Hobbit Hobby Shop — Local services in Fayetteville

I have been to Hobbit Hobby on two occasions in the last two months. First let me say that the store itself is a bit shabby, ridiculously cluttered and somewhat on the musty/dusty side. That aside, the shelves are crammed with all manner of merchandise as are the counters, walls and display cases.

On the first visit I had my four year old daughter with me. She was very excited to see the unicorns, fairies and was enthralled with the giant dragon sitting on the top of the book shelf. Her excitement was the highlight of the visit. As I am not a rookie to the realm of parenting, I made sure that I held her hand (and in some cases both hands) to ensure that she “looked with her eyes not with her hands” and the remainder of the time I held her. While my daughter was in my arms, an employee actually stated, “be careful she doesn’t grab anything” (Strike One). Clearly I am taking appropriate measures to keep my child in check, I am actively engaged with her and not letting her run wild in the store. The fact that the employee felt the need to advise me to “keep her in line” speaks volumes. However, I went ahead, made my purchase and left.

On my second visit to the store I opted to leave my daughter at home as I wanted to spend some time looking for particular items to add to my layout, specifically 28mm miniatures, which during my previous visit I was not able to view to my satisfaction. I had been in the store for roughly twenty minutes and had already accumulated a small stack of purchases, when the one employee exclaimed, “THOSE ARE IN NUMERICAL ORDER!” I could only conclude that she was referring to the miniatures as I was the only customer in the store at the time. I was stunned not only by her exclamation, but by the way she addressed me as if I was an employee or an unruly child as opposed to a paying customer. She then proceeded to launch into a rant to her co-worker that she had spent the “whole day Saturday” organizing that section. (Strike Two) While I appreciate hard work and attention to detail the fact that the other employee came over and asked me if the miniatures I had set aside where “the ones I was interested in” only served to make an already unpleasant situation even more awkward. (Strike Three) I stood there stunned for a couple of moments trying to decide how I should respond. I had planned on spending over a hundred dollars and had by my calculations already accumulate at least half that when I decided what to do. I quietly placed the miniatures back on the racks (In numerical order), and exited the store.

The shop will continue to do well as they serve a niche audience and is the only store of its kind located in the greater Fayetteville area. I will not return to the store and while I typically try to support brick and mortar stores, I will make an exception in this case and shop online OR drive the hour out of my way to another brick and mortar store with a more profession staff, better environment and more...

Let me start by saying that the store has horrible hours. It closes at 6pm in weekdays so by the time you get off work eat dinner and drive over there it is generally closed. The prices are not good for any miniature hobbiest. While they have a decent selection of brushes, and paints most are priced so high that you can actually save money if you just order off of Amazon. The Battletech scourcebooks are also generally ridiculously expensive compared to online. There is almost always 3 - 5 staff members in the tiny store whenever I went in and while they may be trying to be courteous eventually it gets to a point that it seems like they are nagging you with the constant questions if you are finding everything alright and if you need any help. When it comes to sales and other things of that nature they also seem somewhat rude and arrogant. It has a distinctive smell of body odor and grandmas attic making it somewhat unpleasant to stay there for any length of time. If you are doing miniatures then I would highly encourage you to avoid this store and take the extra time and effort to go to Gamers Armory in Carry. Much better selection (no Battletech miniatures or books) but overall the prices in that store are all MSRP or lower and a much better shopping experience. Their selection of available paints, brushes, and terrain effects also beats out The Hobbit as well. The Hobbit hosts a game day on Friday and Saturday nights until like 10 pm or something but it lacks any type of coordination by the people that run the store. Gamers Armory generally has weekly events, an email list that will notify you about them, and the staff are all polite and pleasant. Not to mention they have a rewards system so after buying so much from them you get free stuff. The Hobbit...

Okay first let me say that this is definately NOT a hobby shop. This is a retail shop that happens to sell hobby product. What I mean is that while they have a large selection of items, they do little to actually foster any of the hobbies that they sell. They have no gaming space but instead use a neighboring bingo hall for gaming. What this means is that at 3pm on Sat, gaming gets closed so the bingo can set up for that night. Couple this with them being closed on Sunday (seriously, 4-5 hours Saturday morning and nothing on Sunday for gaming). You see my point.

When they do run an event such as a 40k Tourney, there is obvious favoritism payed toward the customers who spend the most money in the store; couple this with them lacking a complete comprehension of rules, FAQ's and Erratas and it can be frustrating.

Lastly, their prices are high, actually OVER msrp on alot of the Games Workshop product. If they don't have something you want they pressure you with the "we can order it for you" line. If you have to wait on an item, why would you ever pay full retail for it when you can go online and grab it for 20-25% off and shipped right to your door. The fact is that they have survived for 30+ years based solely on their location close to a major military base with a constant revolving customer base of Army personnel with disposable income. In any other city they would have been out of business a...