Ridemakerz

RIDEMAKERZ
Limited liability company
Industry Retail
Founded 2007
Headquarters Irvine, California, USA
Key people
 Larry Andreini, Chip Foose, Maxine Clark
Products Toy Cars
Website http://www.ridemakerz.com

Ridemakerz (alternatively written "RIDEMAKERZ") is an American retailer of customizable toy cars. The business was started in 2007 by Larry Andreini, Chip Foose (of TLC Overhaulin'), and Maxine Clark (of Build-A-Bear Workshop).

History

The first location opened June 1, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, SC at Broadway at the Beach.[1] Since then, twelve locations had opened in ten other states.[2] In late 2009 Ridemakerz began closing most of their stores. By the end of 2009, Ridemakerz will have closed nine of their twelve stores, the four remaining stores will be Myrtle Beach, SC, Downtown Disney Walt Disney World, Downtown Disney Disneyland, and Branson, MO. Plus they will be selling their products in the newly repurchased and re-imagined Disney Stores.

The company currently holds licenses to make the Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Ram, Dodge Viper, Ford F-250 Super Chief, Ford Mustang, Mini Cooper,[3] and the Scion xB.[4]

In April 2008, Ridemakerz won "Best Attraction Retailing" for stores under 5,000 square feet (460 m2) in Chain Store Age Magazine's Retail Store of the Year awards[5]

Company information

Ridemakerz is a limited liability company. It was founded in 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Rancho Santa Margarita, California in 2009. The main financier is investor Norman Pozez. Build-A-Bear owns about 25% of the company. In 2010 it is opening a warehouse and distribution center in Valencia, California (it currently uses the system of Build-A-Bear) and moving its headquarters to Irvine, California. There are approximately 250 employees nationwide and 16 employees at its headquarters.[6]

Process

While in the store, the customers (known as "customizers") come into the store and build "ridez" that can either be a freewheeling car or remote control car. It is estimated that over 649,000,000 different ride combinations are possible.[7]

Stores

There are (at present) three locations. Each store's number is prefixed with "15" and the order of opening denotes the individual store number. The number 1513 was skipped.[8]

Current Locations

Store Number City Location Notes
1501 Myrtle Beach, SC Broadway at the Beach First location, 6/1/07
1510 Branson, MO Branson Landing
1515 Anaheim, CA Downtown Disney Westernmost store
Opened 10/6/09.
Relocated/Reopened June 16, 2010[9]

Former Locations

Store Number City Location Notes
1502 Bloomington, MN Mall of America Northernmost Store
Closed 9/1/08[10]
1503 Indianapolis, IN Castleton Square Closed January 23, 2010
First store to close in 2010
1504 Fredericksburg, VA Spotsylvania Towne Centre Closed September 25, 2010
1505 White Marsh, MD THE AVENUE at White Marsh First location of 2008
First location where mobilize came before motorize
Easternmost Store
Closed September 12, 2009
1506 Hagerstown, MD The Shoppes at Hagerstown Closed August 31, 2009
1507 Schaumburg, IL Woodfield Mall Closed September 11, 2009
1508 Auburn Hills, MI Great Lakes Crossing Opened the same day as 1509
Closed September 19, 2009, same day as 1509
1509 Novi, MI Twelve Oaks Mall Opened the same day as 1508
Closed September 19, 2009, same day as 1508
1511 Appleton, WI Fox River Closed August 31, 2009
1512 Friendswood, TX Baybrook Mall Southernmost store
Closed October 24, 2009
1514 Glendale, AZ Westgate City Center Closed January 23, 2012
1516 Lake Buena Vista, FL Downtown Disney Opened March 25, 2010
Relocated August 31, 2011
1517 New York, NY FAO Schwarz: New York City
1590 Groveport, OH RIDEMAKERZ Garage Warehouse location
Closed August 12, 2009
Replaced with a location in Garden Grove, California

RZ Virtual World

December 2008- Ridemakerz launched their Ridemakerz Virtual World, which is similar to Build a Bear Workshops Build-A-Bearville, closed beta testing.

March 2009- RZ Virtual World opened from its closed beta test.

September 2009- Ridemakerz stopped tech support for their virtual world.

Footnotes

    References

    1. ↑ http://www.ridemakerz.com/rz/Pages/RiderzEd/HistoryOfCars.aspx
    2. ↑ http://www.ridemakerz.com/rz/Pages/AboutRz/ContactUs/findashop/default.aspx
    3. ↑ http://www.motortrend.com/features/newswire/32961/index.html
    4. ↑ http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=123294
    5. ↑ "RIDEMAKERZ Wins "Retail Store of the Year"". Business Wire. April 24, 2008.
    6. ↑ Cruz, Sherri (July 5, 2010). "Custom Toy Car Store Pulls in Big Backers". Orange County Business Journal. 33 (37): 1, 8.
    7. ↑ http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070529005445&newsLang=en
    8. ↑ http://ridemakerz.com/t/locations
    9. ↑ Ridemakerz Reopens at Downtown Disney in New-Expanded Location
    10. ↑ http://www.ridemakerz.com/rz/pages/aboutrz/contactus/findashop/storedetail.aspx?WorkShopID=1502
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