Model Railroading > Caboose Hobbies will LIVE! New Owners!!!!

Announced on the Book of Faces!

https://www.facebook.com/caboose.hobbies.9/photos/a.820604791302385.1073741829.820581821304682/1437793189583539/?type=3&theater

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Great news!  I hope they go north, I live in Longmont.

I hope they move south - har, har!.  I live in Castle Rock.  

Wherever they open will be great for all of us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/16 21:17 by jsnoy.

Excellent news.  Wish the new owners all the best.

Bob

I second Longmont! Already two stores in Colorado Springs!
Either way, I am happy. Especially if the new owners run it as well as it had been.

Posted from iPhone

This is great news no matter where they relocate to in the Denver area! === === = === JLH

Awesome news.....I wish the new owners good luck and will buy from them when open.  

Interesting photo.  Did they or a local modeler build a model before the store?
(You would not build false hopes with only a 1:87 mock-up would you?)
What will make them outstanding is if they order about 2500 lbs of detail and scenic parts from both the ususal suspects (DW, DA, etc.) and the small, independent producers.
It takes a lot of wall space and time to  order, stock, and to inventory and re-order this but for the customer nothing beats looking at products new to you and evaluating them in person.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/16 09:33 by railstiesballast.

Well, the one good thing about the old store being sold out to the bare walls.
It will be much easier to set up in the new location.

This is absolutely great news, but why wasn't this mentioned sooner to avoid all of the speculation and rumors about the store closing for good?
 

ts2100 Wrote:
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> This is absolutely great news, but why wasn't this
> mentioned sooner to avoid all of the speculation
> and rumors about the store closing for good?
>  

Maybe this a recent, after the closing, development.

ts2100 Wrote:
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> This is absolutely great news, but why wasn't this
> mentioned sooner to avoid all of the speculation
> and rumors about the store closing for good?

Or... why do people jump to conclusions and gossip so much? :-)

I already mentioned my thanks to the previous owner of Caboose Hobbies for their years of great service. I'm willing to wait some more before the new owners get everything settled and announce their Grand Opening.

Things can still change from now until the new location is announced... so I let nature take its course and save myself some grief.

cchan006 Wrote:
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> ts2100 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This is absolutely great news, but why wasn't
> this
> > mentioned sooner to avoid all of the
> speculation
> > and rumors about the store closing for good?
>
> Or... why do people jump to conclusions and gossip
> so much? :-)
>
> I already mentioned my thanks to the previous
> owner of Caboose Hobbies for their years of great
> service. I'm willing to wait some more before the
> new owners get everything settled and announce
> their Grand Opening.
>
> Things can still change from now until the new
> location is announced... so I let nature take its
> course and save myself some grief.

AND, there is no guarantee that the store will resemble CH in any way, shape or form, other than the name.  Look what happened to Allied Model Trains in Culver City, CA.  That business was taken over by three partners, all of whom were long time, seasoned, model railroad professionals and they ran that incredibly successful and highly profitable, 60+ Year old business off the rails, eventually declaring bankruptcy and flushing a once proud and very famous store name down the toilet.  

AND, the new Allied owners only moved the business FIFTY FEET away from where the store had been.  I am imagining that there is a good chance that the CH scenario may start out in similar fashion, with new owner(s) taking over a legendary name and reopening the business in a much smaller facility.  Only time will tell if they can do better than the three guys did in Culver City.  I wish the new folks with Caboose Hobbies the very best of luck.

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Heck, from my limited perspective, how do I know that Allied didn't already start themselves down the path of no return by moving to Culver City - way before the boys from Pasadena became involved with it?  Sure the new building was neat, but if the new building and CC area meant much higher overhead costs it would have had to come out of the profits (ie, reduced them), because they were already selling everything priced at full retail - meaning that they really couldn't raise their prices any to recover any increased expenses. Further, they didn't have any real internet presence, which as we have seen in spades has helped to kill a lot of brick and morter stores (hobby or not.) Perhaps by the time the change of ownership occurred and the second Culver City move happened, the death spiral was irreversible. Personally I liked it much better when they were up on Pico Blvd, but that's moot now.  Now when I go over to LA I always stop at Pasadena (Whistlestop) - ironically it reminds me a lot of the old Allied trains (pre Culver City.) LOL

Greg

SWChief Wrote:
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> Heck, from my limited perspective, how do I know
> that Allied didn't already start themselves down
> the path of no return by moving to Culver City -
> way before the boys from Pasadena became involved
> with it?  Sure the new building was neat, but if
> the new building and CC area meant much higher
> overhead costs it would have had to come out of
> the profits (ie, reduced them), because they were
> already selling everything priced at full retail -
> meaning that they really couldn't raise their
> prices any to recover any increased expenses.
> Further, they didn't have any real internet
> presence, which as we have seen in spades has
> helped to kill a lot of brick and morter stores
> (hobby or not.) Perhaps by the time the change of
> ownership occurred and the second Culver City move
> happened, the death spiral was irreversible.
> Personally I liked it much better when they were
> up on Pico Blvd, but that's moot now.  Now when I
> go over to LA I always stop at Pasadena
> (Whistlestop) - ironically it reminds me a lot of
> the old Allied trains (pre Culver City.) LOL
>
> Greg

I have first hand knowledge and KNOW the sales figures and profit margins of Allied.  Wouldn't you think that the "boys from Pasadena" would have done their due dilligence BEFORE pulling the trigger on the purchase?  The sales between the late 1990's (ten years after moving to CC) and 2006, before the business was put up for sale, averaged around $4 million yearly, with one or two years above $5 million.  Gross profit margins averaged in excess of 45%, with one or more years over 50%.  As for selling at full retail, if you had sales numbers like that and profit margins like that, would YOU change the way you were doing business?  Regarding an internet presence, Allied did have a website, albeit a small one, prior to 2007, but the internet marketplace was just really starting to get into high gear prior to 2007.  I'm sure if the prior owner had continued, he would have built a state of the art website in the years following 2006.  As for moving from West L.A. to Culver City, Culver City was considered a move DOWN market at the time.  And, the icing on the cake, was that the prior owner STILL owns the big 12,600 square foot LAUPT styled building and the 4,200 square foot building to which the new partners moved the business.
The store on Pico was a wonder and I was, indeed, VERY fond of it.  However, there was no place to expand to, that store was only 2,400 square feet and something had to give.  Like it or not, Allied Model Trains in the big Culver City building was pretty amazing, with up to SEVEN opeating layouts all running at one time, a world class selection of products, parking for 33 cars and a fun place to bring the kids.  There had never been anyhing like it before and there will never be anything like it again.  The time for stores like that has come and gone, at least in our lifetimes.  Just for you, here are some photos of Allied on Pico Blvd.

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Sure miss 'ol Colonel Bob's on Pico in LA

Watts local

wattslocal Wrote:
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> Sure miss 'ol Colonel Bob's on Pico in LA
>
> Watts local

When I was a kid growing up in L.A., Colonel Bob's was "THE" hobby shop.  Two buildings, connected at the rear, with one all trains and the other all airplanes, boats, etc.  It was located just east of Crenshaw Blvd., which was like ten miles east of Allied.  When Art Truman founded Allied Models in 1946, in the 10900 block of Pico in West L.A., all of his friends tried to talk him out of it, because it was pretty "low rent" back then.  When Colonel Bob's opened, I believe in 1953 or so, his location was decidedly "HIGH rent," with huge homes all over the place.  Well, fast forward to the 1970's:  The area where Colonel Bob's was had gone way down hill and he was getting broken into every week.  So, he moved the store way out to Costa Mesa in Orange County, where he lasted only a year or two before he closed the business.  He passed away shortly thereafter.  On the other hand, the area where Allied Models was had gone WAY UP in value and desireability.  Goes to show, you just never can tell.  Here's a photo of Allied when it was only 1,200 sq. ft.  Does anyone out there have a photo of Colonel Bob's?  I would sure like to see one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/16 18:58 by Streamliner.

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Great news!! I hope the new store is in Denver (more parking would be nice and near the light rail even better)!!  I live in Nevada and have close family in the Denver metro area. Caboose Hobbies has always been high on the travel agenda. I can't wait!!

Steve

I rather think that the "boys" wanted to stop anyone else from establishing a West $ide model train shop after Allied pulled the pin. Besides, with Samy's Cameras rent, a cell tower in the clock tower and the "boys" paying Allied rent for the tiny old shoe store without any parking, Allied was probably bringing in $50,000 a month in rent without much effort other than cashing the checks. Remember too that the change happened right before the Great Recession.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/16 08:35 by railwaybaron.

railwaybaron Wrote:
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> I rather think that the "boys" wanted to stop
> anyone else from establishing a West $ide model
> train shop after Allied pulled the pin. Besides,
> with Samy's Cameras renting, a cell tower in the
> clock tower and the "boys" paying AD rent for the
> tiny old shoe store without any parking, Allied
> was probably bringing in $50,000 a month in rent
> without much effort other than cashing the checks.
> Remember too that the change happened right before
> the Great Recession.

The "tiny old shoe store" was 4,200 square feet, almost double the size of Allied when it left Pico Blvd. and I believe larger than The Original Whistlestop, so you know not of what you speak.  As far as parking goes, nobody held a gun to the heads of the new owners and told them they had to move where they did, it was their decision, as they could have moved Allied anywhere they chose.  When the previous owner bought Allied, in 1975, there was a recession going on and when he moved the business to CC there was a recession going on.  It took him almost FIVE YEARS after the move, to bring his personal income back to what it was before he left Pico.  All businesses have to deal with recessions and economic turmoil, but the good businessmen survive and the bad ones go bankrupt.  Sounds to me that the three, long time, model railroad professionals might have known everything there is to know about king pins and and old railroad signs, but they couldn't make a decent business decision to save their collective scalps.  In the end, I'm guessing that they probably lost upwards of a million dollars in the fiasco and we all lost one of the great train stores in the country.  Let's hope the new owners of CH know a bit more about running a business.