Jump to content

Now this is a hobby shop.


maddmaxx

Recommended Posts

This is where I worked part time after I retired.  This is a sampling of the pics from inside.  There should be more of the RC department and the Train store upstairs.  That HO scale layout is one of the largest in the country and is open to the public on alternate Sundays.  It belongs to a club that has some space upstairs next to the train department.  They are nice folks there and they still keep my on the employee roll in case they need emergency fill ins.

If you're ever in the region around central CT it's worth the trip.  If you're a train nut or have kids and grandkids who are train nuts it's worth finding out which Sunday they are open and bringing the family.

Click on the google link and then click on the pictures in the block to the right.

https://www.google.com/search?q=time+machine+hobbies&rlz=1CAMWDF_enUS803&oq=time+machine+hobbies&aqs=chrome..69i57.5465j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Dad has been there.  Made special trips to there actually, more than once.  Being an East Coaster it was not a super long way away.  He was a model railroader for 40 years, only selling all his stuff when they moved into an apartment.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have some very similar with Colonial Photo and Hobby. It is set in a 1950's grocery store with the vintage glass bricks (Publix). They use to have a train that circulated overhead but removed with a remodel. While the train section is extensive along the opposite wall from cameras, they never had the expansive floor display. Rather, stocked it with supplies to build the train layout, model cars and rockets. On the camera side, can still get darkroom enlargers, chemicals, paper and film (some refrigerated) in addition to modern cameras, including carrying the Leica line. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAMWDF_enUS803&ei=icM1XeTcF_CmggeX9bqoAg&q=orlando+photo+and+hobby&oq=orlando+photo+and+hobby&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0.3922.16948..18056...0.0..2.220.3699.32j8j2......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i71j0i22i30j0i67j0i3j0i131j0i22i10i30.x7-LnuHfDCc&ved=0ahUKEwikxZz32cjjAhVwk-AKHZe6DiUQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Square Wheels said:

Looks awesome, sadly they too will close one day.  The wonders of the modern world.

Conceptually, there has to be an unforeseen backlash to the shift to purely on-line sales.  Commercial property will likely see a huge "correction" in rent/leasing prices, so perhaps it is an opportunity for bricks-and-mortar to be a complement to the on-line stuff. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the memories: we had shops like that when I was a kid.  If you had a project and needed balsa wood, glue, etc. - that's where you'd go to get it.

Unfortunately they are gone along with the ma-pa electronic shops where you could buy crystal radio kits, printed circuit board blanks and kits, power supply kits, various cheap resistors, capacitors, etc. and, later on, chips to make timers, etc.  No wonder there are so few kids today skilled at working with their hands and thrilled about engineering or electronics.

An article today at Yahoo Finance says a lack of skilled workers will cost the U.S. economy $1.2 trillion in the next decade: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/skills-gap-will-cost-us-economy-12-trillion-over-the-next-decade-122128830.html

When I was in high school, some of us would go to the county dump and pick-apart the remains of old TV's, radios, their vacuum tubes, etc., go home, and within a week were talking by shortwave with people around the world.  Are there ANY teenagers outside of China, Germany, Poland, Russia, Japan, etc. who can do that now?

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

We have some very similar with Colonial Photo and Hobby. It is set in a 1950's grocery store with the vintage glass bricks (Publix). They use to have a train that circulated overhead but removed with a remodel. While the train section is extensive along the opposite wall from cameras, they never had the expansive floor display. Rather, stocked it with supplies to build the train layout, model cars and rockets. On the camera side, can still get darkroom enlargers, chemicals, paper and film (some refrigerated) in addition to modern cameras, including carrying the Leica line. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAMWDF_enUS803&ei=icM1XeTcF_CmggeX9bqoAg&q=orlando+photo+and+hobby&oq=orlando+photo+and+hobby&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0.3922.16948..18056...0.0..2.220.3699.32j8j2......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i71j0i22i30j0i67j0i3j0i131j0i22i10i30.x7-LnuHfDCc&ved=0ahUKEwikxZz32cjjAhVwk-AKHZe6DiUQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

 

 

I know the place.  I went there often while I was on my contract job in Orlando.  I once stopped on my way to the airport to purchase an RC car control system.  To make it smaller I left the box in the store and put the controller into my carry on bag/briefcase.  When I hit the x-ray machine at the airport that bag and my cue stick case caused everything to stop.  After seeing what the stuff was the supervisor asked if I had a couple of minutes for him to show his staff so they would know what they were looking at in the future.  I was early so we put the stuff on a table while everyone came over to compare the pics to the real thing.  Word must have gotten out because when I finally boarded my plane some smart ass flight attendant guy said "Oh, you must have been the guy who tried to bring heavy sticks onto a plane" and asked if he could stash my cue stick case in the overhead.

Between Colonial Photo and Hobby and the RC shop in Casselberry I managed to stay busy for the year I was there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wish I had known about this when we were in CT several years ago. 

Met had a little hobby shop here when I was a kid. Dad only took us there a couple times before it closed. It was small, but a wonderland for me! It’s a tattoo parlor now. I was into model cars and a pharmacy had a small section of models. He never threw out anything! There were even Revell Parts Packs from when I was a toddler. I bought a few. They would be worth a lot now. 

We didn’t get another full hobby store until I was driving age. It was the first place I remember seeing RC cars. I was still into model cars at the time. One manager left and the next drove it into the ground. 

We next got a Hobby Town franchise. They ran RC races and I got into that heavily for several years. A sudden career change ended that. By the time I had the time and funds again, tech had changed drastically and I would have had to start all over. Just didn’t want to to that. I still like to walk in and see what’s new. 

There are a couple clients with amazing railroad layouts in their homes. It’s always good for an extra 30 minutes seeing what they added since last time. 

I agree we may see a resurgence of brick and mortar. People are sharing online experiences where what they got looked far different than advertised. They may want to start touching and feeling before buying again. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kzoo said:

Can you get me some Estes engines for when the grandson comes over next time?  I promised we would shoot the rocket.

 

Walk Drive over to a Michaels.  There are a lot of those still around.

Edited by Razors Edge
WTF was I thinking?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Walk Drive over to a Michaels.  There are a lot of those still around.

My local Michaels don't seem to sell rockets anymore.  First the hobby business is crashing as the young simply don't do that.  Second there may be some liability that some retail outlets just don't want to take with regard to rockets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, maddmaxx said:

My local Michaels don't seem to sell rockets anymore.  First the hobby business is crashing as the young simply don't do that.  Second there may be some liability that some retail outlets just don't want to take with regard to rockets. 

I was in there yesterday looking for some model paint, and saw they still had rockets and engines (and balsa wood sheets).  Actually had rockets in two places. Each store probably runs numbers and sees what sells for their specific store, and slowly stops carrying the stuff that doesn't sell.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

I was in there yesterday looking for some model paint, and saw they still had rockets and engines (and balsa wood sheets).  Actually had rockets in two places. Each store probably runs numbers and sees what sells for their specific store, and slowly stops carrying the stuff that doesn't sell.

That's great then because so many hobby shops are gone that they are becoming rare.  IMO it's too bad that kids would rather hang on their phones than use their hands.  Skills lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

That's great then because so many hobby shops are gone that they are becoming rare.  IMO it's too bad that kids would rather hang on their phones than use their hands.  Skills lost.

I have a bunch of nieces and nephews.  To about half, a gift card to a Michaels or a craft/hobby store would be LOVED.  To a few, a giftcard to a toy store (for plastic shit or videogames) would be the most well received.

So, I don't think all or even most kids are lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I have a bunch of nieces and nephews.  To about half, a gift card to a Michaels or a craft/hobby store would be LOVED.  To a few, a giftcard to a toy store (for plastic shit or videogames) would be the most well received.

So, I don't think all or even most kids are lost.

My 3 oldest grand kids 14 to 8 love gift cards in this order - Michaels, Barnes and Noble, don't bother.  They love to do crafts and art and are very good at all that hands on stuff.  Grandson loves to built so kits and legos of any kind.  He likes electrical gadgets and robots.  They love their tablets but the parent limit them a lot.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

My 3 oldest grand kids 14 to 8 love gift cards in this order - Michaels, Barnes and Noble, don't bother.  They love to do crafts and art and are very good at all that hands on stuff.  Grandson loves to built so kits and legos of any kind.  He likes electrical gadgets and robots.  They love their tablets but the parent limit them a lot. 

Yep - that describes a few of my nieces.  I generally get them a game -card game, puzzle game, or family game as a gift.  But, their equally happy with a chance to get a book or puzzle or craft stuff or outdoor things.  Since they live the closest, they are the ones I see the most.  I generally keep a bunch of outdoor sporting equipment in the trunk of my car, so if the weather is nice, we can have a cornhole or a bocce tournament.  Or maybe throw a frisbee, the Nerf football, or whack some practice softballs.  If not, it is likely we'll be playing Resistance inside or maybe Apples-to-Apples or Sushi-Go or some other game. At our place, we tend to swim, go for a bike ride, or catch up on TV shows we all enjoy (like ANW or Nature or another PBS animal show).

They, like all tweens/teens, love their phones, but those never come out when we're around (except to take pictures).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having worked in a hobby shoppe I can tell you that it's not as popular as it used to be.  The train club that runs the layout up above is dying.......literally dying of old age because there are no incoming young members..........oh sure, when grandma comes and buys some Lionel trains for christmas they get played with for a few days and then put away.  The kids just don't get into building the buildings and the scenery.  When they do they want the pre assembled pre painted stuff.  Hands on customers are older.  Middle aged RC flyers don't build kits anymore.  They buy pre assembled foam airplanes, charge them up and go crash.  The store runs free classes for kids in model building with a bunch of free stuff to work with.  Numbers are always weak.  The youngest crowd in the hobby, not toy, part of the store are the gamers and some of them are accomplished figure painters.  But you would consider most of them nerds and weird kids.  They arrive in costume sometimes.

One place that is always good for hobby shops is any area around a military base.  There be young men with money and time.  RC cars have come and gone again.  I suspect that they became too good and thus too expensive.  We had a huge racing club in the area when you could buy a full on kit to race competitively for a hundred.  Today a competitive touring car is a $400 chassis plus almost as much again in motor, electronic throttle and radio.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of this store's success is the death of a dozen or more other hobby stores.  So much of the stock in this store was bought at pennies on the dollar from other places that it's a great place to go to find things no longer made.  The store also buys collections.  It's not unusual to hear that our "specialists" have acquired about $6000 dollars of NOS (New old stock) from a private estate sale.  That happens a lot in the train, plastic model and dicast parts of the stock list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...