So if you say that Amazon is a scam using the Prime membership, why do these companies you speak about sell things threw Amazon? Why do they do this is because their shipping is very fast, unless it's coming from the actual retailer. You can see where it is being shipped from on the ad page of the item. Amazon has the same prices as the big box brick and mortar stores. I don't understand where your getting your info from, but it is not correct. You get what you pay for if you buy junk. I been using Amazon for years, and their prices sometimes are lower than my local hobby stores. I have built over 75 plus cars and truck from amazon in less than a week, because the parts come a lot faster. I ordered from AMAIN, Hobby Town and Horizon, takes more than a week to get my items. They will also charge you a fee and you pay for return shipping as well. Amazon has free returns.
Amazon is a trillion dollar business for a reason... they do some things very well. I use them a lot. There a couple things though that are shady. One is they heavily market no-name , chinese goods at every opportunity when I search RC categories or even brand/model searches. They also market a ton of house-brand products with 10,000 'perfect' reviews even though I'm searching for specific brands. The other is 'prime'. They keep ratcheting up the price of it and it's kind of a rip-off now. They know that it's a billion dollar membership revenue AND folks feel compelled to buy Amazon since they are 'members'.
Merl and Thom knew what they were doing. I met them back in 1985 in Lincoln Nebraska where it all began. Most don’t realize they offered franchises to anyone that wanted to own their own store. HobbyTown brought RC to the masses in their towns and cities. Everyone could go into a store and experience for themselves how fun it was. Many had race tracks and organized races. Thanks to HobbyTown for making this hobby what it is today.
A few years ago, I figured this was going to happen. With Amain already running the online side of Hobby Town, taking over the B&M side was the logical next step.
@@RCReviewChannel Even Eric jumped onboard. After he bought the Hobby Town in Fresno, he brought NorCal Hobbies into the "Hobby Town family". Oh, man, do I miss NorCal Hobbies. The only shop in Vegas - Friendly Hobbies - is jokingly (although, it's more 'truth' than 'joke') referred to as "Unfriendly Hobbies".
Right on Francis! And kudos for remembering Kevin Jelich when he was the co-owner and master track builder at NorCal Hobbies in Union City...and a jack of all trades at AMain. Kevin was definitely my hero in on-road/off-road rc racing back in the nineties; but, his exceptional driving goes back to 1/12th scale carpet racing in the eighties too.
RIP to Kevin and my condolences. I worked for hobbytown in schererville/ Hobart locations for 8 years and the owner decided to sell off inventory and close shop. In this area I have witnessed so many tracks closing and many hobby shops as well. The HT aquisition from Amain can only promote better service to customers.
Great video, not too many RC guys doing this type of content. I grew up in SoCal which served as the Mecca for RC in the 80s to date. I moved to Boise 12yrs ago and despite an MSA of 1M people, they only have 1 semi-legit hobby shop and it happens to be HobbyTown. It’s poorly run and stocked. Almost only off road bashers and mostly Traxxas and Arrma. That would have been fine years ago but the population has boomed and the demographics are more diverse. I hope AMain revamps the store, adds more stores and develops on and off road tracks. I’d like to see more brands like Tamiya, Kyosho, Team Associated, Losi, MST, Redcat, et al. I’m not usually a fan of corporate consolidation but in this case it may be a positive as I’ve had good experiences with AMain online. Anyway, thanks again.
I have been a long time AMain Hobbies customer, and I can see the potential to improve the Hobby Town experience even further. I love my local HobbyTown store the guys there are amazing and bend over backwards to make sure your experience is a great one! Let's hope this acquisition is positive for our hobby. I also hope tgat AMain makes it mandatory for all stores to host micro rock crawler competitions 😂
Small world - searching UA-cam to find differential service info and find FC here paying tribute to an old schoolmate. Remember Kevin always being bright, curious, kind. RIP Kevin.
I would like to see a larger variety of RC related merchandise or some type of standardized inventory in current locations. Also maybe continue to offer franchises to create a brick and mortar web of outlets with Amain's warehouses acting as centralized hubs able to have out of stock items shipped to store or drop shipped within days of ordering.
My local Hobby Town only stocks Traxxas and replacement Traxxas parts from 3rd party brands. I know the HT stores are franchised, but I hope they start stocking a wider range of RC parts.
Awesome video and you nailed it pretty accurately! Thanks for the moving tribute to Kevin Jelich also. We miss him and lot and he is gonna be difficult to replace. One of a kind human who influenced so many people in the hobby including me.
I think that's great they acquired HobbyTown is be really cool to see a store here in state of Maine. We like to buy a lot of Bashers and a lot of small trail trucks
I like the Amain online browsing experience vs asking to look at stuff that's always behind the counter. It would be nice to pick a cart online and pick up and pay in store. I like supporting the local shop with the local track. I think most locals want to purchase at the local shop but it can be a hassle asking to look at everything you want that's in a case or behind the counter
Our hobby town in Colorado Springs has really gone downhill. They stopped caring the good stuff for racers and started focusing more on bashers. This is great news and hopefully amain can bring this location back to life again!!! Little excited on this one. Thank you for update 💯👌
Hi guy , I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 1989 . I have raced at hobbytown for many years . I have met Merle Hays and Thom Walla .I have raced at Hodge Hays 's rc track in a hobbytown.
My hope is to see more growth for offline stores that can have tracks and courses for people to enjoy. It’s nice to race at places where parts are readily available when needed. I also hope that the costs of owning and running these facilities will be sustainable but that’s always a challenge.
Outstanding Video, breakdown on whats up with the take over, MOSTLY some amazingly kind words about a one in a million guy in Kevin Jelich. I really really really appreciate you doing this video Frances. Hope you come up one day to the impending new facility Amain is building in Chico at their facility. Peace
In Virginia here. I honestly thought they were the same company, just west coast and east coast like Carl jrs and hardees, bc of the online being the same. We have a local Hobbytown in Virginia Beach that i got to sometimes. Half the store is modeling, trains, tabletop games, scientific learning stuff for kids. Lot's of fun stuff. I would definitely like to keep a small amount of all that and expand the RC section.
Yeah, with so many good old rc shops that have shut down, I think so many communities now are looking for good local sources, now that crawling, drifting, drones and other electric rc's have grown.
@@RCReviewChannel that’s for sure my local hobby shop, which was a small town shop closed down in December of last year so now if I wanna purchase anything I have to either order online or spend the extra fuel to drive two hours to go to a shop or three hours to go to St. Louis to a bigger shop I’d much rather have a local hobby shop to where I can go and make purchases especially if I’m not sure if the part that I’m looking at is going to fit correctly or do what I’m wanting to do
Same, but I'm just hoping the one closest to me stays open. It's the smaller of the two stores (like half the size of the other). I just don't want to have to drive further to go to the store, especially since the smaller one is between my work and home.
HobbyTown started in Lincoln Nebraska in the 80's and I have been going to them since then. My store HobbyTown HobbyPlex in NW Omaha has always had a great staff and are always helpful.
Such great content, Iowa HobbyTown in a couple City over probably about an hour and a half away, is it worth going to maybe I should check it out! You're such a beautiful soul man, that heartfelt content at the end 😢👍
I reside in Surrey, British Columbia, and often find that the local hobby shops don't always have the items I need. To ensure I get everything I require, including spare parts , I usually cross the border to make purchases. Although I can order parts through local shops, it's more convenient and cost-effective to buy everything at once from the other side (Hobbytown, Tukwila Washington). I'm hopeful that the Amain and Hobbytown Acquisition will bring benefits to hobbyists in this area.
Hobbytown in Tom’s river nj took out the massive crawling course and instead put up 1:1 drag racing tires and nos kits… major let down no indoor crawling comps or anything for rainy days… hope they change it up.
I'll have to wait and see how this plays out but I'm very skeptical this is going to benefit us consumers. Physical stores will almost certainly be closed and typically when there is less competition in a market, prices increase. Thanks for sharing this pretty major news!
Everything that is already in a Hobby Town came from Amian. Also if you have bought anything in the last few years online from Hobby Town, it came from the Amain warehouse too. This wont change much at all. They already worked together.
Fortunately for this hobby, having a full service Hobbytown is a gem. I can buy, bash,break and get face to face service support to get me back to repeat. It's also a meeting place for us. Our store has spots to wrench on our rigs and when we get the crawler course whoa! Physical store...no problem!
Great video. I will now have to go to the Chico store and check it out. Where I am at there's not a lot around me, there is 1 store in Antioch Delta RC and Amain in Chico. I hope amain opens more stores.
Amainhobbies has the best customer service in the hobby hands down A+++++ and to the RC family we have lost a great man Kevin Jelich i have raced on many of his courses he will be missed but all of us RC fans will see him again in heaven and the killer RC track he has waiting for us. BIGLOVE to the man that did so much for the RC racing community and as far as Amainhobby taking over Hobby Town i hope their customer service gets a lot better? I love shopping at Amainhobbies even a problem order turns out great with their A+++++ customer service.
This is a really big thing! Since they were already sort of symbiotic, maybe not that big a thing for us the consumer. I wouldn't mind a shop in the East Bay, I know there are great south bay shops but the only one near me is the typical grumpy dude who, not matter what I ask about, says, "We don't carry that stufff." I've never been to a HobbyTown (nearest is Modesto, I think?) but if Amain starts to build tracks and foster community at HobbyTown that would be a good thing.
My barbershop is next door to a Hobbytown in Florida. Recently realized that the store is closed & they hung up a sign saying, "Hobbytown is now permanently closed". Wonder if other Hobbytowns are shutting it down as well?
This is a great move for all parties. Amain is the really the biggest player in non-biased RC e-commerce. They carry everything regardless of affiliation. Hobbytown will benefit from Amain's buying power, namesake and domain authority online. Consumers will benefit from everything above and likely lower prices. Hopefully Amain can keep all the balls in the air though...brick and mortar is tough to maintain.
I was a dans comp customer before I was an amian customer. I remember thinking the website and packing changed and looked like amain assumed it was the same company. I try never to buy from online retailers because of the nature of the hobby. I support local shops with tracks that. There was a hobbytown in my area years ago but they closed up. As long as amain continues to support local shops and tracks I say go for it but usually the bigger the company the hungrier they get and usually eats up all the customers.
What i would like to see is amain being able to open more shops because for me, i come from the drift community and i have to drive an 1hr 30mins to go to a track. Ive been doing it for years with no fuss but as of recent its been getting on my nerves. I also try to support the shops but sometimes they dont carry what i am looking for like certain parts and paint etc. And i would end up ordering off of amain because its in stock.
I’m not sure what to make of this news. Generally consolidation in an industry leads to higher prices for the consumer as there is less competition. However in this case that may not be the situation. I can only judge Hobby Town by my small subset of experiences I have had with them here in the great Portland Oregon area. There are three of them here, and they are all….fine. They are certainly not inspiring to walk into. It always felt to me like the each needed a big slug of capital infusion to bring them up to something approximating a modern shopping experience. I really hope AMain’s aquisition will include a visit to each store and, as you suggested in your very well done video, some input as to how the store could be better run. I am very thankful to have the three of them, but if they dont improve, they wont survive.
@@RCReviewChannel Not too bad at all. We only have one poorly stocked and rarely open hobby shop here, so ten days wait for parts is common, and Amain have soo much stuff! I've never had any issues.
I recently been going to Hobby Town located in Lubbock. I love the prices that they acquired for the public and myself that are affordable. I just hope that they don't raise the pricing too much so that I don't lose interest.
I live in New Mexico. I think here we are missing out on the rc hobby and opportunities. I forget what it is but it's something like 300 days of sunshine. Combine that with an indoor and outdoor track experience, that could grow the hobby extremely well in New Mexico.
I am not sure how this will effect the local Hobbytownusa shops. I could see a price on Tower Hobbies' website and my local store would match it. One of the main suppliers of Hobbytown stores in our area is Horizon. Will that continue? Will they keep their price matching policy? Our local Hobbytown is moving into a bigger facility and expanding their indoor track.The effects on the local shops is my biggest concern. AMain does a great job and has excellent customer service. But, I am worried about the local shops. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your friend. It's always sad when someone passes at too early of an age.
I would like to see more available parts and inventory for new and older cars alike. Nothing more frustrating in RC in wanting to upgrade and not being able to either due to design or part’s availability. Amain seems to be good but could be great if you ordered a part and could have it in 2 days like Amazon, waiting a week sucks. Hopefully this improves sooner rather than later.
This is great news for hobbyists. When AMain acquires another entity, we know everything will be brought up to AMain standards, especially in customer service. On the contrary, when Horizon Hobby acquires another entity, everything became trash.
but at the same time they may not bring in enough money from b&m and shut them down. Alot of larger businesses do this and what theyre really purchasing are the customer base not the stores locations. At the same time though it could be good for these stores as theyll get more support which could mean more customers and more in store events.
This sounds great. Our Hobbytown, in Silverdale WA, can't get much inventory. Maybe now there inventory will increase so we won't have to mail order so much. Are they changing the name of Hobbytown to Amain?
Hope the prices don't jump thru the roof....time will tell..all the hobbytowns in Arkansas have closed down except for Little Rock store....or almost closed with nothing on the shelves.....hope they can make it bigger by maybe building a warehouse in our area
Gateway computer thought stores were the answer, but Dell killed them with online only sales. I have a feeling this will be the first step in closing down stores. Hope I'm wrong, it's great having a store nearby, but for me, Hobbytown never had the parts I want or need in the store, so I'd shop online with Amain or Amazon.
Maybe we can actually get parts within a week now. Because the local hobbytown sucks at getting things ordered, wait weeks or months for things that should be on the shelf.
I want a mains momentum to continue and buy out RCAWD and RC4WD and possibly even horizon hobby to bro my back the quality horizon cut down on to increase profit. I also hope all hobbytowns become a pleasure because I had a weird encounter with their San Diego location that wasn’t the most pleasant.
I'd love to see AMain retail locations moving in to HobbyTown locations. I have two Hobby Town locations near me, and an AMain warehouse in Charlotte, NC very close to where I live, which means quick shipping, and not giving as much of my money to Amazon.
A good percentage of parts listed on Amazon are actually fulfilled (shipped) from A Main Hobbies, so I'm not sure what the fuss is about. The future of brick and mortar retailers are tedious at best, so I'm curious to see where that goes
Oh, I'm not sure. Maybe others can chime in. It shouldn't get too hot that you can't touch it. Check and make sure there's no binding, aka, easy to spin the spur gear by hand.
Hopefully in my local Hobbytown they'll get rid of that section where people play dungeons and dragons and various other card games and put some tracks.
I worked for my local hobbytown and you'd be suprised how many people are into that section, i understand your comment, but don't be that guy just because it's not what you are into 😊
@@hunterd.911 I know it's not going anywhere. Those things are a hobby niche. For me I had to travel 1.5 hours for an rc track and my Hobbytown is 20 minutes away.
Amain lost a sale to Amazon I ordered 3 parts 1 was backordered so they decided not to ship any of it this is the second time it has happened! They say ohh we thought you want everything together. No!! My plane is down until this comes in so I got the brand name parts Arrma and Hobbyzone on Amazon for the same price. I really like Hobby town they got the Losi Promoto in and held it for me until I got back into town Amain does a backorder and expects you to pay today where Tower hobbies charges you when it ships. I really hope the merger doesnt impact the local feel of Hobbytown.
I miss the hobbytown USA that was here in Lehigh Valley Pa. If they could provide a space for customers to congregate and meet up, everyone would benefit, and I know this couldn't be done at all locations. And don't allow traxxas to dominate the store would also be nice, provide a variety of companies instead of allowing traxxas to take up 80% of the RC vehicle section with their many plastic replacement parts.
Great news. I always wondered why their websites looked similar. I order most of my stuff from amain, even my plane stuff which amain doesn't deal with, although they have every sine propellor size known and HH only carries their stuff. This good news as I love going into hobby town, especially if they will have an expanded selection
More than anything, Hobbytown needs some sort of advertising to the general public. And I would change the store. Ame to A-Main, just to avoid confusion with Hobby Lobby.
Amain has been involved with hobbytown a long time that’s why their website looks exactly the same an when you chat your chatting with amain not hobbytown…. Great explanation of this an to true about prime scam
HobbyTown needs to streamline their inventory. They carry so many things and I know they are trying to cater to different hobbyists, but at times I feel they're too spread out in what they carry. You can't cater to all these minor niches that will probably bring you minimal profit / foot traffic. It reminded me of Toys R Us, they carried so many smaller brand items that it was wasted space when they should have focused on their bigger sellers like Lego, Barbie, video games and seasonal items. ( even partnering for exclusives or collectables ) If HobbyTown carried more RC inventory ( land, water and air ) , RC parts / spares and Gundam kits while eliminating lesser selling inventory, I think they would do better. Shelf space is premium and when it’s taken up by dying hobbies you’re losing valuable space for inventory that brings people to you. Many the stores are in dire need of better organization and presentation, they look so old and dated it reminds me of some of the hobby shops from the 80’s and 90’s and they never progressed with the times. I’m not saying I want an Apple Store experience but I’d like a store that looks like it’s fairly modern, well lit and is more visually engaging. Lastly, I know RC tracks / RC airfields have dwindled over the years, but the few that remain in operation should be a focal point of their presence. Sponsorship, exhibitions of new products, trade shows and exploring new places / partnerships to bring new people to the hobby.
I mean their websites have been EXACTLY the same for years? I don’t think this really changed anything, I swear they even shared warehouses because the items they had in stock were always the same
Online being what it is, there is still nothing like the experience of browsing a well stocked brick and mortar shop who actually understands the trends of what they're selling and what customers actually want. I try desperately to support a small local shop here where I live, but they are so completely out of touch with the hobby trends it's like they're in a different world. I'll go in to query about some trending product the they won't even know what it is let alone have any to sell. I keep trying to buy from them whenever possible but it's nearly impossible. Also, the prices are off the charts. They want 100 bucks for something I can get on amazon for 22. I can't afford that difference unfortunately. Now, I'm relegated to mostly just buy tamiya ps paint from them because nobody will ship spray paint anymore. If I wasn't for that, I'd have no further reason to go there. Sad, but most of these small shops are their own worst problem. Terribly out of touch with the sales trends and no stock. Having them offer to order me something is always frustrating because if I wanted to order, I'd just use amain, amazon, horizon etc.. and not bother driving over there. cheers.
I could only wish that the acquisition could help with my local hobbytown yes they are the big guy here but everyone in my circles hates them employees are not knowledgeable they upcharge more than the website for example I went to buy a capra builders kit and they wanted 30$ more had to hagle with them to get that taken off and they were not happy about it local store is in Springfield mo I would much rather go to midwest hobbies they are a little shop but the service and pricing is soooooo much better
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So if you say that Amazon is a scam using the Prime membership, why do these companies you speak about sell things threw Amazon? Why do they do this is because their shipping is very fast, unless it's coming from the actual retailer. You can see where it is being shipped from on the ad page of the item. Amazon has the same prices as the big box brick and mortar stores. I don't understand where your getting your info from, but it is not correct. You get what you pay for if you buy junk. I been using Amazon for years, and their prices sometimes are lower than my local hobby stores. I have built over 75 plus cars and truck from amazon in less than a week, because the parts come a lot faster. I ordered from AMAIN, Hobby Town and Horizon, takes more than a week to get my items. They will also charge you a fee and you pay for return shipping as well. Amazon has free returns.
Amazon is a trillion dollar business for a reason... they do some things very well. I use them a lot.
There a couple things though that are shady. One is they heavily market no-name , chinese goods at every opportunity when I search RC categories or even brand/model searches. They also market a ton of house-brand products with 10,000 'perfect' reviews even though I'm searching for specific brands.
The other is 'prime'. They keep ratcheting up the price of it and it's kind of a rip-off now. They know that it's a billion dollar membership revenue AND folks feel compelled to buy Amazon since they are 'members'.
Merl and Thom knew what they were doing. I met them back in 1985 in Lincoln Nebraska where it all began. Most don’t realize they offered franchises to anyone that wanted to own their own store. HobbyTown brought RC to the masses in their towns and cities. Everyone could go into a store and experience for themselves how fun it was. Many had race tracks and organized races. Thanks to HobbyTown for making this hobby what it is today.
Very cool.
Amen!
Sheldon’s Hobbies has now entered the chat 💬
A few years ago, I figured this was going to happen. With Amain already running the online side of Hobby Town, taking over the B&M side was the logical next step.
Yup. Walk before they ran
@@RCReviewChannel Even Eric jumped onboard. After he bought the Hobby Town in Fresno, he brought NorCal Hobbies into the "Hobby Town family". Oh, man, do I miss NorCal Hobbies. The only shop in Vegas - Friendly Hobbies - is jokingly (although, it's more 'truth' than 'joke') referred to as "Unfriendly Hobbies".
Right on Francis! And kudos for remembering Kevin Jelich when he was the co-owner and master track builder at NorCal Hobbies in Union City...and a jack of all trades at AMain. Kevin was definitely my hero in on-road/off-road rc racing back in the nineties; but, his exceptional driving goes back to 1/12th scale carpet racing in the eighties too.
RIP to Kevin and my condolences. I worked for hobbytown in schererville/ Hobart locations for 8 years and the owner decided to sell off inventory and close shop. In this area I have witnessed so many tracks closing and many hobby shops as well. The HT aquisition from Amain can only promote better service to customers.
I want to see more race tracks at hobby town stores!
Great video, not too many RC guys doing this type of content. I grew up in SoCal which served as the Mecca for RC in the 80s to date. I moved to Boise 12yrs ago and despite an MSA of 1M people, they only have 1 semi-legit hobby shop and it happens to be HobbyTown. It’s poorly run and stocked. Almost only off road bashers and mostly Traxxas and Arrma. That would have been fine years ago but the population has boomed and the demographics are more diverse. I hope AMain revamps the store, adds more stores and develops on and off road tracks. I’d like to see more brands like Tamiya, Kyosho, Team Associated, Losi, MST, Redcat, et al. I’m not usually a fan of corporate consolidation but in this case it may be a positive as I’ve had good experiences with AMain online. Anyway, thanks again.
I have been a long time AMain Hobbies customer, and I can see the potential to improve the Hobby Town experience even further. I love my local HobbyTown store the guys there are amazing and bend over backwards to make sure your experience is a great one! Let's hope this acquisition is positive for our hobby. I also hope tgat AMain makes it mandatory for all stores to host micro rock crawler competitions 😂
Well said!
I didn't know you were a bay area guy. I used to go to Norcal Hobbies in Union City as well. That was an awesome facility. RIP Kevin.
I used to live in Fremont and now in Saratoga.
Small world - searching UA-cam to find differential service info and find FC here paying tribute to an old schoolmate. Remember Kevin always being bright, curious, kind. RIP Kevin.
I always enjoy your reviews and information. Thank you from Cape Cod, MA
I would like to see a larger variety of RC related merchandise or some type of standardized inventory in current locations. Also maybe continue to offer franchises to create a brick and mortar web of outlets with Amain's warehouses acting as centralized hubs able to have out of stock items shipped to store or drop shipped within days of ordering.
My local Hobby Town only stocks Traxxas and replacement Traxxas parts from 3rd party brands. I know the HT stores are franchised, but I hope they start stocking a wider range of RC parts.
Yeah, it would be great if they upped the selection and consistency of the stores.
Hobby Town was already affiliated with Amain. If you bought anything online from Hobby Town, it came from the Amain wharehouse.
Very true.
Awesome video and you nailed it pretty accurately! Thanks for the moving tribute to Kevin Jelich also. We miss him and lot and he is gonna be difficult to replace. One of a kind human who influenced so many people in the hobby including me.
I think that's great they acquired HobbyTown is be really cool to see a store here in state of Maine. We like to buy a lot of Bashers and a lot of small trail trucks
Great to hear.
I like the Amain online browsing experience vs asking to look at stuff that's always behind the counter. It would be nice to pick a cart online and pick up and pay in store. I like supporting the local shop with the local track. I think most locals want to purchase at the local shop but it can be a hassle asking to look at everything you want that's in a case or behind the counter
Awesome! hope Hobby Town reopens in my city!
Our hobby town in Colorado Springs has really gone downhill. They stopped caring the good stuff for racers and started focusing more on bashers. This is great news and hopefully amain can bring this location back to life again!!! Little excited on this one. Thank you for update 💯👌
This has been the case for many hobby shops. Hopefully, this development is an injection of funding and ideas to do better.
Hi guy , I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 1989 . I have raced at hobbytown for many years . I have met Merle Hays and Thom Walla .I have raced at Hodge Hays 's rc track in a hobbytown.
My hope is to see more growth for offline stores that can have tracks and courses for people to enjoy. It’s nice to race at places where parts are readily available when needed. I also hope that the costs of owning and running these facilities will be sustainable but that’s always a challenge.
Kevin was cool. A really great guy.
There will only be one Kevin.
Outstanding Video, breakdown on whats up with the take over, MOSTLY some amazingly kind words about a one in a million guy in Kevin Jelich. I really really really appreciate you doing this video Frances. Hope you come up one day to the impending new facility Amain is building in Chico at their facility. Peace
I hear that the new flagship Hobbytown store will be located in Augusta Ga. That store is magnificent!
In Virginia here. I honestly thought they were the same company, just west coast and east coast like Carl jrs and hardees, bc of the online being the same. We have a local Hobbytown in Virginia Beach that i got to sometimes. Half the store is modeling, trains, tabletop games, scientific learning stuff for kids. Lot's of fun stuff. I would definitely like to keep a small amount of all that and expand the RC section.
Wait, whuuuut? Carls Jr. and Hardees? #mindblown.
@@RCReviewChannel Yeah! Carl Jr's is west coast, Hardee's is east coast, same company.
I would love to see the hobbytown stores expand into a lot more towns cause the closest rc store to me is two hours away and lol it’s a hobby town 😂
Yeah, with so many good old rc shops that have shut down, I think so many communities now are looking for good local sources, now that crawling, drifting, drones and other electric rc's have grown.
@@RCReviewChannel that’s for sure my local hobby shop, which was a small town shop closed down in December of last year so now if I wanna purchase anything I have to either order online or spend the extra fuel to drive two hours to go to a shop or three hours to go to St. Louis to a bigger shop I’d much rather have a local hobby shop to where I can go and make purchases especially if I’m not sure if the part that I’m looking at is going to fit correctly or do what I’m wanting to do
Works for me. I have two HobbyTowns within 40 minutes of me.
Same, but I'm just hoping the one closest to me stays open. It's the smaller of the two stores (like half the size of the other). I just don't want to have to drive further to go to the store, especially since the smaller one is between my work and home.
Very good. I have a couple Hobbytowns too around the San Jose area and they can only get better.
Amain was doing Hobbytown's website before this so it just seems logical. My local Hobbytown is a independent so it won't change.
True. The online part was a test run.
HobbyTown started in Lincoln Nebraska in the 80's and I have been going to them since then. My store HobbyTown HobbyPlex in NW Omaha has always had a great staff and are always helpful.
Such great content, Iowa HobbyTown in a couple City over probably about an hour and a half away, is it worth going to maybe I should check it out! You're such a beautiful soul man, that heartfelt content at the end 😢👍
I reside in Surrey, British Columbia, and often find that the local hobby shops don't always have the items I need. To ensure I get everything I require, including spare parts , I usually cross the border to make purchases. Although I can order parts through local shops, it's more convenient and cost-effective to buy everything at once from the other side (Hobbytown, Tukwila Washington). I'm hopeful that the Amain and Hobbytown Acquisition will bring benefits to hobbyists in this area.
Hobbytown in Tom’s river nj took out the massive crawling course and instead put up 1:1 drag racing tires and nos kits… major let down no indoor crawling comps or anything for rainy days… hope they change it up.
Nice piece on Kevin. I didn’t know him but you did a very nice eulogy. May he RIP. Seemed like a very cool guy.
I was really surprised to see how many lives he affected at Amain. The outpouring of condolences was tremendous.
I'll have to wait and see how this plays out but I'm very skeptical this is going to benefit us consumers. Physical stores will almost certainly be closed and typically when there is less competition in a market, prices increase. Thanks for sharing this pretty major news!
Everything that is already in a Hobby Town came from Amian. Also if you have bought anything in the last few years online from Hobby Town, it came from the Amain warehouse too. This wont change much at all. They already worked together.
Right on. I'm no good with news so i have to try harder to digest the information. I imagined it as an upgrade and mod. :)
You might be the only one with this take.
Fortunately for this hobby, having a full service Hobbytown is a gem. I can buy, bash,break and get face to face service support to get me back to repeat. It's also a meeting place for us. Our store has spots to wrench on our rigs and when we get the crawler course whoa! Physical store...no problem!
Awesome acquisition!
Match made in heaven.
WOW, very interesting........ if this goes the way I hope it goes us hobbiess in the hobby would benefit a great deal.
Exactly. Great potential for a much better customer experience.
Great video. I will now have to go to the Chico store and check it out. Where I am at there's not a lot around me, there is 1 store in Antioch Delta RC and Amain in Chico. I hope amain opens more stores.
Amainhobbies has the best customer service in the hobby hands down A+++++ and to the RC family we have lost a great man Kevin Jelich i have raced on many of his courses he will be missed but all of us RC fans will see him again in heaven and the killer RC track he has waiting for us. BIGLOVE to the man that did so much for the RC racing community and as far as Amainhobby taking over Hobby Town i hope their customer service gets a lot better? I love shopping at Amainhobbies even a problem order turns out great with their A+++++ customer service.
This is a really big thing! Since they were already sort of symbiotic, maybe not that big a thing for us the consumer. I wouldn't mind a shop in the East Bay, I know there are great south bay shops but the only one near me is the typical grumpy dude who, not matter what I ask about, says, "We don't carry that stufff." I've never been to a HobbyTown (nearest is Modesto, I think?) but if Amain starts to build tracks and foster community at HobbyTown that would be a good thing.
This can only be good. I'm looking forward to the new frontier.
My barbershop is next door to a Hobbytown in Florida. Recently realized that the store is closed & they hung up a sign saying, "Hobbytown is now permanently closed". Wonder if other Hobbytowns are shutting it down as well?
This is a great move for all parties. Amain is the really the biggest player in non-biased RC e-commerce. They carry everything regardless of affiliation. Hobbytown will benefit from Amain's buying power, namesake and domain authority online. Consumers will benefit from everything above and likely lower prices. Hopefully Amain can keep all the balls in the air though...brick and mortar is tough to maintain.
Very good comment. This is a good thing but it is a very complex undertaking for Amain.
I was a dans comp customer before I was an amian customer. I remember thinking the website and packing changed and looked like amain assumed it was the same company. I try never to buy from online retailers because of the nature of the hobby. I support local shops with tracks that. There was a hobbytown in my area years ago but they closed up. As long as amain continues to support local shops and tracks I say go for it but usually the bigger the company the hungrier they get and usually eats up all the customers.
What i would like to see is amain being able to open more shops because for me, i come from the drift community and i have to drive an 1hr 30mins to go to a track. Ive been doing it for years with no fuss but as of recent its been getting on my nerves. I also try to support the shops but sometimes they dont carry what i am looking for like certain parts and paint etc. And i would end up ordering off of amain because its in stock.
I’m not sure what to make of this news. Generally consolidation in an industry leads to higher prices for the consumer as there is less competition. However in this case that may not be the situation. I can only judge Hobby Town by my small subset of experiences I have had with them here in the great Portland Oregon area. There are three of them here, and they are all….fine. They are certainly not inspiring to walk into. It always felt to me like the each needed a big slug of capital infusion to bring them up to something approximating a modern shopping experience. I really hope AMain’s aquisition will include a visit to each store and, as you suggested in your very well done video, some input as to how the store could be better run. I am very thankful to have the three of them, but if they dont improve, they wont survive.
I live up north in Canada and 7 times out of 10 I order from Amain. Loves em
Really cool to hear. How's the shipping and taxes? Not so bad?
@@RCReviewChannel Not too bad at all. We only have one poorly stocked and rarely open hobby shop here, so ten days wait for parts is common, and Amain have soo much stuff! I've never had any issues.
I recently been going to Hobby Town located in Lubbock. I love the prices that they acquired for the public and myself that are affordable. I just hope that they don't raise the pricing too much so that I don't lose interest.
I live in New Mexico. I think here we are missing out on the rc hobby and opportunities. I forget what it is but it's something like 300 days of sunshine. Combine that with an indoor and outdoor track experience, that could grow the hobby extremely well in New Mexico.
Think it may be a great thing for us !!!! ❤
One of those win-win situations.
I would like to see Amain in Europe.
Period
I am not sure how this will effect the local Hobbytownusa shops. I could see a price on Tower Hobbies' website and my local store would match it. One of the main suppliers of Hobbytown stores in our area is Horizon. Will that continue? Will they keep their price matching policy? Our local Hobbytown is moving into a bigger facility and expanding their indoor track.The effects on the local shops is my biggest concern. AMain does a great job and has excellent customer service. But, I am worried about the local shops. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your friend. It's always sad when someone passes at too early of an age.
I see only good from it-excited to see how it can continue to grow and support the hobby!
Amain has been the supplier for hobby town for a while now though so it's not really a surprise.
LOL, when I first moved to Texas, I went to Hobby Lobby and then realized, this isn't the hobby shop I was expecting.
Oh that sinking, Hobby Lobby feeling. I'm sure their employees lol when they see RC dudes excited to walk in their stores, then try to slink away.
@@RCReviewChannel LOL, yes, yes they do!
I would like to see more available parts and inventory for new and older cars alike. Nothing more frustrating in RC in wanting to upgrade and not being able to either due to design or part’s availability. Amain seems to be good but could be great if you ordered a part and could have it in 2 days like Amazon, waiting a week sucks. Hopefully this improves sooner rather than later.
This is great news for hobbyists. When AMain acquires another entity, we know everything will be brought up to AMain standards, especially in customer service. On the contrary, when Horizon Hobby acquires another entity, everything became trash.
but at the same time they may not bring in enough money from b&m and shut them down. Alot of larger businesses do this and what theyre really purchasing are the customer base not the stores locations. At the same time though it could be good for these stores as theyll get more support which could mean more customers and more in store events.
Yeah, they've had a great track record with acquisitions.
This sounds great. Our Hobbytown, in Silverdale WA, can't get much inventory. Maybe now there inventory will increase so we won't have to mail order so much. Are they changing the name of Hobbytown to Amain?
Capital, stability and growth is key to maintain inventory. So this should help.
I hope your store gets better after this change of hands. I used to live in Bremerton, man do I miss the pnw
Maybe larger inventory in hobbytown stores now?
I have a local hobby town and hope they don't shut down over this.
I think they'll improve.
A store in Shasta County California. There is only 1 store here. Nearest one is AMain in Chico.
Oh man, do folks drive to Amain then? How far?
Hope the prices don't jump thru the roof....time will tell..all the hobbytowns in Arkansas have closed down except for Little Rock store....or almost closed with nothing on the shelves.....hope they can make it bigger by maybe building a warehouse in our area
Gateway computer thought stores were the answer, but Dell killed them with online only sales. I have a feeling this will be the first step in closing down stores. Hope I'm wrong, it's great having a store nearby, but for me, Hobbytown never had the parts I want or need in the store, so I'd shop online with Amain or Amazon.
Good news for me. They're close to me. Nice.
Yeah, these shops will get better IMHO.
Maybe we can actually get parts within a week now. Because the local hobbytown sucks at getting things ordered, wait weeks or months for things that should be on the shelf.
I want a mains momentum to continue and buy out RCAWD and RC4WD and possibly even horizon hobby to bro my back the quality horizon cut down on to increase profit. I also hope all hobbytowns become a pleasure because I had a weird encounter with their San Diego location that wasn’t the most pleasant.
I'd love to see AMain retail locations moving in to HobbyTown locations. I have two Hobby Town locations near me, and an AMain warehouse in Charlotte, NC very close to where I live, which means quick shipping, and not giving as much of my money to Amazon.
I think where it's really promising, they should take on the Amain brand and level of quality store.
Everything in Amain and Hobby Town retail stores already come from the same place.
I'm still waiting for my losi tlr lmt I ordered from amain. Guess horizon is holding back orders from them?
one of my local Hobby Town shops is an official traxxas dealership. wonder how this will work out
Yes, many things will unfold. Hopefully, all good.
Stop supporting Traxass
@shaynejenkins446 how come ? Last thing I bought from them was my f150 high trail which I really like
Better delivery and RMA when needed
Good job amain! 👍👍
I think this is a big, brave move.
@RCReviewChannel hobby town here pretty much sells traxxas stuff. Here lately they have been getting more verity of rc parts.
This is not too surprising since the Hobby Town web store backend is managed by Amain.
Yeah, they've had a good 6 year courtship.
A good percentage of parts listed on Amazon are actually fulfilled (shipped) from A Main Hobbies, so I'm not sure what the fuss is about. The future of brick and mortar retailers are tedious at best, so I'm curious to see where that goes
Oh, I'm not sure. Maybe others can chime in. It shouldn't get too hot that you can't touch it. Check and make sure there's no binding, aka, easy to spin the spur gear by hand.
@@RCReviewChannel uh, whut? 😄
Hopefully in my local Hobbytown they'll get rid of that section where people play dungeons and dragons and various other card games and put some tracks.
I worked for my local hobbytown and you'd be suprised how many people are into that section, i understand your comment, but don't be that guy just because it's not what you are into 😊
@@hunterd.911 I know it's not going anywhere. Those things are a hobby niche. For me I had to travel 1.5 hours for an rc track and my Hobbytown is 20 minutes away.
Amain lost a sale to Amazon I ordered 3 parts 1 was backordered so they decided not to ship any of it this is the second time it has happened! They say ohh we thought you want everything together. No!! My plane is down until this comes in so I got the brand name parts Arrma and Hobbyzone on Amazon for the same price. I really like Hobby town they got the Losi Promoto in and held it for me until I got back into town Amain does a backorder and expects you to pay today where Tower hobbies charges you when it ships. I really hope the merger doesnt impact the local feel of Hobbytown.
I miss the hobbytown USA that was here in Lehigh Valley Pa. If they could provide a space for customers to congregate and meet up, everyone would benefit, and I know this couldn't be done at all locations. And don't allow traxxas to dominate the store would also be nice, provide a variety of companies instead of allowing traxxas to take up 80% of the RC vehicle section with their many plastic replacement parts.
Selection is key and having a good track always attacts the best, recurring business.
Wow, there’s only 106 HobbyTown stores? 😢
Always had great service to the uk from a amain hobbies 👌🏻
That's awesome to hear!!!!
I just hope my local hobbytown offers a better inventory now
Inventory can only get better.
@RCReviewChannel I hope so. Be nice to get some crawler stuff that's not just TRX4
R. I. P. Kevin.
I hope are HobbyTown in Longmont Colorado will come back it closed last year with out any notice, I just got started in the hobby
The Hobbytowns in my town have removed their exterior signs. I wonder if they're rebranding to Amain
Wow that’s a big move by Amain
Monster financial and operational move during these 'hard times'.
Amain took over one of my local hobby stores. Rcplanet
95% of my RC product purchases come from Amain.
Great news. I always wondered why their websites looked similar. I order most of my stuff from amain, even my plane stuff which amain doesn't deal with, although they have every sine propellor size known and HH only carries their stuff. This good news as I love going into hobby town, especially if they will have an expanded selection
Yeah, just like their online, we hope Hobbytown levels up with this move.
I hope to see better supply chain for parts etc.
Hopefully its a positive thing for my local hobbytown. Its very very bad.
Yeah, I never had a good Hobbytown visit.
would be great to see rc tracks have his name!
That is a fine idea.
More than anything, Hobbytown needs some sort of advertising to the general public. And I would change the store. Ame to A-Main, just to avoid confusion with Hobby Lobby.
Agreed 100% on both counts.
Think Amazon with Whole-foods!
Amain has been involved with hobbytown a long time that’s why their website looks exactly the same an when you chat your chatting with amain not hobbytown…. Great explanation of this an to true about prime scam
Haha, i got one thing right today!
HobbyTown needs to streamline their inventory. They carry so many things and I know they are trying to cater to different hobbyists, but at times I feel they're too spread out in what they carry. You can't cater to all these minor niches that will probably bring you minimal profit / foot traffic.
It reminded me of Toys R Us, they carried so many smaller brand items that it was wasted space when they should have focused on their bigger sellers like Lego, Barbie, video games and seasonal items. ( even partnering for exclusives or collectables )
If HobbyTown carried more RC inventory ( land, water and air ) , RC parts / spares and Gundam kits while eliminating lesser selling inventory, I think they would do better. Shelf space is premium and when it’s taken up by dying hobbies you’re losing valuable space for inventory that brings people to you.
Many the stores are in dire need of better organization and presentation, they look so old and dated it reminds me of some of the hobby shops from the 80’s and 90’s and they never progressed with the times. I’m not saying I want an Apple Store experience but I’d like a store that looks like it’s fairly modern, well lit and is more visually engaging.
Lastly, I know RC tracks / RC airfields have dwindled over the years, but the few that remain in operation should be a focal point of their presence. Sponsorship, exhibitions of new products, trade shows and exploring new places / partnerships to bring new people to the hobby.
Time stamp: 3:34, Look at the price differences. WOW!!!!I see why they went broke. $389.99 vs, $223.78
I mean their websites have been EXACTLY the same for years? I don’t think this really changed anything, I swear they even shared warehouses because the items they had in stock were always the same
I wonder if I can open up a amain hobbies franchise near me.
Online being what it is, there is still nothing like the experience of browsing a well stocked brick and mortar shop who actually understands the trends of what they're selling and what customers actually want.
I try desperately to support a small local shop here where I live, but they are so completely out of touch with the hobby trends it's like they're in a different world. I'll go in to query about some trending product the they won't even know what it is let alone have any to sell.
I keep trying to buy from them whenever possible but it's nearly impossible. Also, the prices are off the charts. They want 100 bucks for something I can get on amazon for 22. I can't afford that difference unfortunately.
Now, I'm relegated to mostly just buy tamiya ps paint from them because nobody will ship spray paint anymore. If I wasn't for that, I'd have no further reason to go there.
Sad, but most of these small shops are their own worst problem. Terribly out of touch with the sales trends and no stock. Having them offer to order me something is always frustrating because if I wanted to order, I'd just use amain, amazon, horizon etc.. and not bother driving over there.
cheers.
Hell yeah
Can i get a...
I could only wish that the acquisition could help with my local hobbytown yes they are the big guy here but everyone in my circles hates them employees are not knowledgeable they upcharge more than the website for example I went to buy a capra builders kit and they wanted 30$ more had to hagle with them to get that taken off and they were not happy about it local store is in Springfield mo I would much rather go to midwest hobbies they are a little shop but the service and pricing is soooooo much better
Awesome! Now Traxxas will lower their prices to compete 😂
They were already internet partners.
Yeah, rent to own.
very classy tribute!
Thanks for listening