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Ouch, That's sad that NorCal will be closing. Jelich turned it into a first class facility.

esaresky75 wrote:http://franciscanhobbies.comcastbiz.net/39239.html

Ah damn! I used to make the trip down to that shop from Pac Heights when I lived in SF because it was the best hobby shop in the city. There were a few others closer, but they weren't that great.
Sad to see that place shut down.

Yeah, Jelich is a great guy, me and him go way back. But he hasn't been involved there in a about a year now. He works for A-Main hobbies in chico now. -Jeff

I worked at a shop that did extensive train stock. You may never see people in the train section, however the crowd is mostly retired 60+ men. They are up at 5am everyday and mostly at the doors of the shop when they open. They spend a crap load of money on them. If anything, if that shop was a Lionel dealer, then I would put money that the train section was what was keeping it going towards the end as that has possibly the best profit margins in the industry. (Lionel dealers are direct to Lionel, not through Horizon or Great Planes. Pricing differences are substantial) I doubt parking slowed them down much also, especially if the wife had some shopping close by there to do. Not being a doubter in the theory, just I don't see that as a problem to a shop.

I can however see all the reasons the shop gave as a huge problem that hobby shops are going through. I was in the game just a couple weeks and knew that as a problem. Sponsoring people is a problem too. To me, a 50% driver is another term for selling dealer direct. They are making money on that, not losing or breaking even. Anyone telling me otherwise is a liar IMO!

Sorry for the rant, but I have huge sympathy towards the hobby shops that are trying to survive in an industry that seems intent on killing them.

Don't know if you all heard this one... But Competition Hobbies in Tucson just closed its doors also.

Orange wrote:Don't know if you all heard this one... But Competition Hobbies in Tucson just closed its doors also.

My main hobby is trains. Most of my hobby shop purchases were train related. It wasn't unusual for me to randomly drop $100+ on any given visit. I've got several engines over $400. RC is different though. I pretty much only buy tires locally. Everything else I order online with a few exceptions here and there of course. Everyone stocks Traxxas parts but I don't run Traxxas. If I need an item and the shop says they can order it, I can too and I can do it cheaper and delivered to my door. I definitely don't contribute to rc shops staying in business unless they carry trains. When Larry's Hobbies in Houston closed their train section down last July, it was obvious they were near the end. They didn't survive until the holidays on just rc.

Agreed, markup on rc is so little that you need the rest of the shop to offset its low profit. We always had to sell batteries and paint as well as some hopups or spares for each "combo" to try to make a little profit. Trains were very lightly discounted as well as the craft section and models. That's where the money was made.