The Backyard – Never a Better Time to Support Your LHS Than Now
Greetings all and Happy Friday, welcome to (a particularly cheerful) The Backyard!
For those that follow the hobby industry, this week had some grim news – Horizon Hobby cancelled this year’s Horizon Hobby RC Fest, which was to be held June 6 and 7 near their hometown of Champaign, IL (Monticello, IL was the actual event site), was cancelled for budgetary reasons. Axialfest, which they host as well, got the axe for the same reason.
Both are flaghship events for both the company and hobby at large, and the cancelations are another piece of grim news for the business side of the hobby, one that’s had a good share of it as of late.
The pandemic a few years ago saw the industry do a huge uptick in business because EVERYONE was buying hobby products. That demand has been gradually cooling the last few years though. This year was hopefully going to see things back on an upward trend, but this tariff stuff has potentially thrown a large wrench into that, creating a lot of economic uncertainty on top of what was already a challenging business environment. Not a great outlook.
I’d rather not be all doom and gloom though. The point of this was to say that this is a wonderful time to go out and support your local hobby shop (LHS), if you are able!
They are the ones on the front lines, and they feel the burn from both the end consumer and the manufacturer, and it can be no fun being caught in the middle.
And hey, while it always “feels good” to support your favorite local shop, there is also a practical reason- with the supply chain disruption, if there is something you are wanting and it’s available now, I’d snag it because depending on what it is, it may take a minute for a restock. This goes for not just full on kits, but spare parts as well- especially electronics!
The hobby will survive, it always does. Still, this is a great time to support your LHS! They are the lifeblood of the hobby.
Next week, on to sunnier topics. Until then, keep it on all 4’s!
