SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

One of the last great hobby shops in America, closes.

1873 views
5 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    February 2006
  • From: Boston
One of the last great hobby shops in America, closes.
Posted by Wilbur Wright on Thursday, December 28, 2023 8:33 PM

The Spare Time Shop in Marlborough, Massachusetts has closed its doors after 50 years in the same location.

This was quite possibly the last great hobby shop in America.  Paul has retired, and apparently no one wanted to buy the business.

 

I have never seen a hobby shop like this before or after, and I have been everywhere, including to the great ones in NYC that are gone.  If you have been to the STS, you will know.  There have been news articles on this hobby shop before, and hopefully there will be another one on the shop's legacy.  I had been a customer for 40 years.  The stock he had in a brick and mortar was mind boggling.  You could hardly move in there.  

 

Last of a kind.

 

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Thursday, December 28, 2023 9:08 PM

Sad to see some of the brick and mortar shops close, especially a long loved neighborhood shop.  

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, December 29, 2023 12:33 PM

Al posted about that recently. I visited it frequently when I was stationed at Fort Devens back in the early 2000s. I hosted an open house at my motor pool, and afterwards virually all of the visitors made the trek down to STS.

Waiting for me was a brand new Tamiya Dragon Wagon they had all chipped in to purchase for me. Great memories. I taught an old M60A2 tanker how to drive an M1A1 that day.

You aren't kidding about the kits. They were stocked like ten feet high and the aisles were so narrow that a short man like me couldn't look at the kits piled high, nor could a tall man stoop to see kits waist level or below.

The only hobby shops that came close were one on Long Island's south shore that was run by a guy that looked like a leprechaun in the mid 80s and a really old hobby shop in downtown Mannheim, Germany in the late 80s.

Spare Time Shop had more stuff than both of these combined. It really wasn't a neighborhood shop; it was a regional Mecca for model builders.

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Friday, December 29, 2023 12:45 PM

There were three great hobby shops in the Bay Area when I was younger. San Antonio Hobbies, Franciscan Hobbies and Berkeley Ace. Only the last one is still open and it's much downsized.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: Boston
Posted by mach71 on Saturday, January 6, 2024 8:48 AM

Sad indeed.

 

I have been there many times in the past. It was one of the best hobby stores in the

country for sure. The magazine selection was second to none.

 

I wish Paul a happy retirement.

  • Member since
    January 2024
Posted by plonkarchivist on Monday, January 22, 2024 8:51 PM

When I was younger, there used to be three excellent hobby shops in the Bay Area: San Antonio Hobbies, Franciscan Hobbies, and Berkeley Ace. However, only the latter is still in operation, and it has significantly reduced in size.

doodle baseball

 

 

 

 

 

 
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.