Rob's Hobbies closing

NORWALK — Rob's Hobbies will soon close for good, according to store owner Rob Gornek. The store held a sale this past weekend, with another possible next weekend. "We opened in October of 2019," Gorneck said about the location. Having transitioned out of a successful career as a construction company owner, Gorneck began running his brother Daniel's store, Daniel's Hobbies, across the street. After three years, he bought the business from his brother, who had another store in Florida. "It was like owning it; same amount of stress and trouble," he quipped. He said he and his wife had considered staying in the business long-term. "We were in a position where we could retire into the hobby industry," he said. "I thought that's what I would be doing, but things changed." The owner said the closing was motivated by a number of variables and that the future for the brick-and-mortar part of hobby item selling is bleak. "It's easy to blame COVID," he said, adding the pandemic only sped up the onset of online direct sales. Supply problems began as more customers ordered from companies that would sell directly to them while placing his requests for the same items on backorder. "That's a recipe for disaster with a small business. I'm not going to blame it on any one thing," he said. "The business didn't fail. It just happened. It was just time to move on." "It was a good place," said vendor Dave Comparette, remembering when the store held 30 to 40 vendors. "It was great while it lasted. It was a good store." Comparette, packing up boxes of his collectable Hot Wheels toy cars, said he is unsure where he will continue to do business next. He speculated that he will likely display his wares at swap meets for the foreseeable future. "We did a lot of business here and made a lot of friends."