Today's St.Paul Pioneer Press newspaper reports that Choo Choo Bob's hobby shop in St. Paul is going to close in October, largely because of decreased sales due to the pandemic.
Many people around the country are familiar with the Choo Choo Bob Show, a syndicated TV show which began as a local Twin Cities show back in 2012.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/choo-choo-bobs-in-st-paul-chugs-to-a-permanent-close/ar-BB19h2oK
That is sad to hear.
This rotten, rotten plague.
It was a fun place to shop. Casey the manager is a great person. When started it handled all gauges of trains - MTH - Lionel - Bachman. Had a running O gauge setup in the front window. A good inventory of everything. It specialized in catering to very young kids and their parents. They had the small wood trains and small push trains. A big play area with the small trains out for play. They had story times on a stage, sponsored a TV show, participated in the local swap meet/train shows. The store was always crowded with moms with young children. Truly a classic. The last time I was there before covid, they had already gotten out of electric trains. I'll miss them. Hielsie
The show appears on the Qubo Network from time to
time
Sad to hear of another great shop closing. The shops I know that are weathing this health crisis ok have an excellent online presence with easily shopable E store with real time inventory, along with excellent customer service for online/phone sales and solid shipping practices. These are the shops that will survive, especially the longer this goes on. I know all of my purchases have been thru online retailers and I have made quite a few while stuck at home and after I returned to work at the large FCA factory I assemble transmissions at. Mikie
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
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