Another LHS closes

[jas1957]

Jack's Hobby Castle on Cleveland's west side closed the doors for the last time today. I'd been a customer for 40 years. The original owner died about 10 years ago & his son Mike ran it until he died a few months ago. Mike's daughter tried to keep it going but there were just to many issues conspiring against it. Jack's was the prototype hobby shop, a 15 foot wide store in a hundred year old building with bare wood floors & peeling paint, crude wood shelves & mismatched second hand showcases. It was a great place to talk models & solve world issues. It was also the closest shop to my house, I'll have to find another home away from home. Very sad day.

[mikemodeler]

I remember hobby shops like the one you described and sadly they have given way to the Hobbytown USA where it isn't a passion as much as it is a way to make money. Like the corner garage that has disappeared and has been replaced a modern chain type repair facility, a little bit of what was once great about the U.S.A. is gone.

[vintagercr]

I too can remember my favorite hobby store. Hardwood floors, 12 foot ceilings with models at the front, records at the back and a slot car track in the basement.

[Darren B]

Jack's Hobby Castle on Cleveland's west side closed the doors for the last time today. I'd been a customer for 40 years. The original owner died about 10 years ago & his son Mike ran it until he died a few months ago. Mike's daughter tried to keep it going but there were just to many issues conspiring against it. Jack's was the prototype hobby shop, a 15 foot wide store in a hundred year old building with bare wood floors & peeling paint, crude wood shelves & mismatched second hand showcases. It was a great place to talk models & solve world issues. It was also the closest shop to my house, I'll have to find another home away from home. Very sad day.

I had one just like that in my early years, was 1978 in Benton Harbor Mi was a corner store just big enough to have a few long shelves of hobbies and i can still recollect the musty smell upon entering that store, sad sad days indeed, thing is its the momentum of the change out there, too many on line stores and just waiting for the packages to hit the door step, I have just one lhs here in Albuquerque that caters to plastic kits and I am always worried that one will go by the wayside, it wouldn't be the end of my hobby but like you said its nice to go in to your lhs and talk models and world events..................

Edited February 16, 2013 by Darren B

[Tom Kren]

Will be missed was just up the street from me I always stopped on Fridays and hung out awhile and somehow a kit would find its way home. Mike was a great guy and just shoot the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH with ya and steph was fun too! Too bad I was going to stop there today but lot was full and had things to do.

[realgone58]

That's a shame.Very sad. I hate to hear this. Had one in my hometown too. Although I live in Florida now, I grew up in NY.........had a great one downtown, I too still remember the musty smell. It smelt like an old Johan box!!!! Love it!! Had all sorts of kits, plus slot cars, Matchboxes, cool plastic cars we could run up an down the drive way, like Duncan, Korris, Hawk, Gay, Processed Plastics, Simms, Kenner, etc. A place dreams were made of. I'll never forget it. It closed in the early nineties, when the owner retired. He stayed open till he was in his seventies. Manny Rosen. I still remember his name. Thanks to him, I discovered Jo-Han, AMT and MPC annuals, Lindberg, Pactra 'Namel, and loads of other great stuff. Things like these are what our children will never be able to experience. That's a shame.