"More Brick & Mortar Closures - Northern Virginia" Topic

In the space of a week, I decided to visit some stores that are usually in my second or third tier to visit as they catered to r/c, kit models, stock/slot car or rocket hobbies.

Sad to say, both were closed permanently: Piper Hobby in Chantilly (closed in 2017 apparently) then Hobby Works in Fairfax in January. Both had a decent supply of glues, terrain and paint stuff that was useful. With both gone, I'm not sure where I'm going to go for this kind of thing locally.

I miss those big model train stores that used to exist way back when. They always had a lot of paint and modeling supplies and there ain't no such thing in NoVa anymore. Even the touring train show that turns up at the exposition center every few months is weak on stuff with wargaming appeal.

Still, I believe the hobby is strong, but I want it all: strong online, strong brick and mortar.

For the mom and pop shop owner, it is almost impossible to be strong long term because of online competition. People go to the store to look at the product, and then go to Amazon and order it for $15 USD less, and then take it back to the store and play with it in the gaming area.

Chantily has a new store that looks pretty big. The Games Tavern.

thegamestavern.com

The Games Tavern is nice. Limited selection of minis, but not bad. Good selection of paints and supplies. Most of the store is dedicated to gaming, which is nice.

A decent model train store in Manassas is Toy Trains & Collectibles:

link

MIke

I was sorry to see Hobby Works go – it's where I went to pick up enamel paints (I still use 'em for some details on minis) green stuff, water effects and some other terrain brick a brack for when I'm scratch building terrain models. Good place for hobby tools too. I'll have to check out the Manassas place, though that's a bit of a haul for me. I hadn't been to Piper in quite a while – they were fairly rude to me on one visit so after Hobby Works opened I never went back.