Hobby Town USA

Hi,
A hobby Town USA just opened up near my house and I was wondering if its a good store for models and modeling supplies and how are there prices?
thanks

Decent prices. about average. atleast in my neighborhood.

They're high around me; I live near seven hobby shops and Hobbytown is one of the more expensive ones.

I live near 3 Hobby Towns, good selection, and a little bit over priced. However, sometimes I'd rather pay for the locality rather than ordering something and paying shipping...and then waiting for it to arrive.

in my area there is only two hobbytowns in the state, and not a lot of hobby shops, i don't know why. The prices are decent, very good selection except they don't carry many fujimi or aoshima kits, sometimes you could get a deal. Two tamiya kits i got were 25% off!!

I like the hobby town usa in my area b/c they usually carry a few aoshima and fujimi kits, but they can almost always order any kit i need or find it somewhere for me.
a new one just opened a few weeks before christmas closer to where i live (the other one is near where i work), and they had the biggest selection of tamiya, aoshima, fujimi kits i've seen here in alabama. they are a bit expensive but i have to agree with mike, i'm too impatient to wait for a good deal unless i'm just stocking up on kits. If i want a specific kit and they have it i'll gladly pay what their asking.

I went to one in Charleston last year, the prices were a bit high but they had a good selection, I would expect higher prices are standard in tourist towns like Charleston.


Lil'budman

HobbyTown is hit or miss. I visit 2 different ones every now and then. One has a slim selection and the other has a vast selection of Aoshima, Tamiya and Fujimi with a case dedicated to accessories like wheels, hydros, decals etc.

One thing is universal. The price is average-to-slightly overpriced.

slightly over priced in my area, and they are the ONLY true hobby store with accessories and a great selection of car model specific building supplies.

I work at my local Hobbytown. We carry a big selection of car models, Tamiya, Revell-Monogram, AMT, some Aoshima. The great thing is we can order almost any model from any manufacturer, as long as our distributor (Great Planes or Horizon Hobby) has one in stock.

And yeah, our prices are a little high... :iceslolan (that's okay, because I get an employee's discount!)

I live near 3 Hobby Towns, good selection, and a little bit over priced. However, sometimes I'd rather pay for the locality rather than ordering something and paying shipping...and then waiting for it to arrive.

Ditto!

Each Hobbytown is an independant franchise, so they're not all the same. I live near GTmike, and have been to a couple of Hobbytowns in this area...prices can be high, but if they've got what you're looking for then it might be worth it to save time ordering and waiting for something. I rarely buy kits there unless they're on sale, though I did buy a Bomex RX7 there when they were new for about $30. They occasionally have good Pegasus or Aoshima wheel sets, and of course they've always got a good stock of paints/glues/tools.

We have the biggest Hobbytown in the US here, and it really isn't all that great for model car guys...the prices on many items are overinflated above retail, especially on aftermarket items. They have occasional sales, but it's not worth my time to drive across town to visit them. They have a great selection, but in general the Japanese kits I like are much less expensive over the internet (shipping included) that it's just not worth buying it at Hobbytown unless you plan to build it now. And for domestic kits and some Tamiya, I'm perfectly happy to wait for Hobby Lobby sales :biggrin: .

I have to go to hobby town this week, and heres a good reason why I like it.

I need some 5/16" Aluminum Bar. $0.66 from my supplier, and $4 shipping. Where as hobby town its $1.50-$2.00 and $0 for shipping.

I live about 2 miles from a HobbyTown store. Prices on models are higher than most places. Mine has a small assortment of aftermarket parts. Lots of tools and supplies. I have bought LOTS of Plastruct styrene stuff in the year they have been open, but that's about it.

Marc

BTW, Hobby Town has a great deal on styrene. At least mine do. When I buy the packs of large sheets, or lots long strips its often times less expensive.

Hobbytown doesnt seem to stock too many Tamiya, Aoshima, or Fujimi kits. Atleast that's what I've seen.

Hobbytown doesnt seem to stock too many Tamiya, Aoshima, or Fujimi kits. Atleast that's what I've seen.

It depends on the particular store. One here in town carries a ton of Tamiya, Fujimi, and Aoshima kits. Tamiyas are full retail, and the Fujimi and Aoshima kits are all priced between $29.99 and $60.00, the Fujimi kits always ending up the most expensive to the point of being ridiculous...$44.00 for a Honda Civic? Why? When the Lamborghini Murcielago is cheaper??? I refuse to buy Fujimi kits locally, they cost a lot less ordering them over the internet straight from Japan.

hobby town took over my local shop. the prices got better (full retail before) and the seletion is about the same. We have 2. they have the same modeling stuff except one doesn't stock all tamiya colors

sorry about resurrecting this thread but... i went to a Hobby Town for the first time today. it sucked bad. it was way over priced, especially tools and after-market stuff. the selection was aweful as well. i was very disapointed. my LHS back home is mostly military but it kicked the crap out of this store. i was very excited to go and had $200 to spend. i only bought a Tamiya Lotus Seven ($12), a gb Revell BMW 507 Cabrio ($22), some flocking, and Detail Master Carbon Fiber (not to great either). Normally i walk into a hobby shop with $$$ and i leave oweing someone $$$. Cant wait to get back home to spend the rest at my LHS. its Hub Hobby (hubhobbyshop.com) by the way. they do web sales and can get most every thing you want even if its not on the site. just give them the product # and theyll find it if its in production!!!

I've been to two in town here in Vegas. What a difference!!

One is stocked to the gills in every department. The car/bike section is about 40 feet wide and piled to the ceiling. They seem to have just had a heavy restock from the asian vendors, as they now have a [Fujimi + Aoshima] to [everything else] ratio of 1:1.

On the other side of town, the HobbyTown is meek. They have maybe 2 dozen [Tamiya + Hasegawa + Revell of Germany kits], tops. They have about 8 shelf-feet of [Revell/Monogram + AMT + Polar Lights] kits. They also have one up-high shelf with one of the weirdest batch of large scale kits I've seen, but the only one I can rememeber is Tamiya's 1/12 240Z. :cool: What with AF's Twelfth Scale Fever, I've been eyeing it... :uhoh:

What with AF's Twelfth Scale Fever, I've been eyeing it... :uhoh:

Go on...you know you want it :grinno:

I have to go to hobby town this week, and heres a good reason why I like it.

I need some 5/16" Aluminum Bar. $0.66 from my supplier, and $4 shipping. Where as hobby town its $1.50-$2.00 and $0 for shipping.

You can get stuff like that at any hardware store as well, and it's always neat to walk through those places and see if there's anything else you can use (ie washers for brakes, maybe)

There's a Hobby Town in College Station and it's eh at best. The good thing is that they have styrene, which I bought a lot of when working on the Mustang. The bad news is, they don't carry Tamiya paints. Nobody does in the area. There's a Hobby Town in Ft. Collins, CO, the first one I'd ever heard of, and they had an outrageous selection, tons of tools, paints, etc. The best thing they have in my hometown, Midland TX is a Hobby Lobby and they are pathetic at best. I'd never even heard of Tamiya until moving to Colorado for a year.

You can get stuff like that at any hardware store as well, and it's always neat to walk through those places and see if there's anything else you can use (ie washers for brakes, maybe)


Yea, I go through from time to time. But they didnt have any large dia rod.