Hobby Chest of Jacksonville — Attraction in Jacksonville

5 reasons to shop at Hobby Chest and 1 reason to love shopping at Hobby Chest : Lots of stock (the shop is literally busting at the seams not even enough shelf space for everything stacked floor to ceiling) Vast variety of hobby items (model kits, remote control cars, planes, boats, drones, model train sets, miniatures, games and gaming stuff, model rockets, collectibles, DVD’s, books, magazines, modeling supplies like paint and tools and decals and upgrade parts and all the other stuff you would expect to find in a genuine old school hobby shop) Excellent selection of Japanese, European, and American plastic model kits (most importantly Bandai Gundam kits ! and Gundam option parts ! Lots of Tamiya military kits and tons of Tamiya option stuff for them, Italiari car, truck, and tractor kits, old school amt car kits, Aoshima car kits, and many more brands and types to list) Great variety of old, rare out of print kits as well as latest releases (I came across an old dusty ClubM Macross VF-1s kit from the early 1980’s that absolutely blew my mind on the same shelf as the new Gundam XI (ka-see). I literally spend a few hours when I visit just treasure hunting and exploring all the cool stuff) Dan the owner is very nice and has an incredible knowledge of the hobby world and has been in the hobby shop business for over 40 years and it shows. Reason to love Hobby Chest : It is so rare nowadays for a business like Hobby Chest to still be around. I remember eclectic mom and pop hobby shops like this from when I was little kid in the 80’ and 90’s but those are all gone now so Dan’s Hobby Chest is a real gem and I believe it should be cherished and not taken for granted. Ya, you could probably find some of the same stuff online cheaper but shopping here is just so nostalgic and brings me such happiness I can overlook the extra cost if it means that Dan can stay in business for many more years to come. I absolutely love Hobby Chest ! This hobby shop is like going back in time to my childhood. I can’t say enough good things...

The owner is pretty cool and he has a lot of merch however i can only give him 1 stars due to the fact that alot of his Gundam Model kits are very over priced. i would love to support a local business but when you sell model kits for over 30% to 50% more then the online retail store i cant justify going to the store especially when online stores offer 10%-40% discounts on any given day. to add to the list of price Gripes i even found that some of his kits that are exactly the same may differ in price for no apparent reason which leads me to believe he either marks them up often or just doesn't know there actual value. which is much lower then what he trying to get for them. But wait i have one more complaint like i mentioned earlier the owner has a metric ton of merch but a lot of his items are kind of just all over the place some things are on the floor blocking walkways some are on randomly different shelves everything covered in dust. i went to look for gundam paint markers the other day and spent a solid 15 mins staring at the paint rack before giving up and then seeing the markers no where near the gundams or the painting area on the way out. The markers had no price tag on them and even though i knew what they went for online i didn't even want to bother asking the price after knowing how much his gundam kits were marked up. ill include a picture of the price disparity from when i purchased a HG zaku II from him vs the online retail it's a 55% mark up in his store vs other American retail...

Hobby Chest was my go-to store for over 12 years. Mr. Dan, the owner, is the ideal small business owner. He is, and has always been, extremely willing and able to assist anyone in their hobby needs. My main purchases were Tamiya paints and primers, and Mr. Dan cared more about the success of my project than making a profit. When I return to the J-Ville area, Hobby Chest will definitely be one of my first stops. Whether you are beginning a hobby, or have many years under your belt, Hobby Chest is your best choice to ensure you are getting what you need at the best price. I extremely recommend this shop to...