No opening in sight for H&B's Hop

NORWALK — Ice cream, footlongs and other tasty treats still wait as a popular west-end Norwalk eatery continues to recover from roof damage caused by a semi earlier this month. "When it first happened, on May 12, we had just gotten into the building to work," said Lois Hicks. Hicks owns H & B's Hop, 296 W. Main St., with her husband, Otto. They live in Willard. Just as they started working that morning, a semi-driver, attempting to turn around in the stand's parking lot, struck the edge of the roof with the side of the semi-trailer, badly damaging the building and causing a tremendous noise, Hicks said. "It sounded like a bomb went off," Hicks said. In addition to the outside roof damage, brick and wood debris fell inside the building, prompting Norwalk police and firefighters to bar anyone from entering the building initially. A week later, after hiring a private engineer from the Monroeville firm of Janotta & Herner, Hicks was informed she could safely re-enter. Hicks said she spent that following Monday throwing away food and ice cream mix amid the roofing damage and broken window glass. "That was really hard for me," she said. "I was crying the whole time." Hicks, who bought the business in 1999 and named it for her daughters — Heather, then 12, and Beth, then 8 — said she hopes to get the roof fixed as soon as possible, postponing, if necessary, some of the more minor inside work. The business owner hopes to be back in business in two to three weeks but was not certain that would happen. "I'm taking it one day at a time," she said, adding that the business has tied her to the community. "I've built the business and come to know the customers. "I'm really concerned about my employees," she continued, noting that her staff mainly consists of students working summer jobs, who may now lack time to make sufficient money over the summer. Toward that end, Hicks' daughters, Heather and Beth, have established a GoFundMe account, to raise $5,000 for the employees.