Spectacular "old school" hobby shop. I read about it on Yelp, and stopped on way from airport to…read morehotel during a business trip. They are located at 540C West Hunt Club Road. From the moment I walked in, I was super excited, they have RC planes, boats, helicopters, cars and trucks. They have plastic models. But for me? they had Balsa. Old timey free flight balsa. Glider Kits (yes, I bought one), rubber planes, static display. They also stock sticks and sheets for short kits, repairs, etc. What a great shop, run by a friendly crew. I highly recommend them - and if you LIVE in the area? go buy stuff form em, keep em in business. Cause when a shop closes? thats it. nothing local! keep these great people operating and helping out.

I never heard of this place until my friend told me they sell high end R/C vehicles. I was going…read moreto pull the trigger on an E-revo 2.0 on ebay but actually found that this store had it for significantly cheaper. I ordered it and it got send across the country to my home in a reasonable amount of time...and before xmas despite the Canada Post strike. It arrived brand new, factory sealed and decently protected in an outer box. Great to do internet business with establishment even though they don't have a location in Vancouver.

We used to frequent Fandom II when we lived here, but moved to Vancouver about a decade ago and…read morehaven't been back. Walking by it last night, we decided to stop in and take a look around. There was a desk parked in front of the door, and someone waiting by it. They let us know that while you could take a walk around, they preferred you know exactly what you were looking for and they'd fetch it for you. Completely understandable, considering the small store and the state of the pandemic. No problem on our end, whatsoever. We let him know we weren't looking for anything in particular, and would just come back another time, and thank you, but he was adamant that there must be one particular thing we'd be looking for. He was getting weirdly accusatory about it, when we had not at all been aggressive towards him. He asked which particular fandom we liked, and my husband said "pretty much all of them - comics, D&D, mini painting-" to which the shopkeeper responded by interrupting, with no levity at all, "that's what someone who's not actually a geek would say." The hell, guy? Rather then try and defend our extensive nerd cred with this uppity troll, we told him we'd rather spend our money elsewhere and happily visited The Comic Book Shoppe, fighting the urge to swing by on the way back with our purchases, shouting "BIG MISTAKE", Pretty-Woman-Style.

Though I have patronized Fandom II for decades and spent hundreds of dollars here, I was…read moreconsistently treated badly. I think I was willing to put up with this when I shouldn't have. It is every single time I go there that I feel the seething hostility of the owner, for no reason I could imagine. I used to think he was like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, surly and acted like you were lucky to be in his store, but I think he's more like the Ice King from Adventure Time, more of a misanthropic sociopath I have reached my limit for how much I can take, I would rather shop online then go here, I will never shop here again and I hope it shuts down, Ottawa would be better served by an empty lot.

I get excited just knowing I'm going there. This is the ultimate toy store. Helpful staff, highly…read morerecommended!

When I was planning our trip to Ottawa, I made it a point that we would come here and all my…read moreexpectations were blown out of the water. Hobby shops like this simply do not exist anymore in New York which used to have a slew of them when building plastic models was popular. There are still a couple of mom & pop places scattered around but not on the scale of the Hobby Centre. Kids these days only interact in the virtual world and hobbies like this will eventually fade away. But in the meantime, I'm going to hoard as many plastic model kits that will fit in my house. My favorite theme for building and painting plastic models are World War II planes, so I was on the hunt for a 1/72 B-17G Flying Fortress or maybe a B-29 Superfortress. Airfix (from the UK) is one of my favorite brands and they stock a lot of their line here, but neither bomber were in stock on this trip. The hunt goes on. They did have a new release of the Avro Lancaster, which I have been searching high and low. I also picked up an Italeri JAS-39 Gripen and a vintage Airfix BAC Lightning. Prices are pretty good, especially on the older vintage kits along the back wall. With the favorable US$ exchange rate, I got some good deals. If I had spent more time here, I definitely would have blown through all the cash in my wallet, never mind my spending limit on my credit card. I just might have to make a return trip to Canada with a large trailer!

The best all-around hobby store within proximity to Ottawa. Covers pretty much all the bases in the…read moremodel domain; trains (HO and N, DCC & DC), plastic kits (cars, boats, planes, motorcycles etc), diecasts, magazines, etc. Especially well stocked in model building raw materials. Friendly, knowledgeable and helpful staff. Of special note for the model train community is their train expert who does repairs, upgrades and general maintenance at reasonable rates. Glad to have this store in our city.

A nice, little, local store with lots of selection and very friendly service. They have a ton of…read morehobby-related products (with a focus on model trains and other vehicles) and a very well-organized setup. Those products aren't my particular area of expertise so I can't comment on their specifics. I do know, however, that they have a good selection of tools and scenery items available if you're into tabletop gaming. Basically every hobby tool you could need, they have, as well as an okay selection of paint as well (they are missing some of the ultra-high quality acrylic brands used for wargames, e.g. p3, vgc, citadel). I went in looking specifically for some terrain items from the Woodland Scenics brand and they have a ton of those in stock. Their prices for those items (flock, bushes, etc.) are also very good as well, beating both Amazon and Wal-Mart. There's also a bunch of other items in the store (puzzles, magazines, other collectibles) that I didn't really pay close attention to. Overall, it looks like a great place to go for a wide selection of general hobby supplies.

Love this store, great for individual cards, and boxes as well. Nice friendly atmosphere, and a…read moregreat place to spend time browsing!

My son and I were in a fantasy baseball pool this summer and got caught up in the sport. When we…read moremoved to Ottawa, I wanted to surprise him with something baseball to hang in his new room. A shirt, a pennant, a poster, a lamp, an autographed ball??? I happened to be in Billings Bridge Mall and found EI Sports. I went inside, and found all kinds of items - backpacks, hats, shirts, posters, lamps... all with team logos. Most of it was hockey stuff, but hey it is Canada! Sadly, the selection at the store was a little on the light side. I talked to the owner and he told me that the store does do some business, but EI really makes their money at card and collectible shows. They set up booths at weekend events and that is where you will find all the good stuff. Nevertheless, if you are looking for something basic, the EI store will have it. I ended up with a poster that cost as much as the posters in the nearby big discount outlet, so prices are okay.

Me and my friends go in there all the time to get cards and models. If you ask them to stock more…read moreof one time or order something for you they will do with a smile. The customer service there is great there are always nice.

I would like to review about a worker named Serene. She was so helpful and super nice. She…read moregenuinely got excited when we got the figurines we wanted from a blind bag. Give her a raise immediately! Jokes haha (but she deserves one ) SHE DESERVES EVERYTHING! - Y. A.

I secretly love Showcase. So it's a store that sells a variety of stuff with lots of "as seen on…read moreTV" items. Yes, some of them are wacky and weird, but some are actually useful and innovative. They also have lots of sales, doorcrashers and clearance items. I've gotten authentic PopSockets at Showcase for $5, limited designs of course, (they had cheapie knock offs too for $3, so you just need to pay attention). I also got this purse hammock thing for my car so I can store my purse in between the driver and passenger seats over the side console - because if I have a passenger, where the heck am I supposed to put my purse? My short arms don't reach the back seat easily and I find that passengers don't appreciate it when I ask them to put my purse on their lap (don't know why they are so rude, they are the one taking the seat of my beloved purse, joking, sort of...lol). Anyway, it was $5 and everytime someone enters my car for the first time they compliment me on the coolness of the purse hammock, haha, and want one for themselves or their partners. Showcase has lots of toys, candles, and knick knacks too. Currently we are in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic and mandatory masks in public indoor spaces are in effect here in Ottawa, and lots of other places. Showcase has reusable non-medical cloth masks for the cheapest that I have seen. Packs of 3 for $5. The quality is not top-notch (they wrinkle lots and shrink slightly in the wash) and they only have plain solid colours (no cute patterns), but hey, they are super affordable. They even come in 4 different sizes (kid's S/M, kid's L/XL, adult S/M and adult L/XL). Showcase is a pretty cool store in my books. I love going in to just poke around and I usually find something that I don't need and didn't even know that I wanted, haha. However, I also sometimes find very useful things that are hard to find anywhere else. This location is in the St. Laurent Shopping Centre. Most Showcases are inside major malls.

This is such a cool store right from the entrance that's filled with manga (in English and French),…read morefigures of all sizes, and even has two floors. You could spend so much time wandering and taking it all in.

Imaginaire opened on October 21, 2023. It's a chain from Quebec and this location is the first one…read moreoutside of Quebec. It is located in the Rideau Centre and spans 2 floors. It's huge. It has board games, comics, collectible cards, Funko Pop, LARP gear, dice and so much more. Prices are a bit on the high side, and I didn't see any sales while I was there, but their inventory is huge and it's fun to poke around. (66)