Howard, bless you for the story and for taking the images to show your
grandchildren. But lest we all get too far gone with retail nostalgia, just
think of Mr Rancier’s view. If he finds the right buyer, he’ll have time for
things like, oh I don’t know, maybe…. photography! :)
Best regards,
Peter S.
On Feb 16, 2019, at 10:10 PM, Aram Langhans <leica_r8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Bill. I do remember Cenco. I think that was Central Scientific from when
I was in College and starting teaching. I do not remember any local (Seattle)
company by that name. They were bought out by Sargent Welch, with whom I
made many purchases for school. I that who you are referring to?
I use to order things from Turtox Biological when I was in grade school and
high school. Through my dad, of course. Microscope supplies mainly and a
few chemicals for making slides. I think if I looked hard I could still find
some Turtox newsletters somewhere.
Aram
On 2/16/2019 6:56 PM, Bill Abbott 3 wrote:
Aram,------
Do you remember Central Scientific? It was where one of my sons bought his
first camera, a 35mm Russian Zenit.
They had “everything” a boy (or man-boy) could want.
We had a similar archetypical hobby store nearby, D&H Hobbies. but the
demise of balsa and all the old time materials and kits spelled their doom.
And there went my boyhood, zooooom….gone.
Sigh...
Bill
On Feb 16, 2019, at 6:45 PM, Aram Langhans <leica_r8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:------
Sad story but thanks for documenting it in photos. I remember growing up
in Seattle there was a great hobby shop in the University Village. I think
it was Dow's Hobby. I frequented it often for trains, model planes, and my
first microscope. Too bad stores like these are closing. Hopefully
someone will buy it outright and continue with it.
Aram
On 2/16/2019 6:13 PM, Howard Cummer wrote:
Hi Flexers------
BC Shaver and Hobbies, a downtown retail fixture in Victoria born just
over 50 years ago from one boy’s delinquency,
is for sale with the owner looking to retire.
Having escaped snowy Pender I went to the store to document it before it’s
gone.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/2019/Victoria/ShaversHobbyVic2.jpg.html>
Garnett Rancier, 55, owner of the shop and its Fort Street building, wants
to sell the whole business and its entire inventory: model trains,
radio-controlled aircraft, boats and cars, working model rockets, wooden
ship models, and hundreds and hundreds of plastic models of all kinds
along with all the paints and tools to put them together.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/2019/Victoria/ShaversHobbyVicGarnett.jpg.html>
He said the shop with its combination of shavers and hobby supplies owes
its genesis to a Victoria boy who got into some trouble in the 1950s. The
father told his son he had to pay for the damage and to sell his electric
train set to raise the money. To make the sale happen the father asked his
friend, the owner of a local shaver shop, to put the train in the shop
window.
It generated so much interest from passersby and customers that the shop
owner decided to stock more train sets and the hobby operation took off.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/2019/Victoria/ShaversHobbyVic3.jpg.html>
The original shop began in 1952 on Broad Street and moved twice before
Rancier’s father bought it in 1962.
It settled in 1989 at 742 Fort St., where it still resides.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/2019/Victoria/ShaversHobbyVic1.jpg.html>
Some of the staff have been with the store for decades too and are expert
in the extensive inventory.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/2019/Victoria/ShaversHobbyVicAlvis.jpg.html>
Rancier bought the store from his father and said it’s now the oldest
hobby shop in Canada. I got his permission to take some photos and here
they are. I want my grandchildren to see what a real hobby shop looks like
– because soon such stores will be as scarce as buggy whips.
Look large if you prefer. C&C always welcome.
Howard
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