Prior to becoming a business owner, Dusty Germo worked as an engineer at John Deere for 12 years and pursued various hobbies in his spare time, but he now helps his customers enjoy their hobbies.
Since July 2022, Germo has owned the Augusta franchise location of HobbyTown, which is located near Furniture Outlet at 266 Bobby Jones Expressway, Suite 110 in Augusta.
The 3,000-square-foot store has been open since 1993. He’s moving the business to a 9,000-square-foot building, which is currently under construction at 4107 Riverwatch Parkway, Suite 4 at the corner of Old Evans Road in Martinez. He plans to hold the soft opening of the new location on Monday, March 20.
HobbyTown sells a variety of items, including model trains, remote control cars, drones, LEGO sets, and STEM kits.
“We definitely want more space; this new store offers us a lot more opportunities for activities,” said Germo, a Minnesota native.
The additional space will allow customers to build puzzles and models in the store and participate in indoor remote control car racing. He doesn’t want his customers to buy items and leave. Instead, he wants them to enjoy their hobbies in the store. Various organizations, including LEGO and model clubs, will also meet at HobbyTown.
“We’re just going to have a lot of fun here,” Germo said. “We’ll have a lot more to do than just shop in the store.”
He also wants to appeal to a wider consumer base, including toddlers and their mothers.
“Right now, our customer base is adults,” Germo said. “One of my goals is to get kids interested in hobbies.”
He said many local veterans visit the store to buy model tanks, aircraft carriers, and other military items.
“You could build an entire military base,” Germo said.
Making the transition from engineer to entrepreneur hasn’t always been easy because it required him to learn as much as possible about the retail business.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart,” he said. “It’s always been a dream to control my own destiny.”
Prior to buying HobbyTown, Germo was a frequent shopper. He said outside of Augusta, there are HobbyTown franchises near Atlanta and in Columbia.
“The current store will be open until April 1,” Germo said.
For more information, visit hobbytownaugusta.com/.
1 comment
YES!!! We got our cars there (during covid when we were all expected to quarantine). It’ll be great to be in a bigger space since there is so much to shop.