Our Story

Our company was first formed on February 28, 1984 by Jim Ewing under the name of "Jim's R/C Supply", with the aim of supplying the local modelers with much needed parts for radio controlled model aircraft.

At the time Jim had recently graduated from university and had returned to his previous hobby of flying radio controlled model aircraft. Since there was no local source of materials, Jim tried many mail order sources in both Canada and the United States to obtain supplies for his own hobby and was left disappointed with almost all of them. There seemed to be a need for a good supplier in this part of the country.

The need was obviously there as Jim's R/C Supply grew from one small box of parts to supply the local modelers to East Coast Model Center, the largest dealer of radio controlled models and related accessories in Canada, shipping model related supplies to all corners of the country and internationally through this web site. In May 2001 the business evolved from East Coast Model Center to Great Hobbies, to better reflect its national and international flavour, and total product mix.

During the fall of 2001 we continued this evolution with the acquisition of two hobby related businesses in Edmonton, Alberta, combining them into a second Great Hobbies facility in that city.