Hobby Store

[jerm]

I was wandering if anyone here had there own hobby store and could give me some info on starting my own

[hooyeah123]

I know some people who do, good luck competing with tower. Tower gets everything ALOT cheaper than a small shop can, because they buy in such huge bulk. I think they have exclusive pricing deals with some of the manufacturers like HPI... thou I could be wrong.

[Top End]

Thats just the problem though! Places like Tower Hobbies are going to put the local hobby shop out of business, then what? No club level racing, no places to hang out and talk "shop", then the R/C hobby will begin to die off because nobody can get decent technical support or have a place to race, and Tower will have put themselves out of business. I am always willing to pay a few extra dollars to support the LHS. Support the people who support you. Is that Tower Hobbies? NO! They don't care about you or if you are buying the right equipment for your needs, they just want your money.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

[agalanis]

Ahh one of my favourite topics. Unfortunately I can't order that much stuff from Tower as shipping is HUGE for me (living in Canada, it's 16.99USD per order)
I have to go to local hobby shops rather than ordering stuff.

I'd go to a LHS if the people that worked there:
1) didn't treat me like they are doing me a favour by selling me hobby stuff.
2) Didn't provide a lot of mis-information
3) Cut their egos down.
4) Keep better stock, and not give the answer "Well we can order that in for you"
5) Remember the week you dropped $250 on stuff. And give you a deal on your current purchase.
6) Not be open only 9-5 as thats the time 90% of people are working


I have a coupple of LHS I go to. Some day's they are ok, some days they are good... rarely have they been excelent.

[Flying Trucks]

I understand your problem exactly. Every time I walk in my hobby shop the first thing they say is what you break now! I say nothing I just came here for my health. I always ask questions and they give me the least amount of information about the answer as possible. Or you end up standing there for an hour while the only person working there is trying to get a person to buy a 800$ plane when they only want a trainer. Oh how I love tower hobbies what would we do with out them. LOL

[jerm]

I agree with that but my local hobby stores are a lot higher than tower one is about $40 more than tower on their kits and the other one is closer to the MSRP wich is realy high. But neither one of them has an off road track. One has parking lot races once a week. The other one used to but they moved so I dont know if they still have them or not. I have to drive over an hour just to get to an off road track. Im hoping that i can open an off road track and on road and have competetive prices. I am currently trying to find distibutors. The only one I have found so far is ERI. They are sending me more information. Does anyone know of any other distibutors?

[Zed]

I don’t care for the treatment and hit to the wallet I get at the local Mall hobby shop, but the shop at the track I go to is great. The prices are close if not better than of some of Tower’s. They all race and know what they are talking about. I don’t get the big upsale, but they explain differences in quality and performance in all the merchandise they carry. I’ve gone in several times wanting to buy something for my truck and they’ve talked me out of it because I would see not benefit from it. I couldn’t ask for better treatment.

Zed

[Andrew the RC man]

ya i know what u mean, i was gonna buy an RC10gt rtr from my local hobby shop but it was 379 and tower had it for only 279

[FLYBOY7]

starting a hobby store is just like starting any kind of business....

the first thing to do is get a dealers license from your state... basically this allows you to purchase items without paying sales tax and it licenses you to operate a retail business in your state.....

then you need to check locally to see who you need to apply for a license with.... you will probably have to aquire some sort of city license...

next... you have to have a store front... which means, you have to have a real store.... your garage just won't cut it.... you will probably have to send pictures of this retail site to the state before they will let you open, and pics to your suppliers before they will sell product to you.... you will probably be required to have a sign in your pics saying "Bob's Hobby Shop" (or whatever the name of your business is).....

you will need to set up a bank account in the name of the store...

you need to line up suppliers (distributors, or factory direct).....

then you will need to advertise....

laws vary from state to state... so you just need to contact both your state government, and you city to see for sure what you need to do..... plus there are many others things needed, but i just hit the biggies...

some guys apply for a tax exemption ID number from their state thinking they can buy products at dealer cost from a distributor, and not have to pay sales tax to boot.... they think they can do this just to buy items for themselves and their buddys dirt cheap with no intentions of ever being a real dealership..... they might get away with it for a while.... but they ALWAYS get busted by the state or federal governments... and then they REALLY end up paying..... so when you set up a shop, do it the correct and legal way, or trust me, things can get real ugly real fast......

[jerm]

Speeking of bad hobby store treatment, I called mine today and asked if they had a copy of the 2000 rc car action buyers guide and he said that they werent out yet so i said the last one they put out then there was a pause and he asked me if it was a car or truck so i told him nevermind and hung up top that one