayes is the train expert, Ms. Hayes helps him with the trains, his son Allan is the rc aircraft and car expert.

Talking with them about the old days is a lot of fun.

Now it's all Traxxas,  a couple ECX,  and an Axial kit or two.  We can't seem to give away a lot most of the time. 

If you would like I can take a picture of his HO train layout.   It took him about 5 years to finish. 

[Parkesy 103]

Yes unfortunately that’s exactly how it looks at the moment. It may have come down but was still there when I was there about 6 weeks back. It doesn’t look very inviting but there’s still a clear walkway under the scaffolding. What was putting people off for a while was all the junkies and bums that set up their homeless shelters all along that strip. It was a disgrace, they stayed there for months and months and harassed everyone walking by for money or cigarettes and would abuse those who declined. 

[Hibernaculum 933]

@ncpantherfan71 - photos always welcome.

Yeah Parkesy, that's awful. And I bet there will be articles in Melbourne's media when the time comes, that go "HISTORIC HOBBY SHOP CLOSES AFTER 60 YEARS *SADFACE* ". Yet how can anyone expect a business to survive, surrounded by public works and junkies.

(This isn't the first time I have known a hobby shop to close, due (at least in part) to the degradation of society in general. As mentioned previously in this thread, Yennora Hobbies in Sydney closed due to being ransacked multiple times - including a ram-raid where thieves drove a car into the shopfront, almost killing themselves when the building partially collapsed onto the car.)

Some Hearn's history...

Hearn's Hobbies in 1950...

And 1959...

[Hibernaculum 933]

UPDATE

Just gave Hearns a call on the phone. According to them, they are NOT closing, and have no plans to do so   So, maybe its all a mixup.

Doesn't matter - good news is all that matters.

[Parkesy 103]

48 minutes ago, Hibernaculum said:

UPDATE

Just gave Hearns a call on the phone. According to them, they are NOT closing, and have no plans to do so   So, maybe its all a mixup.

Doesn't matter - good news is all that matters.

That’s great news! Could have been a new owner come along, or maybe it was while all the junkies were camped out they thought about it. I hope they get some more Tamiya kits in as their prices are really good, and if I order online I get it delivered the next morning. 👌🏼

[Parkesy 103]

Oh and interesting to see they originally had 3 shops! 

[berman 5315]

It is ironic you guys mention the junkies asking for money/cigarettes...

I just came back from my LHS and there is a notice on all the shop windows not to supply the people outside the shops with anything.

My work colleague lives in this area behind one of the main street shops and has had degenerates loitering by his house and they all dress like hobos and sit outside shops with signs asking for money etc. When it first started my work mate bought one a pie and coke and he threw them asking if he could have the money instead, then started abusing him. There was a big write up in the paper about it. Cheeky little so and so's!

Never mind paper rounds or mowing lawns to get a buck like we did, just verbally abuse local strangers instead! 🤤

[Parkesy 103]

1 hour ago, berman said:

It is ironic you guys mention the junkies asking for money/cigarettes...

I just came back from my LHS and there is a notice on all the shop windows not to supply the people outside the shops with anything.

My work colleague lives in this area behind one of the main street shops and has had degenerates loitering by his house and they all dress like hobos and sit outside shops with signs asking for money etc. When it first started my work mate bought one a pie and coke and he threw them asking if he could have the money instead, then started abusing him. There was a big write up in the paper about it. Cheeky little so and so's!

Never mind paper rounds or mowing lawns to get a buck like we did, just verbally abuse local strangers instead! 🤤

The worst part about the Melbourne situation is they can actually access crisis accommodation, get hot meals and a shower. But of course this would mean no drugs, and no chance to beg for money. Not sure what’s happened to them now, maybe they’ve moved in to a park or other streets, but it was a real schit stain having it all right in the heart of Melbourne and in a popular tourist area. 😔 

[ncpantherfan71 133]

As promised, here are the pictures of Mr. Hayes train layout.

 

 

[ncpantherfan71 133]

I know many of you guys don't like Traxxas, but attached is a picture of us with the 50 year plaque they sent the shop.

 

[73robb 132]

For me it was Beatties in Romford, Essex, watching all the videos and  staring at the cabinet at the built models. My first cars (hornet & Blackfoot came from here).

once I started racing at my local club I started visiting Radio Active in Upminster & Chelmsford, mainly as they had a much wider range of hops up & advice on the cars. These were traditional hobby shops full of cars, planes & boats with a separate section for all the cars (Tamiya, kyosho, Schumacher, etc).

loved just being in these shops browsing odds & ends, but there aren’t really like this in Essex or east London now, so my shopping gets done on eBay. No where near as much fun though

[StrokerBoy 772]

On 6/15/2018 at 4:37 PM, OCD said:

However, he did make one statement that resonated with me -- his recollection of receiving exactly enough cash from his parents to be able to buy a new kit every week. That's 52 kits. Every. Year.

52 kits that require: paint, glue, consumable tools, and more. I'm guessing he saw the inside of that hobby shop a lot. This was the kind of commerce that kept shops in profitable existence. While I'm sure the internet had a real impact on this traditional outlet, I think the biggest change is actually people's spending habits. Most of my friends' children received electronic devices by the time they were in their teens, which seems to have supplanted the traditional "cash allowance" kids used to typically get on a weekly basis. No longer is there the fistful of bills that could be spent exactly as the lucky child desired.

Blimey.

I was lucky enough to get a model kit (or the money to buy my own) at christmas, my birthday and maybe once or twice more a year if I was lucky.  And I considered myself lucky too.  We're talking a small Matchbox or Airfix aircraft kit by the way, I was allowed to look at the massive Tamiya boxes in the toy shop on a Saturday but I had as much chance of owning one as I did of living on the moon.  I never felt in any way deprived, but it certainly wasn't me keeping these businesses going.

[madmickmalone 77]

The good old days, I remember a couple of shops in Melbourne , ABC hobbies in footscray and coburg and orchard hobbies in niddre, couldn't get enough of it.

[SNAKEBITE 40]

My shop was Beatties in Brighton, by Churchill Square.

Used to bash the car up during the week in the school holidays, then go and get new parts at the weekend!

Plenty of hop up parts and stuff for the wish lists.

In latter years there is the Model Centre on the A24 in Worthing, still going strong luckily and plenty of choice!!

[pininfarina 1009]

For my favourite Hobby Shops luckily are still around. Winnie's Hobby Shop at Orchard Plaza and Stargek :-)

 

 

[madmickmalone 77]

3 hours ago, pininfarina said:

For my favourite Hobby Shops luckily are still around. Winnie's Hobby Shop at Orchard Plaza and Stargek :-)

 

 

I was just at Stagek last week, pick up a Novafox for $120 AUD/SGD , I frequent SIN very often, is Winnie's well stocked and could you recommend anywhere else in Singapore?