Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
After navigating a few major detours, Choo Choo Bob’s Train Shop is on track to open May 3 at its most fitting location yet: St. Paul’s Union Depot, 214 4th St. E. Opening weekend, May 3-6, will feature half-price admission, a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, and live music on Saturday and Sunday.
The space – formerly home to Spinning Wylde cotton candy – is a little bigger than the shop’s previous store in St. Louis Park and is composed of several rooms through which a raised electronic model train will chug. Its play space features a dozen wooden train stations, six rideable train toys, a coloring area, dollhouse area, Hot Wheels station, karaoke and more. Cost for the play area is $10 for kids 1-10 and $2 for adults. Story time and live music are included with admission. Story time with Engineer Paul is held 10:30-11 a.m., Mondays and Fridays, and Rob Stokes will perform 11 a.m.-noon Saturdays. There’s no time limit on admission and visitors can get a stamp to come and go as they please.
Decorated party rooms that can hold up to 50 people are available for rent, as well as a few quieter private spaces. The shop also sells a wide variety of train-themed toys.
“It’s a perfect location,” said owner Jennifer Moberg. “It’s an operating train station so I look out these big, beautiful windows and you can see trains going by right outside.”
It’s been a winding journey for Moberg to get to where she is today. The business was founded in 2005 by Bob Medcraft, originally located at Marshall and Cleveland in St. Paul, and Moberg purchased it in 2019. The next year she was forced to close due to the pandemic. In 2021, she opened a pop-up location in St. Louis Park over the holidays and business was so well-received that she extended her lease another year and a half. She planned to continue operating that shop after opening at Union Depot but closed it after the building was sold and the new landlord quadrupled the rent.
Some may be familiar with Choo Choo Bob’s Train Show, a short-lived television series filmed by Medcraft shortly after opening the business. It can be streamed on Peacock or at choochoobobshow.com. Moberg is encouraging Medcraft to revive the show but his fulltime job in the TV industry keeps him plenty busy and was the reason he sold the shop in the first place. He worked on “Mall Rats” and a couple other movies filmed in the Twin Cities, and operated Choo Choo Bob’s as a passion project.
Medcraft lives in St. Paul and will likely make an appearance or two over the grand opening weekend, which happens to coincide with another train-related event. The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour rolls in 3-8 p.m., Friday, May 3. The event features the 2816 Empress steam locomotive, a mobile exhibit that highlights the history and future of the railroad, and activities on the South Lawn, including the Puffer Belly Express, a miniature version of the 2816 Empress. The event is free and concessions and vendors will be available in the Waiting Room. In early June, the Depot will host Train Days complete with train tours, a vendor marketplace, model trains, family friendly activities and more. Choo Choo Bob’s will take part in the Depot’s free kids events held on Tuesdays throughout the summer.
Moberg, a former account manager in the advertising field, is from Maple Grove and has a master’s in business administration. After bringing in some extra cash from selling her first home, she was looking to put her degree to use and began looking for business opportunities. Choo Choo Bob’s caught her eye because she had brought her son there about a decade earlier and remembered thinking it was very cute but could have used a little sprucing up. The rest is history.
The shop is open 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Mondays and Fridays, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, call 612-201-3089 or visit choochoobobstrainstore.com.
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