Area RC, a radio-controlled car shop, is now open in north McKinney.

The business, which also serves as the filming space for RC car enthusiast and YouTube creator Mark Santa Maria, offers RC cars and accessories as well as access to RC car tracks.

The gist

The shop offers a selection of RC cars, including Kyosho Mini Z's and Traxxas Mini Crawlers.

Area RC also has RC car race tracks including a competitive foam track and a miniature test track as well as a miniature rock crawling course and other RC car obstacles. The shop walls also feature displays of RC cars that have been released in recent years.


Other products available at the shop include branded Mark Santa Maria merchandise and products.

Santa Maria, the business’s founder, said his vision for the store was not for it to be a “full-blown hobby shop” but rather a space for community members and RC hobbyists. The shop has drawn both fans of his YouTube channel as well as visitors interested in the RC car hobby, he said.

“Area RC is an attraction,” he said. “It's for someone to come out and see what it's like to be in the RC car hobby, and also you get to see ... what a YouTuber's life is like because I basically live this every day.”

The setup


Santa Maria, along with his wife Melissa Cantu, are McKinney residents and native Texans. Santa Maria has more than 15 years of experience in building, customizing and driving RC cars, according to his website, which is what inspired him to start his YouTube channel in late 2018, he said.

“I basically fired up a camera and said, ‘You know what? What I do is pretty cool, let's just show everybody,’” he said. “It really started to catch traction.”

He initially filmed his videos at his home before later moving to a small warehouse, which was also used to store Santa Maria’s RC car collection and cars being used for his YouTube content, as well as the merchandise for his online store.

He later moved to a larger warehouse space that is now also home to the Area RC business, while also still being used for YouTube content filming. Santa Maria said the business’s hours of operation are subject to change based on the YouTube creator’s filming and traveling schedule, and updates are posted on the business’s Facebook page.


What’s in a name?

The Area RC name is a play on Area 51, which Santa Maria said is in reference to the business’s remote north McKinney location.

“It's in north McKinney, kind of outside of the city area, so it's kind of like Area 51,” he said. “You have to go to our top secret area.”

Diving in deeper


Santa Maria said he wants to bring awareness to the RC car hobby in the McKinney area. He has previously done so through participating in McKinney's annual Red, White and Boom Fourth of July parade.

“We participated in almost every Fourth of July parade in the past five years,” he said. “Seeing everyone's eyes light up, and not just the kids, the grown ups, the parents, their eyes just light up when they see RC cars, and seeing those smiles, that's what it's all about for us.”

In addition to his YouTube channel and business being based in McKinney, Santa Maria said the headquarters for Traxxas, an RC car manufacturer, has contributed to McKinney being a destination for RC car hobbyists.

“The RC car hobby and industry is massive; it's worldwide,” he said. “Here in McKinney, we're sitting in the mecca of the RC industry.”