Yes, like cousin Dirk, I did all my shopping at Little Town Hobbies.
Even though our store was not exclusively model railroading (we had plastic kits, slot cars, model planes, cars, etc.) model railroading was 50 % of our business. In fact, for 20 plus years, Caboose Hobbies and Little Town Hobbies were the bigger stores (and competitors) in the Denver metro area regarding brass locomotives and cars as both were dealers for PFM, Balboa, Westside, key, etc. My dad didn’t have near the inventory that Caboose had after they moved to the Broadway location and would only carry what he could back-up or exchange if something went bad. He refused to stock any AHM or Rivirose (SP?) for that reason. Even though Athern didn’t make starter sets at the time, he would make up a set by having me or my brother build a few Athern cars and include with an Athern F7, a circle of NS track and an inexpensive MRC power pack. We would sell these “made-up sets” to folks who were interested in starting in the hobby and they cost maybe $10 or more than an AHM set from K-Mart, Caboose or elsewhere. If someone wanted something to just run around the Xmas Tree, he would just send them to K-Mart or Caboose. They may have bought the set there, but they always came back to us for accessories and track. My dad also did not deal in Lionel or O-gauge as Caboose had that market cornered. He were also slow to embrace Sn3 when it started getting popular, as it was harder to sell than HO and the Sn3 brass was costly inventory to have on the shelves. My dad also didn’t have the lower prices on brass that Caboose had, but he had a better “lay away” and monthly payment plan. In almost all cases, all he wanted was 10% down,
something every month and you could
take the locomotive home with you. He ran his store with a level of trust and respect for his customers for over 25 years. Even after the store closed in 1985, our customers continued to make payments monthly on brass they purchased years before…until the last payment was made almost 5 years later. If anybody took advantage of my dad because of this policy, it was very few, if any.
When Caboose moved to Broadway, they also entered the wholesale business. Prior to that time, almost all manufactures would not sell to a business that was both a dealer and in retail, you were one or the other. That was the beginning of the end for LTH as my dad could not buy in the quantity that Caboose could. He would even take advantage of some “early buy” deals that the wholesale side of Caboose would offer. He would only find out later that Caboose would advertise the same item in the Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News at the same price as what he purchased them for wholesale.
I always liked going down to Caboose, but it never had the same “neighborhood hobby shop” feel that may dad’s place had. Lately, with very few exceptions, they very seldom had anything I needed or anyone around that could answer my questions. It was still a neat place to browse and I am sure they will survive with on-line sales. I wish them all the best of luck.
