We've been on vacation in Minneapolis visiting our daughter for the last few days.
I went in search of hobby stores this morning.
Only had time to visit two but found two real winners!!!
Both are large and prospering!
The first is called Hobby Warehouse - If Radio Control is your hobby this place would be like heaven - a BIG store full of nothing but R/C stuff - Air Planes, Helicopters, Cars and boats......I've seen alot of hobby stores in my time but nothing like this - the ceiling is covered with planes Just the ceiling was worth the stop! If they don't have what you want for the R/C hobby then I don't think anybody will have it...I've never seen that many R/C aircraft kits in one place at one time!!!

The second stop was Hub Hobby In Richfield - I didn't get time to see all of that store - Hub is a full line store with a really large Plastic Kit department -They had all the Moebius kits that wre currently avaialble except mini FS-1 kits - they are sold out on those but had everything else on hand!
They have two locations - one in Richfiels and the second in Little Canada
Hub also has R/C, Trains, Science projects, Rockets, Slot cars, some arts and crafts, dolls, Playmobille and Collectible Die Cast...I was really impressed with the parts of Hub hobby that I had time to see....

Soooo If you find yourself in Minneapolis make a point to check out these stores!!!

Dave

anybody know a good hobby shop in western Mass ??

John - The Time Machine in Manchester CT (http://www.timemachinehobby.com) may not be super-close to Western Mass, but it's WELL worth the travel time. (I just Googled their address and they're less than an hour-and-a-half from the NY/MA border on the Mass Pike.)

Think everything Dave said about Hobby Warehouse, but don't limit it to R/C stuff. A plastic kit area that's as big as most dedicated model shops, trains (with a HUGE train layout upstairs), supplies, toys* ... well, it was like hobby nervana.

* Their toy department does not include a single thing that "does the thinking for you" - all the toys are like the ones when I was a kid that required an actual imagination to have fun with and, therefore, provide endless hours of fun instead of 15 minutes before boredom sets in because the toy has done everything its programmers included.

Dave -- had I known you were in the Twin Cities, I'd have given you the tour of Hub Hobbies myself!

I have noticed that ALL the hobby stores in the Baltimore area have moved very heavily into RC-related hobbies.....specifically cars. In fact, one of my favorite old hobby shops that I bought most of my Polar Lights kits from eventually phased out there plastic model kits and is almost entirely RC stuff now. I'm into plastic models, so this is bad for me.

We visit minneapolis at least once a year - our daughter lives there... we'll probably try to get back again at Thanksgiving.... If we can find a cheap flight.......and my wife can get time off on the Wednesday before...

Hub Hobbies and the Hobby warehouse are living proof that well run Hobby Stores are surviving and even thriving if they can are in large enough markets .... Both store also sell over the net....
Dave