Finds from closing LHS
 

The owner of one of my local hobby shops passed away recently and his family decided to sell off the inventory and close the store down. I’ve been going to this store since the early 1980’s - I’d spend the profits from my paper route there more times than I could count.

There was a box labeled ‘Misc Estes Parts’ that I picked up for $15 which had a couple dozen small balsa nose cones, launch lugs, engine blocks, small body tube pieces, and these...

MPC Redstone Fins
MRI balsa adaptors
A3-6T motors
An old emergency repair kit
Estes FSS-4 launch controller
And an Estes Changing Bag/Portable darkroom

These have been hanging around that shop for decades (and got moved at one point from another location. Kind of neat to find, but sad that they’re closing down.

Chris

Good find, though I am sure the circumstances that initiated the sale had to be a downer. You are right though, several of those items go back a fair number of years. The Camroc film changing bag is something one does not see every day, that’s for sure.

Earl

Nice find! I'm sad another LHS closed though. It's a shame there wasn't a family member to carry it on.

Neat stuff! I consider myself fortunate that one family owned LHS was taken over by the owners son. He's expanded it, and carries not only a full Estes line (including every motor they make), but also all Aerotech HobbyLine kits & motors, Top-Flight chutes, Q-Jets, and Jolly Logic products. Some of these were my suggestion, and it's a challenge for him, since all but Estes are not available through distribution - he has to get his AT supplies direct from Aerotech now. And Rockets are probably 3rd after Trains and RC.

I do all the business I can there - when Estes comes out with a new kit, he'll set one aside when they come in, if I ask.

Paul,

Are you talking about Hiawatha?

Yes, Hiawatha Hobbies. Glenn is the son who's running the place now, though every once in a while I'll see one of his aging parents in the store. Even though they moved to a larger store a few years ago, it's packed full. They've dropped the "Jetco's" prefix, which, IIRC, was some combination of the founder's first names.

Aerotech charges him more for their products (relative to retail) then he used to get through distribution, though he still discounts a little.

We’ve lost at least three local hobby shops in my area (Western NY) in the last five or so years. Hobbytown closed when their landlord raised rent when a Walmart moved in next door. Niagara Hobby was a long, slow decline when the original owner passed away - it seemed like his son just had no real interest in running a hobby shop. Ace Hobby (the one I just went to) got hit with the COVID shutdown not long after the owner passed. If his family was on the fence about running a hobby shop before COVID, that could easily have pushed them to shut down.

We went to Arlington, TX in 1994 to visit my in laws and attend a Christening. While we were there I slipped out one day to check out a record store and I happened to pass a hobby shop that was going out of business in a strip mall. I stopped in to look for any NASCAR stocker models that they might have and found a fairly good size display of Estes kits. I picked up a Michael Waltrip Pontiac, an Estes Ninja and a pack of motors. I thought I could take the kids to the park and entertain them for an hour. My brother in law came home and found me building the Ninja. Neither of us had any idea the other had flown rockets when we were younger and Tony wanted to know where I'd found the Ninja. I told him and he said "Let's go!" We headed back to the hobby shop and he bought a couple of birds, one being a Bandit. Not sure of the other one. We put them together and flew them later in the week when he was off of work. Kids were feh, but Tony and I were reinterested. Our wives went to the shop and bought a bunch of kits for both of us. I got the Super Vega, Grey Hawk Orbital Interceptor and the Hornet. (I still have the Hornet unbuilt downstairs, but the other two have flown.) Pretty sure Tony got the Explorer Aquarius and the Phoenix, and maybe the Mercury Atlas. I built two of mine, but never got really interested due to lack of a decent size flying field and lack of anyone to fly with. Tony got in with DARS and would occasionally send me copies of his newsletters. I flew once a year with my son after that, but really got bit in 2001 when we visited Tony and his family in Akron and attended a Skybusters launch. I tried flying the Super Vega a few weeks back, but the launch lug was way too tight to be safe and I brought it home to change to a larger lug. Hopefully I'll get it flying before we're back to the corn.

Like Loosing a Friend
 

I have been lucky to have found much Treasure with the passing of to many Local Hobby Shops.
I have heard it said, that change is good, with change we grow. here in South Florida
( Ft. Lauderdale Area ).
I have seen the closing of 6 hobby shops. All of them open at least a decade, and some over two decades, even three.
To the north in Palm beach county I know of at least five shops that closed and some of these
dated back to the 1960's
To the south, At least six shops went away including the King of them all
Orange Blossom Hobbies.
Being a Child of the 1960's I am a romantic and just going into an old shop with wooden floors,
was a thrill to me. Yes I did good with getting a lot of Parts and other Model Rocketry items, as well as other hobby goodies.
The trade off the New Change is: I have 3 Hobby Lobby's within 10 miles of my house.
I have been to all of them at least once. and only 5 times total.
I would give back all of the old parts that I have, and they could have all 3 Hobby Lobby's
for just 1 of the old hobby shop's.
these Treasure finds will only make you happy so long the real Treasure was the Hobby Shop
it self.

Totally agree, Neal.
Thankfully I have several Nankin Hobby locations and The Prop Shop within an hour of my home, and most within 15 min of work location (if we ever go back to the offices regularly).