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I just got back from a visit to the grand opening of the Great Hobbies new brick and mortar location in Mississauga. I have bought stuff on and off from their website since back in about 1995 when they were still called "East Coast Model Centre" and they only had one location in PEI.
I didn't expect much in the way of boats, and wasn't surprised at what I saw. The place is a madhouse today, people elbow to elbow. It looks like a great place...if you care about airplanes.
I don't know about you guys, but I really don't care about it unless it floats (and I'm not talking about seaplanes here). Airplanes and cars (and trucks) have been done to death and generally bore the life out of me. I only really care about boats and can take a pass on anything else. I just start to glaze over I hear old men yabbering on endlessly about airplanes, 3d flying, trainers, 40 size this and 60 size that, blah, blah, blah...
Anyway, I get to the place, located in one of many small 4-5 store blocks of stores in a parking lot bordering a few big box stores. One one side, there's a bulk food store, on the other a nail salon - this place is not ready for the traffic this store will probably generate. There are guys hanging out in front of the store, indulging in the dixie cup sized coffees they poured for themselves inside the store. No products in hand, well at least not yet.
The I walk inside, what a crowd! Nice to see they got the word out...now let's see what they have. I look to the left...airplanes, I look to the right...airplanes. Ok then, well, lets dig in and see what we find. I managed to muscle my way in a bit deeper, saw a display with their brand of lipo packs on display, not bad...most of them are 3S of course, as that's what many planes use, but there are a few 2S packs, so I know I can pick up a couple locally in a pinch. Too bad there's no price on them. Come to think of it, there are no prices on anything, just tags that you scan with you smart phone (if you happen to have one), it's just to busy to get staff to help today, maybe some other time.
I didn't see any cars until I got to the back of the store due to the overwhelming amount of space dedicated to aircraft. I almost didn't think they had any boats at all until I finally went down one last aisle.
They actually did have some boats. A Minimono and SV27R were all they had as far as aquacraft goes. A couple lane buoys (I mean Traxxas Spartans) and a Proboat Blackjack or 2 and an Impusle cat. In all, a decent selection, but not quite as good as Hobby Hobby over in Streetsville.
Unfortunately, much like Hobby Hobby, they had few if any supporting parts for your boat after the sale. The most basic part - replacement propellers was...a joke. They have 2 wall pegs with a total of about 6 Grimracer props between them (sizes all mixed up) so they have dedicated about 6 square inches of wall space to us boat users, not much else. A balancer for those props? Nope. Replacement flex shafts? Not here. If you want boat parts at a GTA area shop, your best bet is still RCSports up in Woodbridge.
So in summary, a nice shop, but with very little for boaters (like most other shops that we already have). Full kits are nice, but no replacement or upgrade parts after the sale will do little to advance the hobby in this area.
I didn't expect much in the way of boats, and wasn't surprised at what I saw. The place is a madhouse today, people elbow to elbow. It looks like a great place...if you care about airplanes.
I don't know about you guys, but I really don't care about it unless it floats (and I'm not talking about seaplanes here). Airplanes and cars (and trucks) have been done to death and generally bore the life out of me. I only really care about boats and can take a pass on anything else. I just start to glaze over I hear old men yabbering on endlessly about airplanes, 3d flying, trainers, 40 size this and 60 size that, blah, blah, blah...
Anyway, I get to the place, located in one of many small 4-5 store blocks of stores in a parking lot bordering a few big box stores. One one side, there's a bulk food store, on the other a nail salon - this place is not ready for the traffic this store will probably generate. There are guys hanging out in front of the store, indulging in the dixie cup sized coffees they poured for themselves inside the store. No products in hand, well at least not yet.
The I walk inside, what a crowd! Nice to see they got the word out...now let's see what they have. I look to the left...airplanes, I look to the right...airplanes. Ok then, well, lets dig in and see what we find. I managed to muscle my way in a bit deeper, saw a display with their brand of lipo packs on display, not bad...most of them are 3S of course, as that's what many planes use, but there are a few 2S packs, so I know I can pick up a couple locally in a pinch. Too bad there's no price on them. Come to think of it, there are no prices on anything, just tags that you scan with you smart phone (if you happen to have one), it's just to busy to get staff to help today, maybe some other time.
I didn't see any cars until I got to the back of the store due to the overwhelming amount of space dedicated to aircraft. I almost didn't think they had any boats at all until I finally went down one last aisle.
They actually did have some boats. A Minimono and SV27R were all they had as far as aquacraft goes. A couple lane buoys (I mean Traxxas Spartans) and a Proboat Blackjack or 2 and an Impusle cat. In all, a decent selection, but not quite as good as Hobby Hobby over in Streetsville.
Unfortunately, much like Hobby Hobby, they had few if any supporting parts for your boat after the sale. The most basic part - replacement propellers was...a joke. They have 2 wall pegs with a total of about 6 Grimracer props between them (sizes all mixed up) so they have dedicated about 6 square inches of wall space to us boat users, not much else. A balancer for those props? Nope. Replacement flex shafts? Not here. If you want boat parts at a GTA area shop, your best bet is still RCSports up in Woodbridge.
So in summary, a nice shop, but with very little for boaters (like most other shops that we already have). Full kits are nice, but no replacement or upgrade parts after the sale will do little to advance the hobby in this area.
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