A business built to scale will close

By the time you read this, Hometown Hobbies in the Orange county village of Monroe will follow cat”™s-eye marbles, Old Ironsides models and toy soldiers on the long march into hobby history. The store is closing after 26 years.?Its owner, Jay Newler, grew up making models and had a mail-order business for electronic train parts in the 1980s, but his full-time job made it impossible to keep up. When the early 1990s”™ recession was in full flower and many middle-management people found themselves without jobs, Newler went to “the bank of dad and asked him to lend me money to open a hobby store here in town.”

 

Hometown Hobbies opened its doors in 1983, and  Newler guesstimates thousands of hobbyists from across the region, the country and the Atlantic Ocean have passed through his doors at one time or another. Some people like to visit places of worship or museums when they travel. “Hobbyists like to visit hobby stores,” said Newler. “I truly have had people come from all over, not just Yonkers or other counties, but from England and other countries.”

 

While he originally focused on model trains, hobbyist Newler expanded his line of parts and offerings. He became a source for aficionados of radio-controlled airplanes, always stocking hard-to-get parts those who love flying planes from the ground.

 

“Orange County’s Black Dirt region is a popular spot for radio-controlled fliers,” said Newler, “and people who are into it are devoted not just to building them, but to the sport of flying them.”?While Newler spoke with HVBiz, Frank Nowakowski, 80 years young, came in for some parts for his model shipbuilding hobby. “I just had a woman ask me if I could restring the model she had,” said Nowakowski.

 

 

“As time goes on, you find few people who can do this work or even want to get involved with it. It’s really a shame. It’s a dying art.”?For Newler and his regular customers, the Internet has made shopping 24/7, something with which Hometown Hobbies can’t compete. Newler has a full-time job in Rockland County but would be at the shop on 17M every weekday from 3 p.m. till closing and open on weekends.

 

“But you can’t stay open 24 hours a day, seven days week, and more and more people are going to web sites rather than coming into a store,” said Newler. “Besides the Internet, younger people just aren’t as interested in the art of model making or actively participating in hobbies like they did when I was growing up. It’s a shame, because it keeps your wits keen and requires thinking and planning, not just pushing a button on a keyboard.”

 

Now that Newler’s storefront is gone, what will happen to his massive inventory of parts for boat builders, model train enthusiasts, radio-control fliers and others who relied on him for things from string to paint to engine parts?

 

 

“I’ll auction off some of my inventory, and the rest I will probably sell on E-Bay,” said Newler. ?He’s also considering joining his nemesis, the Internet, and opening a version of Hometown Hobbies that people can access on line.

“Right now, after dividing my time between my full-time job in the Nanuet School District  and my other full-time job with the store, I am going to take a few weeks and think about what my next step will be,” he said. “I’m not giving up my business or my retail license, just giving up my storefront.”

Now, however, Newler’s former hobby store is empty, and with the market in the doldrums, may remain vacant for quite some time. ?What Newler will miss most of all is the interaction he had with his customers. “That’s something you do not have with the Internet,” said Newler, “but sadly, it is a sign of the times.”

 

Hobbyists can reach Newler at: wings2n3@gmail.com.