As a Arizonan, I have the same feelings
Wish them the best in retirement, can't blame them but it seems like there are no decent train shops left now in the Denver Metro. This was inevitable as the real estate the store sits on has to be worth far more than renting to a hobby shop. This is a byproduct of every[one] and their brother moving here, they jam up the roads, the ski areas, the campgrounds and run the price of real estate sky high. My wife's job can't relocate out of state but if it did, we'd be looking to leave Colorado. We live in the mountains and reuse to even come down to the Denver metro much anymore, way too much traffic and hassles. 16th street mall used to be cool but the hobos begging and the doper kids and criminals have ruined it too. I occasionally have vendors offer me broncos, rockies, nuggets and avalanche tickets and I turn them down, no need for the traffic and parking hassles and crowds. I 70 is such a mess that we gave up skiing Summit county a decade ago. Wish these idiots would all move back to where they came from.
I'm sorry to hear this for many reasons. I don't know how many employees they have,but it's more than a few. All of them that I have dealt with(in person or on the phone)have been kind and extremely helpful - I wish them the best.
Mike
When I was in Laramie, WY for school, I went to Denver quite a few time, but never made it to Caboose Hobbies. I was broke then and wad out of the hobby due to girls, school again and broke anyhow.
It was on my list of places to stop one day.
Shame it wasn't picked up by someone as a going concern.....
twhite I live in Northern California, so I never had a chance to visit Caboose Hobbies. However, I model Rio Grande during the SG steam era, so CH has, over the years, supplied about 85% of my HO scale brass steam power (try and get Rio Grande in anything BUT brass, lol!). Terrific service, great prices. I'm going to misse them like crazy. The decision to close is to me somewhat like Perlman's decision in 1956 to run all surviving Rio Grande SG steam through the steel mills at Pueblo--very, VERY sad! I'll sure miss the place. Tom
I live in Northern California, so I never had a chance to visit Caboose Hobbies. However, I model Rio Grande during the SG steam era, so CH has, over the years, supplied about 85% of my HO scale brass steam power (try and get Rio Grande in anything BUT brass, lol!). Terrific service, great prices. I'm going to misse them like crazy. The decision to close is to me somewhat like Perlman's decision in 1956 to run all surviving Rio Grande SG steam through the steel mills at Pueblo--very, VERY sad! I'll sure miss the place.
Tom
Yep, many times I looked over Caboose Hobbies brass list and saw plenty of SG Rio Grande steam engines but the prices were always far out of my reach. I used to have an acquaintence when I was in graduate school in the early 1990's who was a SG steam Rio Grande modeler in 1953 time frame and he was in the process of building a roster I could only dream about, especially as a poor graduate student. He commented at one time that he was in the top 3% earning category for the US and it showed in various ways including personality; needless to say, his disposable income allowed him his very expensive toys.
Around the time I moved away he bought a large basement with a house over it and began serious construction of his 1953 D&RGW layout; it made some major progress but I haven't seen an update in some 6 years or so the layout may have taken a back seat to other things.
Yeah, Caboose Hobbies non-brass D&RGW stuff never stayed in stock for very long, thats for sure. It is a shame no large SG D&RGW steam was preserved, except for that rumored loco in the old Tennesee Pass tunnel!
BTW, I grew up in Davis California and later went to California State University Sacramento and of course visited hobby shops in Sacramento including the one in Arden Fair Mall and The Whistle Stop on Marconi Avenue, mainly. That was back in the 1980's. What is left in the Sacratomato area for hobby shops these days?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Could someone pickup the Caboose Hobbies name for a new website?
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
richhotrain riogrande5761 Are you enjoying yourself there Rich? Sheesh. Yes, hobby shops close - sure, we read it all the time. Some day it might happen to CH, but I'm not as ready to put a nail in their coffin as you are. Wait until the fat lady sings before you play taps. Jim, I hear the fat lady singing , and I have bugle in hand. Is it time to play Taps? Rich
riogrande5761 Are you enjoying yourself there Rich? Sheesh. Yes, hobby shops close - sure, we read it all the time. Some day it might happen to CH, but I'm not as ready to put a nail in their coffin as you are. Wait until the fat lady sings before you play taps.
Are you enjoying yourself there Rich? Sheesh. Yes, hobby shops close - sure, we read it all the time. Some day it might happen to CH, but I'm not as ready to put a nail in their coffin as you are. Wait until the fat lady sings before you play taps.
Jim, I hear the fat lady singing , and I have bugle in hand.
Is it time to play Taps?
Rich
Per my last post, late yesterday, yes, I heard the fat lady sing. Somehow you conveniently quoted a post from the day "before" the announcement went out. As of late yesterday, see my last post above, the fat lady has sang. Cheers.
Yes,We had a great little shop in Tiffin (Oh)
My wife is from England and they have a special meaning (according to her) for tiffin! ha ha!
richhotrainBack in 2004 when I got into the HO scale side of the hobby, I had three wonderful shops within 20 minutes of my house. They all closed within a year of one another because the rent went up and the owner could no longer afford to pay, so he retired and closed the shop.
Yes,We had a great little shop in Tiffin (Oh) but,the shop closed within a few years of opening. I been told the rent went up and the profits went down.
As far as retirement I too would retire if I spent several decades standing behind a counter.
Contrary to the popular yarns and spins in the news retirement isn't as bad as they try to make it.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I have experienced this three times with different LHS in my immediate area.
Back in 2004 when I got into the HO scale side of the hobby, I had three wonderful shops within 20 minutes of my house. They all closed within a year of one another because the rent went up and the owner could no longer afford to pay, so he retired and closed the shop.
Unfortunately, this is an all too common thing in the 21st Century.
Alton Junction
Sad news indeed. One of the highlights of moving to the metro Denver area was access to Caboose Hobbies. I fear though that I may have been part of the problem. I used to religiously make a monthly pilgrimage to CH to pick up the latest edition of MR, Trains, RMC, etc. Even when between layouts I would always find something else to buy for "later". Back in 2013 when I went to all digital subscriptions, the trips to CH dropped in frequency as did the purchases. Unfortunately time and technology moves on.
Ray
dknelson I always wanted to get there, but now of course will not. I did mail order at least once from them and was satisfied. I have heard from others what a great staff they had assembled over the years. Perhaps the saddest commentary is that the store is closing on the owner's retirement rather than being sold as a going concern. But there seems to have been other factors at work that made that not in the cards. Dave Nelson
I always wanted to get there, but now of course will not. I did mail order at least once from them and was satisfied. I have heard from others what a great staff they had assembled over the years.
Perhaps the saddest commentary is that the store is closing on the owner's retirement rather than being sold as a going concern. But there seems to have been other factors at work that made that not in the cards.
Dave Nelson
Agreed, but in my experiance in this business, only a small percentage of stores were ever successfully sold to new owners, even back in the hayday of hobby shops.
Most closed when original owners, or family heirs no longer wished to be in the business.
Sheldon
Duane and Joanne are retiring according to the latest Caboose Hobbies website info, so it does look like the end of the line!
Jimmy_Braum Thanks to whstever bought the land, an iconic hobby shop was forced out of business. Hope the new tenants fail, if it was a Verizon store.
Thanks to whstever bought the land, an iconic hobby shop was forced out of business. Hope the new tenants fail, if it was a Verizon store.
The owners of Cabbose Hobbies could have found new space if they wanted to. They could also have found buyers if there was a market for the store. They chose instead to retire, which is their right. The new owners of the land had nothing to do with those choices. Any business that rents does so at the risk of losing the lease when the time comes.
Nobody is a bad guy here. It is a shame and model railroaders' loss for sure, but blaming the buyer of the land helps no one.
riogrande5761 richhotrain Don't get your hopes up, guys. This has happened to my LHS, my favorite restaurant, my barber, my golf club. When a place closes for remodeling, moving to a new location, transitioning, whatever, it really means that they are closing for good. I never understand why they just don't come right out and say that. Rich Are you enjoying yourself there Rich? Sheesh. Yes, hobby shops close - sure, we read it all the time. Some day it might happen to CH, but I'm not as ready to put a nail in their coffin as you are. Wait until the fat lady sings before you play taps.
richhotrain Don't get your hopes up, guys. This has happened to my LHS, my favorite restaurant, my barber, my golf club. When a place closes for remodeling, moving to a new location, transitioning, whatever, it really means that they are closing for good. I never understand why they just don't come right out and say that. Rich
Don't get your hopes up, guys.
This has happened to my LHS, my favorite restaurant, my barber, my golf club.
When a place closes for remodeling, moving to a new location, transitioning, whatever, it really means that they are closing for good. I never understand why they just don't come right out and say that.
Thats the word. Owner was retirement age so in hind site CH wouldn't survive this last straw.
I have ordered items from Caboose Hobbies as well as sold stuff on consignment. They will be missed.
Just got a email from Caboose, they are closing the doors effective Sep. 25... They are transferring all pre-orders to other dealers thankfully. Sad to see them go.
Well its official, Caboose Hobbies is closing. i just got the email from the store today. Duane and Joanna Miller have decided to retire and close Caboose Hobbies. The store will close 9/25/2016.
This was my favorite hobby shop and I grew up going down to Caboose Hobbies. It is a darn shame that it is closing. I made it a point to visit the store every time I visited Denver and had planned to go in October when I go for a wedding.
I guess I will have to order my stuff now since i don't live in Colorado anymore.
here is the link to the annoucement
https://596317.content.nlgrid.com/wf/webmail?rp=ZTI1bGQzTnNaWFIwWlhKZmFXUTZNVEl6TkN4MWMyVnlYMmxrT2pJMU5qVTBmUWV5SnVaWGR6YkdWMGRHVnlYMmxrSWpvaU1qSTVNVGd6TmpjaUxDSnVaWGR6YkdWMGRHVnlYM1Z6WlhKZmFXUWlPakU0TmpJeE1UUXdNRE13ZlE9PQ%3D%3D
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Reason I liked Caboose Hobbies, easy truck parking. I used to drive a truck for a living and I used to park on Lincoln behind the store.
Have fun with your trains
Threads merged.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
http://kdvr.com/2016/08/06/worlds-largest-model-train-shop-denver-landmark-facing-uncertain-future/
But, of course, it won't be the same.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
I remain skeptical. The fact that the owner states that "the next stop is unknown" and "looking around to see how to run this place in a different way" tells me that CH may not open another retail store.
Merges take too long. Anyway, LION never got to visit there. We are only a few states north of Denver, but the only time I have been there was to change planes.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
There are already several topics discussing this and that was posted already in one of the others.
So no new news then?
Story from today.
"...Miller wants to emphasize that the store is not closing; however, the next stop remains unknown..."
[quote user="vsmith"]Well... there website has a flier for a "Transition Sale". That to me says they will be moving, where and when is undetermined, and that they are discounting stock to make the move easier. Hopefully, maybe you should give them a call and ask them directly https://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/index_brief.php
I agree... when Mizell's Trains when "out-of-business" they said just that; "we are going out-of business!" I'm sure (hope) Caboose can find a new local. Good Luck CH!