The History of Hobby's

One of the United Kingdom's leading model hobby wholesalers, W. Hobby Ltd. Of Knights Hill Square, London, have our origins steeped in the best tradition of European co-operation, but ours was not born out of considerations for the impending single market economy. Instead Hobby's owes its existence to a rather older business transaction dating back to 1958.

It was then, over thirty year ago, that the company's founder, Mr. W. F. Crossland was reluctantly persuaded to try to sell a quantity of 50 high quality musical movements by his Swiss brother-in-law. A classified advertisement in issue number two of Practical Householder magazine soon had the embryonic company trading and it went from strength to strength using the original name "Swisscross".

Continued growth allowed Swisscross to open their first shop in Norwood High Street in 1963, with the staff being kept busy during slack periods with ever increasing mail orders. Over the following years the product range was broadened to include more general hobby products and to reflect this, Swisscross changed over to the Hobby's trade name that is so well known today.

Business stepped up a gear in 1980 with a move to our current factory premises, which included a factory shop. The company decided to go into wholesale in the early 80's necessitating a move into the adjacent factory unit. Today Hobby's operates from 15,000 square feet of prime city premises, with a multi-million pound turnover - not bad for a company which started from one ten bob ad back in the 50's!

Over the years Hobby's have become well known amongst the modelling public for the comprehensive Annuals. Revised yearly, as the name suggests, this famous catalogue runs to over 278 pages and it is crammed full of all manner of model hobby products with the product range extending into most of the different craft and modelling disciplines. With between 95-100,00 issues sold every year the mail order side of the business is very lucrative.

One of Hobby's major product lines is dolls houses and miniatures and these fall into categories. The most popular size for children's dolls houses is the 1/16th scale at 3/4" to the foot and Hobby's stock a vast range of kits and accessories to suit.

The more serious adult collector obviously appreciates finer details and for such enthusiasts Hobby's can supply a constantly expanding range of 1/12th scale (1" to 1 ft) houses, figures, furniture and fittings. 1/12th scale dolls houses and miniatures have been very popular in the USA for the past twelve years and they have really taken off in the UK as well, with a noticeable growth in interest over the past two years. Such is the demand for these collector items that Hobby's now devote over ten per cent of their catalogue to products of this scale.

The company has also not forgotten its origins and beside dolls houses we stock a surprisingly large selection of musical movements, backed up by a wide range of plans and kits into which they can be fitted.

With such a diverse range of products it is not possible to mention all of the items in stock but major product lines include Hobby's brand of Match Craft kits with models being built up of matches on a carboard base, plus a vast selection of resins and moulds used for making jewellery and clear casts of small animals, insects and plants. Hobby's are also thought to be the UK's biggest supplier of the Minicraft range of small power tools.

Add to these, kits for model soldiers, cars, boats, trains, and planes, tools, paints and adhesives, products for pyrography, candle making, carts and caravans, plans and books, clocks, marquetry and decoupage and you can begin to get a grasp of the vast assortment of items being processed by Hobby's everyday.

To get the full picture why not get yourself a copy of the Hobby's Annual and take a look for yourself - and don't forget if you are a Trade customer to ask for the wholesale price list. We think that you will be impressed.