A walk down memory lane!

[bob letterman]

I remember when hobby shops looked like this! I was very young and to me, they were the most exciting stores anywhere!

 

[Iron Mike]

I'd second that emotion.

 

[ausf]

My earliest memories were in Brownie's Hobbies. Whether you went in flush with your lawn cutting money or just to look at the ceiling and dream, Mr Brown would greet you with a bright and warm 'Hello young fella!'

Back in those days it was Aurora kits by the shelf full, stick and tissue kits, RC and rubber band and cars. He had a race track behind the store and and ran competitions non stop. Actually got the NYC Parks Dept to build a RC airfield in one on the parks.

All of that was out of my scope in the early days, but it wouldn't stop Mr Brown from spending hours helping me while adults with cash waited. It was (and still is) a true family owned business, they lived above the store. Mr Brown passed a few years ago, but his sons still run it. I was so jealous of them when I was a kid since they were my age and were living in a dreamland.

I've moved away 20 years ago, but have taken my sons for visits over the years and we we always greeted with 'Hello Young fellas' and always left wit a kit in each our our hands, whether we needed it or not.

It was such a serious hobby shop, when I opened my effects shop back in the 80s, I was two blocks away and probably went there three times a week for push pull cables, K&S stock or various epoxies and glues.


Here is Mr and Mrs Brown. She's no slouch either, she could give advice or know stock as well as anyone. I remember her giving me prop and motor recommendations for a Dumas PT 109 when was 18 or so.

 

[bob letterman]

My earliest memories were in Brownie's Hobbies. Whether you went in flush with your lawn cutting money or just to look at the ceiling and dream, Mr Brown would greet you with a bright and warm 'Hello young fella!'

Back in those days it was Aurora kits by the shelf full, stick and tissue kits, RC and rubber band and cars. He had a race track behind the store and and ran competitions non stop. Actually got the NYC Parks Dept to build a RC airfield in one on the parks.

All of that was out of my scope in the early days, but it wouldn't stop Mr Brown from spending hours helping me while adults with cash waited. It was (and still is) a true family owned business, they lived above the store. Mr Brown passed a few years ago, but his sons still run it. I was so jealous of them when I was a kid since they were my age and were living in a dreamland.

I've moved away 20 years ago, but have taken my sons for visits over the years and we we always greeted with 'Hello Young fellas' and always left wit a kit in each our our hands, whether we needed it or not.

It was such a serious hobby shop, when I opened my effects shop back in the 80s, I was two blocks away and probably went there three times a week for push pull cables, K&S stock or various epoxies and glues.


Here is Mr and Mrs Brown. She's no slouch either, she could give advice or know stock as well as anyone. I remember her giving me prop and motor recommendations for a Dumas PT 109 when was 18 or so.

Great story Jeff!!

I'll bet most of the guys here have a story like those!

Because of VLS, I visited Hobby shops all over North and South America, Europe and Asia. I've seen really great ones as well as really bad ones. (Toy stores that call themselves hobby stores).

Almost certainly, the very best of the best, at least that I have seen was actually in St. Louis. Astro Hobbies on Watson Road. An old grouch named Charlie owned it. He had everything available at the time, plus everything that was out of production and unavailable. Plus he had things back in the late 60s, early 70s, I had never seen before or since. Gotta tell you, being a major player in the hobby business for 25 years, importing from countries that you would never dream had hobbies, I still have no idea where Charlie got all that stuff.

When you walked into the store, it was like a dream. Charlie had one of each item on the shelf, signs everywhere telling you not to touch any kit, and, if you did, he would scream at you to the top of his lungs. If you wanted to buy a kit, you told Charlie what kit, and he would get it from another room. That's why he had one of everything. That way, he always kept the shelves neat and straightened, and only sold the duplicates from the back room. I never once saw the guy smile, but, nobody cared, Charlie had the best stuff anywhere. I remember going in there once in my police uniform, buying a bunch of kits and when I wrote a check in payment, he wanted three photo I.D.s, checked me out on some kind of device that monitored bad check writers. Hell, had I written him a bad check and he called it in, I very well would have got the call! Charlie was something else.

It was one of those places back then that you couldn't wait to get home and look at what you bought as Charlie would never let you handle even the stuff from the back. After you paid, he put it all in a bag and you weren't welcome to hang around and look at them in the store.

Sometime in the early 1980s, Charlie was bought out by a really nice couple, Milt and Ethyl, who were as friendly as they come. They ran it for 20 or so years, it is long gone today, but, although still a good shop, it was never the same as when Charlie had it. That was where I met Wes Bradley, an MA member and, not only a long time employee of VLS, but one of my very best friends to this day!

Back then I always loved the really old and musty hobby shops where it seemed like the owner had so much stuff, even he didn't know what he had. The ones you would spend hours rummaging through piles of models looking for that Holy Grail of a kit that you had heard of but never actually seen! Like those old Airfix Shackletons with rivets in scale the size of baseballs. Those were the days. The closest to that in St. Louis was CRM, owned by Chris Merseal. Now even that is gone. The internet has a lot of great stuff, and they sell it cheap, but, for me, there will never be anything like those wonderful old hobby shops!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I guess I got lucky when I moved to Memphis 11 years ago. There is one of those shops here. It owned by an older guy by the name of Emmo. He must have about 8 or 10 people that work there at least part time and you will never know what you will find in there. In it's history it moved several times. I first visited it when it was across the parking lot in a much smaller location. He has always bought up collections and such so that is why you will never know what you will find. About 5 or 6 years ago he bought a HUGE collection of Warhammer 40k stuff as well as a double hobby shop size amount of armor. The 40k stuff must have amounted to collectables and stuff going back at least a decade and I am sure the original retail probably would do a startup on 2 or 3 GW stores today. Anyway that all opened his eyes to the gamer community (Ugh! ) and he expanded to where he is now. Being a "trusted" customer has been a special privalege and allowed me to obtain many items that were not out to the regular public.

It is a great place to go and hang for an hour or 2 and there are always folks there doing something.

 

[Paulw]

Paul will probably remember the names of the hobby shops around Tulsa from the mid 70's. I Remember the shops but not the names. There was one in East Tulsa that was killer and a couple of others that have gone the way of the dodo, sort of like my memory. I do remember all the fun I had perusing the isles of all the different boxes.

R/C stuff galore as well as plastic kits of every shape and size. Christmas time was a special time because of all the new stuff they got in and all the decorations lent to the excitement of a possible purchase. Is aw that 1/32 Hasegawa F-86 in all of its golden glory and I remember that the kit was pretty close to 70.00 and even at that price Dad and Mom scrimped for months to get me that kit for Christmas. I think that was about '73 or '74. Two years later I joined the navy and learned about likker and wimmins. :drunk :drunk :drunk

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I do remember several of the early Tulsa hobby shops Paul. There was H&H hobbies that was in Southland mall if I remember correctly. There was Ted's Hobbies on 31st street just west of Mingo. There was S&S Hobbies out in Broken Arrow on Main Street and Gene's Hobbies around 45th and Peoria in Tulsa.

Ted ended up with bad health problems and there was a fire in his shop which totaled it. H&H just went away. Gene's Hobbies was purchased by a friend of mine and became OK Hobbies and Games which relocated to 39th and Peoria behind where there is a Coney Islander. When Albertson's bought the land it relocated to 71st and Lewis and then to someplace on Harvard and went away. S&S was in Broken Arrow for years but specialized in trains mostly and it went away finally as well. Those are all that I remember from the Tulsa area Paul.

Let's not forget Royal out in Owasso though I think that shop is being purchased or something such and then will relocate as well. I think Papa Bob has visited there a few times.

 

[bob letterman]

I do remember several of the early Tulsa hobby shops Paul. There was H&H hobbies that was in Southland mall if I remember correctly. There was Ted's Hobbies on 31st street just west of Mingo. There was S&S Hobbies out in Broken Arrow on Main Street and Gene's Hobbies around 45th and Peoria in Tulsa.

Ted ended up with bad health problems and there was a fire in his shop which totaled it. H&H just went away. Gene's Hobbies was purchased by a friend of mine and became OK Hobbies and Games which relocated to 39th and Peoria behind where there is a Coney Islander. When Albertson's bought the land it relocated to 71st and Lewis and then to someplace on Harvard and went away. S&S was in Broken Arrow for years but specialized in trains mostly and it went away finally as well. Those are all that I remember from the Tulsa area Paul.

Let's not forget Royal out in Owasso though I think that shop is being purchased or something such and then will relocate as well. I think Papa Bob has visited there a few times.

Is that what Top Shelf used to be called, Paul? Been there once, VLS used to supply him, and he remembered me, so now I just call him and he sends out my orders! Really nice shop, carries a lot of aftermarket! Wish he was here in Springfield!

Bob

 

[Jeeves]

Had a couple nice ones growing up in Plattsburgh, but the best one of all was in the chain MJ Designs, which is now a Michaels. The guy who was in the charge of the hobby section was ex-Air Force and he still runs the IPMS chapter there- Frank Baere. His hobby section was a whole long aisle and had everything....I used to drool over the Accurate Miniatures stuff when it first came out as he had them all in stock. Some of the paints I still use today 20 years later are still good and came from there!

 

[Paulw]

I do remember several of the early Tulsa hobby shops Paul. There was H&H hobbies that was in Southland mall if I remember correctly. There was Ted's Hobbies on 31st street just west of Mingo. There was S&S Hobbies out in Broken Arrow on Main Street and Gene's Hobbies around 45th and Peoria in Tulsa.

Ted ended up with bad health problems and there was a fire in his shop which totaled it. H&H just went away. Gene's Hobbies was purchased by a friend of mine and became OK Hobbies and Games which relocated to 39th and Peoria behind where there is a Coney Islander. When Albertson's bought the land it relocated to 71st and Lewis and then to someplace on Harvard and went away. S&S was in Broken Arrow for years but specialized in trains mostly and it went away finally as well. Those are all that I remember from the Tulsa area Paul.

Let's not forget Royal out in Owasso though I think that shop is being purchased or something such and then will relocate as well. I think Papa Bob has visited there a few times.

Is that what Top Shelf used to be called, Paul? Been there once, VLS used to supply him, and he remembered me, so now I just call him and he sends out my orders! Really nice shop, carries a lot of aftermarket! Wish he was here in Springfield!

Bob

Royal's store in Owasso is Top Shelf, Bob. The Sale of the store didn't go through because Royal's wife came down with an illness so Greg, the president of the Tulsa IPMS won't be buying him out anytime soon. I remember H&H and Ted's now, Paul and don't forget Wings and Things on Peoria although they were mostly set up for R/C. Too many hands in the till there so it folded.

I know people need to make a living but those shops just can't compete with the web stores now. It's sad really that a lot of those stores are drying up. Hobby Town and Hobby Lobby are about the only game in town if you want styrene. High tech kits will have to be ordered in so if you want something like the Academy 32 scale stuff you have to go on line.

Some neat info for Paul. If you go to the Atwoods in Sand Springs you may find some plastic there also but that would mostly be around the holidays. I think they order directly from Hobbyco.

 

[jknaus]

I wish I had some pics of my dads shops. He started a small hobby shop in the hardware store he helped manage and it soon expanded into a full shop. Trains , models, RC etc. The largest Brass engine display in London. He used to build train layouts for people such as the Labatt family and the Molson's. Then when the owner sold the store he started another shop. I worked in both starting at about 9 yrs old. Dad also brought in RC helicopters and was the North American distributer for Schluter and he did the first 3 Nationals with people from all over Canada, the States and as far away as Germany and Switzerland. Busy times then. I really miss the old store and the magic within.
James