Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
Just babbling. I always tried to support the local hobby stores. When I got to Denver in 1983 there were 10 train specific stores, and at least 10 more general hobby stores. This was actually down from the 1960s where there were about 20 train specific stores.
Anyway as time progressed we lost them one at a time and were down to Caboose Hobbies and Mizzells. Mizells seemed to collect all the former employees/owners of the stores that had gone away. But every time I went in there and was browsing around the old codger guys would hide at the end of the rows and watch as if I was going to steal every thing they owned. It really creeped me out. I finally gave up going there when I ran over to get some HO spikes. When I couldn't find them I finally asked one of the creepers and he said with a snort of disapproval, "Well, no body hand lays track anymore."
Caboose Hobbies was never so snooty, but in the 1980s at the Broadway location the shelves were stocked to the ceiling, they doubled the size of the store, and again so it was 3x its original. They had every Athearn car in stock number order so you could walk right up to it. Through the years the shelves weren't stacked so high. The little hangers began to be empty. Then one could actually see the shelves themselves as there wasn't enough product to cover them. I finally gave up on Caboose Hobbies when I went in looking for some rather mundane things (not like the track spikes). As I gave up looking for each item and started asking, they had NOTHING in stock. Every item the answer was "we can order it" and have it here in 1-2 weeks. Really? I want it now! I can order it and have it show up at home in 3-5 days.
So went the hobby stores in Denver. A few years after the original Caboose Hobbies closed, a CABOOSE store started. They had a fairly well stocked store, but they wanted full retail plus several items were marked up higher than that. Plus they left their central location and went way west to a place that was pretty hard to reach. I only bought a few things from them. One because of the high price, but by then I just wasn't willing to drive all the way over to the west side.
Anyway as time progressed we lost them one at a time and were down to Caboose Hobbies and Mizzells. Mizells seemed to collect all the former employees/owners of the stores that had gone away. But every time I went in there and was browsing around the old codger guys would hide at the end of the rows and watch as if I was going to steal every thing they owned. It really creeped me out. I finally gave up going there when I ran over to get some HO spikes. When I couldn't find them I finally asked one of the creepers and he said with a snort of disapproval, "Well, no body hand lays track anymore."
Caboose Hobbies was never so snooty, but in the 1980s at the Broadway location the shelves were stocked to the ceiling, they doubled the size of the store, and again so it was 3x its original. They had every Athearn car in stock number order so you could walk right up to it. Through the years the shelves weren't stacked so high. The little hangers began to be empty. Then one could actually see the shelves themselves as there wasn't enough product to cover them. I finally gave up on Caboose Hobbies when I went in looking for some rather mundane things (not like the track spikes). As I gave up looking for each item and started asking, they had NOTHING in stock. Every item the answer was "we can order it" and have it here in 1-2 weeks. Really? I want it now! I can order it and have it show up at home in 3-5 days.
So went the hobby stores in Denver. A few years after the original Caboose Hobbies closed, a CABOOSE store started. They had a fairly well stocked store, but they wanted full retail plus several items were marked up higher than that. Plus they left their central location and went way west to a place that was pretty hard to reach. I only bought a few things from them. One because of the high price, but by then I just wasn't willing to drive all the way over to the west side.
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