Yorktowne Hobby Shop INC

It had been years since I walked into this hobby shop and I now remember why I rarely ever visited it, despite living only five miles away. While the selection of supplies looks pretty decent, the service is just terrible. I spent about ten minutes wandering up and down the aisles before anyone even greeted me or acknowledged my presence. The manager (owner?) seemed more interested in talking to a ""regular"" than helping a new customer, which is what I recalled from year's past. Absolutely terrible service. I walked out.\r \r You can get better service online from Tower Hobbies. Although I really like to patronize local businesses, I'm not certain that this one deserves to stay afloat.\r \r \r To Allen H.: I'm glad you have had such a great experience at the reknowned Yorktowne Hobby Shop. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about regarding my experience since you weren't there. You wrote: ""for one who obviously lacks the social skills to excuse themselves to an otherwise engaged proprietor to do so indignantly."" First, your writing and communication skills leave much to be desired (""to do so indignantly""? Who is indignant? Sorry, your sentence makes no sense.) Ever been to REI in Timonium? Excellent customer service is exemplified there. Second, please explain why a customer must ""excuse themselves"" (whatever the hell that means) or have ""social skills"" to expect a modicum of service? Excellent customer service means that a customer should not have to ""excuse themselves"" to have the owner or manager acknowledge the customer. Third, ""The proprietor, Jim Rogers, is a gentleman who is always ready to help any customer."" LOL; really. You are clearly a friend of the owner because Jim Rogers is certainly not *always* ready to help a customer. What an utter fabrication. Keep in mind that I have been to this hobby store three times over the years and have *always* had the same level of service. Based on the other online reviews, it's clear that my experience is typical.\r \r Frankly, I'm glad to see this business finally shut down. Good riddance, Yorktowne Hobby; you sucked in an epic, Panavision way. If you had been cool and friendly in the times I had visited, I wouldn't feel this way. Pros: Good location if you live in northern Baltimore County, decent selection Cons: Indifferent service that is not geared to engender loyalty, not especially friendly staff more

I suppose in this age of instant gratification it’s not unusual for a person to browse a store for ten minutes before walking out, and for one who obviously lacks the social skills to excuse themselves to an otherwise engaged proprietor to do so indignantly. As for myself, in the thirty-something years I have been shopping at Yorktown Hobby, I can spend ten minutes just browsing, looking at all of the wonderful models and crafts – even when I know exactly what I’m looking for! And the proprietor, Jim Rogers, is a gentleman who is always ready to help any customer. The fact is, he is usually engaged with one whenever I visit, offering advice or encouragement, and to wait ten minutes for him to finish with a customer is no different than for someone else to wait while he helps me. Unfortunately, after forty one years Jim is closing up shop, and I know I’m not the only one who is going to miss his knowledge, advice and down home common-man touch. His shop wasn’t just a wonderland for an overgrown kid like myself; it was a fun place to hangout and pick up advice, or just talk politics or the weather with him and his staff. Sadly, with the advent of Internet shopping, that is another social skill that will be lost to the detriment of our society. Good luck with your new endeavors, Jim. more

My goal here is to reply to the other review and also to provide some information about the store for those who haven’t been there.\r \r First, I understand that the service in Yorktowne Hobbies isn’t the best, but I think I know why. As a boy I noticed that there are two kinds of hobby stores. I will call them old school and new school for simplicity sake. \r \r Old school hobby store’s catered to one crowd and new school catered to another crowd. Old school concentrated on airplanes, which at the time were available as kits only. The interior of these stores was often drab and they were inevitably staffed by elderly men who all knew each other and spoke an almost code-like model airplane jargon. I never understood how the stores stayed afloat selling balsawood and propellers to folks who were ordering their kits from Tower or directly SIG. But I have a sense that the service was lousy because most of the people in the stores were already up to their eyeballs in a given hobby. Yorktowne Hobbies and Bobby’s Hobby Lobby in Westminster stick out in my mind as prime examples of old school hobby stores. Penn Valley Hobby Center is probably the best example.\r \r New school hobby stores were flashier and they catered to folks willing to make a big box purchase. These stores capitalized on the popularity and immediate accessibility of Tamiya’s R/C buggies during the mid-1980’s. Old school stores might stock one or two buggy kits, but the new school stores quickly learned to stock every kit and its replacement parts. I didn’t have any trouble understanding how these folks stayed open selling a $100 buggy kit to a parent and $15 tires to a kid. This clientele required a different level of service from help selecting a car to help building and repairing it. Allied Hobbies in Hanover PA is a good example of this kind of store. Chains stores like Hobby Works in the DC area provide a good contemporary example.\r \r Both kinds of stores sold rockets and plastic model kits, but the train stuff was usually in train-only store or the old school store, which stocked fewer trains and more kits for the folks building elaborate layouts. \r \r The introduction of Almost Ready to Fly airplanes has hastened the decline of the old school hobby store. I have a great new school hobby store near me, but I walk across the street to buy balsa wood at the craft store because the price is much lower. If I lived closer to Baltimore I would probably be buying it at Yorktowne – for old time sake.\r \r For those who have not visited this store I encourage you to do so. If you have an interest in the history of R/C hobbies the display cases feature some wonder old glow engines and even a couple of boat motors from the 1950’s. The owner picked a couple of items up from my father at one of the MARC shows held at the Timonium Fair Grounds in the 1980’s, so he has been collecting for a long time! There are even a couple of photographs from local flying clubs from back when R/C airplanes where just getting started. \r \r Plus every once in a while I will find something marvelous on the shelf that must have been in the stock room for 40 years. For example, when William’s Brothers went out of the business, but before Brett Industries took over, I visited Yorktowne looking for a 1/8th Williams Brother’s pilot. Not only did they still have the pilot, but they had a box of Williams Brother’s pilot goggles for $.10 each!\r Pros: Merchandizse more