# The Decline of Traditional Male Oriented Hobby Shops **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846 "2024-06-13T20:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/61 "2024-06-15T13:19:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If they’re just coming in to chat, well, that’s cool and all, but it won’t keep you in business. A lot of the game stores started selling snacks and drinks many years ago. Even if people are buying online and only coming in to use the store’s tables to play, they’ll often times buy snacks and drinks for themselves. The local game store in Little Rock starting selling beer a few years ago. It’s not exactly a cafe yet, you can pick up a nice pilsner and pair it with some beef jerky or a cold pop tart, but it’s something. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/62 "2024-06-15T17:00:12Z")
One thing about yarn and fabric stores is seemingly still being around more than other hobbies is that there’s a tactile component to it. If you want to knit or sew a particular item with a certain feel, there’s value in shopping for the material in person to get the texture you want. No one wants baby blankets made of scratchy plasticky yarn! Paints, model kits, figurines, cards, etc will be the same whether you manipulate it before buying or not. So the stores that sell both might have a larger physical footprint for the yarn and fabric, but they can still deliver the other products. It’s a small part of the overall puzzle, but I don’t think it can be dismissed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/63 "2024-06-15T17:08:16Z")
That’s not unique to textiles, though. The other day, I needed some wire, and I wasn’t sure precisely what size it would be listed as (the fact that there are multiple different standards for wire gauge doesn’t help), but I did know what the wire I needed would feel like. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/64 "2024-06-15T18:27:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The key for a successful business, though, is not just to have a bunch of fans hanging out at the store. You also have to have some way of making income from them. Do they buy something from you every time they stop in? Do you have rooms or tables that you rent out, for them to use to do their hobbies? Maybe it’s just a coffee shop in the corner, where they get something to drink while chatting? > > If they’re just coming in to chat, well, that’s cool and all, but it won’t keep you in business. Quite. The recent thread cited below is more or less all over that topic: the difference between a successful retail store and what late wife and I used to call a “retail museum”. I.e. a place where people go to look, maybe touch, but not to buy. Most retail museums are inadvertent and then short-lived. > [@I'm starting a record store. Help me avoid critical mistakes!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-a-record-store-help-me-avoid-critical-mistakes/1000197): > > I’ve always loved in-person used record shopping – wandering a store, flipping through the bins, finding a few records or CDs that I’d barely heard of or never knew I wanted, and deciding I must own them. But recently I wondered why I had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest good stores, when I live in a town (Waukegan, Illinois) with 90,000 people. And that’s when I decided to explore the idea of opening a used record store in Waukegan. It was mostly a marketing exercise (marketing is my day job… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/65 "2024-06-15T19:52:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If they’re just coming in to chat, well, that’s cool and all, but it won’t keep you in business. My example was Comic Book Fans. I’m always taken aback by how much they spend. In my usual shopping experience, I’m leafing through the Dollar Bin while the heavy hitters are chatting. Then the owner says “Okay, Fanboy, I got your pull list ready.” And it’s a list of at least thirty new comics that came in that day. At four to six bucks an issue, they’re slapping down a Benjamin or two. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/66 "2024-06-15T21:25:56Z")
I remember visiting a Hobby shop in Little Rock. It was crammed full of train sets, leather working tools, wood burning sets and so on. There were a lot of books and magazines for sale. The shop was a meeting place for hobbyists. They also sold parts to repair old trains. I only visited once with a friend that was fixing his lionel train. That store closed at least 25 years ago. The shopping center is very run down. I guess most of that inventory can be found on the web. It’s not the same experience. A big part of hobbying used to be making friends and sharing interests in projects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846.md?page=3)