Ridemakerz LLC has some big names betting on it.
The retailer, whose stores allow customers to create their own remote-control cars, is backed by a Payless ShoeSource Inc. heir and Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. Walt Disney Co. also is a big supporter.
Entrepreneur Larry Andreini started Ridemakerz six years ago.
The company, which has six stores, is in the process of moving its Rancho Santa Margarita headquarters to Irvine.
The company’s main financier is Norman Pozez, a real estate investor whose father founded Payless ShoeSource.
St. Louis, Mo.-based Build-A-Bear owns about a quarter of Ridemakerz.
Executives at New York TV production company Jane Startz Productions also are investors.
Ridemakerz recently opened a store at Downtown Disney District in Anaheim. The store targets boys and their families—a tough set for many retailers. The focus on boys drew the interest of investors and Disney.
“With moms, if their child is having a blast, they are having a blast,” Andreini said. “But dads are more like, ‘What’s in it for me?”’
Build-A-Bear
Ridemakerz is run roughly like Build-A-Bear Workshop. The stores allow people to customize cars with stocked parts that snap together.
Huntington Beach car designer Chip Foose designed some of the wheels for the cars.
Ridemakerz originally rode the coattails of Build-A-Bear, which has 345 stores and some $400 million in yearly sales.
The retailer used Build-A-Bear’s computer, warehouse, distribution and checkout systems. Build-A-Bear also trained Ride-makerz workers.
That’s changing.
Ridemakerz is opening its own warehouse and distribution center in Valencia and is switching to its own cash register system.
The company’s taken Build-A-Bear’s way of training employees—dubbed Build-A-Bear U—and tweaked it into what it calls Ride U.
“Our business model is not Build-A-Bear centric anymore,” Andreini said.
But the company’s not shaking all ties with Build-A-Bear; the two are sharing the same building in Downtown Disney.
Ridemakerz has another store in temporary space at Downtown Disney in Florida and plans to move into a permanent home at the Disney World mall.
These aren’t the only ventures Ridemakerz has with Disney.
Inside a prototype Disney store in Montebello is a Ridemakerz Custom Car Zone, an interactive play area that sells character cars from Disney’s “Cars” movie.
Ridemakerz finds it does well in tourist spots, such as Downtown Disney in Anaheim and Myrtle Beach, Fla., where families are on vacation and looking for things to do, Andreini said.
Within the first two months of opening in Myrtle Beach three years ago, the Ridemakerz store there reached $1 million in sales, he said.
The company, which doesn’t disclose financials, has spent the past two years focusing on growing in tourist hubs and getting out of malls.
“We don’t want to be in 300 malls,” Andreini said.
In late 2008, Ridemakerz had a dozen or so stores across the nation, mostly in malls.
Andreini’s now aiming for 15 Ridemakerz worldwide stores in areas that draw families.
“That’s the strategy,” he said.
Andreini relocated the headquarters of Ridemakerz from St. Louis to Orange County last year.
“It was a huge move,” said Ron Braund, an author and executive coach.
Braund played a key role in helping Andreini reorganize his company.
“They had to make changes and they were in a growth mode,” Braund said. “They had to look at the economic realities that their market share could decline if they didn’t change their model.”
Move to OC
Andreini chose OC for the company’s headquarters because of the car culture, and its proximity to Disney and the toy and entertainment industries.
Ridemakerz employs 16 people at its headquarters and about 250 altogether.
Andreini said he hopes to branch off into entertainment.
“The entertainment side of the business appeals to me,” he said.
Andreini said he envisions movies and TV for Ridemakerz.
Which brings him back to his original idea, which wasn’t build-a-car stores.
It was a “Sesame Street”-meets-ESPN show for kids.
He pitched the idea to producer Jane Startz and her partners, Gillian MacKenzie and Darcy Pollack. Startz has produced movies and TV shows such as “The Magic School Bus.”
Andreini found Startz through an Internet search.
“I asked if she would meet with me,” he said.
Startz turned down his show idea. But she and her partners had an idea of their own: build-a-car.
From there came Ridemakerz.
All three women are investors in Ridemakerz.
“All three remain very valuable contributors to the business,” Andreini said.
