Brent Martin thought he was closing Rider’s Hobby Shop on Carpenter and Packard for good last summer until a chance encounter with Tree Town Toys co-owner Hans Masing during Rider’s going-out-of-business sale turned into a chance at a new lease on life. Tree Town Toys was struggling in its location in the Plymouth Road Mall, and Masing suggested that Rider’s share the space and overhead. It seemed like a good idea at the time, so Martin moved his entire inventory over to Tree Town Toys.
As it turned out, he was only postponing the inevitable. When Tree Town Toys closed at the end of the year, Martin was left with a space he couldn’t afford. Six weeks after Tree Town Toys went out of business, Martin reluctantly followed suit. After a huge liquidation sale, the store was scheduled to close for good. Martin no longer works at the store and couldn’t be reached for comment.
At one point there were sixteen Rider’s Hobby Shops in six states, some franchises and some corporately owned, and Martin’s family owned the company. After Martin closes his store, only two will remain, one in Grand Rapids and one in Flint, both owned by the same franchisee. Once Martin sells off as much inventory as he can during the liquidation sale, store manager Paul Hensen says, the plan is to sell whatever is left to the Grand Rapids and Flint stores.
At least one Rider’s tradition will live on. Hanging from the ceiling of the Plymouth Road store are two huge model radio-controlled airplanes that have been hanging from the ceiling of one Rider’s location or another for twenty-five years. Hensen says a former customer built both but never flew them because his eyesight was failing, so he donated them to Rider’s because he wanted people to see them. They’re beauties. One’s a red, single-prop Stimson with an eighty-inch wingspan, the other’s a brown B-25 bomber. Hensen says the builder’s daughter came into the store recently, and they asked her if she’d like them for souvenirs, but she said no–let them continue to hang where people can admire her dad’s work. Hensen says both will still hang in Flint and Grand Rapids. “That’s a nice ending for a story about a hobby shop,” he says.
