Originally Posted by
Inside_Line
+100000000000000000000000000
...on Hobby Shop sponsorships! A great starting point and good for both parties. You save on everything, not just kits. Actually, a shop discount can save you just as much money as a 50% manufacturer sponsorship. If possible team up with a shop, know what they stock, and let others know what they have when your at the track. If the hobby shops actually did more of this, they would be surprised how word of mouth can increase their business.
my 2 cents..
That last point is particuly good. I actually joined the team as Neil opened his second shop, which is the trackside shop at the Novarossi Raceway in the UK, so we were working it pretty much from scratch along with the new race director at the track... everything was really from scratch. Now it is really kicking and now we have a second track, a dirt track behind the all weather astroturf track and overall probably the best facility in the UK. The shop brings back a lot of people on its own, we are renowned for the help and service we give and the knowledge base of the team - we go that extra mile and the word of mouth pays off.
I come to the US for 3 months at a time to be with my lady, and chances are i will move here at some point. While i am here that is the one thing i miss. Here the exchange rate is so much in my favour i don't notice or particuly need any kind of financial help but i do miss the whole operation of what we do in the UK. Out here it is differant rewards, i race with a couple of guys who back home i would be pointing out should be on board with the team... racing with them under our own steam is fantastic fun and we back each other up constantly, and the tracks are all superb and local where we are.
I haven't see anything in the way really of hobby shop guys in this area other than the big online stores, that doesn't mean they are not out there of course. The owners of my local are not interested in the idea and their main business is in other kinds of models, although the guys in the car department are working hard to bring a better level of service and availability as well as supporting the racers as much as they can. It's a shame as that kind of thing can bring a lot to local scenes. I don't personally see why local stores and big internet places shouldn't co-exist although you hear complaints online is killing them... but that's a whole other debate. I order a lot online but like to support local hobby stores that are helpful give all the benefits of face to face business and stock you can physically look at and so on.
I do think the future of physical stores is in having a race team and being part of the chain of sponsorship with the level of service that can bring when done right. Of course that goes for the online stores but maybe isn't as important as their business is mainly in price competition and sheer volume of stock. That i don't have any real experiance with though.