Changes coming at Caboose?

Recieved an email today, from Caboose Hobbies.

Landlord is selling building.
They are having a "transition" sale.

Nothing else indicated.
Not sure if this is good, or bad.
Just general information that may be of interest.

 

Yeah - I saw the E-Mail. Very strange. As it does not say "moving" sale. Just "transition". What does that mean -?

Thanks,
Wolf

 

As it should be until they have all of the information and details in hand.

 

According to another conversation I've seen, they have 90 days to vacate.
I guess, from what I've seen, the search is underway.
If they are being forced to move, I will only hope they find a suitable location.

While I can NOT confirm this to be true....I do wish them the best, whatever
the situation may be!! Maybe I won't have to deal with as much Denver traffic
if I make a trip down?? Hate driving there, because of the other idiots on the road!

Oh well......My opinion only.

Yes, I can mail order, but sometimes I gotta wander around aimlessly for a while!!
And look at all sorts of selected things I cant afford!!

 

maybe transition business to internet only, no expensive store front.

 

That would make sense, and I would guess that these days most of their business is done online. Sure would be cheaper operating expenses

 

Maybe. You still need storage and inventory space, plus dedicated shipping/receiving space.

 

Are any of the manufacturers still refusing to sell to any dealer that doesn't have a physical storefront location?
Athearn (Horizon), in particular, comes to mind.

 

We service internet only "shops". We firmly support folks who stick it out and have buildings, but its difficult to fight trends.

Joe

 

After several decades of operation, the LHS closed after the landlord died and the heirs decided to sell the old building and associated property for redevelopment. Patronizing the next nearest shop with a street presence requires at least a two-hour round-trip drive, plus $10-15 in gas. Such an excursion has to wait for a free Saturday when there are no "schedule conflicts" - aka once in a blue moon.

I buy virtually no Athearn products, but other local guys who do seem to have shifted their purchases to one of the few on-line dealers who maintain some semblance of a bricks and mortar shop - no need to mention "woo", or rather who that is. Based on that, it would seem Athearn is probably not missing out on much of the pre-planned, pre-ordered business. What they could be missing is sales to someone who doesn't know he wants an item until he sees it in person or sales via those dealers who only sell at train shows. No idea what fraction of sales that portion might represent.

 

I live in California but have gone into Caboose Hobbies whenever I've visited Denver, really enjoyed the experience and always found something I was looking for to buy.

Where I live in the SF Bay area we are seeing a trend that when a lease ends even the most established business has a hell of a time finding another location that they can afford to pay the rent and still make any money. Hopefully things are not quite so crazy in Denver and they will find a suitable new location.

I think the high rents are part of what is causing the growth in internet sales. One of our more recent retail loses was our favorite pet supply store. They closed and so far can't find anything nearby that they can afford. It's a small chain and I have been driving 40 miles round trip every couple of weeks to their next nearest store because their prices were that much better that the other local stores. That would not seem to crazy if we lived out in a less populated area but we are in an urban area. Recently we found an on line store with the same price as we were paying and are now having our cat food delivered with free shipping and no sales tax.

Point is guys... I think our world is really changing.

Good luck to Caboose Hobbies.

 

I buy from the local hobby shop, even though it would be cheaper to buy online. I dread the day I can't jump in the car and drive to a hobby shop within 15 minutes. But as nscalestation stated, our world is changing. Bookstores are getting hard to find, and when's the last time you went to a record shop?

 

Living in the LA region affords we several options when it comes to physical browsing, though not as many as there use to be.

Oddly enough, I've become disenchanted with the most "local" of shops because of the staff and their attitudes. So I'm actually driving 25 miles each way to support a store in Burbank that has much better customer service, better treatment of N-Scale, and they do repairs there in the store. None of that could be said of my "local" train store who's bias toward HO is clear as day and seems to be staffed by old-timers who would rather talk among themselves than acknowledge the presence of a customer.

 

I'm quite curious to see what the final outcome will be. Here in NC there aren't many LHS that I've noticed so far. And to now think of it the LHS has become a thing of the past. I've now lived in three different states and have yet to find many LHS in any. Each has had one at most. Hummm

 

Hard to imagine any store of any kind anywhere that would be worth a 6 - let alone an 11 - hour journey.
Perhaps if it was the last food or clothing store on Earth.

We used to have access to a somewhat local shop with sufficient inventory to make the hour-and-a-half one-way drive worthwhile - especially on a nice spring or fall day. However, the owner passed on and the shop closed several years ago thus ending that option.

Of course, 'Pete in NJ' has been a source since the days when he was still 'Pete in an outer borough of NYC', so buying by mail isn't a new reality. Should he (or the guy in MD, or TrainWorld) decide to pull up stakes, that would represent a significant inconvenience.
Going without might then become the prevailing norm.