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Author Topic: The sad decline of the model shop  (Read 79426 times)

maninthestreet

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omra85

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2007, 06:49:43 pm »

With comments like the one at the bottom of the article -

In December, Midweek's sister paper the South Bucks Star reported that Wycombe was one of the "nerdiest" towns in the country based on the number of model shops it had - but Wycombe Models is the last shop left open.

It's hardly surprising that the youth of today think the only use for a craft knfe is to stab each other with!!

Danny1
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PSSHIPS

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2007, 08:56:30 pm »

Very sad and how bizzar, someone got their facts seriously wrong with the nerdiest town bit then?

 Unfortunately its getting the same for all manufacturer's and shops in the UK.

 But, on a lighter note, I had the builders in today looking at my leaky roof and they all wanted one of our models funnily enough!

 There may be hope still?
 Paul...
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cdsc123

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2007, 08:59:36 pm »

We are NOT nerds.


We are geeks.
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PSSHIPS

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2007, 09:08:12 pm »

MEGGA GEEKS, the nerds are the one's that buy these Chinese things!
 Paul...
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omra85

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2007, 10:12:51 pm »

I bought a chinese take-away last weekend - is it too late  :o :o :o

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PSSHIPS

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2007, 10:16:13 pm »

DOOMED!
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J.beazley

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2007, 10:18:16 pm »

What about those of us that buy both  :o ??? ;D

Jay
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Jonty

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2007, 10:18:48 pm »

  Whilst sympathetic, I really don't understand how their rates bill can be so high. Their premises must be huge. I claim a 50% small business discount and pay only about £2500pa on my hardware/DIY shop.

  What frightens me is officialdom. A year ago contractors arrived to extend the nearby bus stop to 30m long, making it impossible to park outside the shop. The council says it sent out consultation letters. It didn't, and would have taken no notice anyway. If they paint double yellows the other side of the road that will be the end of my business. And something worth £50.000 will become worthless overnight.

  A florist down in the city centre has just closed after many years. Why? Elf 'n safety stopped him displaying his wares on the pavement outside his shop.

  We have a government with no understanding of small business, and an army (40% of the working population) of busybodies who feel the need to justify their jobs and secure index-linked pensions. And they're paid by us!
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maninthestreet

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2007, 11:23:50 pm »

Where are all the other model shops in High Wycombe then  ???
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Guy Bagley

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2007, 01:22:54 pm »

it depends when the research was done, if it was done a long while ago there were a couple of so called 'model shops' in HW

 eg childs along desborough road, also the old keens shop on the top floor of the old octagon also there was dare i say it beatties.......( well it sold plastic kits) there is 3 for a start and i have n't really sat down and thought about it.....

any model shop closing is a loss, i guess the rates are so high due to the engineering shop it backs onto ????

i must admit there is not alot in that shop for boaters,  but i used it for paint and materials over the years.....
sad to see another one go.....
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gary r uk

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2007, 03:29:00 pm »

Hi guy
you must admit there customer service would not look out of place in a dentention centre it was awful
cheers
gary
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Didge

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2007, 10:48:19 am »

It's the future of Britain. 'Clone' towns, where every high street looks exactly the same as any other. It is getting increasingly hard, as time goes by, to find a high street that is not full of the usual suspects.
Big business rules, the little man has very little chance now, and that's after 10 years of Labour. I've seen far too many small firms go under in that 10 years. >:(
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DickyD

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2007, 11:14:36 am »

We have one model shop in Southampton that just deals in cars [not even paint ]. Our nearest decent model shops are in Portsmouth and Westbournes in Bournemouth
A sad reflection on the way things are heading, Internet shopping ?
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OneBladeMissing

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2007, 12:04:34 pm »

 Whilst sympathetic, I really don't understand how their rates bill can be so high. Their premises must be huge. I claim a 50% small business discount and pay only about £2500pa on my hardware/DIY shop.

  What frightens me is officialdom. A year ago contractors arrived to extend the nearby bus stop to 30m long, making it impossible to park outside the shop. The council says it sent out consultation letters. It didn't, and would have taken no notice anyway. If they paint double yellows the other side of the road that will be the end of my business. And something worth £50.000 will become worthless overnight.

  A florist down in the city centre has just closed after many years. Why? Elf 'n safety stopped him displaying his wares on the pavement outside his shop.


  We have a government with no understanding of small business, and an army (40% of the working population) of busybodies who feel the need to justify their jobs and secure index-linked pensions. And they're paid by us!
"... an army of busybodies ..."
Have you noticed how there's not enough money for potentially life-saving drugs or drugs to prevent people from going blind ... yet there's plenty of money for 'inspectors' to pry into our every action? ... and enforce the governments edicts?
We are paying through the nose for these clowns to keep watch on us all the time. A vast army of public employees who will vote Labour because as long as Labour is in power their jobs are guaranteed.
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maninthestreet

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #15 on: June 25, 2007, 12:23:40 pm »

it depends when the research was done, if it was done a long while ago there were a couple of so called 'model shops' in HW

 eg childs along desborough road, also the old keens shop on the top floor of the old octagon also there was dare i say it beatties.......( well it sold plastic kits) there is 3 for a start and i have n't really sat down and thought about it.....

any model shop closing is a loss, i guess the rates are so high due to the engineering shop it backs onto ????

i must admit there is not alot in that shop for boaters,  but i used it for paint and materials over the years.....
sad to see another one go.....

Child's closed in February of this year, Beatties went years ago, AFAIK. There used to be Cramarrs in the Octagon, but that's gone as well.
 
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bigH

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #16 on: June 25, 2007, 05:46:29 pm »

   There does seem to be a ray of hope with regards the loss of M/shops, a lot of shop traders have cut their losses and gone over to the internet with the result that modellors now have larger choice and the trader can cut his costs.   Maybye the hobbyists them selves are partly to blame, I hear a lot of club members  boasting how they got this and that direct from other countries at half the price.......  but there again. when suppliers translate $199.00  into £199.00 what can you expect???.
  I do not condem the shop trader for the rip off exchange? rate,  I blame us for putting up with rip-off wholesalers that set the import prices.     After all that though the good traders will survive if their customers remain loyal and traders continue to give good service to them.     bigH
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tigertiger

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2007, 02:29:18 am »

   There does seem to be a ray of hope with regards the loss of M/shops, a lot of shop traders have cut their losses and gone over to the internet with the result that modellors now have larger choice and the trader can cut his costs.   Maybye the hobbyists them selves are partly to blame, ...they got this and that direct from other countries at half the price.......  but there again. when suppliers translate $199.00  into £199.00 what can you expect???.
 

The flip side to this is that folks from Overseas can also shop from UK traders. I am in China and have boght good from UK and US. There was memeber on another thread from the US buying from the UK.

The future is internet trading. Like it or not.

You can get the choice you need and you can cut out some of the middle men. Becuase of this and some of the markups it is still cheapser to pay import duty and postage in some cases.
e.g. My Mary J Ward from Victor models cost me about 480 dollars including postage etc. In the UK I have only seen it on one site 450 quid.

But I have bought stuff from UK, duty free for export. The biggest killer is Royal Mail fee.

But for smaller traders they can reach a bigger audience. If they go it right a global audience, and not just the pople from a twenty mile radius.
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hastings246

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2007, 02:52:13 am »

Hello,
I live in the US and own four retail locations that deal in weightloss and I can tell you its not just model shops that have a hard time with retail. People here are becoming more and more reliant on the internet. There was even a huge shopping mall built and filled with all the big names. I know some people that work in these stores and still after two years they can't show a profit. Hobby stores here are non-existent and I lived in the Los Angeles. I really thing technology is the demise of most things that required thought. Think about it most items that people buy that deal with technology require less movement and thought. Cell phones, plasma sets, computers, video games, dvd. Don't get me wrong technology has done good things but it has also made us lazy that now driving to a store is too much work.
But without the internet I would never have been able to order great kits from traders like Sirmar and others.

Just a rant from the US
Sean ;)
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Bartapuss

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #19 on: June 26, 2007, 11:46:38 pm »

The big thing I think, is that to Joe Public, modellers are a bit, you know, weird eccentrics and almost feared a bit, like pedophiles.  I mean when ever the TV portrays a modeller, its always some middle aged bloke still living with his mother or some repressed spotty teenage boy who never comes out of his bedroom and should stop playing with his toy trains and start growing up, read dirty mags and kiss girls. Most young parents want their lads to be super athletes, swarve and street wise not nerds who disappear into the shed until the wee hours and only come out into the day light on a Sunday morning.

Another good example of how modellers are hated is, I needed a machining job doing, and those in the local vicinity (North Shields) I was invariably asked what the item was for??? as soon as I said modelling the expression on the face said it all and I would be told that they were too busy, one chap was very irate as soon as I told him "bloody modellers I'll do nowt for you's buggers, nowt but trouble" obviously one or two of my fellow club members must have proceeded me to his premises in the past.
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Peter Fitness

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #20 on: June 28, 2007, 01:10:31 am »

We must be rather spoilt here where I live, when I read the problems you seem to be having in the UK. We had a dedicated model shop in Ballina NSW Australia, where our marine modelling club is located, but it closed, and the owner, who is a member of both the marine modellers and the model flying club, kept his business accreditation, and now operates from home, while both he and his wife work in other jobs. The down side is that there is no shop front for us to go to, but the up side is that all are welcome at his home at most (reasonable) times, just ring first to ensure he is home, and he carries a good stock of most items applicable to both hobbies. We also have a big hobby and toy shop in Lismore, about 40km (25 miles) away, also run by a modeller, which carries an extensive stock of modelling gear, and the cheapest prices on Futaba radios I have seen anywhere. Mail order within Australia is also an option, with quite large hobby shops operating in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, and Melbourne, with the Melbourne one being specifically for boat modellers. I have dealt with them all at various times, and have never had a problem with service. And of course, if all else fails, there is always the internet. I have found Westbourne Models to be particularly good, with excellent and speedy service, even to the other side of the world. In future, if I do have a supply problem, I won't feel so hard done by!
Peter.
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big-geoff

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #21 on: June 29, 2007, 11:04:43 pm »

If you think you are suffering a porcity of Model shops, Try comming to the Isle of Wight, what there is does not carry anything that is usefull to the model boater.

Thank heavens for the internet and Westborne Models, Pandan, Model Dockyard and the Postie when he is not on strike.


Big-Geoff
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DickyD

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #22 on: June 29, 2007, 11:09:44 pm »

Should have thought you would still have plenty of shops on the I of W , after all you are 20 years behind the rest of us.  ;D
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justboatonic

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #23 on: July 01, 2007, 12:46:09 am »

 Whilst sympathetic, I really don't understand how their rates bill can be so high. Their premises must be huge. I claim a 50% small business discount and pay only about £2500pa on my hardware/DIY shop.

  
Not necessarily. Rates may be a lot higher in that part of the country. Small business rate relief is only applicable on premises where rateable value is below 15k a year. I know plenty of shops down south have rateable values at or above that and they are not big shops.

I've been in retail for a short time (3 years) and when I went into it, thought people would want a place that was customer focused, sold quality goods at a fair price. Not so! The majority of people just want the cheapest and only expect customer service when something goes wrong. Try and sell someone a better quality item and they think you just want to sell it because you get more profit (more often than not, the mark up is the same!). Try to give them info on the different qualities of similar products and they think you're trying to steer them away from what they want because you make more money on it! No, we just know the quality is different and is a better fit for your requirements.

Remember the advert about the guy in a camera shop wanting to buy a camera? The shop assistant shows him 2 cameras, both the same make at the same price only one is the newer model and has a better zoom facilty. The customer says, 'no, I'll have the other (older, inferior) one.' Believe me, it happens often!
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Seaspray

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Re: One less Model Shop
« Reply #24 on: July 15, 2007, 07:55:09 am »

Hi
Went to get a few things from our local model shop and it was closed . Making enquiries I was told it had gone.This is another model shop gone 202 Models, Chatham, Kent I only  use modelshops now and again like so many of us. What with kids wanting playstations, computer games and many of them inpatient and not able to build models these days. Couple that with the RTR models form China.  I do believe it is very hard business to be in and for some years now.

Hopefully this shop has went internet.
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