The short version: an RC shop’s holiday season is won in October, not on Black Friday. This year Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, so Black Friday is November 27 and Small Business Saturday is November 28. If your Google Business Profile, your website and your counter are ready before November starts, the gift shoppers find you. If you start the week of Thanksgiving, you’re mostly hoping.

I’ll be honest about why I care so much about this one. The holidays are the one time of year a whole new type of customer walks into an RC shop: the person buying for someone else. Grandma doesn’t know a 2S LiPo from a NiMH pack. A spouse has no idea whether 1/10 scale is the “big one.” They’re going to ask Google, ask their phone, or ask an AI assistant where to go, and then they’re going to buy from whoever makes it feel easy. Here’s how to make that you, week by week.

Who Is Actually Shopping at an RC Shop in November and December?

For most of the year your customers are hobbyists. They know what they want, they know the brands, and they’ll drive past two shops to get to the one with the right parts wall. In November and December a big share of the people searching are gift buyers who don’t know any of that. They search in plain words (“remote control car store near me,” “RC truck for a 10 year old”) and they care about three things: is it in stock, is it the right one, and will it actually work on Christmas morning.

That changes what your marketing should say. A hobbyist wants to hear about the new brushless lineup. A gift buyer wants to hear “we’ll help you pick, we’ll make sure you leave with batteries and a charger, and we’re open late on the 23rd.” Most shops keep talking to the hobbyist all season and lose the gift buyer to a big-box store that made it simple.

What Should an RC Shop Do Before November 1?

Set Your Holiday Hours on Google Now

Google lets you set special hours for holidays and events without touching your regular hours. Their own help page also recommends confirming your hours for official holidays even when they’re the same as usual, so customers can see the hours are accurate. Do Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in one sitting. One catch from the same page: special hours only show if your profile is set to “Open with main hours.”

Nothing kills a gift sale faster than someone driving over on Black Friday morning because Google said you were open at 8, and finding the lights off.

Get Your Business Profile Basics Right

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that complete, accurate business info makes you more likely to show up. For the holidays that means: the right primary category, fresh photos of the actual shop floor and the RTR wall, current hours, and a description that says in plain words that you help beginners and gift buyers. If you haven’t looked at your profile in a while, our local SEO and Google Business Profile service page lists what we check, and the 5 free local SEO tools guide covers what you can do yourself.

Show What’s on the Shelf, Even If You Don’t Sell Online

This is the one most RC shops skip. Google lets retailers show in-store products on Search and Maps at no charge, and its help page says many customers use Google to check whether stores near them stock what they want. If you use a compatible point-of-sale system (Google names Clover, Square and Lightspeed as examples) and sell products with manufacturer UPC barcodes, the Local Inventory app can sync your stock automatically. It’s available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Why it matters for the holidays: a gift buyer searching for a specific truck can see it’s sitting on your shelf ten minutes away. That beats “ships in 5–7 days” every time in mid-December.

Build One “Gift Helper” Page on Your Website

You don’t need a holiday microsite. You need one page that answers the questions gift buyers actually ask, in plain language:

• Good first RC cars by age and budget. Pick your own price bands and name what you actually stock.
• “What else do I need?” Batteries, a charger, spare parts. Say clearly what comes in the box and what doesn’t.
• Gift cards, for the buyer who gives up and lets the kid choose.
• Your holiday hours and the last day you can help set something up before Christmas.
• A short FAQ: waterproof or not, indoor or outdoor, how long the battery lasts.

Plain question-and-answer content like this is also the kind of thing AI assistants can quote back when someone asks for a recommendation. I wrote more about that in why ChatGPT skips some RC shops.

How Should You Use Google Posts in November?

Google Business Profile posts come in three types (Update, Offer and Event), and they show on your profile in Search and Maps. Two features from Google’s help page make them very useful in a busy month: you can schedule a post to publish later, and you can set a post to repeat weekly or monthly. You can write all of November’s posts in one afternoon in October.

A simple schedule that works:

• Early November (Update): “Holiday gift help is here” with a photo of your beginner wall and a link to your gift helper page.
• Week before Thanksgiving (Offer): your Black Friday and Small Business Saturday deal, with real start and end dates. Google’s tips specifically say to include a descriptive title, dates and the offer details.
• Small Business Saturday (Event): anything you’re actually hosting, like a demo track in the parking lot or a beginner setup table.
• Early December (Update): “Last-minute? We’ll charge the battery and show them how it works.”

Keep it professional and specific. Google reviews every post against its content policy after you publish it, so skip the all-caps and the stack of exclamation points.

What Should You Do for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday?

Small Business Saturday is American Express’s day for shopping at small local businesses, and it falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving 2026 is November 26, so it’s November 28 this year. That’s the one day a year when shoppers are actively looking to spend money at a shop like yours. Don’t just put out a sign.

• Give people a reason to come in, not just a discount. A free beginner clinic, a run-what-you-brung session on a small track, or “we’ll bench-check your old truck for free.” If you already run race days, the same playbook from our repairs and race-day guide applies here.
• Bundle the stuff people forget. A ready-to-run truck plus a second battery and the right charger is the gift that actually works on Christmas morning. Sell it as one thing.
• Catch every buyer’s contact info. A gift buyer is a one-time customer. The kid who unwraps the truck is a potential regular. A counter card that says “Free setup help after Christmas: scan to get the date” turns one into a way to reach the other.

What Happens After December 25?

This is where the real money is, and it’s the part almost nobody plans for. Every RC truck unwrapped on Christmas morning is a future customer who needs batteries, a second charger, tires, a bent A-arm, and eventually an upgrade. The shop that’s in touch with them in the first week is the shop they keep coming back to.

If you want to see what one of those new regulars is worth over a year, plug your own numbers into our regular-customer calculator. It’s usually more than the whole Black Friday sale. A simple email or text list gathered at the counter in December, plus one “new owner night” in early January, is how you get them. That’s the core of what we do in retention, QR and email marketing.

Ask for Reviews the Right Way in January

January is also when you’ll have the most happy first-time customers. Google says you can ask customers for reviews with a Google link or a QR code. It also says offering anything in return for a review (a discount, free parts, anything) is strictly prohibited and treated as fake content. So ask everyone, make it easy, and don’t sweeten the deal.

Your RC Shop Holiday Checklist

When	What to do
By Oct 31	Set Google special hours for every holiday; refresh profile photos and description; build the gift helper page; check if your POS can show in-store products on Google
Early Nov	Schedule your November Google Posts; print counter cards for the after-Christmas setup night
Nov 26–28	Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday: bundles, an in-store reason to visit, collect contacts
Dec 1–24	Last-minute posts, extended hours (updated on Google), “we’ll charge it and show them” service
Dec 26–Jan	New-owner night, follow-up email or text, ask happy customers for reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

When should an RC shop start holiday marketing?

In October. Google Posts can be scheduled ahead, holiday hours can be set weeks in advance, and a new web page needs time before search engines pick it up. By Thanksgiving week you should be running the plan, not building it.

Do I need to set holiday hours on Google if I’m open my normal hours?

Google recommends it. Its special hours help page says confirming holiday hours, even when they match your regular hours, makes it clear to customers that the hours are accurate.

Can I offer a discount for a Google review during the holidays?

No. Google’s review guidelines prohibit offering free or discounted goods or services in exchange for reviews. Ask every customer the same way, with a link or QR code, and leave it there.

Do I need an online store to show my inventory on Google?

No. Google’s in-store products feature is built for physical stores. If your point-of-sale system is compatible and your products have manufacturer barcodes, your stock can show on Search and Maps at no charge, even if you don’t sell a thing online.

Want a Second Set of Eyes Before the Rush?

If you’re not sure how your shop looks to a gift buyer searching right now, run our free instant website audit. It takes a couple of minutes, and you’ll know what to fix while there’s still time to fix it.