I live in a hobby shop desert. The only “local” brick and mortar hobby shops I have here is a craft store chain and a hobby shop chain that specializes in RC and trains and if that is not your thing they will order what you want, but expect no help from the staff. And so I rely on the internet. The models I love to build… Aircraft, military and ships in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48 and 1/350 scales. Watching this thing in the news about tariffs has me very worried about being able to make purchases as almost nothing seems to be made here. And models and accessories just get more and more expensive. Life has not been kind and I have not been able to build in a long time. I am on disability, can’t work. I have even had to put my belongings in storage and move in with my parents to help take care of my dad who has some serious old age issues. But family takes care of family no matter what. Can’t sit in a chair long enough to build anything. Although I have a strong interest to do so… A smouldering fire I keep alive by this site and a few others and keeping an extensive wishlist on Evilbay, all-in-all, I am just worried about the future of my favorite pass time in the U. S. Just my thoughts. Was wondering if anyone else agrees?
I don’t worry about it. I figure when I get really old I have more important things to worry about.
I think the hobby has younger members in the eastern part of the world and will do find there .
Life is unjust, some get a better “deal” than others. Illness and other “events” strike us differently.
Not much consolation for those who get the “stick” by life …
Buying kits: Sometimes the stash owned by a modeller who has left us comes up for sale, sometimes really cheap. Evilbay is one place to hunt, sometimes thrift shops.
Maybe there is some model building club not too far away where members sell/swap/trade kits from their own stash or helping a widow to dispose of her husbands kits.
I live in one of the larger cities in Canada (Montreal) and the only hobby store in town (which is actually more than half a dozen boroughs away, and almost an hours drive) is actually a toy/arts & crafts/D&D/RC shop with a shelf of mostly older kits. Except for paints, glues, and brushes, etc., most of my purchases are made on ebay, or AlieExpress (shops - not individuals, or ebay auction 
). So far, after several years, excellent service from both. 
Tariffs suck, so thanks, but no, thank you, to Mr. Trump’s “offer” to become state #51 - I think we’d rather be in a tariff war with US, than with the rest of the world!
There are plenty of online Canadian Hobby shops with great inventory of products.
Great Hobbies, Hobby Sense, Hobby Centre, Wheels and Wings, Hobby Wholesale to name a few of my favourites.
I wouldn’t fret too much. Here’s why…
Modeler’s are generally a tight group and help each other with the hobby. It might be with sharing research, pictures or techniques or whatever.
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The local model contests will remain a good source of fairly priced kits for a while.
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Forums like this one have good deals in the buy, sell & trade threads.
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Due to space limitations some modelers have to down size to buy newer kits.
I have space for ~300 kits but have donated or given away ~100+ good model kits from before 2015 over the last five years due to space limitation because I wanted newer state of the art kits.
- The USA has at least one domestic model kit producer. If trade war and high tariffs remain eventually Round 2 will likely produce other kits.
Hope that helps!
There is also Salvinos JR Models, Atlantis, Andy’s Hobbies (Takom molds - not sure how impacted),
There is other US aftermarket companies- Archer, Barracuda Studio, AOA,
first, I think you meant a “hobby shop desert”. Like a food desert is a town with only a convenience store for food shopping. An oasis would be a dream like town with multiple competing local hobby shops that all specialize in scale models (and less focus on RC, gundam, and model-railroads) In other words, somewhere that rarely exists anymore. Here where I am from we had maybe four hobby shops in the 1980s and 90’s. Only one is left. Michael’s and Joanne’s came in in early 2000s (of course now Joanne’s is closing, not that I care). Our one local hobby shop left is great, but because we are an isolated state (Alaska) they only get a few hazmat shipments a year, so run out of lots of paint and stuff, and have a pretty limited assortment of military models compared to whats out there. Amazon prime ships up here for free, but it is hit and miss with what they carry and what they will ship up here (nothing flammable for example because there is no ground shipping option). Most online hobby stores either dont ship at all to Alaska, don’t ship flammables, and/or quite often charge more for shipping than the item costs.,
A good example of the shipping mysteries we go thru up here: Amazon will ship flammable Tamiya flammable alcohol based acrylics but not Tamiya flammable air brush cleaner. Often I cannot find a specific paint color, like rubber black for example. It is only available on Amazon as a “mini” pot, and is $6.99 plus $5 shipping (even with prime). That is some pretty expensive per-ml cost for paint. Really irks me when online stores say free shipping in the “continental US states” and don’t include Alaska, instead of saying the more accurate "contiguous US states.
I’ve ordered a couple of times from Hobby Sense, and Wheels and Wings, but only for items I can’t find elsewhere. And a lot of their items are “out of stock”. Canadian prices + postage is usually more expensive than ordering from a Chinese ebay vendor. Sorry, but I’m more patriotic to my wallet than my country. 
“Times they are a-changin”… and prices along with them. Online shopping seems to work for me. I try to make room in my budget for kits and supplies that I really need (want).
Try to stay positive, as you’ll no doubt feel a whole lot better while slingin’ styrene, glue and paint than worrying about it. … Ask me how I know.
Image for humor and reference only.
—mike 
…
Well, it could be worse. I lived for several years in Ecuador, and may be going back there to live in the next couple years. There are exactly TWO model shops I could find in the entire country of 17 million people. Of course, with 60% of the population being below the poverty line, that leaves a population of around 6,800,000 people in the middle class+. It’s harder to model there, similar to AKroast’s experience in Alaska, I’m thinking. Most of my hobby stuff I had to self-import using courier services.
Still, Ecuador does have a lively community, that self-supports, including an IMPS chapter out of Guayaquil, that holds periodic model shows or events. There’s something in Quito as well, but since I lived on the coast, Guayaquil had much more pull.
I can only say, make the best of what you can. I still model down there (& I see Temu Ecuador carries Takom, Trumpeter, & Border models)…
Damon.
PS: speaking of hobby stores, I had that dream (that we all have) last night of being in a store filled with unusual & exciting kits…
I count myself lucky then. Here in Salt Lake City we’re home to Kitlinx. Each month on a Saturday from Noon to 4pm they open the warehouse to the public. Five billion items for sale or something. They don’t have every single scale model thing on the planet, but it’s probably the best selection in North America, rivaling Sprue Brothers. It’s pretty well attended.
Don’t worry, you’ll be contiguous when the Tangerine Tw@ annexes Canuckistan…
Cheers,
M
This is a problem we all face. In Tacoma, American Eagle Hobbies retired long ago. Proctor hobbies is gone. The hobby shop on Garfield is gone. All 3 train shops are gone. Hobbylobby on Union is gone. Fantasy hobbies is gone. JoAnns is closing. So… I can take half a day and drive to the only model shop I am aware of and pay about the same if I ordered a kit and paid shipping from online.
Our hobby, due to closing hobby shops, is becoming an online hobby (to include shipping). The fewer brick and mortar stores, the fewer kids can put their hands on a kit and ask mom or dad to get it. So I worry that our hobby will be shrinking.
I don’t know how tariff will affect us, but toys were on the tariff list. I don’t know how that will affect prices. Is the tariff on the manufacturers wholesale cost or msrp? A 20% increase on wholesale may be about 10% on retail. If a distributer wanted to up their profit they could raise the cost on retail prices by 20% and blame tariffs and pocket the profit of the difference.
Sorry Top, you got it bassackwards: the on-line sales (with no overhead) has forced the closing of B&M stores, and kids (who are all on-line anyway) aren’t interested in kits or asking mom & dad to buy them. This hobby is going the way of the dinosaurs: old men (just look at show/contest photos from any continent) who are fewer every year, still yearning for “The Good Old Days”
In my opinion, there is nothing to worry about in the medium and long terms. In the short term, there will be price fluctuations as the United States uses its great economic muscle to compel trading partners to behave fairly. Once those trading partners realize continued abuse of the good graces of the American people will only make their situations worse, they will seek equitable deals and everything will normalize. In the long term, this will result in a much more powerful United States. Since the United States keeps the lid on all the bad guys and strives for fairness, that will be good for the entire world in the long run.
The current trade stuff is a speed bump. I am not even slightly worried.
As for local stores going out of business, that is a consequence of advancing technology. Technology is allowing model companies to design modesl, cut molds, and produce new subjects faster than ever. Makers of after market model bits are leveraging steady advances in 3D printing to produce a vast array of new products. YouTube and similar platforms are spreading model building know how at an incredible rate. If you think model building is dead with the kids, look at all the Gundam focused channels. Look at all the young women 3D printing dolls and figures. Look at the tech guys 3D printing gizmos for every little niche application.
It is a fantastic time for model builders on every other front.
I hope your situation improves.
Damraska, Youtube channels don’t translate to sales. As for the rest of your post, you’ve obviously be drinkin’ the Trumpade.
I stopped having those dreams when internet hobby stores became easily acessible and
obscure manufacturers and resin kits started appearing.
I used to dream I was walking around in a foreign city, finding some small hobby shop filled with intriguing plain boxes with simple black&white drawings on the lid.
When I tried to open the d*mn box the dream inevitably slipped away and I was back outside trying to find the way back to that store.