I happened to pass this building today, and felt a little
melancholy. Another hobby business
packed up and left. I don't know what
happened really. Maybe they moved
somewhere else, or maybe the idea just didn't fly. A lot of hobby related businesses just don't
succeed and whenever they close, I feel a sling twinge (or pang) of sadness.
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| While out for a walk I came across this |
I cannot really say I was part of the solution. I avoided going into the store because I
didn't really want to start another hobby, and this one seemed really tempting. Lego and robotics..... Had I gone in, my
paycheque might have been a memory.
Despite having some advertising on this sight, I am a long way from
having it generate any kind of hobby budget.
We live in a great time for hobbyists, but perhaps not such
a great time for people running a large hobby business. I would guess that running a home hobby
business (I imagine somebody making flatcar loads at home, or building train
layouts, or designing replica buildings) would be possible. It would require a great website, a great
idea, a spare room or two and probably easy access to a post office. Running a business with a store location would
require the same things, but would also mean renting out a store--and I imagine
that it would cost a lot of money. I am
impressed by anyone who does it because it must be hard. Taking that risk must be pretty scary.
I would hope that Lego had a stake in this enterprise, and
therefore nobody lost their shirt trying to run this business. However, a short portrait in the very local
newspaper seems to indicate otherwise. A
brief bit of googling hasn't brought me any answers. If you know something about it, please post
it here; for my curiosity and others. I
would also appreciate any thoughts on how your local hobby stores are doing.
On a side note, at the bookstore, there still seem to be
quite a large number of magazines about hobbies still being published. Flipping through some of them, I can see that
they are making an effort to go digital, but still seem to be publishing. Feel free to comment on this as well.
