An ‘Island of Misfit Toys’ in a screen-addicted society

Matthew Day

Staff

October 6, 2025

GREEN BAY – In his 1999 book “Hobbies,” author Steven M. Gelber examines how hobbies hold societal value by providing “productive leisure,” especially when people face distress.

Fast and Fun Toy and Hobby Owner Andy Roever, along with Manager Alex Kriescher, said their store helps preserve the unique value of hobbies, particularly as a more productive and engaging alternative to the increasing pull of screen-based entertainment.

Amid the decline in diverse personal interests and recreational activities, Kriescher and Roever said Fast and Fun – located at 2785 South Oneida St. in Green Bay – provides an array of antidotes. 

“We get a lot of defeated parents and grandparents through here, just asking for any ideas – ‘What can I do to get [my] kid off the phone or the tablet?’” Kriescher said. “[I’ll say], ‘Follow me – I’ve got a whole store full of things that hopefully will work.’” 

Fast and Fun, Roever said, is Green Bay’s “place for unique, fun toys and stuff that you just can’t get at most other places.” 

Customers from ages “four to 90,” he said, enjoy the store’s radio-controlled (RC) cars, helicopters, boats and more; model train sets; kits, parts and paints for model toys and action figures; puzzles, board games and building sets; and a wide assortment of other toys, vehicles and collectables. 

As much as Fast and Fun is focused on this variety, Roever said what’s most important is fostering an accepting and social atmosphere. 

“We’re trying to be a unique, screen-free environment, but we’re also trying to be a place that builds a community around the hobbies,” he said. “It’s not just about selling the product… It’s about giving a place for people to learn more about their hobbies…, build a community and have people look to us to be that central repository for it.” 

Roever said the store regularly hosts meet-ups and classes to bring hobbyists together, giving them a chance to connect, share knowledge and enjoy their typically solitary interests in a communal space.

“When I look at our customer base, we’re kind of the Island of Misfit Toys,” he said. 

Quick history 

Fast and Fun Toy and Hobby is all the more like an island as of September, when Roever said the store officially broke from its parent company, HobbyTown, and reopened under its new name.

He said the store originally opened as a HobbyTown franchise in a neighboring storefront in the late ’90s, moved again (within the same shopping center) around 2015 and eventually settled in its current location in 2022. 

“My wife and I bought the store in 2018, so we’ve had it for seven and a half years,” he said. 

Choosing to go independent, Roever said, meant giving up the technical support, industry insights and data once provided by the parent company – a prospect that made the transition somewhat daunting, but Roever said his excitement and vision for a new chapter ultimately won out.

“I wanted to have complete freedom to run the business as I saw fit, with the products that I saw fit, but also the marketing strategy to go to the floor with certain ideas that may or may not have fit a traditional franchise model,” he said. 

Roever said his confidence was bolstered by his career background working in IT, as well as by the enthusiasm of his staff, who, in a practical sense, would hardly notice the change. 

“No one’s pay changed, no one’s clocking-in process changed – all that changed was their [uniform] T-shirt and how they sold product,” he said. “Everything else stayed exactly the same.” 

It was one of these enthused employees, Roever said, who suggested the Fast and Fun Toy and Hobby name. 

He said it was especially important to include the word “toy” in the new name, which Kriescher said finally differentiates the store from art/craft-related hobby stores after years of customer confusion. 

“We would get calls from people saying ‘I need your sewing department’ multiple times a week,” he said. 

Roever said the independence also empowers the store’s customers to “help guide us to where the market is.” 

“We just can’t throw a product out there and hope they’re going to buy it…,” he said. “But at the same time, we need to guide them on, ‘Hey, you might want to save a few bucks – the thing you’ve been dreaming about will be here in two or three months.’”

The relationship between Fast and Fun and its customers, Roever and Kriescher said, shows that Green Bay/Northeast Wisconsin can sustain a brick-and-mortar toy/hobby store – something increasingly rare amid the online retail boom. 

“The important thing is we had to stay [open], because with all the other hobby shops [having] closed around the area, we get people in [Fast and Fun] from four or five hours away from up north, saying, ‘We have no hobby shops whatsoever – thank God you guys are here,’” Kriescher said. 

For perspective, Roever said when he and his wife bought the store seven and a half years ago, there were 156 HobbyTown franchises nationwide and seven throughout Wisconsin.  

Now, he said, just 85 of the franchises exist in the U.S., with only one remaining in Wisconsin. 

Passion meets community

Given the depth and variety of niche hobbies, Roever said it’s impossible for Fast and Fun to stock all desired products, pieces, paints, etc. 

Instead, he said the store focuses on offering a wide range of categories – each of which employees possess deep knowledge on. 

With Fast and Fun’s staff all personally passionate about toys and hobbies, Kriescher and Roever said the customer service is inherently top-notch, and interactions are not based on monetary transactions.

“We want to make it a place people want to come in to say ‘hi’ and talk and hang out,” Roever said. 

Kriescher said it’s not uncommon for visitors to stay for up to five hours, simply browsing, chatting or enjoying the likes of “Battle Bots” shows or Jackie Chan movies playing in the store.  

More often than not, Roever said visitors engage in in-depth conversations about technique and share their latest projects with like-minded peers and staff.

“We’ve had people [come in where] this is the first time they’ve ever shown something off – they may not even show their spouse, they may not show their family, because their family doesn’t do it – they don’t get it…,” Roever said. “They come in and [feel like], ‘No one’s ever taken an interest in what I’m doing, and here’s a group of people who are not only taking interest but are impressed by what I can do.’” 

Entertaining options 

Beyond the store’s inventory and in-house repair services, Kriescher and Roever said the Fast and Fun team offers recommendations, places special orders and guides customers through repairs, particularly for their RC vehicles. 

“We want people to know how their trucks work, and learn from working [on them],” Roever said. “Especially that tween-to-teenager who’s looking for something [fun] in their life. Maybe it becomes their catalyst to be a mechanic or an engineer, etc.” 

For model train repairs, Kriescher said Fast and Fun also features the talents of John Melendy, formerly of the specialty store GB Train Shop, representing the only such expert in the region. 

For other hobbies and toy repairs, Kriescher said the rest of the staff is largely able to work with customers on a walk-in basis, though he regularly schedules and teaches free, specified classes on topics like assembly, painting and airbrushing. 

He said the store also features a dedicated racing area, where it hosts Monday-night Mini-Z (“little sports car”) races with a millisecond-accurate timing system and screens tracking the winners.

The family-friendly races, Roever said, attract all manner of enthusiasts, noting “we have an 82-year-old who just bought a car to [race] with us.” 

All weeknights (and select Saturday mornings), Roever said, are devoted to regular events, races and meet-ups, with Fridays reserved for “something stupid” – Weird Al Wednesdays. 

The intentionally confusing promotion, Kriescher said, has made for popular engagement. 

Hosting Weird Al Wednesdays on Fridays, Roever said, in some ways, mirrors the “productive leisure” of hobbies. 

“There’s a lot of [asking] ‘why – why are you doing it?’” he said. “Because it’s fun.” 

A sliding scale of seriousness 

Though he believes hobbies are an important part of a well-rounded personality, Roever said he still recognizes Fast and Fun’s products represent more of a “want” than a need. 

“[A hobby] is going to make [customers’] lives better…, but we have to prove to them it’s worth their money to spend it with us,” he said. 

The cost of taking up a new hobby varies, though, and Roever and Kriescher said the store has many options amenable to beginners. 

“We’ve got price points very low to try almost everything we have,” Roever said, adding that customers are encouraged to try out new products in the store. 

With RC cars – which he said are the store’s most popular category – the entry-level price point may start around $130, and “every part’s replaceable – down to the last screw.” 

Kriescher and Roever said among Fast and Fun’s low-commitment products are 3-D puzzles for $10, paintable models for $12 or craft builds for $13. 

The store’s range, they said, is designed to offer new ways of productive leisure, even for customers without a specific goal in mind.

“We should be able to find something for you to help you relax and [be] a creative outlet, a competitive outlet, hands-on, [etc.],” Roever said. “What are you looking to do with your free time? Where do you want your brain to be focused when you are able to relax and have some fun?” 

Aware of how difficult it can be to balance time, energy and finances for hobbies, Roever and Kriescher said they’re especially grateful for the store’s regular customers.

As tough and/or incomprehensible as it may seem to maintain a hobby, they said the effort is well worth it. 

“You have to have a place in your life that gives you some joy…,” Roever said. “Not just happiness – I mean true joy. And hobbies, for our customers, give them joy. That’s a hard thing to go do, and a hard thing to convince others that you can have that feeling of complete immersion into something – and that’s fun. That’s the best part of this whole thing.” 

Visit Fast and Fun Toy and Hobby on Facebook for more information and announcements of its special events.