Too bad about Willis Hobby. Although I lived on Long Island for many years my purchaes there were not enough to keep the store going. I bet a lot of other modelers could say the same. I don't think it's any one thing killing the retail local hobby shop. The clientele in my local shop are all contemporaries of mine (I've been in the hobby since the middle of the last century) and the consensus is that it is a rich, old man's hobby - except in December. The shop I frequent here in New Jersey is on its final approach to oblivion. Its marketing plan was last updated in 1970 - before the internet and before mail-order really took hold. The store is cluttered and there's probably only one employee who knows the location of all those tiny parts you really need. I'm going to miss them when they're gone. Who else is going to install the replacement decoder? It's cost-effective to purchase big-ticket items on line, and we think we're geting a bargain - until we get to the shipping charges. It's the small accessories that I need that guy in the next town for. But, on the other hand, what is this local guy doing to aggressively market his business on-line? He's selling a 'commodity item' meaning the price can be shopped around. He should be going after the service aspect, instead of standing there like a deer caught in the headlights. I think i know his thinking: too late to change, I'm a year or two from retirement, the customers need me. (Well, the customers that need you, need you, but how many of them are left?
Years ago there was a hobby shop not far from where I now live that may have had what I wanted if I wanted to risk lung cancer. It was as though the store was hermetically sealed. He had his old cronies, all contributing to the air quality - until he went out of business. I think of the shops that were old reliables - large, well stocked - from my youth in New York City and one in downtown Brooklyn and two close to me in New Jersey (Neal, south of Rt 80), and MB Klein (retail) in Maryland - all gone. These were all single owner shops, but there seems to be no longer a market for someone buying a hobby shop. Raise your hand if you think owning a neighborhood model railroad shop would be a viable business. I'm talking 'business'. You can't run a money making business as a hobby.
Thanks for reading this