hobby town usa

I dont know if any of you are familiar with this place but we have a few locations here in town so i am assuming they are a franchise. I went in there today to see if they stikl had a high flyer xl i spotted a week or so ago. And i needed a couple chutes. Upon my inspection of the package i noticed the bt was trashed. So i went upon my bussiness looking to see if they had anything else to fancy my build queue with. This shop has quite a bit of estes and quest models but they are a mess. Nothing orginized. So after about 20 minutes of rummaging a little bit of "clean up" and a couple "honey are you almost ready" i had a bunch of rockets lined up that i was interested in. Big bertha. Hornet. Mega Mosquito. Der Red Max. Alien Invader. And a quest rocket i cant think of the name right now. There was a lot more i was interested in but those are the ones i narrowed down to. So i called my son over to make up my mind for me. He chose the hornet and quark. Ok so thats done. That was easy. Now this whole time while i was there i noticed something. THERE WERE NO COMPOSITE MOTORS OR PSII KITS. They had the ignitors abd chutes but that was it. So i went to check out and asked the manager what the deal was. He said there wasnt any interest in the MPR rockets and shipping on composites was a bitch (i know this). I was shocked to hear this. He said he could order me psII kits and anything i wanted. So out of curiosity i spat off a couple... Mega Max. $110 yeah ok no... aerotech iqsy and arreux (sp?) Both $80... yeah no go again. So other then the few kits they have i wont be doing much shopping there. Ill stick with hobbylinc amd going into hobbylobby almost everyday.

Anyone else have problems like this with HTUSA Or other local shops. I know apogee is a bit expensive but when i figure in shipping it comes out pretty close... but their prices were outrageous on special orders

My HobbytownUSA is pretty well stocked with Estes, Quest and Aerotech, both in terms of kits and motors. They are also fairly well organized. This is surprising to me since the local owners know almost nothing about rockets.

The only HTUSA I have been to is in Newport News, VA. They got out of mid power a couple years ago, which allowed me to get the AT Mustang & Cheetah kits at 50% off. They generally stock Estes, Quest, Starlight and Sunward. I can usually find something to purchase anytime I am in town & drop by. The kits are on hooks in no particular order, so yes one has to dig through.

HobbyTown USA is a franchise, so you're going to find significant differences between stores.

-Kevin

Same here hobby town cost more. The one we have here is well stocked and gives a club discount.

As Troj said, depends on the franchise. The store nearest me has the best prices I've ever seen in a hobby shop - like hobbylinc low. Down side to that is its about a forty minute drive. I always stop when I'm in the neighborhood though.

There are 3 HTUSA's here in the Twin Cities and the one I go to is 3 miles from where I live. This one is well organized but it has limited stock in both model rocketry and scale models, my two areas of interest. They carry Estes, and Quest mostly but they do have a few kits from Custom and Sunward. Their prices are set at retail but they do offer disount coupons in the local coupon saver flyers.

My favorite hobby shop is a locally owned one with 2 stores and it is stocked to the gills with everything that can be considered a "hobby." The prices are at retail, so I am not saving money but it is convenient.

I do like Hobbylinc, they have great prices and they are not bad in shipping.

Being in Canada ,we don`t have a HTUSA ,but there was one not far from me in North Dakota that I used to visit several times a year during my visits (shopping & relaxing)

They had a few Estes kits as well as some Aerotech along with BP and S/U composites ,but the prices were very expensive.This particular store was mostly into R/C stuff as well as some plastic models (my interest being 1/48 scale aircraft) and the usual paint and accessories ,but not much variety.

During visits over the course of several years ,they carried less and less rocket stuff ,until they had nothing except for a few Estes motor packs and their plastic modeling stock was minimal.Last year I was there and they had nothing rocketry related ,no epoxy at all ,very little in the way of paint and plenty of empty shelves.I asked the fellow if they were closing up and he replied that they were cutting back on items that don`t sell well but was expecting more stock comming in soon.

I went to that store last August /2012 and surprise surprise......closed !

Not a big deal for me really ,as my city has at least 6 hobby shops within 20 minutes and then there is on-line vendors ,but I found that particular store to be very expensive and never well stocked with anything .But I suppose the market in that particular town was never condusive to a full line hobby shop(economy had a hand in this I`m sure) and that`s too bad ,I hate to see a shop go out of business.


Paul T

Im going to go check out the other one we have in town today. OH THE JOYS OF BEING ON THE INJURED LIST!!! lol I have been into HTUSA quite a bit for RC Models and Trains which Ill admit they do have a fairly large selection of... and they did have quite a selection of rockets... but estes and quest only... i paid $18 for my hornet yesterday... which isn't bad considering estes has it listed for $20 on their website and hobbylinc has it for $13 but after shipping it is $19... so i saved an entire dollar... lol... the main thing i have noticed though was the mess... I hate clutter... everything else was neat and tidy... minus the rockets... when i say everything was a mess motors were hung on racks in random places... ie e9's over on the left mid shelf c6's on the corner b4's right in the middle of the rocket isle up on the top row... a pack of e9's cost $26... at hobbylobby they are $20 before the 40% off coupon... I have no intentions on buying motors from them either since the deal with hobbylobby...

So i am going to go check out the other one today... see what they have... but i wont be specially ordering anything from them... Its great to hear that i am not the only one that feels like HTUSA is a rip off

Hobbytown does a 'savings card'. The one here in VaBeach, I was a regular customer to the tune of $80/month for LPR stuff for the kids and material for myself. Then one day the kid working the cash register told me that the voucher for $5 off was out of date, balled it up and trashed it. I asked for it back and, sure enough, there was still over a week until the expiration date. He then said that "it's not in the system". So I paid full price, left and lodged a complaint on the website. The Corporate office sent me an email back telling me that the local manager would be in touch. A day later, there was a message on the answering machine saying to call him back. Now one of the easiest ways to pi$$ me off is to demand that *I* call *you* about an email. I told SEVRA aoubt this and was told that the manager only cares about slots and R/C (as evidenced by the rocketry section).

Since then, I buy everything online and have only been in there for 30-minute epoxy and a Gundam model for the kid.

I can order from hobbylinc at a considerable savings over buying from hobbytown. I needed some plywood and the hobby lobby was either out of the size I needed or it was too warped so I went to hobbytown, I ended up running out of that place shaking my head and wondering how they stay in buisiness with those prices! Hobby Town USA? No thank you.

So i just checked out the other one here in town... much better... they had composites and rms for everything from e to g... they also had sunward estes quest and a loc kit... and c6 and b4 bulk packs...

And then there`s Michael`s.

When ever I need Basswood for my LP projects and detailing needs ,I wait for the 40 % off coupon and go there.


Paul T

Bubba02STi said:

So i just checked out the other one here in town... much better... they had composites and rms for everything from e to g... they also had sunward estes quest and a loc kit... and c6 and b4 bulk packs...

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So like you say ,depends on the franchise owner and what he wants to stock and perhaps what customers are telling him their wants and needs.


Paul T

Funny cause the manager guy i talked to yesterday is the owner of both... they proseries kits tuere too... amd one of them was the argent

I am up here in Ft. Collins and just happened to check out the HTUSA today. They just received a huge shipment of Estes including the new Nike Smoke! They sell the HobbyLine reloads as well as the SU's. There are 5 HTUSA's in Northern Colo. They are all owned by the same person. He caters his stock to the local market. The Longmont store for example has a huge selection of RC toys because there are 3 flying clubs in the area, but carries just a little MPR.

Since you are in the Springs you can always head over to Apogee. They sell most everything at retail but no shipping (still sales tax though). If you need it today most likely Tim has got it.

Jim

sodmeister said:

And then there`s Michael`s.

When ever I need Basswood for my LP projects and detailing needs ,I wait for the 40 % off coupon and go there.

Paul T

Click to expand...

I buy most of my 1/8" and 1/4" birch plywood at Michael's. I've been very happy with the quality. And you can almost always find a 40% coupon on their website.

Bubba02STi said:

Funny cause the manager guy i talked to yesterday is the owner of both... they proseries kits tuere too... amd one of them was the argent

Click to expand...

Could there be an Argent in your future, hmmm? :headbang:

qquake2k said:

Could there be an Argent in your future, hmmm? :headbang:

Click to expand...

tis very possible:dark: first aerotech arreux :dark: :dark:
but i wont be buying it there...

i am very much aware of apogee... in fact i was just in there the other day getting some materials for my mpr scratch build... i like the fact i can go in and be like "i need this and this and this... oh yeah and i forgot this and this ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo purty" i just wish they were open weekends... I am rather pissed though that the owner of the HTUSA's down here flat out lied to me about the motors...

As stated before, you'll find a big difference from store to store---Back in Ga. their Kennisaw store was big and had anything you wanted, you walked in the door and wanted to spend money---Here in Dallas/ Plano Tx. we have two stores-I've only been to the one in Plano ,very disapointing--a solid 50% of the floorspace is R/C related---but hey, if that's where the money is, go for it--also--really, really, really pricey---get your stuff online or from some of the buds here on TRF and save yourself the heartache---ya got a choice-----H

i was really just looking to see what else is out there... i have already came to the conclusion they are overpriced and i will probably not be buying much from them... but what sealed the deal today is the fact the owner flat out lied...

Bubba02STi said:

i was really just looking to see what else is out there... i have already came to the conclusion they are overpriced and i will probably not be buying much from them... but what sealed the deal today is the fact the owner flat out lied...

Click to expand...

Whoa, sorry to hear of your bad experience. As stated previously in this thread, pretty much all HTUSA are gonna be different. I guess I have been very lucky. I was a regular at my local store for years as a model train guy, with the occasional purchase of an Aerotech SU motor for my NCR fleet. The owner, a great guy, (and, oh by the way, a Tripoli L2), suggested I attend a high power launch, and my life has never been the same. Tom has since retired, his son has taken over operations at the store, but still great service and decent prices. All but Estes motors and, (for some reason, AT G38-4 motors), have been dropped due to shipping issues, but other staples are still there. Like every other business, there are good deals and ones that can be beat elsewhere, so shopping around is always a good idea. Internet shopping has an overhead advantage over real stores, but there are times when a physical store with live help is priceless, for...

Stuff that is always preferable to handle before purchasing, to know what you are getting... (straight 1/4" and 3/16" aircraft plywood fin stock, for example).

Stuff you have no prior knowledge of, where advice is worth the difference in price. You don't save anything if you buy the wrong item. (I just picked up a LiPo battery and charger to airstart high power motors. The learning curve was steep, the price was fair, and the advice was free.)

These arguments also apply in supporting your onsite vendor(s).

At one point I looked into what it would take to open a HTUSA franchise. Aside from the up front money investment ($25,000 franchise fee) there's also the 3% royalty fee for using their name. You have no choice in your opening inventory (they choose it for you) and when you do order on your own it's from their select list of items. To be honest I could have gotten the capital to do it but didn't think it was worth it - too little flexibility, too many added in costs (main reason their prices are higher than the norm), too much reliance on their way of doing things for my liking. If I were going to open a hobby shop I'd want a whole lot more flexibility than they allow.

I am a firm believer in supporting local business over corporate owned... and that includes vendors on the forums... but first comes who is in my town... then the vendors... then if need be i go to the big shots... I have looked at a lot of the vendors on here and have quite the list of stuff i will be getting from them... but take mark for example... i could get the vinyl i get from him for cheaper locally but they don't specialize in hobbies... so i go through him... just like i go through another guy on the car forums i am on because he specializes in automotive applications... i go to apogee for mainly my raw materials and some other things (plus i can buy things individually there and not as a pack)... hobby lobby for motors since they have a 40% off and then the berch and blasa... then for the vendors here they each have their own pluses and drawbacks...

im still rather peeved about my experience with HTUSA and i am sure others here can understand though... they havn't lost all my business yet but they did just ruin any chance in hell that i would be going in as much as i would... on a lot of things i can get for the same prices as i could on say hobbylinc but i just have to wait for shipping...

I wouldn't mind opening up a hobby shop but it would have to be after i open up a garage...

I don't have a Hobby Town in our area - the nearest one being about 45 mi. away. Once, when I was in that area, I stopped in and noticed what seems to be the standard stocking - from what others are posting. Estes and some Quest. Engines only up to "D" and not extra parts. When I asked the owner if they had any MPR stuff (motors, kits, etc) was told there wasn't any call for that stuff but could order it if I wanted. I bought some Epoxy and left. Went down the road a couple of miles to the old fashioned hobby shop - family owned and operated for the last umpteen gazillion years. While they didn't stock any MPR motors they did have kits - they didn't feel the need to stock "E, F, &G" because they couldn't compete with Hobby Lobby on price - at least on SU motors. Nobody had ever asked them about re-loadables before. Guess - until I win the lottery - I'll just continue doing business on-line.