HobbyTown USA

Owner: Darrell and Miriam Irvin

Address: 356 E. Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville, 72703

Phone: 501-571-3730

Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday

Start-Up: Dec. 4

It was while he was working for another store that Darrell Irvin noticed a need for a specialty hobby store in the area.

“Folks would come in looking for something that we did not have, but that I knew a hobby store would carry,” says HobbyTown USA owner Darrell Irvin. He and his wife, Miriam, decided to open a branch of the national chain in Spring Creek Centre in Fayetteville.

HobbyTown USA carries extensive lines of model trains, boats, airplanes and automobiles as well as the paints and tools needed to make and decorate them. Many items operate by remote-control, but the store also has a line of wooden train sets from Brio.

Other stock includes toys, gifts, microscopes and role-playing games and accessories.

“Everyone who comes in says ‘We have needed one of these around here for a long time,'” says Irvin.