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Models in WH Smiths


Julien

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In Manchester new WH Smiths/ Modelzone yesterday and although it may be because I had low expectations but I thought it was OK. They had a few kits I fancied and 20% off… picked up the Alien AMT rerelease.

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Thanks for the kind comments about the Cardiff WHS / MZ. We do our best.

Two of the three staff there are ex-MZ, and keen modellors who do the job for the love rather than the money.

It was certainly happier opening the new MZ store than it was closing down the old one.

What is in the stores now is the launch range, and all credit to 'Smiths for seeing the opportunity and getting the shops open this side of Christmas. It may be a limited range, but I`m for anything that gets new blood into the hobby.

If there`s something you are after then I`d suggest asking the staff to pass it up the chain.

This is excellent.. I always thought the Cardiff MZ staff were a good bunch, and I'm glad to see you guys back. I'm most definitely going to swing by in the new year to say hi and have a scratch and sniff..

These are still early days. If there's enough interest then the range is surely to expand to other brands. We just need to give it a chance and some time to heal. High street modelling took a heluva kicking when MZ went south, and if we support it's resurrection by giving WHS our feedback we can steer it a little. It's all good and well saying it'll never work, but if we don't give it a chance then we've only got ourselves to blame when it disappears again. I for one am glad they're back because it's somewhere else (antics is still there) I can bugger off to when the missus needs to get stuff, and it's still exposure of modelling to an arguably broader audience than when MZ was a stand alone shop, and that can't be a bad thing.

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Bought a complete set of the RLM colours, thinners, liquipoly and some weathering sludge stuff in Kingston Upon Thames WHS. All with 20% off. All the paints were cheaper than my LMS by 10p a tin and I did not get stared at by the grumpiest store owner in NATO.

Glad they are back on a small scale. (No pun intended)

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Still nowt in Ipswich, which is surprising given the size of the town centre.

I'm stuck with on-line, or a 28 mile trip to Bury St Edmunds...........

Roy.

Yep, if your lucky to live in Bury (like myself) there aren't many places around East Anglia for good model selection. Pretty poor really.

It was sad when Mr Pennington gave up SBX. You really do need something in Ipswich. Or it's having to spend a days holiday touring the Broads and making a visit to Hannants. A bit of a luxury for most.

Nothing beats actually visiting a shop and handling before buying. I'm not old fashioned, but I still would rather do that than order online.

Martin

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Called in the Smiths/Modelzone in Meadowhall yesterday, not a very inspiring selection of kits, Airfix, Tamiya, Revell and a few Italeri. I was hoping to get the new Airfix Lightning but they didn't have any. Good selection of Humbrol paints, enamel and acrylics, but I left empty handed. May try again in the new year when they will have restocked.

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Well its started!.... Airfix kits more expensive than the rrp! Shame on you Smiths....

but I did not expect anything less from W.H.Smiths

This is actually a very common thing nowadays. A friend of mine saw a skirt she liked in one of the upmarket stores for £45, she decided that the poor quality wasn't worth it. She found an identical item (even the label) for £15 in Next and wore it last night. If uninformed customers are happy paying £12 for the same item that a knowledgeable person would spend £10 on then it beholds the shop to sell what they can at £12 then reduce to clear the rest. Was ever thus....

The first 'r' in 'rrp' is recommended and is an average value only. Thankfully there is no Net Kit Agreement making it 'compulsory'. I know of five kits WH Smith have sold this Christmas period and one (so far) follow on purchase to a 30something who never built kits as a kid. They're doing something right so hopefully Airfix will continue to rise.

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Don't know why I've only just stumbled across this thread, but better late than never I suppose.

Good on WH Smiths for bringing the hobby back to the high street. Sure, it may not cater for all of our needs, but it's something at least. It will be interesting to see how they expand the range, if at all.

What interested me was the comments about grumpy LHS owners. I've never really got that to be honest, unless business was so dire that they had lost the will to live! Recently, I travelled a 40 mile round trip to pick up the new Humbrol Luftwaffe colours. It was the first time I had been to a LHS for quite some time. I came out of the shop wondering if the guy had actually wanted my business...I'm not even sure there was any sort of conversation!

I wouldn't be like that I tell ya!

When I was the buyer at Midland Counties at Hinckley way back when, I was tasked with getting them set up for the first time with model kits. ( I had nagged them to do this for years! ) I was tasked with ordering all the stock from scratch, getting things set up and also helping out with the marketing and promotions for the kits too. I've never been happier!

Being an OCD plastic fondler myself, I also got to deal with most customer kit related enquiries over the phone and in the showroom. It was a pleasure to do and quite frankly, I felt lucky being paid to do it. The customers appreciated being able to deal with someone who knew the hobby and it was the happiest I've ever been in a job!

Within six months, the kits were about a quarter of our business.

That's why I don't get some LHS people being so grumpy! I know Midland vanished ( No fault of our own, we were doing ok! )...but I would give my right arm to get back into the trade. Maybe the new WH Smiths Modelzone might have a few jobs!

Regards;
Steve

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It's really the French decal option which sold it to me, to be honest.

Just a thought, why not contact Airfix direct or ask on here for the decal set? That way you can spend your voucher on a model worth having. The Airfix Ju88 is terrible! Get the new Revell Ju88 - it's under £20 and probably the best one you can get!

thanks

Mike

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Well I went into the inverness branch, which used to have a small selection of Airfix starter kits.

They now have none, and knew nothing about Modelzone.

I passed through Perth the other day and had a look into WHS in High Street where it was exactly the same situation. Must pop into WHS in Argyle Street the next time I'm in the centre of Glasgow although I'd have pangs of conscience about not supporting Ian Jamieson if I bought too much.

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I passed through Perth the other day and had a look into WHS in High Street where it was exactly the same situation. Must pop into WHS in Argyle Street the next time I'm in the centre of Glasgow although I'd have pangs of conscience about not supporting Ian Jamieson if I bought too much.

I understand it's the Sauchiehall Street branch that has the Modelzone bit in it. I need to take a trip through for a looksee myself, but no doubt I'll also end up in Jamiesons...

John

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I understand it's the Sauchiehall Street branch that has the Modelzone bit in it. I need to take a trip through for a looksee myself, but no doubt I'll also end up in Jamiesons...

John

Thanks for that. Just a wee bit further to walk from the Central Station!

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Thanks for that. Just a wee bit further to walk from the Central Station!

But worth it! Friendly, knowledgable staff and good selection of stock.

regards,

Martin

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Last time I was in the Argyle Street branch (end of November) they had the same old selection of Airfix and a few Tamiya. I didn't realise that the Sauchiehall Street branch was the one with the Modelzone dept. so I'll have to remember that next time I'm in Glasgow.

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Happy to say that at the Cardiff WHS/MZ branch we have now a good supply of the new AIRFIX LIGHTNING, JAVELIN , HARRIER GR1 HARRIER & BII LANCASTER.

The 20% off vouchers given out are good until the 31st Jan and some of the magazines have vouchers with longer dates.

We're also setting up a small area to display customer (and our) builds - to try to encourage more people into our hobby.

Cheers all

...more intel as we get it.

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