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As Fred Beardslee took ownership of Colpar’s Hobbies in Colora-do, he knew he wanted some assistance in running his stores. The stores celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2019, and Beard-slee had worked at the store since the mid-80s, moving up to manager before buying out the original owner. He took over the

ownership in 2010 and two years later it became the first HobbyTown USA co-branded franchise.

Back in 2012, Colpar Hobbies closed to relocate at the same time it became a franchise, so the store re-opened as Colpar’s HobbyTown. Both locations, in Aurora and Lakewood, are branded as Colpar’s Hob-byTown stores.

Nationwide, HobbyTown has about 150 franchise stores, and about 10 percent of those are co-branded relationships in which an existing hobby store becomes a franchisee, according to HobbyTown President Bob Wilke.

“It was perfect timing for us because we were looking at upgrading our point of sale system and moving, and the HobbyTown model fit a lot of the things that I was already looking at doing,” Beardslee said.

Strategic Business Model HobbyTown, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, is the largest hobby store franchise in the country. It’s ranked No. 419 in the Franchise 500 from Entrepreneur Magazine, and No. 39 on the Top 150 franchises for veter-ans. The company has also begun franchising for AMain Hobbies stores that focus on the radio control market. HobbyTown stores are known for a wide variety of stock including RC surface products, aircraft, plastic model kits, games, toys and other segments.

RC Hobbies also offers store licensing and support services but is

not technically a franchisor. Franchising is a popular business model in retail, fast food, services and other sectors. Overall, there are more than 750,000 franchise businesses in the U.S.

HobbyTown began as a hobby store in 1980 and the first franchise store opened in 1986. That first franchise store in Colorado Springs is still open.

HobbyTown began co-branding with existing hobby stores in 2012 after the company saw competition when it launched franchise stores in cities with an existing hobby store. One of the stores eventually failed.

“We’re not in this to put people out of business, so we started looking for a solution that works better for everybody,” Wilke said. “With co-branding, we’ve been able to enter markets and work with qualified established stores.”

Franchisees pay an initial franchise fee and ongoing royalties to HobbyTown and receive a range of services in exchange. For a brand new store, there’s a host of services and support to get started. The HobbyTown package includes a robust point of sale system, local and national marketing support, product distribution and franchise business advisors to support store operations.

Franchise FeverIs franchising right for your store?

By Gary Wollenhaupt

Fred Beardslee and his store managers Stephenie Heater, (left) and Liane Bennett run the Colpar’s HobbyTown franchises.

Storeowners like Jack Hunt, owner of the HobbyTown in Mooresville, N.C., host game nights, drone races, modeling sessions and other events to build a sense of community.

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more a year pretty much has to have a good point of sale system, espe-cially with all the changes in distribution over the past few years,” Wilke said. “If a store is carrying games and toys as well as RC and models, they grow out of doing it with pen and paper pretty quickly.”

New Marketing StrategiesHobbyTown and AMain Hobbies have partnered to tap into each other’s strength. HobbyTown is assisting AMain with franchising brick-and-mortar stores. AMain has taken over HobbyTown’s online presence, using their expertise in product fulfillment and search engine marketing. Franchisees operate their stores independently, but HobbyTown wants a single brand experience for online customers.

“Everything the stores does is on a local basis and the website works on a national basis,” Wilke said. “We’re using the Website primar-ily as a traffic driver to the local stores because we know people like to

search inventory online to see what’s in their local store.”On the HobbyTown website, customers can reserve products

online and go into their store to complete the purchase. They’re working on the capability to complete the purchase online and go to the local store for pickup and then the store will receive the revenue. As sales tax laws change to be more consistent across the country, local stores will become more competitive with online shopping.

To help driven new traffic into stores, HobbyTown has partnered with Radio Shack to allow franchisees to install small Radio Shack Ex-press stores into existing shelf space.

“These customers align well with us because they want to shop in brick-and-mortar stores and they want to buy what they want today. So, it’s been a huge traffic driver for us,” Wilke said. “I’m amazed of the cult-like following of the Radio Shack brand.”

A Good MoveWhen Beardslee took over ownership of his stores, he felt like he needed some support to be successful. Looking back, he feels the benefits and services like lower pricing and back office support have more than offset the franchise fees and royalties over the years. His instinct to become a HobbyTown franchisee appears to have paid off.

“I wanted to be part of something bigger; when you’re operating all by yourself no one has your back,” he said. “At the time it was a good choice, and I haven’t regretted it a day since converting.” HM

For the co-branded stores, the services are offered individually based on what the existing store may need. A store may already have an adequate point of sale system the owner wants to keep, for example.

“The main thing that’s pretty standard is signage. There’s going to be some investment there, but every-thing else is just getting on board and going forward with the franchise,” Wilke said.

Existing storeowners may fear that a franchise will force them to follow a one-size-fits-all model that doesn’t fit their store. However, that’s not the case in his experience, Beard-slee said.

“They present you with a lot of information and what they consider best practices, but you’re not obligated to do any of it,” he said. “There are still things I do my way because I want to do it a different way. They really give the owners free will to do what they want to.”

Stores can order products through their preferred distributors or use HobbyTown’s distribution system if pricing or terms are better.

HobbyTown’s point of sale system is a proprietary system the com-pany built for hobby store operations. In addition to sales, it also serves as the inventory and ordering system. “Any store doing $500,000 or

The Radio Shack Express stores devote about 500 square feet of space to DIY items that draw in customers who could also get hooked on hobbies.

Bob Wilke, president, Hob-byTown USA

Franchisees can customize their stock to reflect their local market and can use existing distributor relationships.

A franchise uses a consistent brand identity on signage, advertising and other marketing tools to create an inviting, cohesive experience for customers.

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