House of Hobbies in Tampa (Clearwater) FL

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Jeff Clark - 13 Jul 2004 09:07 GMT

There have been several posts on rec.models.scale over time about how
great the House of Hobbies in Tampa FL (Clearwater, actually) is, filled
from floor to ceiling with lots of old kits and supplies. I live on the
east coast of Florida and I wanted to visit, so I called them trying to
find their hours. That was when I found out they closed their store at
1320 South Fort Harrison around March-April 2004 (which was the one
everyone said was so great), and moved to a new location in Palm Harbor.

Has anyone been to their new store? Is it as good as their old location
was? I'd like to know if it's worth a 6-hour round-trip.

Their new address is:
37700 US 19 N, Palm Harbor, FL 34684 727-943-5800

Thanks,

Jeff Clark
Cocoa, FL

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Wildcat - 13 Jul 2004 13:50 GMT

They have been open about a month and as I understand it, there is still considerable stock "in the back" that is not out. The new
store is actually a combination of the old store and another store they had that was north of the present location.

I can't tell you much about the old store. I am in a wheelchair and could never even get in the front door of the old store! From
what I hear from other club members the place was pretty fabulous.

Not sure what your interests are but the new store seems to have more R/C stuff than before. (apparently that is where the money
is).

The airplane stock (my interest) was about six 20' long shelves. Lots of old stuff like ESCI and the old 1/48th Airfix kits.

You could always plan your trip over here for a day we have a meeting or the weekend of our upcoming Regional. See:

http://www.percongrp.com/pelikan.htm

> There have been several posts on rec.models.scale over time about how
> great the House of Hobbies in Tampa FL (Clearwater, actually) is, filled
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Jeff Clark
> Cocoa, FL

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francis marion - 13 Jul 2004 14:10 GMT

I visited the old store in Clearwater while on a vacation about a year ago.
And, they do have a remarkable selection.............. problem is, finding
it. The place reminded me of a hobby store version of the govt. storage
warehouse that is in the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark!!

They have it, but who knows where................ I spent about 2 hours in
the store and saw stuff sitting on the shelves that I'd not seen for 25
years!! But the place was a disaster area organization wise.

Maybe now that they've moved they'll get it together and will actually be
able to show you a specific model, instead of the "oh yah, we got
that................ somewhere" comments that I heard during my visit.

Good day,
Francis Marion

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Keeper - 13 Jul 2004 17:14 GMT

> The place reminded me of a hobby store version of the govt. storage
>warehouse that is in the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark!!

Yeah, they used the Crapatorium for filming...8^)

Cheers,

The Keeper (of too much crap)

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Mad-Modeller - 14 Jul 2004 04:31 GMT

> I visited the old store in Clearwater while on a vacation about a year ago.
> And, they do have a remarkable selection.............. problem is, finding
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Good day,
> Francis Marion

Ooh! I love stores like that. I could spend all day there and if I was
looking for something specific I'd probably have to. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

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Jeff Clark - 14 Jul 2004 07:09 GMT

> You could always plan your trip over here for a day we have a meeting
> or the weekend of our upcoming Regional. See:
>
> http://www.percongrp.com/pelikan.htm

Thanks for the info. Sounds like it's still worth the effort to go,
whether I'm there for the contest or not.

Jeff

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Model Forum / General / Models / July 2004

House of Hobbies in Tampa (Clearwater) FL