Greenfield News and Hobby has its fair share of quirky items for sale, like magic tricks and kits to make a model of the human eye, so it’s not surprising that the owners have interesting characteristics, too.
The business, which opened in 1965 in Cudahy as Cudahy News and Hobby, was started by a man named Gordon Gordon. Although the shop primarily stocks supplies for a variety of hobbies, the man with the same first and last name was not a hobbyist.
Today, the business is owned by his son, Jay, and his wife, Kristine, but they aren’t hobbyists either, nor are their children, who will possibly become the third generation of Gordons to own the family business.
"But we love helping others get what they need for their hobbies," says Kristine.
Greenfield News and Hobby moved to its current location in 1998 and continues to sell a mix of periodicals, novelty items and hobby supplies for classic pastimes like slot cars, model train layouts, rockets, remote control cars and boats, art supplies, kites and more.
All of the magazines and novelty items are G-rated, and Kristine says that for a brief period of time, when the shop was still in Cudahy, they dabbled in selling adult magazines but quickly decided it wasn’t a good fit for their business.
"We sold some shady magazines in the Cudahy shop, but we decided we wanted to stay family-oriented," says Kristine.
Kristine and Jay have ran the shop since the early ‘80s and are starting to think about retirement. They have three adult children and it’s possible that their daughter -- who recently earned a degree in marketing -- will run the store someday.
Luckily, the struggling economy has not affected business for the Gordons. Kristine says they had an unusually prosperous year last year, which balanced out slightly lower sales this year.
"Brett Favre’s retirement was great for us," she says. "Unfortunately for us, he’s not going to retire again, though."
Greenfield Hobby and News offers a variety of classes, including model airbrushing, calligraphy and watercolor. They also host events for kids, like regular visits from a Thomas the Tank "engineer" and free model-making workshops.
Most of the shop's clientele is older men, but Kristine says they continue to reach out to kids, hoping to turn them onto old school hobbies that are less popular now than they were with past generations.
"Some of the classic hobbies, like model building, have suffered a little over the years because of video games," says Kristine.
The desire for quicker entertainment fixes isn't limited to just kids, either.
"In general, people want more instant gratification now. They don’t want to build a rocket, they want one that’s already built and ready to go. But that’s OK, because our stock has changed enough to keep our customers happy."
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
