Road Trip: Zeppelin and Hobbytown Hobby Stores
Introduction
What is a road trip without cruising into some hobby stores? The answer: it’s just a boring way to get home. That’s not a road trip!
My son is more into this hobby than his two sisters are. My wife just tolerates this and figures this is part of the crazy she has to embrace. In fact, my son is happy to do odd jobs for RC parts. I told him that we can make him a sign, “Will mow lawn for big bore shocks.” My oldest daughter will sometimes go out to the track and surprise us with her hidden skill. My middle daughter will sometimes humor me with hobby stuff, but mostly she would prefer to read.
Zeppelin Hobbies in NJ
First, I apologize. I forgot to take photos. I was in the midst of the slot car race, and my son likes to talk smack to his sisters. My middle daughter just ignores him. My oldest daughter puts him in his place. The racing got real, and I got worried I was either going to do an intervention or buy the store because of their cars flying off the track. The worst case would have been to buy the store and then do the intervention with my kids. I can assure you that the racing got real. So, I forgot to provide photo evidence.
This is a place I used to go to as a kid. Yes, it is that old. My kids wonder if RC cars had square wheels back in those days. I remind them that things were not plug and play. You had to solder wires to motors. The run time on the best day was 7-10 minutes if you wanted to play with an electric truck. The batteries were NiCD, which had to be run all the way down. So, yeah, I’ve been around the hobby for a bit.
So, why do I mention Zeppelin hobbies? They not only have a lot of RC cars, but they also have a big slot car track. In fact, they have two slot tracks. If you are in Wayne, NJ, you have to check out these tracks. That is another hobby that is just a hoot. This hobby shop will rent the tracks for a birthday party.
When we go back to NJ, it always seems like there is a rainy day. This is the place where we go in the morning to run some laps on the slot car tracks. You can rent the track at 15-minute intervals. We are usually there for 30 minutes to an hour. I go, and my three kids will go with me. It’s about 20 bucks, but worth every penny to see my kids trying to beat each other without a screen in front of their faces.
In my experience, this shop knows its products, and they have a friendly staff. So, if you have an RC car/truck/boat/plane that needs to get going, they are the guys to talk to. I was happy to see that there are some RC tracks in NJ as well. So, the scene is still going on there.
Hobby Town in Sioux Falls, SD
This is another store I have wanted to visit for the past few years. I used to go to Hobby Town in Fresno. So, I wanted to see what the Sioux Falls Hobby Town was like. I got lost in the conversation and forgot to take pictures AGAIN!
The one in Sioux Falls, SD, is in a shopping center, almost a mall. (1710 S Western Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57105-1316) It is not in the newest part of town, but the store is really clean. They have a lot of cars in stock and a variety of parts. The staff was friendly. I did not have time to stay there too long, but I stayed there long enough to get a flavor for the shop.
They had a lot of Arrma products, and they were not pushing the Traxxas, even though Traxxas was having a big sale as we were doing our road trip. I asked them about Short Course Trucks, and they pointed me to the Arrma Mojave Grom. I think that is my settled truck to get people started in the hobby. I think that Arrma’s build quality is really impressive for a ready-to-run truck. The downside is that it does not break, so you upgrade by choice rather than replacing the broken bits.
I asked them about the RC race scene. They handed me a track schedule that they have on the counter. I won’t have a chance to get back there and check it out, but I scanned my copy to share with the internet. I hope someone can utilize it.
Oh, they also have a slot car club that is the HO scale. They move from person to person’s house. So, if you are looking for slot car racing, stop in the shop. They were telling me about it, and it sounded like a fun winter activity. The worst part is the speakeasy password you have to remember when you go from house to house. So, it’s not that bad. It’s more like, “Hey, do you guys run slot cars around here?” “Yeah, we have different guys with slot car tracks in their basements. We go from house to house. You want to be added to the list?” No DNA sample or anything.
Conclusion
There you have it. Two great hobby shops. One on the East Coast and one in the Midwest. If you have a rainy day in the Sioux Falls area, you can suggest to the family to get out. In our family, it would be easy. Let the people who want to cure insomnia cruise other stores, and the people who like fun can check out Hobby Town. You can browse around and check out the car. Personally, I am cheap, so I research until I get analysis paralysis. Eventually, I pull the trigger, and everyone is shocked that I actually did it.