I'm beating the dead horse once again here but the corporate evolution is nearly complete. As we are seeing and living it's ALL about dollars and greed anymore, not modeling.
It has *always*, repeat, *always* been about dollars and what you refer to as "greed". The fundamental problem is that it is just about impossible to make any money selling model supplies for obscure niche hobbies. Because only a very few people actually want that anymore.
The demand side of the equation has dried up almost completely because FF/CL and even modeling-type RC is of very little interest to the general public anymore. The shops exist for the items that still have significant demand, like R/C cars and drones. We cannot change that because the world has moved on.
A secondary issue is that modelers are also very fickle. We have a local old-style hobby shop in the Bay Area - J&M Hobby House in San Carlos. It's exactly what you think about when you think "hobby shop", and is one of the few left in the country like that.
But an example of the fickle nature of the hobby industry (and I don't know if it is true, but it wouldn't surprise me). In the late 80's, all the local hot-shots decided that Glo-Devil #300 glow plugs were the hot ticket for our 40/46VFs. So, suppose Cliff tried to cater to that and bought a gross of them. For a few years, that's all that sold, then someone found that the ThunderBolt 4-cycle plug was "better". Instantly, the demand for Glo-Devils dried up completely, and there might not have been a single #300 sold in the last 25 years. I have a dozen of them somewhere, and am not likely to ever run out, and so does everybody else. So he is stuck with the remaining inventory. Muncie Model and Hobby is another good example - very good hobby shop with a very nice and wide assortment that cannot stay in business despite being 100 yards from the world center of modeling.
Take that for any other niche product (like dope, silkspan, etc) and you can see that the risk of being dead stuck with something VS the reward of piddling profits (if it all), it makes absolutely no sense to run the thing from a business standpoint, UNLESS, you charge very high prices and have a niche clientele willing to pay for it. Bay Area, where the median home price is closing in on $1 million and there are something like 10 million people within 50 miles (150 of whom care about modeling), yes. LA Basin -yes. Anywhere else, not a chance.
The era has ended, there's nothing to be done about it, and enjoy the fact that you can get the best assortment of equipment and supplies that have ever been available with a phone call and a credit card.
Brett
Topic: Model Airplane News (Read 3744 times)