Twin Brothers Open RC Racing Store in Woodbury

By John Lauritsen,
WCCO
March 10, 2019 at 10:00 pm

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The family that plays together, stays together, and that’s especially true for twin brothers in Woodbury.

Brad and Richard Arkell do pretty much everything together, and over the years, both developed a love for remote control racing.

So they decided to open their own store with a one-of-a-kind racing track.

It’s not exactly the Indy 500, but you can bet that the drivers of these cars want to win just as bad.

“We were always trying to be faster than the other one and that helped us a lot, just in life,” said Richard.

People naturally do a double take when they see the twins.

“The biggest joke is when people ask us, ‘Are you twins?’ And we say, ‘No, we aren’t even related.’ And some people believe us,” said Brad.

They grew up doing everything together. From plotting escapes from their cribs as toddlers to annoying their teachers in elementary school.

“In grade school, they kept us apart for reasons that we were just too rowdy,” said Richard.

They even ran on the same relay team in high school, and that’s about the time they started selling remote control racing parts out of their bedroom.

“We shared a room and we bunked our queen beds so that we had room to build our computer table,” said Brad.

Over the years, the business took off to the point that last year, they waved the green flag on a new venture.

“Most racetracks are in a pole barn and ours is drywalled and painted and has heat and air conditioning,” said Brad.

A few months ago, they opened Dollar Hobbyz.

They have 2,000 remote control racing parts in their store and another 10,000 in their warehouse, but the big draw is their indoor, carpeted racing track.

“Then it becomes more of an event than just a shopping experience,” said Brad. “Our first race we’d ever been to was the first race we hosted here.”

Enthusiasts have been driving to Dollar Hobbyz, just to drive their cars on the track.

“Of course it’s not cheap, but it’s fun. You can’t put a price on fun. You really can’t,” said racer Dan Olivarez.

Olivarez bought his first car in 1979 and has raced all over the country.

“Working on the cars, tweaking the cars, making the cars work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Olivarez said.

Like in NASCAR, the race is often won in the pits. Instead of working in a garage, they work on a table. And Jason Cheng’s work station, complete with all the tools, happens to be an old shoe box.

“Some guys have more stuff, some of the guys have less stuff. I have too much stuff,” said Jason.

But it’s not just about accomplished racers like Dan and Jason.

Kids are more than welcome here and so are grown-ups who don’t really know what they’re doing.

Brad and Richard are also hoping to take this racing experience outdoors with Monster trucks that go about 50 mph.

For the twins, it’s not work when it’s this fun. They’re hoping people of all ages feel the same way.

“I think it will be great for kids to get off their screen and gaming systems and learn a little bit about the cars,” said Richard. “A lot of it is about the community and just being able to come and hang out with some guys with a hobby everyone enjoys.”

Some of the professional remote control racers will spend tens of thousands of dollars on their cars, which in turn, can reach speeds of up to 60 mph.

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Twin brothers open RC racing store in Woodbury

By Hannah Black,
Woodbury Bulletin
February 21, 2019 at 6 am

WOODBURY — Brad and Richard Arkell grew up together, went to the same college and majored in the same subject. Both were investment advisors for seven years, and in 2010, they both quit their jobs to sell remote control vehicle parts full time.

The identical twin brothers, originally from Lake Elmo, recently opened a storefront for their business, Dollar Hobbyz. Located at 380 Rivertown Drive, the 14,000-square-foot space contains a retail area, warehouse and carpeted race track.

"When we opened a store we decided that we wanted to be able to have a track because that would set us apart and that does provide an extra experience," Brad Arkell said. "An RC store will only attract people that are interested in RC. When you have a track and you can do events, you can pretty much interest the whole community at some point in their life."

The brothers stressed that although RC racing attracts kids, most of their business comes from adults who can spend thousands of dollars building and maintaining cars as a hobby.

"I mean, you think RC cars and you think, oh, my 8-year-old would love to play with that," Richard Arkell said. "Well, every day and weekend we have adult 'kids' playing with them all day. So it's not just kids."

Along with organized racing twice a week and competitive races every other weekend, the brothers look forward to holding all kinds of events, from kids birthday parties to corporate events.

The brothers admit it's a little "backwards" to start a business like theirs online and move into a storefront several years later but said local customers had been asking for a physical space for years.

"Especially for a hobby shop, that never really happens," Richard Arkell said. "So to go backwards is a little interesting. But it's a lot easier to do that than open a brick and mortar and hope that people walk in the door."

Dollar Hobbyz sells complete RC vehicles and parts for cars, trucks, boats and drones. They estimate their warehouse fulfills roughly 10,000 to 12,000 online orders each month, with a small portion delivered outside the United States. Richard Arkell said they often get people who come into the store after making an online purchase from Dollar Hobbyz.

Richard was the first to become interested in RC cars during his junior year of high school and began selling parts online in 2002. Brad became involved about a year later. The business slowly grew until 2010 when it became a full-time job for the brothers. Dollar Hobbyz now has 15 employees.

The indoor track attached to the retail store can host "on-road" racing, which uses smooth carpet and dividers to create a looping track, or "off-road" racing, also on carpet but instead of dividers uses ramps and various obstacles. They plan to use the space for RC drone racing as well.

Being together from the beginning of their lives and business partners for nearly 17 years has bred a particularly candid way of speaking, Brad Arkell said.

"Our communication is very blunt and to the point," he said.

"And we don't cry about it later," Richard added.

Overall, though, "it's been great," Brad said. "There's ups and downs in business, but that's with any business."

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More Than Just a Hobby

By Margaret Pendleton,
Woodbury Magazine
February 2018 Issue

Kids experimenting with entrepreneurship is far from uncommon—the lemonade stand has become an American rite of passage after all. What is more uncommon is when a childhood passion carries into adulthood and makes way for a highly successful business. As is the case of identical twins Bradley and Richard Arkell: lifelong entrepreneurs, longtime remote-control enthusiasts and owners of Dollar Hobbyz, brand new to Woodbury.

Dollar Hobbyz, which has operated solely online prior to the new Woodbury store opening this spring, specializes in cars, trucks, drones and their parts. The Arkell brothers hope the 1,900-square-foot Woodbury store, located on Rivertown Drive, will serve the existing local remote-control community as well as ignite the passion for a brand new generation.

The online site offers 15,000 products, many of these being smaller parts of models, which is how the Arkell twins got their start in the industry. Richard found there was nowhere online to buy specific parts of models, and that online markets like eBay offered a chance for him to become a seller. “As young kids, we would go door-to-door selling drawings for a dime,” Bradley says. “This sense of creating and selling has been something we have always naturally done.”

The business model was highly successful, so when the Stillwater natives ventured to Liberty University in Virginia, they took it with them, originally under the name TwinHobbyz. Studying business finance in college nicely complemented their business ownership, and they even taught the model to their friends.

In 2006 after graduating from college, the twins both turned to full-time investment careers in Virginia, and Dollar Hobbyz was put on the shelf. By the time they returned to Minnesota—now with wives and families—they were ready to pick it back up. In 2010, Richard launched the first ecommerce site for Dollar Hobbyz, offering 500 products. Working together, the twins have multiplied this product offering by more than 30 in the past six years.

“Being business partners has always felt natural for us,” Richard says. “In high school we ran track relays together, in college we were in the same classes and dorm, we got married four weeks apart. It just makes sense that we partner in this business. I only wish we were triplets.”

Their new Woodbury retail store will boast the most popular models in their remote-control inventory and a 4,000-square-foot track for remote-control vehicle- and drone-racing. It will be the only hobby store with a remote-control track in the Twin Cities, and only one of two stores in the state.

The track will host competitive races and tournaments on the weekends, but is also open to walk-ins who would like to give remote-control racing a try. The track part of the store will include a mezzanine overlooking the track, with space to bring in food and drinks.

“We’re excited to connect the existing remote-control enthusiasts and clubs that haven’t had an established place to go,” Bradley says. “We also can’t wait to welcome birthday parties, bachelor parties—any group that wants to come in and have fun.”

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Dollar Hobbyz and Multichannel Inventory Management: A SellerActive Customer Success Video

SellerActive
December 22, 2016

The Arkell brothers of Dollar Hobbyz turned their passion into a thriving, multichannel business. See how SellerActive is saving them time and money with synchronized inventory management, automated repricing, and streamlined order fulfillment for their website and all their marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and more. Before using SellerActive Richard Arkell spent upwards of 40 hours a week doing inventory control and pricing. Now those tasks are 100% automated, keeping products competitively priced and freeing the Arkell brothers to grow their business.

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Business column: Clones for drones

By Kim Thompson,
Hometown Source
March 31, 2016

The Arkell twins of Lake Elmo, Richard and Bradley, own DollarHobbyz.com warehouse, and business is booming. While a “brick and mortar” storefront could promote community recognition, their “.com” realm is ever more convenient and economically wise. There is one other reason for their increasing success — drones.

While the Arkell brothers sell tons of remote control vehicle parts, including land roving and water skipping toys, they are making a killing on their latest drone parts, buildable custom drone kits and fully assembled drones, as well as their quad-copters, which are like drones with four propellers but no camera; although, no surprise here, one can purchase and attach a camera to their quad-copters as well. These devices range from palm-size to the common dinner serving platter.

The price of a recreational drone (which implies no money is made with their use) ranges from $25 to $1,500 at DollarHobbyz.com. The Arkells’ favorite drone is The Phantom, with a 4K camera, meaning 4,000 pixels, multiplying the capacity of a typical camera exponentially and therefore developing some of the highest-quality aerial photos one could hope to find. This DJI product practically flies itself.

“The remote helicopter is old school, and they don’t move with the same grace as drones or quads,” Richard said, thus the new devices live up to the public’s ever-rising standards.

“The camera is mounted to a “gimble,” a sort of gyrating arm, and the drone could shake violently while the film remains stationary and smooth,” Bradley said.

Why would your average person want a drone? Simply put, it’s one heck of a lot of fun, the Arkell brothers say. This is where the love of the outdoors and technology can coexist.

There are some social and legal issues involved for drone owners, however. The Federal Aviation Administration will soon require all drone users to register any device over a half pound within 30 days. Owners are regulated to always be within sight of their drone and to comply with the 400-foot height limit by monitoring the remote screen.

“It is true, there are situations where unintended offenses occur,” Richard said. “One has to be sensitive to their surroundings and how owners of drones can impact others.”

Not unlike the mind-jarring pipes of a Harley or the cafe hosting a customer’s not-so-private cell phone call, the new world of innovation is both challenging and remarkable. Navigating a new high-tech landscape might require adjustments and new social skills.

Not all community members appreciate a fleeting drone hovering over their back yard, but to be sure, the responses to drones provide a fascinating sociological study, allowing character and personality to surface. It’s definitely a barometer of one’s worldly perspectives.

The Arkells said that the future of drones will promote competitive race courses in a stadium setting. The best commercial drones are currently moving at 70 miles per hour.

These charming and playful brothers shared their love of this family business, their camaraderie, like two halves of a whole, having shared space all their lives, then a college dorm room and eventually mutual courses in their pursuits of more efficient learning. Now that they each have families of their own, the amusement of so often being mistaken for each other continues, but their fun-loving attitudes show through. To be sure, they share a brutally honest language, like many twins, but clearly do not share a lick of hostility, despite a lengthy and competitive track and field career; rather, they build on top of one another with ease and grace. This seemed an optimal strategy for creativity and economic success. It was equally impressive to find that their marketing manager William Harris had approached them with a mutual drive to work hard and play hard, sharing the same glint in his eyes, in time becoming the fated and embraced “triplet.” All three seemed chock full of energy and the complete willingness to consider their business with utter joy for as long as one would allow it.

I experienced a growing desire to partake in the drone world due to the fevered anecdotes the twins relayed, their delightful skirmishes, the harmless responses of innocent bystanders, the hilarity of some smaller drones requiring separation from one’s hair, the drone delivery of a bagged breakfast to their uncle’s boat at the family cabin. These men love being together, love playing with their kids and love the wholesome outdoor possibilities. What a pleasurable reminder that drones aren’t just secret agent spies or lurid boundary breakers; they’re really just a lot of great fun.

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Drone Delivery - How We Beat Amazon By Delivering Packages Via Drone

By Dollar Hobbyz
January 26, 2016

We all want shipping to be faster. Amazon has been working on Amazon Prime Air, and while that's exciting - we wanted to beat them. We realized that we have some of the best drones in our warehouse - why not put them to use? We grabbed a DJI Phantom 3 Professional, the one with 4k video, hooked up some straps to it - and delivered our first package. The whole process couldn't have gone smoother. Right now we are delivering wishing a 1 mile radius from our warehouse, but we hope to expand that by 10% annually.

Note: This is not real - yet. We just wanted to spoof what Amazon was doing. While we'd love to offer this to all of our awesome customers, the laws don't allow it at this time :(

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