BUY BUY IN THE HEARDAR, FOR A LARGER PURCHASE IS PERSONALLY TO GET TO HOBBYMARKET

We've picked out about 30 common items we buy when trying to do small home repairs over the weekend - from small fasteners to charcoal for grilling and security hardware for front doors to paint and paint apartment. We examined their prices in three Prague hobby markets and compared them with prices in regular specialized stores. While hobby markets differed in prices by an order of percent, small shops offered identical goods in a price range of tens of percent and often significantly more expensive.

And while we found almost all the items on the list nicely together at hobby shops, you'd have to take a week's vacation to make a similar purchase at specialty stores.

You don't have to be afraid to buy branded goods at the hobby market. Hand tools of major brands are sold here at the manufacturer's recommended price, as well as, for example, Primalex paint or Weber grills. On the other hand, you can find super cheap hobby tools that hardware store owners don't order.

Weighing hardware is an exception

If you only need five dowels and screws, you should head to the nearest hardware store. Even if the price per piece is higher than in the hobby market, you only buy what you really need. Most hobby markets only sell these small items in boxes of several pieces.

Fasteners are not weighed in most hobby markets

The exception in our survey was the Bauhaus hobby market in Prague's Pankrác, where you can find a self-service scale and only take the amount you really need. For example, a weighted screw PH 4x20 with a semi-round head cost less than 40 pennies there, in Baumax in Prague's Roztyle it was possible to buy this size only in a box with 16 pieces for 78 crowns, which is roughly ten times the amount per piece.

The scale was available in the large and well-known hardware store V. J. Rousek, and it cost 24 halers. The smaller the hardware store, the higher the price, but the price for renting the shop plays an influence here, which is logically reflected in the prices of the goods.

You pay the same for brands everywhere

If you go to a hardware store and want "your" brand, you may be out of luck. Rather, it depends on the sympathies and experience of the owner of the hardware store, which manufacturers he prefers. Who basically wants a Bosch hobby machine and never a Black & Decker, may have a problem, because in the hardware store you will encounter more semi-professional or professional class products, for example, Dewalt, Makita and others.

Same package size, price different by three hundred - who wouldn't resist

Not that every hobby market offers products from all proven companies, and their halls are not inflatable, but the basic range of at least some of the mentioned hobby brands can be found here. The manufacturers' contracts with the hobby shops evidently contain a clause on the observance of the recommended prices, because the prices were the same in all three large stores. For example, the Bosch AKE 35S chainsaw cost the same 3,590 crowns, a fifteen-kilogram package of Primalex Plus interior paint cost 425 crowns.

In contrast to hardware stores, hobby markets typically offer super-cheap hand tools. While you will pay over three thousand crowns for a Bosch PSR 14.4 cordless screwdriver, you can get a non-branded one for one thousand crowns in the baskets in front of the cash registers. Those who need it for more serious work will avoid it, those who need to drill a hole for dowels or screw in a few screws once a month will consider it a million dollar purchase and will probably serve them well.

Different prices

Most prices also differed in individual hobby markets. For example, Rostex BK R1 safety fittings cost 2,390 crowns at Bauhaus, but we found a price five hundred crowns higher at the hardware store. In the same hardware store, however, a can of synthetic black Unimat cost 140 crowns, while in Bauhaus it cost 199 CZK. The average price was around 160 crowns. The prices of a five-liter gasoline can ranged between 70 and 99 crowns. It is advantageous not to forget to buy water for the washers in the car when shopping - in hobby markets the price for 5 liters ranged from 55 crowns, at the pump you will pay twice as much.

From afar, you would head for the proven Soudal brand sealants

We found a relatively large dispersion of prices, for example, in the case of sanitary silicone. The Soudal brand in a 310 ml package cost 129 crowns in Bauhaus, only 89 CZK in OBI. We did not find an identical product in Baumax, but the lesser-known brand Distyx is sold here, the packaging of which is graphically very similar to the brand we were looking for, and the price was within 99 crowns.

* Prices may vary even more depending on the region and the competition in the area, the range only indicates the dispersion in the stores visited