HobbyTown USA

Hobby Town Unlimited, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryRetail
FoundedSeptember 24, 1985 (1985-09-24), in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
FounderThom Walla
Headquarters
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Number of locations
105 (2024)
Areas served
United States
Key people
Bob Wilke (president)
ProductsRemote-controlled cars, radio-controlled aircraft, radio-controlled boat, models, paints, tools, toys
Websitewww.hobbytown.com

Hobby Town Unlimited, Inc. is an American retail hobby, collectibles, and toy store chain headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. There are more than 105 HobbyTown franchise stores located in 39 states in the United States.[1]

History

Thom Walla, Merlin Hayes, and Mary Hayes founded HobbyTown Unlimited, Inc. in 1985 and opened the first franchise store in 1986. As of 2023, HobbyTown USA had 106 franchise stores are located in 35 states in the continental United States. The company describes itself as the largest brick-and-mortar hobby retailer in the world.[2]

The interior of the Oshkosh, Wisconsin, location c. 2002

Sometime in 2002, HobbyTown USA acquired a building in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and began renovations. On June 12, 2002, the progress was photographed with a Sony Cyber-shot camera, and on March 2, 2003, the various interior views were documented on the HobbyTown Oshkosh branch's renovation weblog.[3] Among the photographs was the one which began the Backrooms creepypasta, uploaded with the file name "Dsc00161.jpg", depicting a carpeted, open room with yellow wallpaper and fluorescent lighting on a Dutch angle.[4][3][5] The image was captioned as an original view of "the East (Oval) room", and noted that no windows were visible. The blog entry described extensive water damage that required the area to be cleared.[5][6] The interior as depicted no longer exists; it was converted into a radio-controlled car racing track.[4][5][6] Until 2024, the source of the photograph was not widely known.[7][8][9] In May 2024, the image's origin was located by a Backrooms-dedicated Discord community,[8][9][10] which traced the image to an archived webpage from March 2003 using the Wayback Machine.[11]

Online retailer AMain Hobbies announced on July 26, 2023 an agreement in principle to the acquisition of HobbyTown. The agreement includes the Lincoln, Nebraska headquarters and distribution center. AMain Hobbies, with this agreement, now has three distribution centers across the United States.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". HobbyTown Franchise. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  2. ↑ Muccigrosso, Catherine (July 27, 2023). "Online toy company with Charlotte HQ to buy world's largest retail hobby franchise". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Beschizza, Rob (May 30, 2024). "Original "Backrooms" photo of yellowing office dungeon finally identified as Oshkosh HobbyTown". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Marcelino, Kyle (May 30, 2024). "Original 'Backrooms' Image Finally Found After 20 Years". iTech Post. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 "The New 'Revolution Raceway'". HobbyTown USA – Oshkosh. March 2, 2003. Archived from the original on May 3, 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Koebler, Jason (May 30, 2024). "Internet Sleuths Finally Find Origin of 'The Backrooms' Creepypasta Image". The 404 Media Podcast. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024.
  7. ↑ Dobuski, Michael (November 6, 2022). "The Backrooms: Horror storytelling goes online". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  8. 1 2 Marcelino, Kyle (May 30, 2024). "Original 'Backrooms' Image Finally Found After 20 Years". iTech Post. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024.
  9. 1 2 Beschizza, Rob (May 30, 2024). "Original "Backrooms" photo of yellowing office dungeon finally identified as Oshkosh HobbyTown". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024.
  10. ↑ Koebler, Jason (May 30, 2024). "Internet Sleuths Finally Find Origin of 'The Backrooms' Creepypasta Image". The 404 Media Podcast. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024.
  11. ↑ Burlingame, Russ (May 30, 2024). "The Backrooms: Lost Media Fans Have Finally Identified Where the Creepypasta Photo Was Taken". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Hobbytown Acquisition". AMain Hobbies. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
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