[3] Orders were shipped from the basement of the Holecek family home by his brother Mark, a high school student who became a partner in the company.
[3] After earning a Master of Business Administration degree, Bruce Holecek split his time between teaching general engineering at the University of Illinois and running Tower Hobbies with Jeri from their home.
[3] In 1975 Tower Hobbies’ sales passed the one million dollar mark, giving Bruce and Jeri the means to move the company into its own building for the first time.
[7] In 1980, Tower Hobbies moved into a newly built, 42,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility at Interstate Research Park in Champaign.
[3] All active customers on the Tower Hobbies mailing list received the catalog, as well as a bi-monthly Super Special Sheet spotlighting new and sale-priced items.
[8] By the fall of 1982, Tower Hobbies was the world’s biggest mail-order retailer of radio-controlled airplane and boat models, grossing more than $15 million a year.
[3] Champaign businessman and real estate developer Clint Atkins approached the Holeceks in 1984 with an offer to buy Tower Hobbies.
[4] In 1985 Atkins combined Tower Hobbies with a Champaign-based RC product wholesale company named Great Planes Model Distributors.