El Paso, Texas (KVIA) — For more than 50 years, Hal\u2019s Hobby Warehouse has helped generations of El Pasoans build, create and explore their interests.<\/p>\n
Owner Carlos Priemer, 88, still works at the store several days a week with his wife, Gloria, and stepson Tony Lopez, who manages the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to wake up the minds of the young kids,\u201d Priemer said.<\/p>\n
Carlos, who was recently diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease, says he wants young people to think creatively and stay productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want them to think, to do something with their hands, to be productive, to invent, to improvise, to better something and apply themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lopez says continuing to work helps keep Carlos active and engaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what keeps him going. It\u2019s what keeps him young and active and keeps his mind sharp,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
For longtime customers, the store is also a place filled with memories. Lopez compared the experience to the movie\u00a0Ratatouille, when a taste brings back childhood memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do the same thing,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cThey say, \u2018I used to have this when I was young,\u2019 and then they grow up and end up buying it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with online shopping available, customers still visit Hal\u2019s looking for something specific\u2014and reconnecting with hobbies from their childhood.<\/p>\n
Carlos\u2019 message to young people is simple: \u201cThink of ways to do things better. Don\u2019t be happy with the status quo. Do things better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"El Paso, Texas (KVIA) — For more than 50 years, Hal\u2019s Hobby Warehouse has helped generations of El…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[137339,138,140,139,137341,137342,80878],"class_list":["post-421069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-abc-7","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-kvia","tag-olivia-vara","tag-sunday-funday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}