was at michaels store today

[route66modeler]

Hi, Michaels store marked all their revell kits up. The 24.99 kits are now 27.99. 19.99 kits are 21.99. Isn't 27.99 for the hemi dart higher than revell's list price? They wonder why kids don't build models, they can't afford them. Steve

[Gluhead]

Kit prices are crazy enough as it is. Granted, I've been out of it for several years but not THAT long. Seems kits were $15-17 at the shops last I bought one, and we were wondering how kids could afford to try it out even then.

[Darin Bastedo]

when I fist started building in 1973 model car kits were about $5.00. If you adjust that into today's dollars that translates to $25.79. so they really aren't that much more expensive.

[SuperStockAndy]

This is why I prefer buying on the internet...I know that buying on the net doesn't help the situation, but I am NOT paying 28 bucks for a kit!

Edited January 17, 2012 by SuperStockAndy

[glusnifr]

but ,micheals also has 40% off a single item coupon in thier weekly flier , just about every week , so ,you still can get a kit for a decent price. and this week there is also a 15% off entire purchase so that knocks alittle bit more off.

[Evil Appetite]

I used to buy kits at Michaels but dont bother anymore. Once upon a time the prices there used to be equal with those at my LHS. Over night a kit that was $22 went to $34. At current Michaels prices, all that coupon does it lower the price to what it should be.Now I only go there to buy detailing stuff.

[Nate]

That's because none of us ever buy the kits a full price; we always wait to buy them when they have a coupon. At least I do, anyway.

[glusnifr]

i dont have a LHS ,so a 27.00 kit at micheals with todays coupons 40% and 15% is about 14.50 not a great price but still decent if they have a particular kit that i want

[Fabrux]

I believe that Michael's prices on EVERYthing is adjusted to account for the coupons. If you think model kits are expensive there, have you ever looked at their cake decorating stuff?

[62rebel]

when i started building in the mid-70's, you could find kits at almost any drug store, department store, heck; even the GROCERY store had them, and of course, the one local Hobby Shop for fifty miles around.... and most car kits ran about $2.79 and JoHan kits ran $1.99....

now, one store name in locally, with two branches, and upwards of twenty five bucks. cut back on availability and make sure only specialty stores carry them.... good old business at work.

[route66modeler]

Hi, ok, here something else to chew on. I was working in highschool in 1974 making $2.15 min. wage. Min wage is $7.25 now. Compare that to how much model kits have gone up. Steve

[Darin Bastedo]

Hi, ok, here something else to chew on. I was working in highschool in 1974 making $2.15 min. wage. Min wage is $7.25 now. Compare that to how much model kits have gone up. Steve

Your $2.15 in 1974 is worth $10.20 today. so minimum wage workers are making $3.00 less today than in 1974.

[crazyjim]

The Michaels by me (Ocala) has garbage for model selection so I don't even waste my time going there anymore.

[Draggon]

I went there last week, the store was a mess, the kit section was in shambles and a lot of the jar paints had been opened and spilled into the display. Not only did they have ZERO recent releases and nothing I wanted, I spied the Revell 34 Ford snap kit. The OLD one, dark blue on the boxtop with those ugly flame stickers, it was $21.99!! Thats insane. As I left I remembered why I dont go to Michaels very often. Last week in my paper there was no 40% coupon, just a 20 or 25% off your entire purchase. My local grocery store does the same kind of thing, they raise the prices on popular items through the roof then have "sales" where the "sale price" is still higher than the everyday price was. And Im not talking about 5 or 10 or 20%. Some items are 100 and 200% more.

[RickRollerLT1]

I noticed this too last time I was michaels. Though this isn't just at michaels as I was at an LHS a week ago, and all the Revell kits he had were the same prices as michaels now charges. Even the LHS I stop at usally that sells kits $2-5 off MSRP, raised his prices a bit (EG, 22.49 now 24.79), but only on the new stuff he gets.... Unless he gets another case of EG, plymouth superbird that he paid a bit more than the last case he got in the summer, the older stock he has when he gets in new stock with newer pricing gets the new strickers. I was talking with him when I bought a revell '64 goat and he said revell increased their prices on all their kits by about 20%, due to rising production costs and increasing liecensing fees (SIGH... as the manufactures just ALLWAYS put )

AC More also increased their prices too, Snap kits and round 2 products are now $26.99 and revells glue kits are now $31.99! HOLY ######!!!!

[62rebel]

feeding my styrene jones is getting harder to justify. it's hard on the builtups, as well.... i get really critical of past builds when raw styrene is running short.

Hobbytown clearanced a boatload of higher end Tamiya, Fujimi, and Hasegawa kits a couple of years back for around 40% off, so i bit the bullet and grabbed a few. they're mostly curbsides but they're still neat old kits. i buy paint, mostly, and rack up whatever points that the Hobbytown card accumulates, then use the coupon they give me to save on a kit.

i can remember after-Christmas sales at K-mart, etc when models would go for a buck or two...

[Nick Winter]

Gave up on Michaels a long time ago, can go to my LHS and pay $21.95 for a new release with tax

Nick

[martinfan5]

Same here, I bought on of the newer mustangs kits from michaels last year using a 50% off coupon, and that was the last thing bought from the model section, the store near me , the hobby section is always a mess. I may buy a jar of paint, or maybe a can of clear coat, but thats all the supplys I use that michaels sells.

[martinfan5]

most "new" or re-issue kits bought online with shipping are going to be $28 or more. as a "smart" shopper you shouldn't be buying any model kits from Michaels unless you've got a coupon or you are watching for the red tagged clearance kits. IIRC at Christmas time too they had an end display of holiday kits for $15-16.

The casual builder will shop at michaels and pay the price's , or maybe a kid getting started in modeling will have the parents buy the kits, but for us , yea michaels should be like the plauge and avoided at all cost

[Mercman]

I think I know why the prices went up. The cost of fuel. You gotta remember that this kits are made from petroleum products, so when the cost of oil goes up so does everything else. Look at your local grocery store, food prices have risen also, due to the cost of fuel.

I go to Michel's for supplies, like basswood, and such other things I need. I used to buy allot of stuff at Hobby Lobby, but when I wa there yesterday to get a item I needed their section I used to buy from is just about non existent. Luckily I have a LHS here in town that has been here for ages, and the owner will order anything you need. I order on Mon. and can get it the Fri. of the same week.

Also once or twice a year I make a 250 mile road trip, to MPLS./St.Paul, and hit the hobby shops there. They have stuff on hand I can't get here.

[Stang88]

I live in Ontario Canada, and it is brutal for model kits. All my LHS stores have closed down in the area over the last few years. I miss them, I use to go in and the average Revell car kit was $16.99, they stocked all the great aftermarket stuff. I hear guys talk about Walmart etc, well here in Canada our Walmart stores don't stock model car kits, Target stores don't stock model car kits and Michael's, well if you have a coupon fine, but my lord they charge $36.99 for a Revell kit, that is highway robbery. The only option I have now is a toy hobby store and it's not bad for kits, they stock all the new stuff and the average kit is $19.99-$24.99, smokes Michael's prices. But they do not carry any single aftermarket thing what so ever.

I miss my LHS, just the times, and it's like a dying hobby as the younger generation are into video games and computers and have no interest in building models. I am 42 years old and most of all my hobby buddies are 45-55 years old and we grew up building and loving models but we just were not enough to keep our LHS's in business, very sad.

[XJ6]

My LHS has also raised the prices of the kits.....$24.99 to $27.99.....I will not pay that price!!....which is fine....Time to build the ones that i aready have..

[heatride]

Hi, Michaels store marked all their revell kits up. The 24.99 kits are now 27.99. 19.99 kits are 21.99. Isn't 27.99 for the hemi dart higher than revell's list price? They wonder why kids don't build models, they can't afford them. Steve

I bought that 68 Dart Hemi with a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby . I think the total was 18 bucks and some change . Closest Michaels around here is so unorganized

that I don't shop there .

[Big Daddy]

I live in Ontario Canada, and it is brutal for model kits. All my LHS stores have closed down in the area over the last few years. I miss them, I use to go in and the average Revell car kit was $16.99, they stocked all the great aftermarket stuff. I hear guys talk about Walmart etc, well here in Canada our Walmart stores don't stock model car kits, Target stores don't stock model car kits and Michael's, well if you have a coupon fine, but my lord they charge $36.99 for a Revell kit, that is highway robbery. The only option I have now is a toy hobby store and it's not bad for kits, they stock all the new stuff and the average kit is $19.99-$24.99, smokes Michael's prices. But they do not carry any single aftermarket thing what so ever.

I miss my LHS, just the times, and it's like a dying hobby as the younger generation are into video games and computers and have no interest in building models. I am 42 years old and most of all my hobby buddies are 45-55 years old and we grew up building and loving models but we just were not enough to keep our LHS's in business, very sad.

not sure were you are in ontario but there is a good LHS in dundas and if they don't have what you want she'll get it as for micheals after xmas there prices went through the roof to 34 to 37.00

[John Teresi]

I`m an old fart now......but,back in the day when I was a 12/ 13 year old kid......we had stores like Zodys and Woolworths and models back then were 2 bucks and change which was a lot of money back then for a model.......they had stickers that were on the model with a price......well, my stupid friends and I would take off the 2 buck and change sticker and find a one dollar and change sticker and replace it with the lower amount sticker.......we would look for the youngest girl at the cash register .......so that maybe she would not notice.........long story short......we sure did get a lot of models cheap every weekend.......we even statred putting on stickers for about 75 cents.......the things kids will do for models.

Edited February 19, 2012 by John Teresi