louie_vil_slugger

Hey as an avid Nitro truck basher I have a few questions for the RC community regarding RC Shops. I am seriously considering opening up a new RC shop in my area. If for arguments sake we don't need to worry about money, what would you like to see in a new hobby shop around your area? I have a single RC based hobby shop within about a 90 mile radius of where I live. The problem with this particular store is the owner. Hes rude, not happy, and very pushy to new comers. He also has no track of any kind. My area is screaming for a large indoor nitro dirt track. I have many, many friends who have never even seen a track. I was lucky and lived in Charlotte NC for the past 2 years where I had an ample amount of time spent at the Farms and other tracks. Now that I have moved, I think this state and area could really support a track and shop. How big would a building need to be to house a large indoor track for nitro racing? What about stocking a shop, is it wiser to stock heavily on parts and light on new trucks, cars etc.? Where can I find designs for indoor dirt tracks? What type of profit can a successful RC shop see? I have many more questions but will let this ride for now. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

MonkeyFist

When is comes to space the more the marrier. Having extra space to make a track and hobby shop, will let you grow in to a space, instead of out growing your space. I'd get the track up and running first and start with a larger parts inventory, rather than more new trucks/buggies. If you have the track people will race it, break parts and want to get the parts right now, if you have them you can sell them. Parts cost less to buy, and stock in inventory, then new car /truck kits. This also allows you to see what the locals are running before you go out and blow your capitol on kits that may not sell. As soon as you can get some sort of racing series started, that way you can get people hooked on coming to race. Since you want to do this indoor, you can have a extended race season, and maybe more than one series going on. It will help you build a loyal following of people who will support you. Make sure that you support both the electric and nitro sides of the hobby, that way you can capture both sides.

RCtruckRacer

A few things jump out at me...

Turning a profit on a hobby shop is not an easy deal. You'll be working long hours with few days off. And even then its hard to make any money. But, I don't live there so if you think you can turn over a lot of product then you should be OK.

Next, you seem like you want to race. Owning a hobby shop and racing do not really go hand in hand. You will have your hands full with the shop so you will probably have to decide which one you want more: the hobby shop or the time to race.

The third thing is series racing. While this is necessary to the health of any track, you need to look a lot farther than just a 90 mile radius. Most racers are more than willing to treck several hours to get to the track for a big race. Most of them will stay in motels or have a camper/trailer. As close as you are to Columbus, Chi-town and Detroit, you will need to coordinate any series races with the big tracks there. And I know there are some... CRCRC, Leisure hours in Joliet, the Dirt burners in Detroit... You want the good racers to show up because that will get everyone else interested in going, and to do that you have to manage your schedule according to what everyone else already has plans for.

But I bet #2 might discourage you the most. Not trying to bring you down, just being realistic. [8D]

annie_himself

Thats not completely true. I met Dwayne (something) at RC Hobbies & Raceway in Waco/Hewitt, TX and he was/is sponsored by Kyosho. He raced all over the nation but he still owns the shop.

RCtruckRacer

And did he JUST open it up in a new area too? Or was it an ESTABLISHED shop with a good customer base already?

Not that there cannot be an exception, but for the most part new businesses need to cut every expense possible in order to remain viable. In a hobby shop this usually means no employees for a while...

annie_himself

It was opened for a while, 5 years at least. He had alot of customers, he had oval races one night and then 1/8 scales the next on the circuit.

Your statement is usually true but not in every case. I think he made a pretty good profit though, he charged like $25 a class and he had like 30 racers or less the first night of the oval races.

sloppyG

make sure to hire cashiers with big boobs

annie_himself

Yea and ask her to she you the huge 40 series behind the counter...

RCHS1

My Feedback: (1)

if you want to have a good store you need 200-400k for inventory and startup cost , the fact that you only have 1 store within 90 miles is good , unless that means you dont have dense population in your area. Also if you open up a hobby shop make sure it is that , a hobby shop not a rc car shop . You have to have a diverse selection of products because belive it or not not all hobbyist like rc cars , in fact alot of them hate rc cars. So if you are going to sell to the masses then you need to stock stuff that the general public will buy ,not just what rc car drivers will buy. Plastic models, kids toys , trains are among the largest categories and profitability for hobby shops, you have to use the profits from them to grow your specialty niche in Rc. You will find that rc products generate a profit of 25-35 % profit where trians,toys and plastics are usaully 100% profit. Sell an rc car or plane kit for $199.99 and make $40 profit, or sell a plastic model or train for $79.99 and make $40 profit. Our store specailizes in high end planes and cars but all the GENERAL items in the store do make profit and is much less of an inventory investment, vital to succesful hobby shops. If you have a specialized single market hobby shop it will have a limited life span gauranteed. You have to remember the average new customer walking into a hobby shop is much more likely to spend 10 bucks on a kite or 20 bucks on a plastic model rather than 500 on a tmaxx. if selling some silly kite or yo yo makes money it doesnt matter to me because after all that is the reasson you are in business -- to make money. The biggest problem that i see new shops is hobbyist opening a hobby shop instead of realizing that you are a hobbyist opening up a retail bussiness with no retail knowledge only limited product knowledge.

go to NRHSA.org for more info


sorry for being a realist

DaveG55

More realism here...

Always remember that if you take a hobby and turn it into a livelyhood sooner or later (usually sooner) it will just become a job and a point of stress.
As rctruckracer points out, most of your energies will go to making the buisness work. And, as any small buisness owner will tell you, there is a LOT of work that goes into making a successful buisness and the more successful the buisness, the more time it takes. I would be surprised if your work week was less than 6 days and 60 - 70 hours. Ask yourself how much you are really going to want to mess with rc's after spending 10 hours or so of dealing with customers and their wrecked, defective or just plain screwed up vehicles. and, as for racing, you can forget that! You'll be too busy organizing, coordinating and running the race to compete very much.

But some people can make all that work, maybe you're one of them...

Sacagawea

I think a hobby shop with a track out back would be great because 1 of the 2 (track or hobby shop) would have to attract more people than just having one thing. I say go for both!

C.A.R.

Wanna hear it from someone who works in a hobby shop?

I've been here for 3 years. Time Tunnel was originally a toy shop, then a model shop and now a RC shop too. The one thing you must always keep in mind is to not keep it all serious, strict business. The market is always fluctuating (some customers fluctuate more than others haha!) and you have to flow with it. You must also realise that the RC model market for individual retailers has gone downhill since the internet shop was introduced.

So:
>Keep it internet-based, a retail unit is secondary income.
>Make sure you carry a variety of products, maybe not all RC, and a good range of prices. (the lower cost items will keep the money coming when the larger items don't sell)
>Use eBay.
>Get out if you're not getting back as much as you're putting in. Remmember, competition is tough. I doubt there is anyone on this forum who as never used RCmart, RCstation, Rainbowten or towerhobbies. Also, manufacturers are now taking it upon themselves to retail their own products, because they have their own website. This is bad for the retailer, because of course you must be able to beat this set-price.

Good luck.

Chris.