Is your local hobby shop just a place to buy RC stuff?
This article was originally published in RC Driver’s December 2015 issue.
My father-in-law used to spend his Friday and Saturday evenings just hanging out at the local hardware store with his friends. They would spend hours just talking shop or sports or whatever other topics would arise. This is a lost luxury these days. We are always in a rush to do this, go there, get that done. One hobby shop in Pasadena, Maryland has unknowingly started to bring back the lost art of face-to-face conversation. Bay Area Computers and Hobbies (BACH) started as just a computer store but took a turn toward our hobby when owner Chris Matthews and his son got into RC as an activity they could do together. It wasn’t long before Chris’ wife, Michelle, got bit by the RC bug and it became a family affair. Now the shelves that once housed hard drives and monitors are sharing space with truck kits, motors, spare parts and more. As his RC customer base grew so did the size of the store and amount of stock on hand. I only met Chris a few months ago but it was immediately clear that he loves to talk about RC… any thing RC. That’s probably why it is not unusual to find many of his loyal customers just hanging out at the shop on a Friday evening. This is something I think every hobby shop should encourage. These guys and gals are engaging in conversations that are mostly RC related with random topics thrown in occasionally. The best part is that they don’t require a wifi network to communicate. BACH is providing a place where stories are told, knowledge is shared and gained and friends are made… probably life-long friends. And it just so happens that these folks only want to spend their hobby budgets at the place where they feel welcomed.
We are coming into the off season in many areas so track time and wheel time are going to be limited. If we can’t play we might as well talk about playing, so go find a place to loiter with old friends, new friends and strangers that aren’t friends yet. Share what you know, ask about what you don’t know and always remember that this is still the best hobby around.
