Retail Selling

Are you saying that Target is SUPPOSED to do that? Who says?

-BM

I think what he means is that Target is a distributor for Polar Light and therefore it is reasonable to expect his local branch also to sell them. Apologies if I'm wrong.

(kim)

The local Target here has a limited stock of toys and NO models. I asked a department manager once about it (having seen an ad for models at Target in an out-of-city publication) and was informed that he wasn't going to bother carrying "that crap" that nobody but a few kids that never grew up would be interested in. I've never been back there.

-- John (aka the Old Timer)

The store manager would have heard from me. Had this other manager ever heard of a concept called "a birthday present for my nephew?"

I'm lucky - I can keep my nephew in models until he's out of college, just by taking a few out of my stash every holiday. But if sub-managers are going to talk like that, store managers want to hear it.

E.P.

Target stores in my area do NOT sell any models. However, Walmart stores do. They have a reasonable selection for a department store. My local store had a lot of Burago car kits recently at good prices.

I'm not concerned it I hear that at Target. But when I hear it from the HOBBY SHOP employee who's into RC or trains (sorry, "Model Railroading") then I get my feelings hurt.

That's when I have to remember that there is a wounded little child inside that hostile RC/Railroad snob and I can't remember wounding him but I certainly wanted to...

:P

The owner of a huge hobby shop in this area once told me the same thing using the same derogitory term re a line of publications.

Like you I never returned and that was twenty years ago. Now he is going out of business and I might go down to Mt.View and see what I can find at less than he paid for it.

Tom

Hi Tom. So who is going to miss them. If "going out pf business" is the same as "going belly up" I can only say hurrah.Their attitude toward their customers (read as source of money) was the worst I have ever experienced. From the top Bob J to the lowliest pimple faced clerk all they wanted to do was get their hand in your pocket . I can still smell their stench all the way here in Florida. Support your local hobby shop that gives a damn about you and your interest in modeling. Pete

Tom, don't forget to remind the mongrel of the fact - he (or she) needs to know why no-one bothers with them.

Unfortunately 'customer service' is starting to be an oxymoron now (like my brother in law and his welder).

Andrew

Hmmm...maybe Martha could be convinced to market models? At least she has the distribution part nailed down.

-Bill

Sounds like the time I was in a strange Kmart and asked directions to the models. The young lady who helped me find them allowed as how there weren't too many as they were being discontinued. That prompted me to remark that there was another reason not to come to Kmart. I did find the models and brought a few items home to join the rest of the gang here. It's kind of sad watching Kmart flounder around. I used to spend much money there but lately they just aren't carrying what I want. And somewhere I have this feeling that back in the hardware section there's a wrench set with Martha's name on it. It seems to be on everything else.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

The Wal-Marts here carry some models, but the types depend by location. In the northern part of the County (the urbanized area) they carry aircraft, cars and armor (No space or sci-fi, dammit) while in the southern, rural part of the county, the emphasis is on NASCAR and other automotive racers.

-- John (aka the Old Timer)

What I hate seeing is a department that just has some kind of "blanket" display... AAFES falls into that category. What I mean by blanket is a section with just the standards: Revel-Monogram planes, mostly 1/72 and some cars. Then the starter paint collections.. MAYBE some individual bottles, but nothing special. Allot of museums are like this too... impulse kits for the kits. Biggest surprise: the models sold at Boeing's Museum in Seattle. A beautiful selection of kits from Hassey, Revel of Deutschland, Tamya.... even a couple of Sword. All kinds of scales. Whoever was in charge of that department knew what they were supplying. I wanted to support them, but the sugarmomma held me down....

FWIW If he lasted 20 years he must have been doing something right. Most small business's fold in a lot less time. And he probably won't have much in there that will be of interest to you so why waste the gas. True, he didn't cater to your interests, but the HO and RC crowds are the big money players in today's hobby arena. That's simply the way it is. I'm lucky, I have a small shop a few blocks away who specializes in HO but also carries a good selection of plastic for the IPMS crowd here in Baltimore.

Bill Shuey

Bill Shuey