Caboose Hobbies Closing Permanently

WOW!  I've been a customer for 26 years; how sad!

BC

I have worked brass as an assistant to the management and processing brass for 13 years. Golly what am I going to do on the weekends now? 

Outside of Caboose Stop hobbies in Cedar Falls I place Caboose Hobbies a close second. I'm going to miss it.  

Bummer, first went there with my dad in 1980, when I lived in Evergreen and Denver in the 1990's I went their almost every Saturday, sad day.

ncng

This sucks. Been a customer for 18 years. Bought a ton of brass from them. All the good shops are closing.

Daaayum, another legendary shop in our hobby gone!

Such a loss,  I have purchased from them plenty. 

Wow...  First, Mizell's.  Now, Caboose Hobbies.  

Lemme guess.....the owner of the property wants to build a Weedtopia Super Store?

Well, I guess that confirms the nightly gnus I've been hearing for several months......Denver has gone to POT!!

That ol' 'Rocky Mountain high' has hit a new low......or a different sort of 'high'.......depending.

Another vacation stop to cross off the list.

Interstate 70?.....    Route 66?.....

KD

Congratulations on all your years of success!  And I wish you well in your retirement.  When I started in model railroading yours was the first store I learned about--40 some odd years ago.  

This is TERRIBLE news.  I've been shopping there since the 1980's while living in Ft. Collins, later in Santa Fe and still later in Durango  -- and now in Austin.    While visiting those parts I've driven hundreds of miles out of my way to spend time there.  And of course on-line too.   

Man, talk about a one, two punch.  First Denver loses the Colorado Midland in Union Station and now this.  Both huge losses to our hobby.  Bummer.

dkdkrd posted:

Wow...  First, Mizell's.  Now, Caboose Hobbies.  

Lemme guess.....the owner of the property wants to build a Weedtopia Super Store?

Well, I guess that confirms the nightly gnus I've been hearing for several months......Denver has gone to POT!!

That ol' 'Rocky Mountain high' has hit a new low......or a different sort of 'high'.......depending.

Another vacation stop to cross off the list.

Interstate 70?.....    Route 66?.....

KD

No kidding!

Thank God I have been loading up on model railroad items for the last 50 years !   Soon, no vendors left.

I guess this means I won't get to go there with my grandpa now next summer.

Only been in the store a couple of times but a real loss to our community. Thanks for all the years of service.

Dick

Awhile back Caboose Hobbies had around a 30' long pegboard wall densely packed with  O scale castings and parts from the likes of PSC and Grandt Line.  For many of us from the DC Area O scale group an unforgettable highlight of the 1990's Denver O Scale National Convention was our pilgrimage to THE O SCALE WALL.

Ed,

I picked through "The Wall" three times on trips in Denver.  It was an unbelievable site and I spent some dollars every time.  I understand that the display of castings had been eliminated or severely reduced in the past few years.  I order PSC parts now from my local hobby shop and get great delivery...no problems.

Joe Foehrkolb

Sad that another shop is going to close. This one had a very long run.

Joe.  I heard that PSC bought back the castings from Caboose several years ago.  Perhaps Erick  can shed some light on when and why the O scale parts wall was downsized.

They still had PSC and Grandt Line parts on the wall but there were lots of holes and things never got restocked.  You could always order things but it took some luck to walk in and find what you needed in stock.

The following was posted on the DRGW Yahoo group FYI.  Sender's name omitted. 

Gentlemen, like many of you I was saddened to learn of the closing of Caboose Hobbies in September. This shop and its fine employees have been my Go-To place for model railroading supplies for over 30 years. Caboose Hobbies has also been the largest seller of the DRGW magazine, "The Prospector" in the country, typically selling 50 or more copies each quarterly issue. So for all you front range folks that purchased your copy of The Prospector at Caboose you are going to have to find a new place to purchase them. The following two locations in the Denver area also stock small quantities of The Prospector and will likely sell out quickly. 

The Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden and Tim's Toy Trains on South Boulder Road in Louisville, CO. If there are other hobby shops in the area that you would like to see carry this magazine, please contact me off line with their names and addresses. 

 Better yet, insure that you get your own private copy of each issue mailed to your home by joining the Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society at their webpage http://rgmhs.drgw.org/ http://rgmhs.drgw.org/. This will actually save you a little money. New member applications received by September 1, will receive the upcoming Vol 15 Issue 3 of The Prospector.

Only thing is Tim's Toy Trains has been closed for several months now. I guess that leaves the museum only.

Sheesh. I finally get something else from Caboose Hobbies and they close? I wish them well.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...03#60698708039579203

Certainly the closing of this great standard bearer of the hobby is disturbing. Agreed, the aging of the model railroad population is a component, but wonder if, ultimately, hobby shop closings are the product of the amazon.com-ification of the selling of everything?

(Modified and shortened)

I REALLY thought (hoped?)  Caboose Hobbies, as one of the -  if not the - premier train store in the nation, would be an exception to the three part squeeze play impacting scores of Bricks and Mortar train stores all over the country.   1) High value/cost of property/rent.   2) Maybe not Amazon, but, certainly internet train dealers with lower overhead squeezing profit margins.  3) Declining interest in the hobby. 

So, why would any person or group with even the slightest profit motive want to buy and reopen Caboose Hobbies under these conditions? 

mark s posted:

Certainly the closing of this great standard bearer of the hobby is disturbing. Agreed, the aging of the model railroad population is a component, but wonder if, ultimately, hobby shop closings are the product of the amazon.com-ification of the selling of everything?

I agree 100%, it's the combination of the two factors you state.

mark s posted:

Certainly the closing of this great standard bearer of the hobby is disturbing. Agreed, the aging of the model railroad population is a component, but wonder if, ultimately, hobby shop closings are the product of the amazon.com-ification of the selling of everything?

Just to try getting this particular store's closing back on track...

My read is that, given that the landlord wanted to do something else with the property, the occupant (i.e., Caboose Hobbies) had a choice: Move, Close.  Were I in this particular owner's shoes of age, hobby demographics-read, state/local/Fed economy, 'amazon-itis', and the specter of the awesome move, itself.....I'd make the same choice: retire.  Were someone else....family member, group of investors, etc...waiting in the wings, so to speak, for this moment, perhaps Caboose Hobbies of Denver would survive for another generation.  Not to be.

Not at all "disturbing" for this family to seek what we all enjoy/look forward to: retirement. 

Just sad for the void it leaves with us.....period.

Blessed to have known them, visited them, bought from them.  Great memories.

KD

It seemed to be a great business, as observed in past visits. The test will be if anyone steps forward to pick up the business. Given the obstacles in today's retail environment, model railroad demographics, shrinking middle class and discretionary income, I would bet it's the end of a great hobby shop.