Check out Model Retailer’s website for reviews of Looney Labs’ Martian FLUXX and Aquarius, and the new 1:8-scale The Mummy model from Moebius Models.
Tim Kidwell, associate editor
Archive for October, 2009
Three new reviews on ModelRetailer.com
October 30, 2009Back from the show
October 29, 2009We’re just coming off of iHobby Expo here, and we saw a lot of you at the event. As always, it was good to see the people we knew and to make some new friends. I asked a lot of people there what they thought of the show, and got a lot of different answers. The thing is, you really don’t know the value of the show until later.
One of the best conversations I had at Rosemont was with Walt Throne from Walt’s Hobby in Syracuse, N.Y. As someone who’s been around the retail hobby business for decades, he’s seen the economy go up and down numerous times. The current situation is just another bump — albeit a serious one — in the road.
However, the thing he said that really stuck with me is, “I’ve never been to a show that didn’t pay for itself somehow,” either through a deal he got on merchandise or something he learned there either in a seminar or from another retailer that helped his business.
I know he’s not alone in that sentiment, either. There’s a reason we see so many familiar faces at the shows, and it’s not just for the social aspect.
Other impressions from the show:
It’s a psychological win to have even have had a trade show in the current economy. Do you know how many other industries have canceled their shows this year? Las Vegas, a city known for hosting many of them, has seen convention visitors fall off 26% this year.
The dealers that came were there to do business. A number of the manufacturers I talked to — not all of them, but most — said they wrote a lot of orders. Programs like Ticket to Ride helped.
Nobody was preaching doom and gloom. In fact, most people I talked to — retailers, manufacturers and distributors — said they were at least doing OK and were upbeat about the future.
There’s certainly reason for optimism; the public days drew 20,000 people, blowing last year’s record crowd of 15,000 out of the water. That tells me there’s plenty of interest in hobby products out there. Don’t wait for customers to come to you; go get them!
Hal Miller, editor
iHobby Expo 2009: Just the tip of the iceberg
October 22, 2009The show opened with its usual fanfare, and as usual, it was gray and rainy, a terrific kind of day to look at new hobby products. Also a good day to make some new friends and business connections as well as renew some old acquaintances.
As might be expected with the economy, manufacturer/distributor and retailer attendance are both down somewhat. However, the show floor looks great and plenty of business is being done.
The retailers we talked to today from all parts of the country are reporting they are hanging in there. Manufacturers and distributors reported the dealers attending the show are there to buy.
Beauty and the Beast: Horizon's Kim Payne shows off The Beast
The number of new product releases is down from past years, but there are some cool products to see. One we saw today that looks like it will be a big seller is Horizon Hobby’s Phoenix flight simulator that comes with a Spektrum 5e 2.4GHz radio that can be used with the company’s Bind N Fly products. A user can learn to fly specific aircraft on the simulator, then transition to the actual aircraft using the same radio! Also, each time a new “r/t” aircraft is released, a downloadable simulator version will be available free!
Another product that looks like a winner is the Losi Micro Crawler, which is going to be a lot of fun tackling the piles of paper and other objects on my desk. We also saw the Losi 10T chassis, and it looks really nice.
Retailer Bob Medcraft, owner of Choo Choo Bob’s in St. Paul, Minn., has been producing the Choo Choo Bob Show series of railroad videos for kids for a while now. There are six in the series; he’s planning another seven and they are all well produced and very entertaining. We saw Art Schaefer of Schaefer’s Hobbies in St. Louis placing his order for them! If you’d like information on the videos, e-mail Bob Medcraft. MSRP on them is $12.95, so they’re a great impulse buy.
Greenlight Toys' Karoline Ralls with a new 1:12 Mustang
B2B Replicas' Marley Pugh with an Eligor Firetruck.
We saw some great die-cast items from Greenlight Toys’ Karoline Ralls and from B2B Replicas’ Marley Pugh. B2B is now carrying the Eligor line of die-cast vehicles, many of which are French racing and common vehicles. The Eligor products MSRP at $37-$42. Also, B2B’s Katharine Stratton says after a short absence, SIKU products should be back in the U.S. soon.
True-Square's Al Thumler shows off the new Thumler's Tumbler.
Al Thumler at Tru-Square Products has his first new Thumler’s Tumbler model in some time. The product is made of durable injection molded plastic and uses a 2 lb. barrel. It’s entirely made in the USA and all parts are locally sourced around the company’s home in Auburn, Wash.
Dane Scarborough shows off the new Uberstix Monorail
Uberstix’s Dane Scarborough showed off the company’s new Monorail, that has a definite Steampunk vibe to it. He was busy building some sort of catapult when we visited; we thought it prudent to leave before he got it built…
Hal Miller, editor
iHobby Expo ’09: Kizer & Bender
October 22, 2009Retail marketing experts Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender kicked off this year’s show with their seminar, “25 Top Tips to Survive in a Tough Economy.” About 60 retailers attended the program.
If you didn’t make it, the good news is we’ll be putting pieces of the seminar on modelretailer.com in the coming weeks so you too can benefit from their marketing wisdom!
Look for announcements and links in future Model Retailer e-newsletters.
New reviews at ModelRetailer.com – November 2009
October 12, 2009This month, we review the E-flite 4-Site R/C plane, Scalextric’s new GT40 Mk.II slot car, a puzzle and building set from Mudpuppy, Looney Lab’s “Are You the Traitor?”, the P-51D R/C plane from ParkZone, and Proto N’s Norfolk & Western Y3 2-8-8-2 locomotive.
Tim Kidwell, associate editor
Ringing in the Hobby Year
October 7, 2009I have a lot of calendars to watch. There’s the regular January-December calendar, the fiscal calendar, and since I have kids in school, I need to keep an eye on theirs, too.
I also have sort of an unofficial “hobby year” calendar, the end of which is marked with the finish of iHobby Expo. I suppose if I wanted, I could start the year with the beginning of the show, but I like to think of it as the New Year’s Eve party for the industry; ringing out the old and in with the new.
With this being the 25th anniversary of the event, it should be fairly festive, if smaller than in recent years.
About this time last year, we were getting a picture of where the economy was headed. Everyone knew things were going to get rocky — for some, things were headed that way in the months leading up to the show. The diving stock market and news of potential bank failures definitely cast a pall over what was an excellent, sold-out event.
A year later, while the federal government is saying the recession is over, Main Street is still struggling and wondering what kind of a holiday shopping season it will have.
There’s reason for optimism. For one, we’re not sliding down the economic slope anymore. We’re not wondering where the bottom is and how many more banks need bailing out, or watching the housing foreclosure and unemployment rates climb. The stock market is even up.
I know, it’s not cause for dancing in the streets. There’s still a long way to go just to get back to “normal” — though I think most people’s concept of what’s normal has changed.
If there’s anything good that’s come out of the last 12 months, it’s that businesses have been forced to do more with less, market themselves more creatively and make sure that every dollar spent is bringing a return. Those things won’t show up in the economic recovery statistics, but are valuable nonetheless.
Hopefully you’ve made plans to be at iHobby Expo; if so, please catch us on the show floor and say hi. While the mood may be a little subdued, we can ring in the new hobby year together.
Model Retailer Magazine's Blog 