Holidays brings gift of new novelty/collectibles shop

by Charles Cassady Jr.

Toys-R-Us may be gone, but R Fun House is open for business in Twinsburg.

“We fill a void,” said Rory Rubin, of his new store, which opened in November at 9081 Darrow Rd. “A lot of people don’t prefer to shop online. It takes out the personal element.”

Rubin said R Fun House has “a little something for everyone.” The Shaker Heights resident also works at C-Town Sports Cave at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, and his Twinsburg store has an inventory of sports memorabilia and autographs for buying, selling and trading. But it also reflects its founder’s many interests.

“I started my business as a teenager in the mid-1980s,” Rubin said. “I started out with sports cards and I started adding to it.” When his own personal collection of cards and memorabilia became unwieldy, he started selling. “I got into gaming stuff in the late 1990s, with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-OH!”

His entry into collectible comic books came with a mass purchase of 80,000. He also branched into Hot Wheels merchandise.

Rubin started trading on eBay and also did mall-based sports shows and seasonal pop-up shops. Working a C-Town Sports cave satisfied a niche interest, but he wanted his own boutique.

“But we never had time to do it, until the opportunity came up,” he said. His wife Jami was laid off from her job at Nestle in Solon, and she was able to come on board to help manage R Fun House. “It was like an opportunity to open a door and fulfill my dream,” he said.

Rubin said he did not realize it at the time, but the date R Fun House started in business, Nov. 24, was Small Business Saturday and the official holiday tree-lighting in Twinsburg.

“They had this big party for us,” he said jokingly. “They had fireworks for our grand opening. It was perfect.”

The Twinsburg community and local businesses have been incredibly supportive, according to Rubin. The family chose the location based on the fact that their 4-year-old daughter attends daycare to the south, but a full-scale move to Twinsburg may be in the cards.

In the meantime, R Fun House patrons can find signed books and albums, vintage toys and another of the co-owner’s passions, magic tricks, which Rubin enjoys teaching to kids. “I started at a young age,’’ he said.

Jami agreed that even with the looming Amazon warehouse in town, nothing equals a face-to-face shopping experience.

“I prefer person-to-person. You can talk to somebody. You can touch the object or packaging,” she said. “And I love the conversations.”

Some particularly amusing consumer interactions have arisen in connection with the former tenant, J & B Appliance, which moved to a new location. Even with his new signage and wares more akin to bobbleheads, jerseys and books signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rubin said he still gets people coming in asking if he rents or sells appliances.

Hopefully that will change in the new year, when the Rubins investigate adding gaming-tournament nights for “Magic: The Gathering” and board game favorites and maybe even host movies.

“We are looking into doing things for the community,” Rubin said.

The store will host a family game day on Sunday, Jan. 13, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. RSVP so the owners know how to accommodate participants.

The hours starting in January will be Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Call 330-888-0773 for more information.

 

Featured image photo caption: Rory and Jami Rubin offer a range of collectibles and games at R Fun House. Photo by K. Garred