One of the store managers, a good friend, hinted that Global Hobby Dist owner of the HP store chain was shuttering, however a new warehouse was being prepared after the Fountain Valley CA Headquarters was closed, and perhaps a new company under the original name "Hobby Shack" would appear at some point. Paul Bender's original company was Hobby Shack. I still have a new in the box T40 highwing ARF "Trainer" I bought at the Hobby Shack that once was in Claremont Mesa, San Diego. I would DEFINETLY put 2+2=4 that the death of Bender had a great deal to do with the closing of Global Hobby Dist., he was ill for some time before. I think there was considerable financial problems at Global and some very bad management and marketing in recent years. They completely blew marketing the very good DHK line and lost much of their better RC Plane suppliers like BH Model.

Posted this in another forum too.


The biggest issue I had with the retail store was that they were also producing their own aircraft, car and boat kits. I never really thought they were up to the level as the mainstream brands. Unfortunately, to increase sales of their own product line, they removed 90% of the competition from the store. Watched brands disappear, one at a time.....How can you have an RC hobby store and not stock Futaba or Spektrum?
Tower Hobbies is slowly doing the same thing.

DH

Does not matter now ,
You guys aren't beating a dead horse are you????

Jcopter

Originally Posted by CaptDH

Posted this in another forum too.


The biggest issue I had with the retail store was that they were also producing their own aircraft, car and boat kits. I never really thought they were up to the level as the mainstream brands. Unfortunately, to increase sales of their own product line, they removed 90% of the competition from the store. Watched brands disappear, one at a time.....How can you have an RC hobby store and not stock Futaba or Spektrum?
Tower Hobbies is slowly doing the same thing.

DH

OK we all agree that Global / Hobby People was an incompetently badly run company.

But your assertion that Tower Hobbies is going the same route is absurd. First off they are the North American distributor for many major brands, Futaba/ Tactic (while also carrying Hitec in competition), distrib for Phoenix Models, Seagull Model, now adding VQ from Global, have for a LONG time the distrib for premier TopFlite and look at all the major brands of ARF's and Kits. They carry every brand of builder supplies and parts. There is just about every brand you can imagine in their catalog and online. TowerHobbies is 100x more diversified that closed house Hobby (Lobby) Express.

I'd suggest you look into a much newer Eyeglasses prescription,

The only bad part of losing a continent wide distributor / LHS chain is that there's less availability and competition. Prices may likely go up at Tower Hobbies, certainly at rip-off high priced Hobby Express and garbage sellers/crooks like XHeli / NitroPlanes/ Hobbypartz and all their other AKA's they operate from online, will get some unfortunate "breathing room" to screw more unsuspecting RC Hobbists. Lately these NitroPlanes et al thieves have been SPAMMING everyone to death that unfortunately gave them their email address.

What is the first thing you do when you get a Tower Hobbies Catalog? Throw it away!!! They aren't relevant.

Originally Posted by quitcherbitchen

What is the first thing you do when you get a Tower Hobbies Catalog? Throw it away!!! They aren't relevant.

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha (your statement "They aren't relevant.") I suppose you're doing all your RC hobby shopping at Best Buy and Walmart now?

Originally Posted by makeitworst

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha (your statement "They aren't relevant.") I suppose you're doing all your RC hobby shopping at Best Buy and Walmart now?

Nope, Motion or DymondUSA. No need for the Tower.

Hoping to see an alternative show up for Airtronics radio systems and accessories. I have an eight channel one I'd like to have components for some day.

Originally Posted by gnats82

Hoping to see an alternative show up for Airtronics radio systems and accessories. I have an eight channel one I'd like to have components for some day.

The rumor is that Sanwa (parent of the Airtronics brand) is bored with the RC radio business and intends to drop out when stock is depleted. You'll notice that NO ONE makes a compatible FHSS Rx for their radios, even though other companies also use FHSS "type" technology. I also have an Airtronics RD-8000 (72mHz) which I love and Rx's are cheap to find from Cornona and others; and I also have a RDS-8000 which is a nice radio with behind the technology system and has always been too expensive for receivers.

To fuel the rumor that Sanwa is bailing, Tower Hobbies who used to carry Receivers ARE NOT any longer. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTZU8

I bought a new RadioLink AT-10 on a dare and I am blown away with it's technology for the price. Bought it on EBay from a regular dealer of theirs who carries all the RX's, Telemetry and other components and ships fast from NY. Paid $115 for the radio with one 10ch Rx, one full Telemetry module . The radio is FHSS / DSSS with SBUS, Also bought a few 6 and 9 ch RX ($15 and $18 ea.) The AT-10 stores over 15 models and does Heli and Quads. I LOVE it! ...... Got the Orange face one. It's built as nice as an expensive Futaba (also made in China). I've seen no range issues either.

Long Live "TOWER" bought a lot of things from them, love the catalog, we have fewer and fewer Hobby Shops in Michigan, and the Tower catalog sure comes in handy.

They are very fast in shipping, and they resolve problems quickly, what more could you want.

Ditto that Kilowatts. I can't even remember when I started buying from Tower Hobbies, probably back in the late 80's and I cannot recall a single time that I was displeased with the service, pricing or speedy shipments. Yeah sure sometimes the item may not be the greatest, but you can't blame Tower for another manufacturers "trip up", I should have done better research. I'm thoroughly satisfied with Tower and have been a "club" member (discounts and lower or free shipping) for a good 10 years. I used to buy from "Hobby Lobby" (the old name), but their prices are too high and so is shipping charges. PLEASE stay fically healthy Tower, I (we) need you!

My only complaint with Tower is too many emails about sales and for things I'm not interested in, so I had to completely turn off email notices .... that's too bad 'cause I'm sure I'll miss something real good once in a while.

If you think Michigan is getting desolate for LHS's (local hobby stores), with the closing of all Hobby People stores (20 something) in CA and Nevada, as big a playground for RC as California is, we have nothing now that's dedicated to selling serious RC models and equip in a brick-n-mortar LHS! I have to mail-order for a freakin tube of CA or good 2-part epoxy when I suddenly find I'm out!

These two (along with circus hobbies) were my goto place back when I first got bitten by the RC bug. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the last time I placed an order with tower, and the only thing I bought from hobby people before they went OOB were glue and building supplies. They just don't have the stuff I need anymore. They need to follow the industry trend, it is evolving fast.

[QUOTE If you think Michigan is getting desolate for LHS's (local hobby stores), with the closing of all Hobby People stores (20 something) in CA and Nevada, as big a playground for RC as California is, we have nothing now that's dedicated to selling serious RC models and equip in a brick-n-mortar LHS! I have to mail-order for a freakin tube of CA or good 2-part epoxy when I suddenly find I'm out![/QUOTE]

Is there a Hobby Lobby craft store close by? The mega-store they opened recently in San Diego has a good selection of glues. Luckily, I used my employee discount and closeout prices to buy a bunch of CA and epoxy before HP went TU.

Just an update I ran across, one of the partners from Hobby Shack/ Hobby People / Global Dist is back in business distributing "Magnum" branded Glow motors in the US. If I remember they are located out in the Victor Valley of Southern California. It's father and son thing. Sorry I didn't bookmark their website, maybe I also saw their advert in Model Airplane News too. Anyways, that's the news. Now keep in mind that "Magnum" is just a private labeled version of ASP Glow motors, perhaps with some minor differences like sleeving material in the barrels or head fin shape otherwise I've swapped parts between my ASP's and Magnums.

Originally Posted by Steph280

These two (along with circus hobbies) were my goto place back when I first got bitten by the RC bug. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the last time I placed an order with tower, and the only thing I bought from hobby people before they went OOB were glue and building supplies. They just don't have the stuff I need anymore. They need to follow the industry trend, it is evolving fast.

Let me out do your old Hobby Shack catalog you've saved.

These models are STILL on my "build them some day" shelf in the hanger (formerly a car gargage). I bought them at the Hobby Shack in San Diego and the Hobby Shack store that was on Marguerite Parkway in south Mission Viejo in the late 1990's (a Pier One store replaced them in that store and is still there).

I actually had 2 of the Air Master 40's and did build an fly one regularly, this one is still in the box.
The other two are Global/Hobby Shacks private labeled brand "Model Tech" from the mid 90's, great models in ARF and Ready to Cover ARF's. I also had a Model Tech "Great Lakes" Bipe that was a ready to cover ARF, looked great but tough to fly. These are all models made in Taiwan when Taiwan was the top source for RC kits and ARFs before Vietnam and China offered cheaper labor.

Anyways, some day I might get around to building them to fly if I live long enough and I'm too incompetent to fly my 3D and large scale war-birds.