In days of my youth (about 150 or so years ago), there were a lot of great hobby stores about... many more than there are today. I'm sure they are suffering from the so-called "Amazon effect" just like so many brick and mortar establishments... this is nothing new. These stores were usually owned by curmudgeonly know-it-alls who more or less talked down to you about what you were up to, but that didn't matter to me, I valued their sage advice and it *usually* worked out well.
Where is this all going, you ask?
A few days ago I wandered into the Spare Time Shop in Marlboro and found out the hard way Midwest no longer manufactured AeroGloss Sanding sealer so I started looking around and heard of this stuff sold by a company called Brodak. It sounded good so I dropped an email to the spare time shop to see if they might want to possibly stock this stuff. Short answer was: "No, there are not a lot of wood guys around any more." He also said they have 'pine car derby event" stuff for sealer. Ok... well I know how to order on-line and pay a nice shipping fee or I can drive out to Hog Heaven Hobbies near Sturbridge... whatever. He did lament a bit about how our membership doesn't come in on a consistent basis (I get that it's easier to click on something... maybe he doesn't), but what the fellow also reminded me about was (as snipped from the email he sent and cleaned up a bit):
"We give an annual birthday
40% discount (for cash purchase, 30% otherwise) on "kits/boxed items/rockets"! Remember we give a club" discount of 20% on in store purchases, and can go as high as 30% for cash payment on "bulk" orders and/or "quantities"; our RI suppliers delivers, so HASMAT
is not an issue; pass this info along;"
So there are some details we as an organization we may not know about for the Spare Time Shop... I hate paying shipping, I hate paying HAZMAT, and I LIKE wasting time milling around a store... maybe you do too
?
Furthermore I saw that he had a supply of the Estes 29mm BP motors and has good stock on 18/24 mm motors as well. No composite stuff tho...
John "not trying to sound like a shill, but I'd hate to see these guys dissapear" Petrakis