What do you look for in a model shop?

[JCL]

I've been to quite a few good and great model shops recently in Lethbridge and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Even though some of them were small, they seemed to have just the things I was after - including a range of paint that Mike Trice uses for his "teaking" tutorial, which was amazing as he'd have imported them, I think, from Spain.

 

This changed a bit today. I was driving from Vancouver Island and realised I'd be driving fairly close to a model shop I'd seen on the internet, and Google maps, so I thought I'd drop off the highway and have a look. Although I used the SatNav, I seemed to go past it, so I turned around and went back, and promptly passed it again. I thought the SatNav was at fault, so I called the shop, and I was in the right place after all. Unfortunately the address appeared to be a house from the road, and there were no signs at all to let you know there was a model shop around the back.

 

After the phone call, I turned off the highway. Halfway up the drive, near the house, was a tiny sign that said "store". Parking up next to the barn holding the store, my wife and I agreed that I would pop in and she'd get the dog out to give it a bit of a walk down the side of the road. Curtains twitched in the house, and a woman came out the shop. We asked if we could walk the dog down to the road, but I couldn't hear what she said. I asked again if it was a problem, and got the reply "Their dog is loose", she waved her hands in the air dismissively, turned her back on us, and walked back into the store.

 

We put our dog back into the Jeep and I wandered in to the store. Nobody looked up, let alone said hi, so I wandered around for a couple of minutes looking on the shelves. In the end someone came up to ask what I wanted. Asked for styrene, and I mentioned that they had some particular Preiser figures on the website and did they have any. He seemed to be annoyed and just said no, they were out of stock. Apparently they don't put stocking levels on the website. Anyway, I'd had enough and I made my excuses and left as I was obviously not welcome there.Very Royston Vasey!

 

So I suppose, one thing I'd like from a model store is a sign that lets you know it's there, and if they are really mail order only, and visitors aren't to be encouraged, not to advertise an address.

 

I drove into the closest town, and while we were looking for a sandwich I saw another model shop, well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I walked in asked for some styrene, and the shop owner was very pleased to grab it for me, even though I'd stopped him from doing something that looked intricate on a table in the back.. I had a great, if brief time there while my wife grabbed a couple of sandwiches. So the answer is not to be put off by one bad experience, and if you don't succeed, try, try... well, you know the rest