Paul Tootle Sr. spent $13 million on Orange County Choppers' headquarters with a bowling alley and concert venue in 2008, five months before the financial collapse. Demand for $50k-$150k custom bikes evaporated. By 2011 the TV show was cancelled and he lost the building to lenders. It sold at auction in 2016 for $2.3 million.
In 2008, Paul Tootle Sr. opened a $13 million massive headquarters for Orange County Choppers. It was 61,000 feet— square feet outta the middle of nowhere. Had a bowling alley, concert venue, restaurants, merch shops, everything. It was a destination. He built it right next to a Target on a busy intersection in suburban New York, and he did it all 5 months before Lehman Brothers collapsed. This started the Great Recession. And that caused something to happen, which was budgets for the types of bikes that Orange County Choppers sold— $50,000 to $150,000 custom art piece motorcycles— well, the demand for that basically went to zero. Companies didn't have budgets anymore. By 2011, their show suddenly canceled from TV. Paul Sr. surrendered the building to the creditors, his lenders, to avoid foreclosure. And in 2016, the building sold for $2.3 million at auction. It was an 88% loss. Today it's a self-storage facility. And the lesson from all this is to understand whether you're creating a business that's a fad or one with durability. In this case, they bet the wrong way. Choppers at the time, while they looked like they were never going to stop in terms of being sold, ended very quickly, almost as quickly as they started. Want to watch a deep dive about the full story of the rise and fall of Orange County Choppers? I have a link to it in the comments below.
