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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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