I’m actually working on a clinic on things that can be used from the craft store. Hobby Lobby used to have a very great hobby and train selection. My first job was running the hobby dept in store 5 when there were only 13 stores. We had quite a bit of train stuff probably the equivalent of one of their modern aisles although ours were shorter. We had Athearn Roundhouse and Atlas plus a bunch of woodland scenics. Even had a good selection of radio control. Quite a change from today but they still have a bunch that is usable.
I have noticed that not all Hobby Lobbys have the same sized hobby section. Here in Fort Myers ours has two aisles of hobby stuff, but the Hobby Lobby in Lakeland only has half an aisle.
May vary according to store size. They used to have class A,B&C stores. Not sure if they do that anymore as most are the size of what used to be an A store. The ones nearest us are roughly the same size and have the same amount of hobbies.
Our Hobby Lobby has a limited amount of model railroad merchandise, but they have a terrific paint, magic marker and tool section.
I find myself using our local hobby shop mostly, Great service, can order almost anythig, and when you add shipping to on line items, they are very reasonble. And a great place for asking questions!
I drive the extra distance, and yes, pay the higher (non-corporate subsidized) prices to buy from local hobby, craft and art supply stores instead of Hobby Lobby.
But go ahead, continue to shop at Hobby Lobby, Ebay, and Amazon and whine on these forums that all the local stores have closed.
My first hobby shop was Weaver’s Bikes and Hobbies in Greenville Ohio. Dan Weaver became a very close friend of mine. Sadly he passed away a few years ago.
The Hobby Lobby that I use (50 miles away) is not exactly the same as Ebay and Amazon. At Hobby Lobby, I can actually pick up and look at the items. They also employ local people.
There is a ‘local’ hobby shop about 55 miles away which I use. They often don’t have the same types of things that I want from Hobby Lobby.
When Lady Firestorm goes on one of her what I call “yarn raids” (her hobby’s knitting) to places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby sometimes I’ll tag along. First, she’s fun to watch! Second, I might just find something useful myself and frequently do.
I don’t go to Hobby Lobby, but I love eBay and Amazon. I don’t really miss having a local hobby shop at all (there are none in the Jacksonville FL area anyway).
I do patronize my “local” hobby shops but they are an hour and 15 to 30 away. For most of us that is a reality. Going to shop one Saturday. But if I need a bottle of paint or glue etc I do buy at Hobby Lobby rather than make the drive. That being said there are some things that you wind up having to buy on ebay. I’m a narrow gauger on the VA/ NC border and it’s rare here.
Perhaps you missed the part where I said that I’ve been going to Hobby Lobby after my local hobby shop closed. I use eBay after I can’t find what I’m looking for at out-of-town hobby stores or train shows.
I went to the Hobby Lobby on East Colonial Drive in Orlando today.
Two aisles of “hobbys”, but an amazingly diverse selection.
Model trains, military models, coin & stamp collecting, woodburning, airbrushes, miniature rocketry, hobby paints, anime models, foam cutters, and on & on & on.
I don’t remember that many different sub-sections in the hobby aisles.
Good memories, for sure. I had previously replied to this thread, but I missed these two posts on Trost Hobbies.
That is quite a bike ride from 68th and Hamlin. I rode my bike from 60th and Artesian. Spent most of my grammar school years at Trost except for dinner and bedtime.
A little later in life, we were living in Arlington, TX. My Dad was an intern at John Peter Smith hospital in Ft. Worth, so we did lots of things in Ft. Worth. My Lionel engine quit working, and Dad took it to a hobby shop in Ft. Worth called Tolson’s. It seemed like forever for them to fix it, but when it was finally ready, he let me go with him to pick it up. It was an interesting shop, with lots of Lionel, but also lots of HO and brass. Fast forward to 1981; I am working and have some disposable income. I was living in Abilene, TX, but I went to a train show in DFW and dropped by Tolson’s. They had a Hallmark CF7 model for sale. I had to have it; but as it was unpainted, I paid them to paint it and install constant/directional lighting and a flashing beacon. That took another 3 months. I loved that engine, but it would not negotiate less than perfect track without shorting. The constant lighting unit quit working. It has been boxed for over 35 years because I have moved on to RPP and now Athearn CF7 models.
Sometime after my experience with Tolson’s and Hallmark, I discovered Bobbye Hall’s in Dallas. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. That shop had everything. I eventually moved to the DFW area, and had monthly meetings in downtown Dallas. I would make a trip to Bobbye Hall’s part of the itinerary.
I later found out that the repair that Tolson’s did was to re-solder one of the motor leads. It didn’t take, and I had to resolder it myself.
Back in the 1960s, before I was a model railroader, I used to go to Hub Hobby Shop in Richfield MN to buy plastic model kits (airplanes and ships mostly). This was the “old” Hub Hobby when it was still in the Hub Shopping Center (strip mall) at 66th and Nicollet. I started buying train stuff there when I started model railroading in 1971. However, there was also a bike shop on Lyndale Ave. that sold train stuff too that I frequented, and my dad was the mailman for Woodcraft Hobby, “the old reliable” on Lake and Bryant in south Minneapolis, so we went there sometimes too.
Since we are going down memory lane - my first recollection of a hobby shop was as a 4 year old, my dad visited a hobby shop while working on my (I didn’t know it at the time) Christmas present from Santa. It turned out to be a 4x6 plywood board painted and laid with Lionel Track and a Hudson Steam engine and cars. After that I don’t remember visiting a hobby shop until I was a teen and found a shop in the Alpha Beta strip mall in east Davis CA. There I bought some SP dayight Athearn shorty passenger cars.
My dad and I would frequent Tolson’s, Whistle Stop Hobbies, A&A Hobbies, and several others in Fort Worth back in the 70’s. Bill Tolson was a bit of a strange guy, but he had a bunch of Lionel, brass, and narrow gauge stuff.
There was also a small shop in Everman, Smitty’s, that did some locomotive kit building and painting for my dad.
Hobby Hub in Seminary South was probably my first hobby shop I ever went to. I loved that place and will never forget their neat layout in the center of the store with plexiglass panels all around it. I could watch it for hours!
Bobbye Hall’s (Hallmark Models) was in a class all by itself. Went there a bunch for close to 30 years until it closed in 2000.