Monday, October 15, 2012

Square loses hobby store

I was sorry to see that Woodstock Hobbies closed. When I was on the Square today and walked past, I peered through the windows to see if the owners might be there.

Not only were the owners gone, everything was gone.

The owners ran a good store, and it was the kind of store that the Square needed. But they needed customers, I'm sure. The days have probably past, when fathers and sons would go to a store and pick out a model airplane to build together and then fly.

The City didn't make it any easier for the flying of model aircraft. I heard a couple of years ago that the City prohibited model airplanes in City Parks.

If the owners are going to liquidate inventory locally, I would be glad to list some items. I invite them to contact me, if I can help. And I wish them well in their next venture, whatever it may be.

1 comment:

Dave Labuz said...



Too bad about RC planes in the parks.

Many, many, many years ago, as a punk kid in the 70's, I had a friend who lived with his family in an apartment at Tryon & South, with whom I'd occasionally visit and stay the weekend with, particularly in the summer.

Other than bumming around the Square, invading and wandering around and in, the old High School building; we'd also go down and hang out in Emricson Park. My friend was well-aquatinted with all the store-keepers in and around the square, the high school officials, AND (for those of you who might remember), the employees at the radio station that used to broadcast out of the upper floor at the Court House back in the day. He knew EVERYBODY, and we visited with, and hung out with, everybody and anybody worth knowing.

One afternoon, at Emricson, a gentleman in his 40's was flying an RC B-52 replica there. It's wingspan was at least 48" or greater, and included operable bomb-bay doors.

When he brought it in for a landing, he had to run out and shoo away all the assembled younger boys just to ensure he could land it and bring it to a halt without possible injury to the kids, or damage to his plane.

It was the most awesome and magnificent thing I ever remember seeing. This gentleman went out of his way to spend time with us all - patiently and fully demonstrating his model, as well as giving us an impromptu schooling on RC flying and model plane building. He probably spent 3 or 4 hours with us all.

It was one of the most interesting and enjoyable afternoons I ever had as a kid.

It's too bad what's happened to our "society". You wouldn't expect the same kind of interaction with kids today, nor would it permissible, licensed or allowable.

We've really lost something, haven't we?