Franchise On The Fast Track How bringing out the child in his customers is helping this franchisee score big
By Kimiko L. Martinez •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In a town like Indianapolis, it's hard to get away from the automobile influence, and Bill Scott's HobbyTown USA franchise is no exception. But Scott's put the Indianapolis racing cliche to great use: He uses a 36-by-80-foot RC (radio controlled) car racing track that occupies 7,400 square feet of his store to attract racers and fans from all over Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio to join in the fun.
"We felt the tracks around here weren't done as well as they could've been," Scott says. "We saw some things we could do a little differently, maybe a little better, that would help draw people in and help maintain the level of racing."
With nearly 700 customers and about $100,000 in RC sales every month, Scott must be doing something right. But racing isn't the only thing his store has to offer. From telescopes, trains and rockets to RC helicopters, model paints and planes, the 5-year-old franchise has a little bit of everything to bring out that child inside of all of us.
"I love it when people come in and look around and say, 'Wow, we didn't realize you had all this,' " the 48-year-old says. "That's the part I like, providing something for them they can enjoy."
