Red Caboose owner Allan Spitz has decided, after 56 years in business, to close the store. It is the last hobby shop left in Manhattan, outlasting the dozen or so that had been names known to savvy Manhattanites looking for their model railroads.
Red Caboose owner Allan Spitz has decided, after 56 years in business, to close the store. It is the last hobby shop left in Manhattan, outlasting the dozen or so that had been names known to savvy Manhattanites looking for their model railroads. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman)

The last holdout of a dozen or so Gotham hobby shops will be gone by the middle of October, as its building on West 45th Street is slated to be torn down soon.

Beloved Hobby Retailer Red Caboose Reaches the End Of the Line
04 Sep 2026 | 06:26
News

The Red Caboose, the last of the old-time hobby shops in the city, is closing. With the shop’s demise slated for mid-October, Christmas will be a little different for its legion of loyal customers this year.

The sandwich sign in front of the basement shop at 23 West 45th St. announced on August 31 that...

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Forbes photographer Glen Davis captured a photo of editor Keith J. Kelly and his wife Pat Walsh on the deck of the Highlander yacht on the evening of Sept. 10, with the Twin Towers in the background. It would emerge as one of the last photos ever taken of the Twin Towers at night. A little more than 12 hours later, the towers fell.
Forbes photographer Glen Davis captured a photo of editor Keith J. Kelly and his wife Pat Walsh on the deck of the Highlander yacht on the evening of Sept. 10, with the Twin Towers in the background. It would emerge as one of the last photos ever taken of the Twin Towers at night. A little more than 12 hours later, the towers fell. ( Photo: Glen Davis)

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