Hobby shop marks 60th year of operation
As tastes have changed over the years, Pointe-Claire shop has provided it all
Ted’s Hobby Shop in Plaza PointeClaire is packed to the rafters with boxes and bits and pieces of all sorts designed to address the desires of enthusiastic hobbyists.
The shop celebrates its 60th anniversary this month and on the surface, not much has changed in six decades.
The eye-catching window display of model military aircraft — there for decades — continues to prompt passersby to pause for a look. The display windows and entrance are the same as they were when the store opened in 1958 — long before Fairview Pointe-Claire existed and when St-Jean Blvd. was still St. John’s Rd.
“One of the biggest sellers back then were yo-yos. We sold thousands of them,” Dalton Pratt said. “( World yo-yo champion) Al Gallo would visit twice a year and give demonstrations. There were contests and he’d give away prizes. Those events were a huge draw.”
Pratt was an employee at the store before buying it after the original owner Ted Bryans died in 1972. Pratt ran the shop for 30 years and was responsible for hiring current owner Peter Grant when Grant was 19 years old.
“I shopped there as a kid,” Grant said. “I’d ride my bike from Dorval to buy model rockets.”
Grant bought the store after Pratt retired.
Walk inside, and the wealth of available merchandise can be a tad overwhelming. It takes up to 25 man hours to do the annual inventory.
The biggest seller right now is somewhat surprising, given the omnipresent pull of today’s electronic gadgets and games.
“Board games,” Grant said. “We have a huge stock. They sell like crazy.”
Another red-hot item is the tabletop game War Hammer 40 K. Straddling the hobby and gaming worlds, its characters must be assembled before the game can be played. Points are tallied with an app. Grant described it as “a game within a hobby within a game.”
In the early days before Plaza Pointe-Claire expanded, the hobby shop had a dirt track in the parking lot and hosted radio-controlled car races.
“Some of my happiest memories are of those events,” Pratt said. “We made sure to stock merchandise that appealed to every member of the family and always had such a loyal customer base. These days my wife Marilyn and I deliver for Meals on Wheels and people still recognize us and talk about the store.”
When it first opened, the owner stocked as many records as he did hobbies. It was the era of the British invasion. Anything Beatles — from wigs to wallpaper — sold like hot cakes.
Miniature car racing on slotted tracks ruled the sixties and early seventies. They were eventually replaced by radio-controlled cars. Grant said the biggest shift in today’s market is the shift from model kits, which require assembly, to the ready-to-use items you can take out of the box and fire up with a remote controller.
Like many brick-and-mortar stores these days, the hobby shop is feeling the affects of online shopping, but Grant is pushing back with personalized service and by stocking unusual toys, collectibles and other hobby-related items.
“There is a portion of the population that still likes to hold something in their hands before buying it,” Grant said.
“And when I see customers looking at their phones and comparing prices online, I go up and ask them ‘how’s my price? Anything I can help you with?”
And who shops at Ted’s these days?
“It’s not so grey anymore,” Grant said. “I am seeing more and more families.”
Which, according to Pratt, brings things full circle.
“Families in Pointe-Claire have always been very active, doing things together,” Pratt said. “That family involvement was evident from the first day the store opened.”
We made sure to stock merchandise that appealed to every member of the family and always had such a loyal customer base.