About Us
Hobbyists are passionate about their specialist interests and pastimes. And MyHobbyStore is the company which brings them together.
We operate the websites, publications and events where hobbyists meet with others who share their interests. And that includes us, the management and staff of MyHobbyStore, leaders in the creation and growth of specialist communities across all types of media here in the UK and globally.
In each of our communities, hobbyists can access all they need to make their pastime more satisfying and exciting – including purchasing a large range of items which are hard to find elsewhere and many which are exclusive to MyHobbyStore.
The company started with magazines – and some of our titles have an unbroken history back to Victorian times. Others reflect more modern hobbies, such as radio controlled model flying, but all our communities are which are characterised by passionate consumers and a fragmented supply chain.
MyHobbyStore History
We create compelling content and build relationships and networks; we have retail product sourcing and management skills and marketing skills that we apply across a range of different media. Hundreds of freelancers support our publishing full-timers in each of our communities. Our content is written by the community and for the community; our events are largely run by the community and our websites have a strong interactivity with the community.
And we match the content that is created by passionate enthusiasts with consumers and advertisers who want to buy and sell products.
The mix of skills and passion has allowed us to create a unique business. From our portfolio of magazines and events and have launched new magazines, grown online communities and an e-commerce business. MyHobbyStore now supplies literally thousands of products from a large number of suppliers. Our magazines promote our e-commerce business through referral, our event tickets are sold through our e-commerce business and our community websites create the content that creates the context for the retail purchase. MyHobbyStore’s business model is a perfect circle of synergies.
In addition we provide excellent customer service. It lies at the heart of what we do and we have a dedicated in-house customer services team who take orders and manage shipment and delivery.
From our base in the UK, we reach a global audience. Our magazines are exported to most countries, our ecommerce business ships to all parts of the world and our events attract visitors from many countries. Stores across every continent stock our magazines, from bookstores in America news stores in Australia – even China now stocks our magazines.
All this is delivered via a proprietary software platform – developed by MyHobbyStore to exactly match our service and our clients’ needs.
We are always developing new communities online and use our community websites to offer subscription based content channels. We have an online TV subscription channel, we offer subscriber competitions, premium content and digital editions of our magazines. Our communities interact with us through vibrant forums and they create content for the community by loading photo albums.
MyHobbyStore is a business which has thousands of partners at all levels of the leisure sector be they hobbyists, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers or other content creators. Our communities are passionate about what they do and we are passionate about what we do. It has been an interesting journey on the road from being a magazine centred business into a community centred business. The opportunities for us are endless and we will keep our focus on the communities we serve.