First hobby shop you remember visiting?

[Crash Test Dummy]

I lived in several small towns in Missouri growing up in the '70s. All I had came from Wal-Mart or JC Penney. 1/48th Monogram airplanes became my favorite and I still only build 1/48.  I think I built everything in the line before I could drive.

 

I remember one trip when I was around 12-13 (1980ish) to my grandmother in San Diego and my aunt was dating a guy that built models. They took me to my first real hobby shop. Blew my mind. I remember begging for a ton of stuff I'd never seen before. My dad let me get Tamiya Sherman and Tiger kits. These were the first Tamiya tanks I'd ever seen. After we got back I found that there was a hobby shop about 30 miles away that carried Tamiya stuff. It also had Pactra paints in real military colors without having to mix them.  No idea what that place was named and it was 40 years ago.

 

In '83 we moved to St. Louis and I finally had easy access to several hobby shops just as I was learning to drive (and date).  Modelling became less of a priority, but this is also when I discovered Model Master paints and got my first airbrush I still use on a regular basis. 

[Joe Hegedus]

1 hour ago, Raptor01 said:

AB Charles & Son on West Liberty Ave. in Dormont during the 1970's was the best in the area.  I think his son still operates after a few moves around the area.  They had the best selection of kits & model railroad supplies.  

 

John

Oh, yeah!  AB Charles was a great shop!  He moved the shop from W Liberty Ave to a place off Banksville Rd, and was there for several years, but then moved it out to Cannonsburg.  That was the last location he had; I was only at the Cannonsburg location once as it was a bit of a drive from my inlaws' house and, to be honest, the shop wasn't as good as it had been at the earlier locations.  He closed it permanantly a few years ago; I miss it.  Spent quite a lot of $ in all 3 locations since the late 80s up til shortly before they shut it down. But the WLA location was the best...

 

There was also a good shop called "Adam and Eve's" in Latrobe; it was in the plaza on the north side of US30 that was right under the final approach to runway 23 at Westmoreland County Airport, a few doors down from the Kmart.  And another in downtown Greensburg on Pennsylvania Avenue south of Pittsburgh Street.  Those were the days...

Edited January 24 by Joe Hegedus

[Charlie D.]

Sheldon’s hobbies on Alum Rock in San Jose is the first I remember going to that was a hobby shop. Longs drugs was my #1 source for kits growing up, followed by Kay-bee stores and another independent toy store at the local mall. Both had decent kit selections, although Kay Bees was always a mess. The local toys r us had a Huge model aisle as well. 

[Cat Barf]

Kmart.

[mario krijan]

First shop which I visit, was in 1992 or early 1993 in Jelenia Gora in Poland, where I was refugee from Bosnia.

[Drifterdon]

On 1/20/2023 at 9:13 PM, markiii said:

Hey that's the first hobby shop I went to in the 70's. Loved that place.

The 70's is when I went there.   I thought the owners name was Danny.

[peterburns]

So in the early 70's my dad asked me if I was interested in building a plastic model.  Of course I was excited so we went to a little shop in the Clairmont area of San Diego.  I have no idea of the name of the shop, but I do remember that it was on the corner of Genesee and Governor drive.  If anyone here remembers the shop, I'd be interested in hearing more about it.

[echolmberg]

I think it was called either "Grand Dad's Hobby" or "Grandpa's Hobby" or something like that.  It was located in Springfield Mall in Springfield, VA.  It was practically my second home back in the mid-1980s to early 1990s.  I remember seeing the massive Monogram B-36 kit there for the very first time.  I had never even heard of that plane up until that point, but the kit was enormous and I had to have it!  As a kid, I remember thinking there was going to be no way I could afford the $20 for that kit.  LOL!

[Thunderchief105]

Who's Hobby Shop in Rapid City SD in the late 70s.

[admiralcag]

On 1/21/2023 at 7:59 AM, Steve N said:

I lived in the Denver/Boulder area back in the early 80s.  I recall tons of great hobby shops..Colpar being the Gold Standard.  We visited the area on vacation in 2017, my first return in over 30 years.  I was shocked to discover the first hobby shop I had visited when I lived there was still a going concern: Thompson's Hobbies in Lakewood.  I have no idea if it's still open or not.  Their bread and butter seemed to be primarily craft stuff, so hopefully they're still afloat.  I made it a point to buy a couple things when we were there, just for old time's sake.

 

SN

 

Sadly, they went out of business a few months ago. If I had looked everywhere for something without luck, Thompson's would have it. I also liked saying hi to their cat when I visited.

 

Vern

[goondman]

Vans 

 

San Jose, Ca.

[ikar]

When I was growing up there were no actual hobby shops.  I would get a chance once in a while to get to a small department store or maybe a drug store for kits and supplies, such as they were.  My Father gave me a set of Tweezers from his old Watch repair kit and I would have to use some of his double edged razor blades from his shaving supplies.

Outside of the base hobby units run by M.W.R>l when I was overseas during the war, I didn't wee a rea hobbl shop intil I hit Little Rock A.F.B. after my second tour in 1975.  This store was just outside the main gate and on the highway access road.  It was owned by a guy who was in MACV during the war, and he sent all his combat pay to this wife who kept it in a special bank account until he got home.

[okthree]

First hobby shop I remember was Village Hobbies located inside the Breton Village mall in Grand Rapids, MI. The barber I went to was in the same mall so after a haircut I would hit the hobby store. They were a source for Tamiya armor kits, Humbrol and Tamiya paints among other things. They closed down sometime in the early 1980’s. By that time I could drive and there were many other hobby shops in the area I could go to. 

[Gwen Phoenix]

Bardwell Hobbies in Shreveport, Luisiana. And the owner nicked me $74 back in the early '90s! 

[is it windy yet?]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:23 PM, DONG said:

Mine was Leisure World here in London, They had a wall of kits about 40 feet long and 12 feet high.

 

Mike are you making it to Hamilton in March ?

 

Don

 

Leisure World, there were 3 in Kingston back in the day, one in each mall.  I spent a lot of money there in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. The first hobby shop only store was Lloyd Shales.  Woolco and Kmart were really good shops here in Kingston. Actually I still have a micro drill bit set from Woolco, still has the price tag on it, with a few remaining bits. Likely a few other tools too. 

[vonjhn68]

The Hobby Bench in Phoenix, AZ. They are a pretty big shop and sells everything from RC airplanes to crafts. They have several display cases there and would showcase local modelers' work. They displayed several plane and tank models when I was a kid back in the early 80s. The shop is still there and doing good business; when I make my way back to Phoenix, I always stop by.

 

Cheers,

John

[MattN]

Bob's Hobby in Fig Garden Village, Fresno CA.  Opened in 1973, closed in 1993.  My folks went shopping at the grocery store in that shopping center (Food World, I think it was) and I would run to the hobby shop and look around until they came to get me.

 

[jeffryfontaine]

The summer of 1965 from a small hobby shop located in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  I bought an Aurora 1:54th scale S2F-1 Tracker.

[jonwinn]

Kirk's Hobby and Variety in western MA...my older brother got me into that as he did stick and tissue line control planes with Cox .049 engines. I strictly did plastic, it was an old brick building with creaky wood floors, lots of comics and model train and model airplane magazines, penny candy and soda. Good old Mr Kirk was very helpful in supplying my brother what he needed to fly his creations. He eventually graduated to RC then years later soloed at ROTC in College. It was your typical early to mid 60s Aurora, Revell, Monogram, AMT and Guillows type of place. Where else could you get Pactra paints for 15 cents?

Edited February 13 by jonwinn

[GreyGhost]

Growing up in Southern California in the 70's-80's, we had allot of dedicated hobby shops in the area. My first was probably Century Models at Hobby City about 3 miles from my home ...I remember getting kits at Kmart, theTreasury, Zody's, Woolworth's, even Ralph's Supermarkets ...

Kmart back in the 70's had really good selections then...

I also remember going to Old Town Mall in Hawthorne when Heritage Hobbies was there ...

Later on before moving to Missouri, my favorite shop was Brookhurst Hobbies, still going ...  Good, fun discussion ...!

 

~Gregg

[usmcski6502]

I used to go to the original Brookhurst Hobbies in the 80’s with my Dad, back when it was a tiny corner shop on the Anaheim/Garden Grove border. As a teenager, I sold my first built model there!

 

Cheers,

 

Ski

[Rod D]

Nice to see some local (to me) folks on here.  My earliest memories were also of Eric Fuchs in the Northshore Mall (Peabody, Mass.).  I distinctly remember seeing the Wiking HO scale vehicle display, the detail of which was astonishing to me as my world was limited to Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on my train layout.

 

There used to be a shop in Lawrence Mass called Modelers Haven.  I barely remember it, but I still have the secondhand building my dad bought me during a visit. 

 

Fun thread.

Rod.

[Hertem]

Han's Hobby Shop at Westshore Mail in Tampa.  Got my first of many Squadron/Signal books there - F-5 in Action.  Always enjoyed looking at all of the completed models hanging from the ceiling.

[phantom]

Have to think the first "real" hobby store was Leisure world in Conestoga mall Waterloo Ontario. Long long since gone. In fact the entire chain of stores must be gone 30 years by now. First place buying models would have been the toy section at Highway market in Kitchener Ontario. A former GREAT EVERYTHING store which must be gone 40 years now. Those would have been Airfix 1/72 kits on a piece of cardboard with the kit stapled on the card in a baggie.

 

[planebuilder08]

On 2/14/2023 at 12:40 AM, GreyGhost said:

Growing up in Southern California in the 70's-80's, we had allot of dedicated hobby shops in the area. My first was probably Century Models at Hobby City about 3 miles from my home ...I remember getting kits at Kmart, theTreasury, Zody's, Woolworth's, even Ralph's Supermarkets ...

Kmart back in the 70's had really good selections then...

I also remember going to Old Town Mall in Hawthorne when Heritage Hobbies was there ...

Later on before moving to Missouri, my favorite shop was Brookhurst Hobbies, still going ...  Good, fun discussion ...!

 

~Gregg

I remember Hobby City, just a few miles from Knotts Berry Farm. Also had on of the best Model Train stores there too. Gemco was the main place i got my kits, especially because my mom was a manager in the toy department (major discount). The first real Hobby Shop I remember was Hobby Warehouse in Lakewood. The original before most of it burned down. They opened a much smaller location across the street a few years after. Also just about every drug store had a section as did many hardware stores like Dooley's.