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02-02-2020, 01:08 PM | #51 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
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Quote:
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. |
02-02-2020, 05:31 PM | #52 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Pottstown, PA
Posts: 327
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I miss all those stores and being able to find toys anywhere. I was look at some of my own GI Joe and Star Wars and found stickers from, Toys R Us, Kay Bee, Hess, Basco, Best, Zayre, Ames, Kiddie World (Wilmington DE), Jaffe Drugs, Jamesway, Eckerd Drugs, Sears, JC Penny, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth's, CVS, Rite Aide, Walgreens, Coles Hardware and some that just have a tag with no name on them. You could find them anywhere. My daughter wanted a Rey from the new movie and I have yet to find one around me. I know I could order it online, but that's not the point.
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02-02-2020, 06:00 PM | #53 |
Top Shelf
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Illinois
Posts: 628
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I love this thread. Growing up in a small Midwest town, so much of this rings true. Funny to see Coast to Coast and Ben Franklin come up, I just picked up some trucks with their branding. I have been buying these sorts of trucks off and on to remember how things used to be. My little town of 350 had a grocery store, hardware store and gas station, all long gone. The next town over had a True Value hardware store that carried Joes and Star Wars, at huge markups. There was also a little chain called Gambles.
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02-02-2020, 06:49 PM | #54 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Cobra Island & Massachusetts
Posts: 6,378
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I have been in search of a figure or at least just a file card with a price tag from a local Drug Store called Douglas Drug that I bought many of the 88 and 89 series figures from. I remember picking up Dee Jay there bring it home and playing on a neighbors porch she had him blown up and tossed him into the air and it landed in the roof gutter never to be seen again.
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02-07-2020, 03:32 PM | #55 |
do not eat.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Cedar Falls, IA
Posts: 478
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I love this type of thread. Got to add to it...
One of my favorite memories is getting Chewbacca at the Ben Franklin in Evansdale, IA. It's been gone since everything went to Hell here in the mid 1980s, (a tale in and of itself) but I remember going to that store with my aunt and finally finding Chewie. She bought him for me, which was awesome. Still have that figure. Does anyone remember Menards having a toy section? Got so much stuff from them. The chain is a home improvement warehouse that my Dad went to all the freakin' time. I got Evil-Lyn from MOTU there, as well as a bunch of Joes- Stalker v2, Deep Six v2, Night Viper, Tiger Fish... so much stuff. |
02-08-2020, 01:07 PM | #56 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: May 2015
Location: CT
Posts: 2,052
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Not sure if this count's a small store but being an Army kid all of the installations we lived on had a PX (AAFES). I was 13 in 1995 and they had a Battle Corps Flint (a great figure IMO and I never had an original Flint so I wanted him for my collection) but I thought I was too old to be buying toys. I think I bribed my little brother to go buy it for me by getting him a chocolate milk at the Shopette.
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02-08-2020, 01:28 PM | #57 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 5,866
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The PX (AAFES) was the source of many of my figures when my dad was stationed in Germany. That and JC Penney, Sears or Montgomery Wards catalogues. Of the top of my head, I got Snake Eyes , Scarlett, Rock n Roll, Major Bludd and Zartan from the PX.
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02-08-2020, 01:30 PM | #58 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 5,866
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When we came back to the US for a couple weeks vacation to visit family in 1984 I remember getting Baroness at a TG&Y in Mississippi and Duke at some mom and pop drugstore in Colorado.
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My Feedback: http://www.hisstank.com/forum/buy-se...ck-thread.html MTF Vice Admiral. BFS H.A.C.K.S. Series 1 All-in. MTF Valkyries Asgard. Eagle Force All-in early bird. CFT Dime Novel Legends Posse. Zombie Lab All-in. MTF World War II Mayhem. HasLab Jabba's Sail Barge. HasLab Razor Crest x3. MTF Vietnam Mayhem 1st + All-In 2nd. HasLab Sky Striker x 5. Callsign: Longbow Pick 6. HasLab HISS x 3. HasLab Dragonfly x 3. HasLab Ghost. |
02-08-2020, 09:26 PM | #59 |
Top Shelf
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Illinois
Posts: 628
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Quote:
I love this type of thread. Got to add to it...
One of my favorite memories is getting Chewbacca at the Ben Franklin in Evansdale, IA. It's been gone since everything went to Hell here in the mid 1980s, (a tale in and of itself) but I remember going to that store with my aunt and finally finding Chewie. She bought him for me, which was awesome. Still have that figure. Does anyone remember Menards having a toy section? Got so much stuff from them. The chain is a home improvement warehouse that my Dad went to all the freakin' time. I got Evil-Lyn from MOTU there, as well as a bunch of Joes- Stalker v2, Deep Six v2, Night Viper, Tiger Fish... so much stuff. |
02-17-2020, 12:24 PM | #60 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 14
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Canada has it’s small town stores where you could get good quality toys that were the same as you could get at major department stores in bigger cities. My first Gi Joe was from one of these small towns. In 1983 my family and I were on a 3 hour road trip to visit family and stopped in a little farming town that only had a little grocery store, a gas station and a livestock feed store/ farmers market. We stopped at the farmers market to get some fresh produce and they had a small toy section that had some GI joes. My parents said I could pick out a toy to keep me occupied on the car ride. I picked out a straight arm Stalker! Before that my action figures were all Star Wars. After that it was all GI Joes and some Transformers.
Now that small town has some fast food chain restaurants, major grocery stores a bunch of gas stations and even some new car dealerships. It also has a dollar store where all the toys look like cheap trashy knock offs of major toy brands. Wow times have changed! |
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