The 22-year-old racquet stringer who brought millions of views on TikTok to his family business

In Queensway Shopping Centre, where sneaker soles squeak against old tiles and the air smells faintly of laksa gravy, racquet store Smashsports looks nothing out of the ordinary, with its stringing machines humming and sports equipment hanging in neat lines. 

To the uninitiated, there is little that separates it from the dozen other sporting goods stores sitting in one of Singapore's oldest malls. 

Behind the counter of Smashsports, though, stands 22-year-old Mohamed Hashim Marecar, whose videos of his family-owned business on video-sharing platform TikTok have drawn more than three million likes and millions more views. 

When I visited Mr Hashim on a Monday afternoon this month, he was stringing yet another badminton racquet while surrounded by shelves of tennis racquets, badminton gear, as well as squash and pickleball equipment.

His practised hands continued the taut criss-cross weave of the strings as we spoke about his quiet "celebrity" status. 

Making videos for social media started just as a "fun thing" in 2022, before one of his first videos — wrapping a fresh new grip on a racquet — drew 30,000 views in one day. 

Since then, a video of him stringing and packing a badminton racquet, filmed by his brother, has clocked six million views. 

Others have even drawn comments from the likes of Danish two-time badminton Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. 

Though the online attention was unexpected, taking on the family business as his first full-time job came as no surprise. 

"I was always here helping out my father from five years old. It started from just following him at the shop, just sitting down and slowly being given small tasks, helping out a bit, and it became a passion." 

Mr Hashim, who is the youngest of four siblings, now runs daily operations with his 36-year-old oldest sibling, Mr Mohamed Mohaiyadeen Marecar, who left his job of 10 years in finance to join the store full-time in late 2025. 

The brothers' bid to inject new life into a family business by recording the behind-the-scenes at a family-owned racquet shop has drawn fans from as far afield as the Netherlands and Mauritius.

One memorable moment was a customer from the Philippines who caught a flight just to visit their store, landing at 8am and finding his way to their shop at around 9.30am, before flying home at 5pm. 

"That really touched me. He came in the morning, so we opened the shop early for him ... He bought a lot of racquets and said he was a fan of ours," Mr Hashim recalled.

LIFE IN A FAMILY BUSINESS

The store was founded in 1984 by the brothers' father, Mr Shaik Mougamadou Marecar, better known as Uncle Shaik to his regulars. It was originally a shop selling sneakers and running shoes. 

As racquet sports such as badminton surged in popularity, Mr Hashim's father pivoted the store's focus in 2003 to selling racquets and stringing services. 

More than two decades later, the store is now also primarily run by Mr Hashim and his brother, though their now 65-year-old father still drops by often.  

The brothers wake up around 6am, spend time with their parents over breakfast at their home in Tampines, before heading to the store, which is open seven days a week from 11am to 8pm.

Though they have a small team of staff members also manning their two units on the first and second floors, Mr Hashim can usually be found at the store, though he does take the occasional day off. 

The time off is just for a day, though. Mr Hashim said that he gets restless on his break from work, having become accustomed to being in the store since he was a child and then working part-time there after school when he was in secondary school and junior college. 

Even his hobbies have some relevance to work.

He enjoys playing badminton once or twice a week, and the brothers watch badminton and tennis matches to keep up to date on player statistics and current equipment.

Given how he helped out at the store even during his National Service, it was something of a no-brainer for Mr Hashim to decide to join the store and work full-time instead of furthering his education. 

"I did not want to pursue university studies because I felt that if I were to do that, I would lose my interest and focus on the business, so I decided to give my full attention to the business."

The business keeps him busy. On an average day, about 30 to 40 racquets are strung, though the volume of orders can go up to about 60 racquets a day during the weekends.

When asked how he learnt to string, he pointed to the certification he received in Germany under the European Racquet Stringers Association, displayed by the store's entrance. He added that he also picked up his skills from his father and brother. 

Though stringing racquets and rattling off facts about various sports brands are second nature, Mr Hashim said that working with family brings its own learning curve. 

While his brother told me that disagreements come about mostly due to different working styles, Mr Hashim quipped from behind his brother: "Sometimes, I don't know what I do, I just get shouted at. Sometimes, I'm just doing my work, I also get scolded."

Mr Deen, every inch the oldest brother, turned to me as if seeking arbitration over whether it was unreasonable to pick on his youngest sibling for being on his phone during working hours.

As an only child myself, I chose to steer clear of what was clearly decades of sibling back-and-forth. 

The brotherly banter came up again when I asked if the two of them compete against each other.

 "I usually beat him," Mr Deen said with a smile, but his brother was quick to protest. Then he added: "We string better than we play."

"A NORMAL GUY" WORKING UP 6 MILLION VIEWS ON TIKTOK

As a casual badminton player at best, even window shopping at sports shops selling the likes of S$300 racquets can feel intimidating for a novice like me. 

Yet, Mr Hashim is unfazed by my inexperience as he walked me through the basics – how various strings are designed to maximise power, control or durability. 

Beginner players, he said, often opt for power strings, which are generally thinner and give players more punch, but come with the downside of breaking faster. 

Beyond string options, there is also the matter of tension, based on the player's needs and what the racquet can withstand.

"It's basically like a trampoline. If the trampoline goes lower, you will jump higher. So the trampoline effect for lower tension is higher. 

"Not every string is suitable for everyone. It really depends on the individual and their preference," Mr Hashim explained. 

This attention to detail is what he and his brother extend to customers throughout the day, offering recommendations and teasing out preferences from a customer buying a first racquet for a nine-year old, to couples deliberating over string colours, casual browsers and regulars alike. 

Making their expertise accessible is what inspired Mr Hashim to start creating content online. 

"I wanted to make it simpler for people – everything that you can find in Google (about a racquet) in a one-minute video. That was our aim, to create something short and simple and knowledgeable." 

After the overnight success of his video putting a new grip on a racquet, Mr Hashim realised that there was an "untapped market" of racquet content in Singapore.

Some of his most popular videos – the best performing have drawn between four and six million views – show him packing specific customer orders. 

His offhand quips, such as repeatedly declaring “Let’s go” or describing a freshly strung racquet as “crispy”, have since become familiar catchphrases among fans.

On the responses that his videos have received, Mr Hashim said: "I have no words to say. I didn't expect that at all. I'm just a normal guy, and suddenly, I got six million views. We went crazy over it." 

Mr Hashim said that the shop’s business phone and social media inboxes were soon flooded with messages from potential customers in Singapore and overseas.

At times, juggling hundreds of comments and direct messages alongside in-person retail work has been “very overwhelming”, though the brothers try to reply “as fast as (they) can”.

"I think people connect with our videos because we were the first. No one in the market is doing (such) interactive videos, explaining about racquets. And that's our winning point. 

"We're not trying to be like official reviews, so rigid. I just want to be chill," Mr Hashim said.

Showing the behind-the-scenes work of a small business "really trying to survive" has also struck a chord beyond racquet sports with small and home-based business owners, many of whom have reached out asking them for advice.

"No one knew a racquet business would go so viral. We had many people asking us for help. We felt good also. We wanted to help people build their businesses."

THE NEW "OGs"

Over the years, Mr Hashim has learnt parts of the business that rarely make it into his videos, such as the backend work – from applying for work permits to managing paperwork, updating systems and keeping track of the finances. 

He managed to figure some of these out on his own, but it also helped that a number of his close friends are business owners. 

And although his father has also been his go-to person for business advice, Mr Hashim said that his youth definitely brings a fresh perspective to their business. 

He and his brother regularly bounce ideas for humorous, relatable content, while finding ways to ensure that the business keeps pace with changing times.

"My dad understands it. I also include him in some videos. My dad is very supportive and open to changes. He knows we want to improve the business to the next level, so he's not so strict," Mr Hashim said. 

"As an old person, listening to a younger one is actually quite difficult."

As we sat down to capture his interview on video, I realised that Mr Hashim has picked up tools of the trade that reach far beyond his father's expertise in stringing. 

When the recording started, he found his on-camera rhythm easily, exuding his natural charm and adeptness at conversation that it takes to succeed in a service trade. 

While speaking about his personal life, he naturally slipped in a promotional "thanks for your support" and made sure to mention their ongoing loyalty stamp card promotion.

As I watched him work his way around the store and speak to customers, it seemed clear that this was what he was meant to do.

"I like sales because I love interacting with people and building a healthy customer relationship," he said.

He believes that sales should not be just about pushing a product, but about communicating value, building trust and forming long-term relationships.

And he has no doubt that he will be tending to this store until he retires.

The store will always be his primary focus, but Mr Hashim wants to continue expanding the business to new locations and across industries. 

The family's latest endeavour is two food-and-beverage businesses with stalls in Tampines. They are Smash Mamak, which sells Indian food, and Smash Grillz, which offers western meals with a healthy slant – a venture inspired by the brothers' late mother, who had a dream of pursuing a food business.

Mr Hashim is clearly brimming with ideas for the new kinds of content he wants to make this year, such as expanding filmed interactions when customers come from far and wide to the store, and badminton stringing videos to showcase other racquet sports.

Outside the first-floor store is a digital counter with a TikTok logo that flips in real time as new "likes" to his social media account are registered.

He installed it in part because many customers have gone down to the store to ask about its TikTok success, but also as a strategy to get tongues wagging about his shop, piquing the curiosity of onlookers eating laksa in a neighbouring store. 

For now, Smashsports remains rooted only in Queensway Shopping Centre, despite having operated stores in Tampines and Simei in the past.

"This place means a lot to me. I grew up with this place and I've learnt a lot. So it's very sentimental to us," Mr Hashim said.

"Back in the day, (Queensway Shopping Centre) was a sports empire. Every single shop was doing sports and my father was one of the 'OGs', so we're the second OGs going to take over, running with him." 

OG is a slang term used to denote someone or something that is an original or originator, or who is old-school or has experience.

Although Mr Hashim is aware that many young people may walk away from their parents' small business to climb the corporate ladder, he is determined to prove that small businesses can thrive and create real impact when the next generation steps up to run them.

"This store was built on their sacrifices, long hours and quiet struggles, and taking it over is a responsibility I’m proud to carry. 

"I want to show that standing with what your parents built isn't settling. It is honouring their legacy."