Another model shop gone

[stona]

I just discovered that Bob's Models in Solihull (Birmingham) shut its doors for the final time last month.

I, like most, do a lot of my model related shopping online and I suppose that the disappearance of bricks and mortar shops is the inevitable result. It's a sign of the times but it is still sad to see them go.

Cheers

Steve

[John]

Not just model shops, but shops in general are suffering, I like to go to a shop a look at what I want to buy then look for it online, I bought something Saturday night and I had it by Monday afternoon, we are all guilty of it

[stona]

True John. I know that I can order some something from the forum shop here and almost certainly have it the next day (not all online retailers are as good!!!!) which makes a trip to the nearest model shop, now an even greater distance away, even less viable.

I have to be honest and say that I don't feel guilty about it. It's just the way of the world. Times change and retailers have to change too.

People will say that they liked to browse, have a chat, and get advice in a "real" shop, but all of those things happen online now. This very forum is an excellent example of how that works. If you want to know how a potential purchase builds up you can simply ask, someone has probably built it already.

For example , I'm contemplating knocking up a 1/32 Hobbyboss Spitfire, bought online. There are some minor issues with the kit, all of which I'm aware of. I also know how to fix these problems and yet not only have I not opened the box, I haven't had a single face to face conversation about it with anybody!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Think we are all a bit two faced here. We want the cheapest,the quickest & in stock.

But we all want out Towns & villages as they are. Post offices closing even post boxes being removed here in Jersey are being closed. However the great explosion here in Jersey is the proliferation of sandwish bars. Come to the conclusion that people are just munching sandwiches all day & night. But the island bakery has just shut. But the local Coffee Bar Man is turning out coffee out of this world & beating all the large coffee outlets. The breadman did not listen as his bread was just awful.

Amazing we still have 3 outlets selling models. Not their sole interest but they have a good range for the average with Airfix & Revell. One gripe & I keep telling them get acrylics they will just stock Humbrol Enamel. A great problem is some shop owners do not do their homework & you have to to survive rather than sitting on your backside all day.

Laurie

[stona]

I don't think we're being two faced Laurie. Whilst I bemoan the loss of real world shops I hardly ever patronise them for the very reasons you cite. I make no bones about being out for the best deal for myself! Everyone has to watch the pennies, particularly for a hobby which is not exactly essential to life and limb. The sad, cold, hard reality for these shops (and many others as John mentioned) is that they have an uncertain future. It is very difficult to compete with online retailers.

Another example. Of the last half dozen books I have bought only one was in a book shop. That was on Malta, I was on tour and really couldn't buy online. Appropriately enough it was Richard Woodman's "Malta Convoys 1940-1943" which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Cheers

Steve

[Alan 45]

I do 99% of my buying from local hobby shops , I have three in my area not for some reason of supporting such shops but a fact of I never know what I'm going to buy when I go into them and the simple fact I only go into them when I'm on a shopping trip when I'm with the wife.

If I'm after a particular model I will check the Internet or this site to check how they look built or if they get good reviews , but it's very rare I know exactly what I want it's more a case of look and see what jumps out on me

[Alan 45]

Think we are all a bit two faced here. We want the cheapest,the quickest & in stock.But we all want out Towns & villages as they are. Post offices closing even post boxes being removed here in Jersey are being closed. However the great explosion here in Jersey is the proliferation of sandwish bars. Come to the conclusion that people are just munching sandwiches all day & night. But the island bakery has just shut. But the local Coffee Bar Man is turning out coffee out of this world & beating all the large coffee outlets. The breadman did not listen as his bread was just awful.

Amazing we still have 3 outlets selling models. Not their sole interest but they have a good range for the average with Airfix & Revell. One gripe & I keep telling them get acrylics they will just stock Humbrol Enamel. A great problem is some shop owners do not do their homework & you have to to survive rather than sitting on your backside all day.

Laurie

We have three shops that do hobbies near me , two are like the one you mention only sell Aifix and Revell kits and sell humbrol enamels but one is a proper hobby shop that does the lot , from trains scalextric to all well known plastic kit makers and they are quite resonable with their prices as well so I guess I'm lucky from what I've been reading.

But your right that most don't think about paints and things other than kits we might be after

[Guest]

Just my two-penneth.

The online system is killing everything.

Shops closing because of online sales (for whatever reason - cost or convenience)

People not socializing in person because of social sites/mobile facilities.

Cinemas lacking popularity because you can download a film even before its on the cinema in the uk.

Music sales dropping due to pirate sites.

They say we have an advance in technology to save time ... but... a survey pointed out that the average housewife spends 30 hours a week on house work ... exactly the same as they did in the thirties and fourties (when everything was manually done)

Makes you think eh

[stona]

Colin, I agree with every one of your points. Unfortunately its called progress and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Whether this so called progress is a good or bad thing is another question altogether. Model building isn't really a team sport and not a particularly sociable activity . As for copyright infringements/piracy, once the digital genie was out of the bottle nobody was ever going to be able to put him back in! I've worked at the sharp end of the music industry ever since I gave up a proper job as a chemist and could write a book on how it has been affected by the digital genie in the last twenty years. As soon as a means to copy something an infinite number of times, perfectly (if you are deaf enough to think that an MP3 file sounds okay) came along we were in trouble!

I think it's great that Alan can still buy just about everything he needs from local shops, I'm afraid that wasn't the case for me, even when a couple of the shops close to me (Shirley and Solihull,both gone) were still open.

I think we will see fewer and fewer bricks and mortar model shops as time goes by.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

"the average housewife spends 30 hours a week on house work".

Wow must whip the missus into action. That is 4.5 hours per day. Are you sure Colin that that was not the answer to "How many hours does your wife spend watching soaps" ?

Let us face it "Blacking the grate" & "applying red polish to the front entrance tiles" went out last year !

Laurie

[Ian M]

A problem that is on the rise over here are people looking at things in a real shop, asking advise, even trying things on. Then going home and buy it over the web.

Some suggested a service charge, others just turn the other cheek.

Nowt wrong with shopping around, but a salesman in say a camera shop spending an hour showing cameras to a 'customer', letting them try them out and then being dumped with the "I'll think about it" line is just rude.

If you just go in and ask the price fair enough I s'pose.

A couple of shops even had the thought of having just a show room where you could see the items, if you wanted to try them, they took a service charge. If you wanted to buy it you could buy it on line, in the show room.... Smart?

Progress is not always a good thing, its just some thing we all have to live with.

Ian M

[Guest]

Progress is not always a good thing, its just some thing we all have to live with.

Ian M

Very true

A fact about progress (for instance, people looking in shops and then buying on the internet has been classed by some as unreasonable)

George Bernard Shaw wrote...

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

This relates to everything and even the fact of us having a new forum and either liking or not liking, praising or moaning about it ...things get changed/adapted for the better so its all progress at the end of the day

Saying this .. it doesn't change my mind about technology being responsible for todays issues

[Alan 45]

Soon the only shops on high st's will be collection shops or places to try before you buy places.

Our country is fast becoming one giant wearhouse and the only jobs available will be wearhouse assistant or ambulance chassing lawyer.

Maybe I'm being a bit cynical but with what I hear from shop owners and from buisness's local councils and the government are just asking to much in rates and rents for anything other than big company's to survive

[Guest]

hi guys i read your comments about model shops, what happens when things go wrong? e.g. parts missing, broken parts and assemblies that wont align? at least there is always the personal service in a shop to put things right. come on chaps lets support our local model shops. also what happens when you want to pay cash only?

[stona]

hi guys i read your comments about model shops, what happens when things go wrong? e.g. parts missing, broken parts and assemblies that wont align? at least there is always the personal service in a shop to put things right. come on chaps lets support our local model shops. also what happens when you want to pay cash only?

Good points all, but it won't change the way things are going. That personal shop service is just replaced with emails to the online retailer or manufacturer. The problem for local shops is that they can't compete with the online retailers. One of the few remaining "shops" in Birmingham is actually hardly ever open and itself relies on its online business.

Cheers

Steve