Local Hobby Stores

I want to start off by saying I am all for supporting local hobby shops. That's why last Saturday I drove 88 miles round trip from Revere to Marlboro. This was my second visit. The first time I visited the shop in 2015 the rocket section had a much larger selection which can still be seen on the Spare Time Shop web site. I was quite disappointed at the limited amount of rocketry items available. I figured since I drove this far I may as well purchase something to build on Sunday given that football is over and my level 2 project is on hold until I can paint it.
Given that I am over 60 years old I appreciate the days of visiting hobby shops and spending countless hours looking over trains, race cars, models, chemistry sets, microscopes and telescopes. Visiting the Spare Time Shop was a link to my past. From your post it seems like the situation is a catch 22. The owner will not stock additional items until people come to the shop. People will not come as often because of the limited selection.
The internet has changed the way people shop. These days, unless you drive on Sunday morning at 3:00 AM, traffic stinks. People would rather sit in the comfort of their home and shop online rather than sitting in their car dealing with traffic and rude drivers. Not to mention burning gas.
Most likely I will be back in April which is my birthday month. It would be nice if the owner would stock more kits and even composite engines. It would be helpful if he could list the items he has in stock on his web page.

Hi John! Good to hear from you again as well. The thing I miss most about working there is getting to talk to awesome people like you. But a number of things have improved for me since I started my new job. For one, I have more time to engage in my hobbies. I'm going to do some flying this year for sure.

Larry's is one of the places I used to haunt. I also remember Harry's, Mike's, M&M, G&C and probably 3 others the names of which I can't recall. And there were 2 or 3 Anime/Pop culture stores I would hit up a couple times a year. No idea if any of them are still open.

There was this amazing little hole in the wall deli that made the most massive Reuben I have ever seen. By far.

I think the Ice cream place in Bethel was either Dr. Mike's or The Cream & Sugar Cafe. Good times.

Andrew

Today Linda and I visited the Hobby Eporium in Tygsboro, MA. They have a very good selection of kits, parts and engines. They give 10% CMASS discounts. In addition to Estes kits they have Launch Pad kits, Quest and Flis kits. They have a couple of Estes composite engines, E30 and an F26. One of the more interesting kits they have is a Mega Der Red Maxx for sale at $90. Certainly worth the trip.