Wally World: Quest for Rocket Motors

After hearing some complaints about Hobby L and stocking of two motors per pack, I decided to take a tour of my town to see just how many still had any rockets or motors at all.

This time, I went to Toy R Us...and found though they could order on line an Estes Rocket for you, they admit they have none in the store.

I drove to Wal-Mart and asked if they had Estes Rockets, and was shown the bottom shelf in the models and RC devices section...and I found about ten rockets, all in RTF or ETX catagories...and one combo pack that had RTF and Level 1 for $30. Now, when I looked for booster adaptors, they had both the Booster-60 and Booster-55 available.

When it got to motors, I saw two small display boxes of 3 pack motors for sale, each for $9.95 So I looked to see what assortment they had. This is what I found: A8-3 Six packages; B6-4 Five packages ; C6-6 Two packages

This tells me that they have shopers who have been buying out the higher end of these low-power motors, and are ready to move up....but Wal-Mart has no motors and no rockets to support advancement in the hobby. In fact, all the above three motors were available in a flightpack assembly of 24 motors for $59.99 at another store, until THEY eliminated all their rocketry supplies at Crafts 2000.

I am tempted to invest in the final two package of C motors, except I'd prefer to support my local vendor at the next club launch this month. Plus, and this just occurred to me, who is going to use those Booster adaptors, when you need B6-0 and C6-0 to fly them? Wal-mart has NONE in stock. Who do they think is going to buy those $5 booster adaptors if they can't use them?

Our local Walmart, (Berlin, VT.) only has 2 Packs of D12-0. Also, the display is a total mess and the Packages look banged up. They've likely had a rough life, as they've been there for a couple of Years.

Those boosters use 24mm motors and the D12-0 is the only one recommended. Apparently your Wally World was out of that part of the motor display. They should also have had the 2-packs of D12-0s that have been discussed widely in other threads. In a recent reconnoitering of a couple of them here I found the 2-packs of D12s were now $9.00 instead of $9.95 as they have been (same price as the three packs of A/B/C motors).

Around here (just south of Seattle) some Wally Worlds have rockets as you describe and some don't. A regional chain, Fred Meyer, also has a mix - though they do not stock the BT-60-based ARFs or the Booster 60.

P.S. if you vent the boosters then C11-0s also work just fine. But of course getting the C11-0s is not as easy.

P.P.S. I'm glad to see that the Wally World/Fred Meyer mass market motor packs no longer include four packs of A10-3Ts as well....since they haven't sold any models that used 13mm motors for some time. So at least for the moment what they are selling at least works together properly (provided you have a big enough flying site to fly a BT-55 model staged D12 to B6).

I don't think that any of the aforementioned chains are interested in hobbyists that are looking to "move up" in any hobby, apart from video games. As you have found, they carry the higher margin products while maintaining a low risk profile and stocking very few of the items. My guess is that they don't move much rocketry stock and they more or less facilitate the contract that they have with Estes.

patelldp said:

I don't think that any of the aforementioned chains are interested in hobbyists that are looking to "move up" in any hobby, apart from video games. As you have found, they carry the higher margin products while maintaining a low risk profile and stocking very few of the items. My guess is that they don't move much rocketry stock and they more or less facilitate the contract that they have with Estes.

Click to expand...

Oh, there's SOME profit in it for them or they wouldn't carry it at all... shelf space is too 'precious' nowdays to carry ANYTHING that they don't deem to be "moving fast enough" (generating enough profit). That's why all the big indoor lumberyard and big box stores quit carrying the Titebond Moulding and Trim Glue... They'd rather use that shelf space, instead of stocking a few bottles of WHAT YOU NEED, devote that space to an extra row of bottles of SOMETHING THAT SELLS MORE... (regardless of the fact that there's already five different types of wood glue in at least 2-3 other brands on the shelf surrounding it... one less SKU in the system, one less thing to reorder... )

If they weren't making ANY profit on rocket stuff, it'd be GONE pdq, you can bet on that. Since it remains in the stores, in some form or fashion, it must be generating SOME profit for them. It doesn't generate enough profit for them to EXPAND the selection or carry more, obviously, or they would... stores like to stock MORE of what's selling, but it's not REALLY a surprise that rocket stuff isn't a "hot seller" much as we'd like to think or would prefer it to be otherwise. Hence the 'status quo' in what they stock and the selection.

They are undoubtedly focused more on the "first time purchaser" than the "repeat buyer"... though they DO carry some stuff for the "repeat buyer". Additional motors, wadding, etc. attest to this fact. Their "repeat buyer" though is someone who's bought an "off the shelf" kit or two, maybe a starter set, and is flying once in awhile at the local park or schoolyard, most likely, not "serious hobbyists" like *us* here and on other forums... They figure (most likely correctly) that by the time someone becomes a "serious hobbyist" in rocketry, they're preferred vendor is not going to be Hobby Lobby or Walmart though... most likely an online source with lower prices or wider selection than they would care to stock even if it WAS fast-moving stuff with good profits...

That's why it is the way it is...

Later! OL JR

Right when I got back into rocketry in 2008/2009, Target and Walmart had them on clearance. I got minis, and normal A,B,C anywhere from $1 to $4 / pack. Maybe after they age a few more years, these will be available cheap too.

Update: I went back to that first Wal-Mart and found my count was off: A8-3 four packs B6-4 Seven packs C6-5 two packs so I bought one of the C6-5 to give as a gift this weekend at our family reunion, and went to look for a cheap rocket to pair it with. At the Crafts 2000 clearance aisle, I found only two Rimfire RTL rocket packs left and one B-60 booster that doesn't go with it...all on half price.

I drove to another Wal-mart to compare their selection and found the didn't stock rockets at all.

Boy this town is running the rocketeers out of town for supplies...

No joy of model rocketry supplies at the Midland, MI Walmart.