Fast RC cars, happy customers at Chris’s House on Concession Street
You'll find mostly happy faces and cool radio-controlled vehicles on Chris's House social media pages.
Chris Mifsud has owned the Concession Street hobby shop for more than a decade; RC cars have been a passion for much longer.
Online, Mifsud is prolific.
The Hamilton Mountain shop's Instagram account is full of pictures of ecstatic customers with their new toys. His YouTube has dozens of informative and entertaining videos featuring new RC vehicles, tech tips, some funny clips and more.
Social media is fun for us," Mifsud says. When people see their faces, they're jacked. And you know what, they tell their friends."
He credits the community building aspect of social media as one of the components" of the store's success.
Mifsud says Chris's House - its walls lined with cars, trucks, boats, parts, tools and more - isn't elite" or focused on racing. Instead, he says, the 421 Concession St. store, built in a converted home, is a family hobby shop.
Sometimes, he says, kids get their parents into RC vehicles.
But, Mifsud surmises, that for those adults who grew up in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the hobby was too expensive, like obscene."
Now, you can get those same cars, with more performance, for the same price you would have paid back in ... the 80s," he says.
Some customers like the technical aspect" of RC vehicles. They spend time and money upgrading their vehicles with new parts, or refitting old ones. Others appreciate that the hobby is simple: charge the battery and go.
Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the hobby may have become even more popular.
If Mifsud's popular Instagram page is any indication, he's sold plenty of RC vehicles, ranging from about $50 to well over $500.
Now, he is expanding the business. Mifsud purchased a warehouse on Cannon Street in the lower city, specifically for online orders, to fulfil a global market."
Another benefit of social media - his thousands of views on YouTube mean there is interest from all over.
But, Mifsud says, we love the focus of in-person."
They see us on YouTube and they want to come in."
Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com