Hobbytown

Along with William L. who also posted, and undoubtedly many others who have not yet vocalized it, I was shabbily treated when I tried to return merchandise to this store. I purchased an expensive slot car system from this store for a Christmas present for my two sons. We took our time to carefully assemble it Christmas Day. We were all disappointed when it did not work properly (one track would not move the car). My sons were of course disappointed since it was Christmas Day and it was their primary gift. I carefully disassembled the system and returned all parts in good condition to the store shortly after Christmas. I got the «hairy eyeball» and stiff armed from the minute I walked in the door trying to return the merchandise. The manager (I presume) hooked a couple of voltage testers to once small piece of the track and pronounced that it was working and that he would not take it back based on that alone. He said I must have assembled it improperly. Since I did not want to make a second trip, I suggested that he just keep the product for a few days to assemble it and test the whole system and if it worked properly, I would come and pick it back up-​no questions asked. He bristled that «he would have to charge me a «service fee» for doing that. ARE YOU KIDDING ME — A SERVICE FEE TO ENSURE HIS PRODUCT WAS NOT DEFECTIVE ??? It was obvious he just wanted to get rid of me. So if you are going to purchase merchandise from his store you better hope it works when you leave the store as their return policy is nil in my opinion. With such policies, it is no wonder small franchise businesses can’t compete with the large national retailers who have a no questions asked return policy. Go elsewhere.

Not all Hobbytowns are the same!!! (See my review for the one in Lake in the Hills). My daughter bought her first RC drone and it stopped working in a few days. When I came in they immediately knew what was wrong. They commented on how the first few times they had issues with the model we bought they were just swapping out motors for customers (Note to Lake in the Hills, they were helping customers even though that was well beyond the stated policy). When they realized it was an repeated issue they made the decision to give customers their money back or a store credit toward something else and they’d take it up with the manufacturer. Although we would have been satisfied with just a swap, they suggested we don’t go with the same model due to the issues they had seen. My daughter opted for her money back. (Note to Lake in the Hills: they made $ 0 on THAT sale, but we’ll be sure to spend more money there knowing how they treat customers… sorry you wouldn’t do an even exchange for the same item after one of your employees told us on the phone they could.) Great clean store, nice knowledgeable people

Nothing compares to the old Venture Hobbies in Wheeling. I went there for years. Great products and staff. Now that they went out, us hobbyists are left with not much to pick from in the area. So I guess this place is OK. They have stuff. But a bit overpriced and the staff isn’t too trained and experienced. More like sales people at Macys. I really got out of the RC hobby because there isn’t anyplace to go and have your stuff serviced professionally. 3 stars. Just ok at best.

I was initially just looking for an rc car to have fun with my kids and found hobby town. This place is just great. We have been back multiple times and they have all sorts of great stuff. From rc toys to rockets to Legos and fun games. The service is great. Personal and with a smile. We destroyed our first rc car by accident and they fixed it for a very reasonable price. Works perfectly. We just went again today and got rockets and a cool board game for our kids. Great place to find toys that aren’t just watching a video screen.

My family and I enjoy this place very much. I love the fact that they have a Thomas The Train set for the kids to play with. They have things for boys, girls, and adults. From paper dolls, car model kits, train kits, professional paints, electric flyers, drones, manuals, Legos, nano blocks, darts, and Melissa and Doug toys, they’ve got enough inventory to keep the family busy for hours.

I am so disgusted with the level of service from this location. I purchased a gift for my son. a fully assembled RC for his birthday. when we got home it wasn’t working so we took it back and they told us we need to charge the battery longer. fine, we did and still didn’t work. we took again and they found out the charger was bad, I wish they told us that the second time we came in. so I wanted to exchange it for one that did work. the manager CHRIS, said that is not the store policy. WHAT!!. Fine just take it back and refund my money. that’s not our policy! If your trying to sell a car don’t you think you should let the customer test drive it. before you take their money. HORRIBLE, they need to hire new staff. get rid of the old. THANKS FOR RUINING MY SONS BIRTHDAY! thanks you so much NOT…

Always a great experience here. Always willing to help you out with any issues with your RC. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone interested in getting into RC or trains. They will not just recommend the most expensive. They cater to what your experience and needs are to help you choose.

This is a great place to go for your hobby needs. My name is Sam R. and I have been enjoying remote control cars for the past 5 years. When I go into hobbytown it’s nice to be greeted by one of the five employees
Rob, Chris, Gary, fenwick or tony who all care about the customer and are always there to offer support with my car. They offer great customer support and have amazing product knowledge on all the items in the store. I highly recommend shopping here fair pricing is another great thing with the store and even the owner JP who is sometimes there is also very friendly. A+
Thanks
Sam

This Hobbytown location is very well run and has a lot of great hobby related products. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. The owner is equally professional and easy to deal with. I just wish I had more on my list to buy here.

Literally the WORST customer service EVER. Sales staff have provided incorrect info about products and do not seem to have any concern as to whether or not a customer leaves satisfied. I have purchased many things here solely because there is not another hobby store with 50 miles. Always dread walking in the store.

This is a medium-​sized store with lots of different hobbies represented. The train selection is ok, not fantastic. There is a pretty good amount of HO and N scale locomotives to choose from, but practically no train cars. There is a large HO train layout that just takes up space, as it is never running.

There are so many unique toys for all ages at Hobbytown. Don’t be fooled by the name «hobby» — I’m amazed by how many Melissa & Doug art supplies and toys they stock! Also, they are one of the few stores that carry ThinkFun games. Of course, they have all kinds of RC vehicles, model trains, etc., but again, I’m impressed by how many quality toy lines they offer.
Bottom line: if you like Galt Toys, I think you will like Hobbytown.
I’ve only had positive experiences at the store and the customer service has been excellent. Ask for a loyalty card to get points every time you check out.

What a fun beautiful store. I stopped in to get a game for my son. I knew exactly what I wanted but without the name of the game. The store is huge with so much merchandise I didn’t want to walk around and just hope I discovered it. I tried to describe the game to the young man working and although he wasn’t familiar with the game he said if he had it, it would be in this particular area. He lead me directly to it and I found it immediately. I paid for the item and was out of the store in less than 5 minutes. Pretty good when you can’t even say the name of the game. I will most certainly be back.

Honesty, I’m pretty surprised that no one has reviewed this location yet. But woo hoo, first to review!
Some background:
If you read my review on Chicagoland Hobby, Inc, you’ll understand the need to come to this store.
Location: 3 out of 5.
Since all of the location ratings for me are based on proximity to where I live, this one gets a 3. I mean, on a good day, 94 or 294 shouldn’t be too bad. It’s in the little plaza with Nickel City. If you don’t know what Nickel City is now, you should at least take a look. But if you remember the Nickel City of old (think bumper cars), you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Selection: 4 out of 5.
I don’t claim to be a hobby connoisseur, but I did my research for upgrading my RC helicopter. I know that
has a huge selection, and that most hobbyshops carry E-​flite. But, the selection here seemed really vast. I mean, it’s a fairly big store even by traditional non-​niche non-​boutique clientele. It makes the one in Orland Park look like a little baby shop.
Customer Service: 5 out of 5.
Ahhh, this ranks amongst one of the best customer service experiences I’ve ever had in any retail, service, or food industry. I mean, it was almost as good as what I got at Randy’s Cycle. The young lady that helped me out was more than helpful and she really knew her stuff. There were some heli’s on clearance, and whereas some people who try to push those just to get them out of the store, the young lady that helped me was honest, frank, and informative about everything on the clearance table. In the end, I ended up purchasing the heli that I thought I would anyway, so it worked out just fine.
Pricing: 3 out of 5
Eh, didn’t get cheated, but didn’t score a deal, you know? And I would venture to say that it’s ok given the level of helpful advice I got.
Overall: 4 out of 5.
Cool shop with very helpful staff members. Wide selection of items with a wide price range that should please everyone.
Other Clients in the Store: 3 out of 5 (no effect on my final rating)
Why am I adding this section in there? Because I was amused by a few things yesterday. There were people in there that were just browsing you know, like one should do if one has kids who go to Nickel City and then want to look at toys. No problems there. There were people who were serious hobbyists and getting parts or accessories or tools. No problems there. However, there was a mother with 3 kids that was getting her son who was turning 9 next week a 200 dollar radio control car. Well holy shit batman. I’ll just let you all process that for a minute, and think about the presents that you were getting when you were 9 years old. Sure as hell wasn’t a 200 dollar radio control car.