Don's Hobbies in Greeley Colorado Sold to New Owner?

Did you go back and show the "expert" what you were talking about? It always does a body good to tweak the so called experts.

Don

Don, Funny you should ask as my wife made the same comment the day this happened. By the time I got back from Greeley I decided it was not worth the effort. This was just one in a string of times I had been either given false information or told to buy something I did not need at Hobbytown. The very first time I went to Hobbytown USA to get back into the hobby in gliders the kid in the back tried to shove a 40 trainer down my throat and a six channel radio when I made it clear all I was looking for was a two channel radio and glider. The next time I went down and asked about electric powered gliders and planes. I got the "They don't work" routine and once again got a 40 trainer pitched at me. Hobbytown now has a whole section of those electric planes that don't work now, very strange. In these cases I drove down to Don's and either got assistance with what I wanted or information by someone who treated me like a friend instead of a mark to sell a full blown trainer to. The problem is that Hobbytown seems to hire college kids that spout off to prove their expertise and never listen to the customer to address their needs. I grew up and worked in the equal to Don's in Grand Junction "The Hobby Hut" run by my late friend Pete Nelson and now owned by his son Chris. So I am one picky bastard since I have worked both sides of the counter and as I said earlier take away good service in a hobby shop and you might as well buy cheaper from a catalog.

Bob Ruth AMA 720565

There are lots of local hobby stores that are not in your area. You don't necessarily have to do business with Tower. Find a local hobby store that you like, and call them on the phone. My favorite is Mike's Hobby Hangar in Carrollton, TX. He will sell you what you want and charge you actual shipping price. (I assume that Mike is still there. He was when I went about 6 years ago.)

Hobbytown USA stinks. The one suprise I ran into there was when they actually had that clear plastic sheeting for laying over plans. Spent 10 minutes trying to explain to the guy what Sigment was tho... I only go there when I really need a prop or something similar and cant make it down to Robin's Hobby in Burbank (supposed to re-open soon!), T&A's Hobby Lobby, Gizmos, or Hobbypeople in that order. Hobbytown USA is last resort.

I live in Nebraska but my daughter lives in Cheyenne. Everytime we go to visit her, I try to go down to Greeley to Don's. It seemed like he was always busy in there. I even called him one time to see if he had a discontinued motor mount that a friend needed and he had one. I asked him to hold it for me because we were coming out in a couple of days. He did and my friend is happy to have it. We have no hobby store here and the three closest ones are all Hobbytowns. I hope the new owner keeps it like it is.

Bruce

Actually, there is a really great hobby store here in Kansas City. We have Hobby Haven and Hobbytown dealers, but I don't ever go in those stores. Call Charlie at NRC Hobbies in Claycomo, Missouri. He will be happy to help anybody who calls him, and his prices are very competitive. I don't know if he does any mailing, but you can ask. I don't see why he wouldn't, because any merchant would want to make a sale. He's a heck of a nice guy. He's one of those guys who always helps newcomers, he buys and sells a lot of airplanes in his own personal collection, and he does his fair share of crashing. You couldn't find a better person to do business with.

Yeah and I think they are one the bigger scale train shops in the area too.

Things with wings is cramped with stuff usually piled up, but its because they probably stock at least double of what Dons does of RC planes and related stuff, especially giant scale stuff.

At any rate, I hope Dons continues to be a decent shop after this change.

-- Eric Kler Fubar Hill -

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inventory/audit and

Mickey's A-1 Hobby in Mesquite is also good. Mickey is in poor health; I hope the shop continues after he passes.

Texas RC Modelers in Plano is another good one in the Dallas area.

There is a Hobbytown USA pretty close to me. There is a plane guy there who is helpful and doesn't try to upsell you or lead you down a path of his choosing. They do have some employees who seem to be just floor sales people, not really hobby people. I guess it comes down to the franchisee how they operate. I can't complain about our Hobbytown; it's the closest to my house. If I need hardware or glue, and don't want to browse, I'll go to Hobbytown.

We actually have a couple more that are good; just further away than I'm willing to drive.

I like what Mike always said to me about shipping costs. When I moved to Kansas City I asked Mike if he would send me some small stuff, and how much his shipping charge was. He told me that if he could send it in an envelope it would cost me 29 cents (first class postage at that time) because he was in the hobby business, not the shipping business. I would recommend that anybody looking for a good hobby store give hime a call and do business with him. He has a web page, too.

Oh, and one more thing I've noticed: a lot of hobby shops now have an "online" catalog that is basically a link to Horizon's inventory, since it all emanates from hobbyshopnow.com (which it seems ordinary mortals may not access directly). Examples: Mike's Hobbies in Carrollton, and Don's Hobby Shop in Salinas, KS (who also advertises nationally in the RC magazines).This, it seems to me, is a good compromise between LHS and national distributor. I'd just as soon do business with a LHS, even if it's mail order business. Local Hobby Shops need to change with the times to survive, and the ones that do that have a better chance.

Ever notice the correlation between a good LHS with reliable help, and an active RC community? They seem to go hand in hand to me.