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Here's a question I had on my mind, especially since many of us have been in the hobby a long time.

Who has worked in a hobby shop?

2 years at Aero Hobbies while in school
8 years at Tammies Hobbies

I left Tammies 10 years ago. Much has changed!

I still work for PM Hobbycraft http://www.pmhobbycraft.ca/store/ , 14 years! Pay is not great but it can be a rewarding job at times!

You take home a paycheck? I left most of mine at the store! That's a major reason I left

gomachv wrote:You take home a paycheck? I left most of mine at the store! That's a major reason I left

Yea part of my salary is in store credit!

That is definately a problem, cheaper prices and money to burn. Maybe you should get paid in food, PG&E credit and gasoline.

I worked for 2 years at a shop called the hobby hut, well over 20 years ago. That location is long gone, and have never heard of them again.

Getting interested in RC in the early 80's is what prompted me to work at a hobby store back in the day, but that was only for a couple years or so. Getting RC stuff at cost + 10% was awesome, though!

Yeeeep,started when i was 13,just to support the hobby, theb left right before college, miss those days, working for Parts you need...still want to work as a sideline, but wife does not want me spending more time on my hobby...

Worked at the local shop and track for minimum wage in high school. I made a lot more money building kits for customers though. $30-$50 depending on the difficulty. I figure I built 80% of the kits available from all manufacturers during that time. Torture to build all the ones you couldn't afford. It was definitely a labor of love when you'd spend an entire weekend building a Clodbuster for $50.

No and sadly, the local store to me just closed it's doors. If I had the time and $ I'd start one up It would give my retired father something to do and he's a great salesman I don't know, it's a tough biz.

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:Worked at the local shop and track for minimum wage in high school. I made a lot more money building kits for customers though. $30-$50 depending on the difficulty. I figure I built 80% of the kits available from all manufacturers during that time. Torture to build all the ones you couldn't afford. It was definitely a labor of love when you'd spend an entire weekend building a Clodbuster for $50.

Heh, that's exactly what we made for building an RC car for a customer. $50. I built a Boomerang, Porsche 959, Bigwig and some lesser cars (Tomcat, Hunter, Falcon, etc.) for some customers. Painted and everything. For me, that $50 seemed like a lot of money, but looking back, for the amount of hours invested, was it really worth it?

I made $40 and more if painted bitd but I'd do it for free now. I built a King hauler for $40, that was a lot of time but I loved building. I lost count of how many I built but I'd estimate champ/team rc10s and 10t's alone around 50.

I used to work in a skate/snow shop in the past. But it's not a hobby
It's way of life
Anyway, same problem as you, spending all m'y salary in the shop

I'm currently working for a HobbyShop (Though my boss/owner is an idiot IMO) and its been on-going for 4 years.

I like Jeff (Gomachv) can also say i worked for Tammies Hobbies, one of Oregon's oldest and privately owned Hobby Shops.


My experience has been mixed, at both stores, I LOVE the people and getting people excited about the hobby. I've gotten to know a number of people personally, some have become close friends. I've been asked if I would ever start my own, and most likely i would say YES, sadly i don't have the funding. UNFORTUNATELY, for me, i work 6 days a week, with NO benefits of any kind and no vacation, so I can't really take time off. In addition, I typically work the late shift and close, so it puts me out of racing too.

I'm looking for different options and I would love to own my shop, but knowing that its easy to get burnt out on hobbies.... I go back and forth to make it more of a career path.


MOmo