Hobby Shop Tours; Coyote Hobby
Posted on November 12, 2008 by aaronredbaron
Oregon City, Oregon- Coyote Hobby has developed a dedicated fan base in the time they have inhabited their little corner building in Downtown Oregon City. I myself (Aaron Shell) worked with the animated owner Russ Holst, his son Levi and his brother Ed before I took the job with RC Heli Magazine. The little corner store hobby shop has become a destination for hobbiests visiting the Portland Oregon area. I pulled Russ aside on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in between customers to pick his brain about where the hobby is and where it is going.
Aaron: How Long have you been in Business?
Russ: In March of next year we will have been in business for six years. We actually started the company two years before that which allowed us to find the right location and the right product mix. But as far as the shop, its going on six years now.
Aaron:What do you specialize in?
Russ:I suppose if I were to put the shop in a category it would have to be radio control. Thats a very broad brush-stroke, I would say within radio control its goes in this order, Airplanes; Gas, Glow and Electric, Helicopters; 95-96% electric, Cars; electric only, which is really an up and coming business for us, and then seasonally boats, and again, 90% of our boats are electric.
Aaron: Can you tell us a little bit about your customers, how many fly electric? How many fly helicopters?
Russ: If electric flight had not matured to where it is now I truly think the whole RC airplane/helicopter thing would have eventually died. There were no new people coming into the hobby. Take for instance the GWS Slow Stick; In the last 6 years we have sold almost a thousand of those kits per year. Now obviously thats not a thousand brand new pilots, but its probably two or three hundred people who are getting into electric with the Slow Stick and of those two or three hundred maybe only fifty or a hundred stick with it, but thats how you build the hobby. I have seen people go in the span of two years from a slow stick to a 35% Yak with a DA 85 Gasoline engine, so thats really great. On the helicopter side of business, were a little bit different than some shops. I would say we basically serve the helicopter beginners. People that are starting and have absolutely no experience how to fly. Our support business is basically for the TREX 450 for people who already know how to fly. Its just that you’ve got other shops that don’t cater to beginners they cater to experienced users. Tammies Hobbies would be a good example of that, where a lot of experienced people go to Tammies, they have the big parts selection. We start with beginners and we try to take them up the ladder as they go. But realistically, from a beginner to a TREX 450, thats our business in helicopters.
Aaron: What product is really hot right now?
Russ: The hottest product right now is the Blade MCX. A little hundred dollar helicopter, 4 channel micro helicopter, and its truly the best flying helicopter that I have ever flown in my life for that price range! The rage two years ago was all the Airhogs and all this $19 stuff and foam heli stuff that wouldn’t fly well because they are only 2 channel. But, the Blade MCX is definitely the hot item now and will remain so through Christmas. If you don’t have yours yet I would do it today!
Aaron: Any predictions on the next big thing?
Russ: I was at the I-Hobby expo a few weeks ago in Chicago. I think what you are going to see, and this is kinda of a driving factor in electrics, its better lithium battery technology, much better, at lower prices. Because right now, the only deterrent to someone doing their big airplane, even their 60 sized airplane is the cost of batteries. You can have a nice airplane, and motors aren’t that bad, you could do a hundred dollar motor, a hundred dollar speed control, and four hundred dollars worth of batteries. So, I think the next big thing that we are all going to be seeing is better quality, better technology at lower prices.
Aaron: Is online sales a big part of your business?
Russ: I would like to see it be a bigger part of our business, at this point it hasn’t been. We have just what I call an informational website where we have a few things for sale. I kind of look at it this way; what we do is very very focused on customer service, and in order to do it right, the customer service takes a lot of time and resources to do it. My plan for next year is to start to build upon that because I truly think you need a web presence. I wish that software was more helpful to be able to treat a store as a warehouse, and its out there but its very expensive. For us, we are much more people oriented and customer service oriented, so we’ll remain there because that’s really what our forte is, but I do think its important.
Aaron: Anything else you want to share about the store?
Russ: We are very competitively priced on everything we sell, we try to match prices of any respectable internet retailer. Now there’s obviously guys that workout of their garage, that we won’t have anything to do with, but Horizon Hobbies and Tower Hobbies and all those people, we sell at the same price. More often than not, we don’t charge shipping, and if they buy from those people they would have to pay for shipping. But I think it all goes back to customer service. We are a little store so we think differently than a big store. I get a lot of people who come in and say “hey I don’t know how to solder this Deans plug on this battery.” So, not only will we solder it for them, we try to teach them how to solder. There’s a lot of teaching that goes on and people really appreciate that and you can’t get it on the internet. So, that’s where our focus is, customer service. And, plus the fact I’m really good looking really brings in the babes!
Aaron: If thats what you have to tell yourself to be successful, it seems to be working! Thanks for the time and insight Russ.
Contact: Coyote Hobby
503 656 2172 www.coyotehobby.com
1128 Main Street, Oregon City, OR, 97045
