NORTHERN
MAGAZINE
FOR THE BIRDS
WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED PROVIDES PRODUCTS FOR BIRD HOBBYISTS AND ENTHUSIASTS Writer / Renee Larr Photographer / Ron Wise
With spring weather approaching, opportunities for outdoor hobbies like bird watching increase. Wild Birds Unlimited offers products and advice for the novice to experienced bird watcher. Charity Rausch previously worked in retail buying, but felt the need for something different. “I was planning inventory and things like that,” Rausch says. “I worked for the Finish Line in Indianapolis’ corporate office, but ultimately left to teach at Indiana University in retail studies. I was a visiting lecturer. I was teaching buying, inventory management, visual merchandising everything retail-wise.” Rausch was commuting from Zionsville to Bloomington for work. “I had a little boy, and it just wasn’t working,” Rausch says. “The commute wasn’t working. My husband was traveling. I started looking for something a little more
local and I found the Wild Birds Unlimited corporate office.”
bought an existing store,” Rausch says.
Rausch moved the location from the Carmel-Westfield area to Noblesville.
The stores already have a loyal following, but during the pandemic, Rausch’s business has increased with new customers.
While many businesses suffered during the Rausch worked in the franchise office in Carmel pandemic, Rausch witnessed her business grow. for about four years. Ultimately, she decided to own and run her own franchise location. “I credit a large part of the growth over the last year to the pandemic,” Rausch “When I opened the first location in 2014, it says. “What I mean by that is many people are working from home, so birding, bird was a bit of a learning curve for me,” Rausch says. “I had worked in retail but never owned watching and feeding birds has increased tremendously. People are trying to find a business. Going from working in retail to hobbies while they’re stuck at home.” operating a retail business was a transition.”
“Four months after we bought the store, we moved,” Rausch says. “We just moved down the street, but it changed our address to a Noblesville address. The move gave us better visibility. We were in a perfect location, and it jumped our business forward.” Rausch opened a second location on 96th Street in Indianapolis in 2019. “We wanted to expand our business, so we 2021 DIRECTORY AND RELOCATION GUIDE / 17
“We have so many new people coming in who just got into the hobby in the last year,” Rausch says. “It’s been enjoyable for us. Not only are our regular customers home more, doing more birding, but we’ve added more new hobbyists.” Rausch had to change her business model during the shutdown to cope with her physical stores being closed.
