# What happened to Hobby Lobby?



## Toecutter (Sep 3, 2006)

Several years ago I could walk into that store and buy a 1/350 NX-01 Enterprise. I never saw the 1/350 NCC-1701 Enterprise, tho I read some did get them from that chain. 
Has anyone ever seen the reissued 1/350 NCC-1701 Enterprise there? They carry large U-boat, plane, and car models still, but for the past 3-ish years no large Trek models. 
It's also a bummer since they frequently have 40 or 50% off coupons for any 1 store item. I have two of these stores in my town, and the model aisle seems to be getting smaller every year. And their website doesn't list any models.
There's one Hobby Town, and their Big E is $80.


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## 1701ALover (Apr 29, 2004)

I haven't seen Trek models of any size at my Hobby Lobby in years. And yes, their model aisle, in general, has gotten smaller. I've noticed the same at Michaels, as well. Even my locally-owned hobby shop stopped carrying Trek a few years ago...won't even special order them. I've had to get all of my recent Trek model purchases online, including the 1/350 refit kit I bought 5 years ago.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

My local Hobby Lobby just opened the 1st of November, and they only have the smaller Trek kits. I was hoping to get a 1/350 refit,too.


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## MightyMax (Jan 21, 2000)

heck, I am still waiting for them to get some esoteric Revell (Monogram) kits that have been repopped over the last 2 years!

Max Bryant


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

Only the smaller Trek kits at mine too.
Kinda hidden on the opposite side from all the other models.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

The one in my area carries the smaller Trek kits and some imports (Aoshima (?) Mad Max & Revell Star Wars, TOS BSG), Not a great selection, but with the weekly 40% off Coupon it works for me. My LHS carries the entire Moebius line and some GKs, so I cannot complain.


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## Storvick (Jan 21, 2003)

nearest Hobby Lobby to me is over 4 hours away so don't shop there even though I wish there was one closer to me.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Nearest Hobby Lobby to me is in Phoenix, AZ. And I'm 15 miles east of Los Angeles.


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

nearest hobby lobby is 2 miles away, across the street from Hobby Town USA (former 12 theater cineplex). Who'da thunk Kennesaw was modeller's mecca? Don't go to hobby lobby that often. That store caters to _them_.


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## JimPV (Apr 26, 2009)

Steve244 said:


> nearest hobby lobby is 2 miles away, across the street from Hobby Town USA (former 12 theater cineplex). Who'da thunk Kennesaw was modeller's mecca?


And there _used_ to be that hobby store just on the other side of 75 (in an old Pizza Hut, I think). Can't remember it's name, but I believe it's long gone.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Back in the day, I got my Polar lights Jupiter II at Hobby Lobby. I don't even go in there anymore, unless I'm buying a dry flower arrangement for the wife......


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

JimPV said:


> And there _used_ to be that hobby store just on the other side of 75 (in an old Pizza Hut, I think). Can't remember it's name, but I believe it's long gone.


It's an Indonesian restaurant now. Hobbytown pretty much shut them down.


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## halcyon_daze (Jan 6, 2004)

They're good for some supplies, but I don't buy kits there. Lots of cars, armor, planes, and ships but precious little in the sci fi category. The sci fi kits they do carry that I might be interested in can frequently be had for cheaper online. It's too bad since right now they have all their kits 30% off.


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

Got got both my NX and my refit there... AND with 50% off coupons!


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## halcyon_daze (Jan 6, 2004)

Nova Designs said:


> Got got both my NX and my refit there... AND with 50% off coupons!


I guess your store carries more inventory than the one here...this one only has the 1/1000 kits, and only 2 or 3 of those at any given time. Nice that you got yours at 50% off!


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## miraclefan (Apr 11, 2009)

BOTH my hobby lobby's are for C**P if you are a sci-fi modeler. The only things they have are ''Snap-Tite'' star wars ships in those ''Zip-Lock'' type bags & Two or three 1:1000 Trek kits at any given time.


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## miraclefan (Apr 11, 2009)

Now that I think about it there was a time when I was kid when I could run into the model kit department of any hobby store and there would be TONS of Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens model kits and on and on, but today? Not a chance.


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## biollante62 (Sep 14, 2009)

I was at Hobby lobby 2 days ago with a 40% off coupon looking for the new moebius J2,or the latest revell/monogram repops.Years ago they had all the polar lights kits and other neat stuff,and a larger selection of kits. Today they have nothing close to that. They were asking $100.00 for a 1/350 scale tamiya ship that can be purchased online for half that. Even with 30% off the prices they are asking is not justified, true good on supplies but for those of us that want something eclectic stay with online outlets. We grew up building models guys,we did not have cell phones and video games and twitter.....model building today is for us kids who refuse to grow up.And due to the lack of the younger in the hobby, sales are slow so we pay dearly for our hobby.
Hobby lobby is not the same.Even my local wal mart phased out the small model section


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## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

our's here shrunk there model section down to almost nothing then for some reason it got huge again, I see a few PL kits, not sure if there gonna carry Moebius kits or not.


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

It may not all be Hobby Lobby's fault. If you remember there was a period just a few short years ago when AMT/MPC/Polar Lights were more or less out of production. It's only been in the last year or so that has apparently stabilized and products from Round 2 have slowly been making their way to Hobby Lobby. They may just be a more cautious in picking up the products again than your LHS, at least as far as Round 2 products go. Moebius is a new company and again they may be overly cautious. Your LHS is going to be more responsive.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

Hobby Lobby is primarily a crafts store- I am surprised it even has a model section at all. What self space they do have is devoted to the kits which a majority of the customers will buy- and however horrible it is remember SciFi kits are a niche market. They probably sell 20 tank or cars kits for every SciFi kit. The store near me carries the Repoped TOS Galactica, PL 1/1000 Trek and Revell Star Wars kits. That is not bad considering the amount of shelf space in an aisle they take up. About a quater of the model section is paint and airbrush supplies- and my LHS does not even deal with the Airbrush stuff.
Hobby Lobby is not a perfect place to get SciFi kits, but with the 40% coupons printed from the internet it is a good place to get kit-bash kits.

.


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## LGFugate (Sep 11, 2000)

Why doesn't Hobby Lobby carry Sci-Fi kits? Mostly because they don't sell. The PL NX-01 and Refit kits sat on their shelves unbought until they went on clearance. Even Realspace kits like the Atomic City 1/12th scale Mercury Capsule kit couldn't sell (except to me!). One thing is price. These kits are EXPENSIVE! Sure, there are expensive sub, ship, and armor models. They sell better, I don't know why... I wouldn't look for them to carry any of the Moebius kits, and probably just a few of the Round2 kits.

Larry


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## halcyon_daze (Jan 6, 2004)

LGFugate said:


> Why doesn't Hobby Lobby carry Sci-Fi kits? Mostly because they don't sell. The PL NX-01 and Refit kits sat on their shelves unbought until they went on clearance. Even Realspace kits like the Atomic City 1/12th scale Mercury Capsule kit couldn't sell (except to me!). One thing is price. These kits are EXPENSIVE! Sure, there are expensive sub, ship, and armor models. They sell better, I don't know why... I wouldn't look for them to carry any of the Moebius kits, and probably just a few of the Round2 kits.
> 
> Larry


You want to know the sad truth about why military subjects sell better (and this comes from someone who builds military subjects as well as sci fi)?

War and violence sells in America. Constantly. There is a lot more fascination with conflict than with peaceful endeavors that elevate the human condition. My personal theory anyway.


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## jackshield (May 20, 2008)

i agree with larry, hobby lobby stocks what sells. they used to have a larger selection, but the hobby is shrinking, especially the sci-fi part.

with that being said, hobby lobby goes online with inventory jan 1, so you will be able to order online, it might open the selection beyond what your local store has.

....and my big dummy story....
i saw the 1/350 nx-01 on clearance for 13.95 each one day, and didnt buy 1, much less all of them, wow, what a bonehead move!


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## mb1k (May 6, 2002)

My Hobby Lobby resume:

1X 1/350 NX-01
4X Re-ish BSG Vipers
1X Cylon Raider
1X Cylon Base Star
2X Robby Robot

All bought on 40% coupons.

I too was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the 1/350 STMP Refit. It was never to be, so I ordered it from Tower Hobbies or something like that. 

But if you want the 1/72 U-Boats, or 1/350 Titanics you're set. That's a good thing too, I'm going to do those some day as well.

Michael's, I got the $300 compressor for $150 though. Score.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

halcyon_daze said:


> You want to know the sad truth about why military subjects sell better (and this comes from someone who builds military subjects as well as sci fi)?
> 
> War and violence sells in America. Constantly. There is a lot more fascination with conflict than with peaceful endeavors that elevate the human condition. My personal theory anyway.


To a degree, I concur with this theory; most people would rather go see a plane crash than a circus. But I believe there is a large percentage of modelers whose interest in history, rather than their interest in warfare and violence, drives their desire to build military models.

And I'm sure there's a large degree of personal connection to military hardware in modeling--pilots who want to replicate the aircraft they've flown, sailors who want to build a scale replica of the ship(s) they've served on, etc.. Our own John Payne has a section of his website dedicated to the models he's built that are miniature replicas of some of the aircraft his father Jack piloted during WWII. It's clearly a source of pride, and a well-deserved tribute to his father's contribution to his country throughout his distinguished military career. I'd like to believe this kind of personal pride accounts for the sales of more military kits than a general interest in war and violence does.


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## Toecutter (Sep 3, 2006)

I remember the days when I could walk into the 5 and Dime and buy a Romulan BoP for a few bucks from my allowance, and every store carried a large line of models and supplies. Now, even TRU quit carrying them. So did my Wal-Mart.
Perhaps if I email Hobby Lobby corporate and complain, explaining what would be cool, they might get an idea. I can send a link to Round2's website. It's funny that HL sells all these supplies, but few really good kits. In my area, out of 2 aisles, 1 is nothing but cars and bikes, but I keep seeing the same kits there for months on end.
They did carry the new Millennium Falcon, but was around $50.


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## skinnyonce (Dec 17, 2009)

Boy brother you got that right,, heck kids today probably dont even build models. they play games and join gangs -all that violent crap


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

skinnyonce said:


> Boy brother you got that right,, heck kids today probably dont even build models. they play games and join gangs -all that violent crap


Yep, they're too busy playing video games, texting, blogging even though they have nothing to say (using poor grammar and misspellings in the process), and driving around like they're auditioning for the next _Fast and Furious_ film while being rude and inconsiderate to everyone they encounter...when they're not complaining about having to actually _work_ for a living, that is.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

It is all about having it NOW, no waiting, immediate gratification. My sister's kids get frustrated when a video game takes thirty seconds to load.
This is because the world they grew up in is much faster- I still remember having to wait for the B&W TV to warm up before the set would begin to work...

.


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

Richard Baker said:


> I still remember having to wait for the B&W TV to warm up before the set would begin to work...



HaHa, I remember doing that t.......crap. I'm old. But nothing beat the smell of those vacum tubes heating up and the soft amber glow they gave off deep inside the TV set..........crap, I'm old.........


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Not to mention watching the glow of the tv screen s-l-o-w-l-y fade to black when you turned it off. Ah, those were the days...


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

Remember the odd target graphic, with sometimes an Indian chief head, that would fill the screen when the network 'signed off' and ended their broadcast day?

I may be old (51), but one nice thing is I really appreciate how fast and cool things are now. I had to use a frakk'n Sliderule in chemestry class!

.


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

I remember trips to the local convience store with my dad and a handfull of vacuum tubes to use on their tester to see which one was bad.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

The good old Radio Shack Tube Tester- I got more than one TV working again for me. The new ones you might as well throw out and buy another.
Wasn't it Quasar that advertised their super TV line with 'The Works in a Drawer'? A slide out pod with all cricical electronic service things in one place- you did not even have to move the set from the wall- it slid out the front. Of course the idea of a selling point bing that a devise would be easy to fix is weird now- they refuse to adnit the things will ever need to be servided.

.


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## Bruce Bishop (Jan 17, 1999)

I think the reason nobody talks about service and repairing electronic things like tv's, computers, etc. is because the cost to repair them is literally almost always much more than it costs you to just buy a replacement. I found that out the hard way a few years ago and now I don't worry about it any more. But it sure seems strange to me now that I'm such an old geezer.


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## Noseart (Dec 17, 2009)

It amazes me that in an era of so much "environmental awareness" the world throws electronics away like newspaper.
I work on electronics at times and it's mind boggling that the SMD electronics are limited to only so many hours of service, which is very low, while conventional parts can go a life time. I recently purchased some capacitors & noticed the SMD cap had a life rating of a 1000 hours compared to a conventional cap which is 50,000.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I think one reason is the level of integration is such you annot replace the equivelent of one tube- when a PC motherboard goes out you cannot remove anything to fix- you have to swap the whole board (something I just did today on one of my machines). I used to have a malfunctioning VCR repaiired, until the shops which did so went out of business and you could replace it for $30.

.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Noseart said:


> It amazes me that in an era of so much "environmental awareness" the world throws electronics away like newspaper.
> I work on electronics at times and it's mind boggling that the SMD electronics are limited to only so many hours of service, which is very low, while conventional parts can go a life time. I recently purchased some capacitors & noticed the SMD cap had a life rating of a 1000 hours compared to a conventional cap which is 50,000.


Make no mistake, it's all about the almighty buck. If any of these manufacturers made products that lasted forever (or, to use your term, a life time) they would have little or no repeat business--you wouldn't have to replace your television (or whatever) every five to ten years, and their profits would plummet. A former supervisor once made a comment to me that seems to still hold true: "American-made products are made to _sell_, not to use."


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