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Thread
:
I miss the good old days of G.I. Joe figures in small town stores
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02-02-2020, 01:08 PM
paraviper
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hardcorps
Oh man Jamesway. I was stationed at Quantico in 1993, my wife and I got married and bought our first piece of furniture at Jamesway in 1994, a futon. We rented a furnished apartment but got orders and knew the next place we went would have no furniture, so we bought the futon, left it in the box, got to California and used the futon box for a TV stand and slept ate and everything else on the futon. We actually sold it last year (new pad somewhere along the way) when we moved.
I grew up in northern Montana our little town of 1500 (with nothing for 20 miles around and we were on a major road) had two dimestores that were independent, a movie theater that sold comics, books, and toys in the lobby (owned by a disabled German paratrooper, most patriot man I ever met, he knew how bad a government could get) a Coast to Coast, True Value, and one other hardware store. All had Joes. The town is down to one hardware store now but still has a few toys.
If we made the trip to the big town about 23 miles west, there was a K Mart and Woolworth that were reliable for action figures, and sometimes their Coast to Coast, True Value, and drug stores had them. We also had Osco Drug that bought the chain called Butteries Grocery, they had action figures, I got the Indiana jones and Cairo swordsman there (he had a knife, early joes and star wars figures didn't have knives as accessories).
My dad died, money got really tight (it was tight before, but you can always go downhill), but I still managed a couple joes now and then. No big playsets of course, but I knew money was tight and would not have asked for anything like that.
Anyway, went in the service was stationed a couple places got commissioned and stopped to visit a friend in South Dakota, and he showed me this place called "Walmart". He said it was just like K-mart but everything was a few cents cheaper. Got to Quantico and was amazed at all the stores there- Jamesway, Walmart, Potomac Mills with a TRU. Even though I was an "adult" of all of maybe 23 with responsibilities (an ossifer in charge of stuff and people), my wife would get me a small lego or action figure every so often, kind of as a joke and because she knew I grew up poor and liked them. Now she complains that I have tubs of stuff and make customs.
Crazy how all those stores are mosty gone, yet we have more people. Those small town hardware stores, you could get everything except food and clothes, and they even sold some clothes like work coats, coveralls and boots.
I love modern action figures but the prices are beyond what any kid can afford, especially because kids are hard on their toys. I never deliberately destroyed toys, but I did play outside in the dirt with them at times. You can't take a MGR figure at 30 bucks with tiny (and very awesome!) accessories out in the dirt and play, maybe take a picture or two, but those kabars will fall off and disappear, not that I would trade them for the old figures.
Fantastic story. Thanks for sharing. The Toys R Us by Potomac Mills is a Big Lots now. The jamesway in Garrisonville got knocked down and is no longer there I think there's hotels there now.
paraviper
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