Marketing manager Jack Lynch operates the remote control as owners Alan and Emily Bass watch the action on the in-store train layout with O, N, and HO scale railroads at AAA Hobbies and Crafts in Magnolia, N.J. on June 11, 2024. The three-generation, family-owned shop is marking its 40th anniversary on June 22 and 23 with a massive hobby party to thank the local community for their support over the last four decades.
The success of Felix Bass’ hobby side hustle inspired him and his wife, Inge, to become wholesale hobby distributors in the 1950s. After running a business out of their basement and operating stores at the Berlin Farmers Market andMall, they opened up a warehouse on White Horse Pike in 1981, and later, the hobby store in front of it.“There were a million hobby shops at the time and he wanted to be first,” Alan Bass said.
The sheer scope and variety of plastic diorama accessories at the store is fascinating. There are tiny street musicians, butchers, welders, Soviet villagers, smokestacks, sheep, mine detectors, trash cans, propane cylinders, cheesemongers, and “Servicewomen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”“They fly off the shelves,” Emily Bass said.
Bass is hoping to tap in to that communal spirit at this weekend’s celebrations, so those who are passionate about the hobby they love can share it with someone new.