There are dozens of sports cards of local athletes prominently displayed inside Main Street Hobby: Andrew Hawkins, Mike Holtz, Geroy Simon, Carlton Haselrig, Pete Duranko, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Ernie Oravetz, Pat Cummings, Artrell Hawkins, Pete Vuckovich, Jeff Hostetler and others.
All of them, of course, are for sale in the business that opened last month.
But, more than just being merchandise, the cards pay tribute to those athletes who helped shape the area’s rich sports identity.
“I’m really proud of this,” said the store’s owner, Tony Penna Jr., who also works as Greater Johnstown High School’s varsity football head coach. “This is something that I’ve been saving over the years. I kind of wanted to show it off and give some of these guys their just due. All the guys in this case have paved the way.
“What I do at the school with the kids, these guys have paved the way for them to have some of the opportunities they’ve had. This is just like a small way to kind of pay tribute to them and also one of my passions in collecting.”
Along with sports items, the store, located at 440 Main St. in downtown Johnstown, also sells comic books, movie and television memorabilia, action figures and more.
“I’ve been a huge dork pretty much forever,” Josh Miller, the shop’s chief information officer, said.
“I’m a nerd. I love all the sci-fi stuff – comics, video games. I’m like the yin to Tony’s yang. He loves the sports stuff. I love all the nerd stuff. So it’s a great pairing, as far as the business is concerned.”
Penna already owned Central and Village Collectibles in the city’s Moxham neighborhood. But he wanted to move into the heart of Johnstown’s central business district, too.
“It’s important that we believe,” Penna said. “I’m sure it’s easy – with the way things are – to be negative. I think it’s important that we believe in this. We’re one of the few towns – from what I’m told – that was able to keep their town square that has been hit as hard as we have. It’s here. I think that if some people have the means and are able to kind of chip in and support it, I think it will continue to grow. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe in that.”
The store was open for last Saturday’s Taste & Tour when hundreds of individuals visited downtown businesses.
“It was amazing,” Miller said. “We had more people through here than we ever anticipated.”
Main Street Hobby’s regular hours of operation are from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
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