Airfix

[PR19_Kit]

As for face-to-face interactions, you'd be amazed how many people, and not just youngsters, eagerly embrace ANYTHING that helps them avoid having to deal with a stranger face-to-face. They LOVE unmanned tills, automated fuel stations and the internet for primarily that reason. It's so safe...

I'm damned if I do! I always got to the cashier at a petrol station if there is one. They need the job, and the big bosses don't need their obscene bonuses.

[Weaver]

As for face-to-face interactions, you'd be amazed how many people, and not just youngsters, eagerly embrace ANYTHING that helps them avoid having to deal with a stranger face-to-face. They LOVE unmanned tills, automated fuel stations and the internet for primarily that reason. It's so safe...

I'm damned if I do! I always got to the cashier at a petrol station if there is one. They need the job, and the big bosses don't need their obscene bonuses.

I'm the same Kit: I ALWAYS go and wait patiently to be served by a human till operator in the supermarket, and if the checkout boss tries to get me to go to the self-service ones, I always politely decline. Only ever had a problem once (in a B&Q) where a snotty little git tried to tell me I HAD to use the self-service because he had queue-length targets to meet: I walked out.

However, there are a huge number of people under 30 who think we're just plain weird and can't understand why we LIKE to have a little conversation with the cashier.

[kevincallahan]

As for face-to-face interactions, you'd be amazed how many people, and not just youngsters, eagerly embrace ANYTHING that helps them avoid having to deal with a stranger face-to-face. They LOVE unmanned tills, automated fuel stations and the internet for primarily that reason. It's so safe...
[/quote]

I chuckled a bit as I read this. I qualify for "not just youngsters" (63) and would much prefer a machine or an online experience to face to face stuff. Maybe I'm just socially awkward, but I've had things screwed up a bazillion times by a human that had no clue what they were doing. I don't even grocery shop any longer - just place the order online and then pick it up at one location. And 90% of everything else comes via Amazon! I've always been an early adopter, even back when I had one of the first online hobby shops.

I may just have revealed myself to Kit as the Great Satan.... 

[Rick Lowe]

I will always try to use a Human-operated till at the Supermarket, or queue for a Human teller at the bank.
As has been said, they need the job, and otherwise it's an excuse for Head Office to point to the increasing numbers using self-service to justify decreasing staff levels.

And I still like the idea of going into an LHS to fondle the kits and yak with the staff/other customers.
Sadly our local here will be closing soon, after 50+ years.

[philp]

I also prefer the cashiers at the grocers though I might use the automated one if I only have 1-2 items and there are lines.  Besides, the automated ones do have a cashier watching over them so I can still say hi, especially if it is someone I know.

Walmart really depends on the lines and how much I am buying.

We don't have automated tellers at the Credit Union but there is an ATM I will use after hours, otherwise I go in as I hate drive throughs, even restaurants, prefer to go in.

Just read an article on Facebook about small bookstores making a comeback.  Amazon, B&N online were really taking the business but seems they have adjusted their business model and, just like those of us who like to see the plastic, many like to see the paper.

Think there will be plenty of people who want to avoid personal contact and I even have a joke about someone going into a store to buy clothes.  They message the clerk who messages back even though they are standing in front of each other.

[tigercat]

I imagine Lego  would also be a gateway to Modelling . Their are some crossovers between  the 2 experiences.

[PR19_Kit]

I may just have revealed myself to Kit as the Great Satan.... 

Hehehehe, no way, we're all entitled to our opinions. 

What we SHOULDN'T do is TELL others what to do with their lives.

As has been said, they need the job, and otherwise it's an excuse for Head Office to point to the increasing numbers using self-service to justify decreasing staff levels.

Yeah, Beeching--ism taken to to its conclusion.

You want to do away with a service, for whatever reason, so you reduce it to a level where the response starts to drop off. Then you say 'No-one's using it so we'll close it down' 

[Hobbes]

If the 'LHS is doomed' scenario is taken to its logical conclusion one would have to say that ALL shops, and therefore town centres are also doomed and we're going to end up with a situation where everything is bought on-line.

That's exactly what's happening. People are greedy, so they'd go into a shop for advice and then turn around and bought the item for 5% less online. Town centres are full of vacant shops, and any new shops setting up are low-value (clothing, cafes). This has been happening for about a decade, and especially in small towns it's becoming difficult to keep an attractive shopping centre.

[NARSES2]

Anyway getting this thread back on track (I know it was me who started it with the half year accounts  - and btw, having read a fuller report yesterday the half year turnover figures were up 15%  )

The Wellington GR Mk VIII is out

[Nick]

If I wanted to start a hobby business today, I wouldn't even contemplate a high-street shop. I'd get a low-rent warehouse on a industrial estate, with easy travel options and cheap/free parking, I'd fill it to the ceiling with kits that were as unique as I could find, and I'd sell 99% online. I'd also have a small retail counter at the front so people could come and get those urgent glue/paint supplies at unsociable hours and pick up kits they'd ordered to avoid postage, but that's it. Those local or 'expedition' walk-in customers would be being served as essentially a good-will based marketing exercise: they wouldn't be the profit-drivers of the business.

That is pretty much what Hurricane Models in Broxbourne did a few years back. The rent on the shop went up too much so they moved to a nearby industrial unit. Looking for them now it seems they have closed down.
From memory their website wasn't up to much and they mostly did radio control cars and planes.
Being so out of sight killed their business. Relying on club member to know where you are leads to you relying on a narrow market.

Hannants are the closest to what you describe. They sell mostly online, have a warehouse and you can go to the counter there to buy stuff. But they have a good reputation, a strong history and they advertise nationally. They have a good corner of the market and competing would take a brave competitor.

[The Wooksta!]

There's a delay on the MiG 17, something about supply issues, shipping, blah blah.  But Jamal Islam of IPMS Somalia is very happy with the container load he's got.

[TheChronicOne]

 

[Spey_Phantom]

The advent calendar is back 

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/advent-calendar?utm_campaign=2534227_Airfix%20-%20Advent%20Calendar%20-%20Week%2035%202019%2F2020&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Hornby%20PLC&utm_content=Airfix%20Advent%20Calendar&_%24ja=tsid%3A71284&dm_i=2DJZ,1IBF7,6VRP0J,52VCB,1

[NARSES2]

Hannants are the closest to what you describe. They sell mostly online, have a warehouse and you can go to the counter there to buy stuff. But they have a good reputation, a strong history and they advertise nationally. They have a good corner of the market and competing would take a brave competitor.

They are also one of the major importers and wholesalers. A lot of the smaller traders source their items from them. They also take a chance on new faces in the market.

[NARSES2]

There's a delay on the MiG 17, something about supply issues, shipping, blah blah.  But Jamal Islam of IPMS Somalia is very happy with the container load he's got.

Shame, I'm looking forward to this, so many options for it.