Went around to 4 of the local shops today, only to find out one of them is closing. They had everything at 50% off in a sale that started a full month ago, so I missed out entirely on any deals, besides some paints that were still laying around. The good news is, they're closing after 37 years because they want to retire, not because they couldn't afford to keep doing it. Unfortunately they were the best stocked for paints, even if they didn't have the greatest kit selection, so that will hurt.
Anyway, here are the different shops:
Comex Hobby
There are two locations in the city, one in West Edmonton Mall, another in a different mall. While they have a decent selection and a few brands that nobody else carries in the city, such as Kitty Hawk, their prices reflect the overhead they have in the malls. You're almost better off ordering online than buying from them sometimes. Even with our dollar being crap compared to the US, I could order a Seafire kit they had there for less from spruebrothers. For instance, they had a 1/48 Meng Me 410 for $109.99, while another store in the city had the exact same kit for 74.99...
They also deal with some board games, action figures, and a lot of Japanese anime stuff, which I personally have no interest in.
Great Hobbies
This store is a national chain, though they only have 4 stores, but they have some online ordering. They're nothing special but their prices are ok, generally slightly lower than elsewhere. They deal in a lot of RC stuff, so I think that's where they make their money.
Hobby Wholesale
These guys are probably the best store in the city in terms of both general pricing and selection. They have some random items pop up from time to time, but mostly it's fairly generic, with the odd weird kit laying around. Lots of Italeri, lots of Tamiya, and lots of Airfix. Not a lot of Revell. Nobody really carries Hasegawa here anymore. They're the healthiest probably because while they have dealt in RC stuff for years, they also expanded and now sell a lot of Lego, Playmobil and other toys. Their selection in that respect seems quite good, so I imagine they make their money mostly through that and the RC.
Kites and Other Delights is the store that's closing (I didn't bother taking a picture since the place was basically empty), while I didn't go to the other Comex location at West Edmonton Mall, and I didn't go to either location of Hobby Alley. Hobby Alley is ok for paints, but that's really only because it's the closest to my house (basically all the other ones are the opposite end of town). Their kit selection is generally poor to bad, and they are overwhelmingly an RC store. Nobody carries aftermarket decals here, nor are there a lot of books aside from Squadron books, and Kites had more of them than anyone. Basically, if a kit is in town I prefer to buy it here, but there's a lot of not completely generic kits that never show up, so I'm forced to shop online.