Jump to content

M-A-L Hobby Shop closing


SkyKing

Recommended Posts

Those of you familiar with the Dallas-Fort Worth area will know of M-A-L Hobby shop in Irving, which has been at the same location since 1948 and which has also been a vendor at many past IPMS national conventions. I just learned this past Saturday that owner Ed Seay Jr, was diagnosed with dementia a little over a month ago and is now in a long-term care facility. The business had apparently been affected by his condition for some time.

Another local modeler reports that the building has been sold and will be transferred in phases. The N-track railroad club which is in one of the 4 or 5 store fronts will have 18 months to make other arrangements.

Local modelers and friends of Ed have been working there for the last four Saturdays cleaning out the back warehouse and have found lots of old new stock items which either Ed Sr or Ed Jr put away and forgot. A hundred or so Squadron In Action and Detail & Scale books will be going to Half Price Books, with the proceeds to go to support Ed’s care.

A lot of original material has been donated to the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas.

I had not seen Ed in about 6 weeks, and he seemed to be his usual self then, so I was stunned and truly saddened at the news when I visited the shop last Saturday. Back in the '70s, I and other modelers in Wichita Falls made regular monthly visits to M-A-L. Its closing marks — for all of us who knew Ed and his father and mother — the end of an era.

a3ed04eb-a392-4037-89e2-a4d3cfd4eb70.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sad to hear.

As far as dementia goes, my father-in-law was fine, his normal self at our annual Thanksgiving dinner (held the Saturday after T-day at our home).

At Christmastime he was a little off. At their house, he commented about wanting to go home. He was home, but I guess all the family around was confusing him. That was strange since there was a family dinner at his home virtually every Sunday.

The next big gathering was Easter Sunday. He was definitely "not home" upstairs. Thought I was the man who sold him his house, but he's lived in that home for ages before I ever married into the family. Kept asking about where his deceased ex-wife was. She had died about ten years earlier.

It was sad to see him go from normal to needing help just to bathe in less than 5 months. It wasn't long before he was bedridden and died shortly afterwards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael,  you are correct.  It is the end of an era and sad on multiple levels.  I knew Ed jr and his father and met his mother a couple of times, though I never frequented the shop that often.  There were plenty of other shops back then that were closer to me.  Tolson's in particular.  It's sad about the way Ed jr is ending, sad for the closing of yet another brick-and-mortar hobby shop and sad for the gradual shutdown of an era that many or most of us belong to.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I grew up in Dallas and visited MAL Hobby Shop many times. That was among the first meeting  places for IPMS North CentralTexas Chapter, the founding chapter for IPMS/USA back in 1963. Ed Seay Sr., Ed Jr., were among the nucleus, with Jim Sage who first established IPMS. I was saddened to hear about Jr. and the closing of this hobby shop. 
 

Mark

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Sad to hear about the loss of another long established hobby shop. Same thing happening over here in the UK to the remaining ones. A number of years ago we had at least one good privately owned model shop in each of our towns until a conglomerate named Beatties started buying them all up like there was no tomorrow in the eighties and early nineties and then went bust taking over 50 per cent of the nation's model shops with it in one fell swoop. Most of them employed assistants that did not have any specialist knowledge that did not help either. Another venture by the Amerang group opened up numerous model shops that sold kits and die cast model vehicles named Model Zone. They went the same way as Beatties did before. There are some independents still left that should be cherished but gradually disappearing by attrition. Apart from the remainders we have large warehouse type shops named Hobbycraft that sell limited modelling items along with all the art and craft stuff that is the core of their business. Great for artists materials and other items that could be used in our hobby however. I guess it is the same Stateside, the large warehouse type of operation.

On line mail order is OK, but not the same as looking at what you intend to buy for real. Fortunately as the UK is very small compared to the distances you guys have to travel in the states I can get around to a few shows each year that have a fair share of specialist vendors from the cottage industries. I tend to take a shopping list to Telford each year as nearly all the UK specialist traders are there over that weekend...………….Needless to say I have a very dented wallet by the time I go home each year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

Just to square the circle on this,  Edgar Seay, Jr or Junior as he was known among friends, passed away yesterday (2/19/21) after a long illness.   He was 79.

Edited by EFGrune
typo in date
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

I was tremendously saddened to read this, although it was not a complete surprise.  All good things come to an end.  I grew up in Irving in the 50's and 60's and my Saturdays, from age 8 or so onward, were spent going to the Saturday matinee at the Irving Theater across the street and then wandering to MAL to spend whatever I had left of my allowance while waiting for my parents to pick me up.  I remember Sr and mom, as well as Jr quite well.  The shop would let us modelers display our 'creations' in the display case in the front of the shop for a few weeks, rotating models out as other kids brought in assembled kits.  I learned about Airfix kits and Floquil (sp?) model paints at MAL and remember watching Jr build his HO scale layout in the front of the shop.  I also bought a few Tyco and Bachman HO scale engines and rolling stock when I switched from plastic kits to HO scale railroading.  MAL was a tremendous part of my childhood and early adulthood and I loved every minute I spent there.  Later in life, I also acquired two of Sr's balsa kits, the 'Flying Aces' 'Mr Mulligan' and 'Al Williams Gulfhawk', both of which are absolutely great kits.  So many memories of the Seays and MAL.  RIP Jr, and also MAL.  The end of an era.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...