The Hare Family Tradition

Hare’s Hobby Shop is a third generation, family-owned and operated, business in Alexandria, LA. Today, we service a wide variety of customers who are interested in remote control vehicles, plastic models, model trains and art supplies. The story of how we got here is a long, winding road – it begins with my grandfather.

My grandfaterh, Lester “Buck” Hare, started this business when he return to the U.S. following World War II. While most people called him Buck or Doc, I called him pop. Following the war, he was stationed at Camp Livingston in Pineville, LA. He decided to make CENLA his new home and opened up a cabinet shop. I consider the cabinet shop to be the beginning of the hobby shop. The buildings still exist today and the cabinet shop is currently being used by another master carpenter. Pop built a small store on Lee Street with two workshops in the rear.

The hobby store that existed for over 30 years was actually built around the old store. I am not sure when, but at some point following my father’s and uncle’s graduation from college, the store transitioned from a cabinet store into a paint and hobby store. As a young boy, I can still remember the paint mixers in the rear of the store. As Hare’s has evolved over the years, so has its name. Because of the paints sold in teh store, the name was Hare’s Mary Carter Paint and Hobby Supply. To this day, I still refer to the store affectionately as the “Paint” store.

In the late 1980’s my uncle, Warren “Pete” Hare, bought out my grandfather and transformed the store into the modern hobby shop. The Mary Carter Paint line was discontinued and replaced with craft supplies. R/C vehicles were gaining popularity and Hare’s Art & Hobby evolved in order to better respond to the demands of CENLA.

Pete’s vision transformed the cabinet shop into the hobby shop. His own interest in R/C airplanes brought an entire section of remote control vehicles into the store. My father, William “Bill” Hare had a deep interest in model trains and my grandmother always loved crafts. Because of these influences, the store carried a wide variety of model trains, crafts, and R/C supplies.

Plastic models were eventually incorporated into the stock and the crafts supplies became art supplies. Books, magazines, training videos, and How-To manuals also became staple items of the hobby shop. Until 2002, I spent my entire life walking in the back door and sitting behind the counter with my uncle, eating his popcorn, drinking his cokes and never paying attention to what was happening on the other side of the counter.

In August 2002, my wife, Jamie, and I moved to Washington, DC to begin graduate school. Sadly, three months later, Pete passed away in his home a few hours before going to work. As his closest surving relative, I was given the responsibilitty of figuring out what to do with the “Paint” store. Within only a day, I decided to keep the store open while I returned to DC to complete my graduate studies.

Not much changed for several years. Dave Dalzell had been working for my uncle for over 10 years before his death. Dave agreed to stay on and took over the day-to-day operations of the store. In summer of 2004, Dave decided to pursue other paths in his life. His departure allowed for Mark Harvey to join Hare’s Hobby Shop as the general manager. Mark’s expertise in all avenues of the hobby industry has proved to be invaluable – he has truly become part of the Hare family.

Despite minor changes, I felt the store still belonged to Pete in the years following his death. I was still trying to figure out how to run a hobby store being 1,300 miles away, when in teh the winter of 2005 I got a crazy idea to buy a new building for the store. I felt it was time to modernize the store, increase the size of our sales floor and to incorporate more interactive displays for our customers. Not wanting to move too far away from home, we bought the building next to the old “Paint” store.

Hare’s Hobby Shop made the big move across the parking lot in May 2006. With 16’ high ceilings, the new store has an elevated train track running around the entire sales floor, planes and helicopters suspended from the racks and banners lining the walls. We have incorporated a Realflight Simulator for customers to test a wide variety of planes and helicopters.

We are currently working to build an HO scale layout for customers to view. This layout will allow train enthusiasts to understand the space requirements for a good set-up and to see a variety of ways to build scenery and other interactive features. Additionaly, in the Spring of 2008 we completed an off-road dirt R/C race track behind the store. This will allow customers to compete against one another, as well as serve as a practice facility for those just getting started in the hobby.

Another big project has been this website. My hope is that the site becomes not only a place to purchase items, but also a place to find important information about the store, the hobby industry, and activities and events through out CENLA. My vision for Hare’s Hobby Shop is to remain a premier hobby store in the central Louisiana area for decades to come.

A fourth generation of Hares started in January 2008. William Hare, named after my father, has absolutely no clue what is going on at this point. While I have no idea what he is going to grow up to be, I hope he and his brothers and sisters to come have a deep appreciate for our family and the traditions that come with the “Paint” store.

Lastly, I cannot thank our customers enough for sticking with us over the years. Many of them are like family and have shared in the good times, as well as the bad times, along side my family. You are the reason Hare’s has survived three generations, and I appreciate your support and friendship.

-Michael