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09-09-2020, 01:17 AM | #41 |
CG Immortal Commander
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: New York
Posts: 19,276
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Quote:
A lot of the stores from my youth have already been mentioned in this thread: Hills, Zayre, and of course TRU, Kaybee, Sears, and K-Mart. I have very vivid memories of pulling Storm Shadow and Scrap Iron off the pegs at Service Merchandise.
The Lionel chain was called Kiddie City where I lived. The commercial jingle is very clear in my head: "Let Lionel Kiddie City turn that frown... upside down!" We didn't have Bradlees where I grew up, but there was one just outside of Boston when I went to college in the early '90s and I picked up some Star Brigade, Street Fighter, and Battle Corps figures there. Not far from that was another local chain called Ann & Hope that had some as well. In Boston itself was an FAO Schwartz where I would go if I couldn't find a figure anywhere else. Prices were ridiculous, literally 150% of MSRP, and they piped the most annoying theme song over the intercom on a constant non-stop loop: "Welcome to our world. Welcome to our world. Welcome to our world of toys! Welcome to our world..." Mostly I went there to chase Star Wars Power of the Force figures that I got suckered into collecting and later had to unload at a significant loss. However, the store had a really cool G.I. Joe diorama display on the second floor, with lots of Joes and Cobras doing battle in a big glass case in the center of the floor. My favorite memory of shopping for G.I. Joe is my earliest. In upstate New York was a drugstore chain called Fay's Drugs that had a good toy aisle mostly dominated by G.I. Joe. I got most of my 1982 and 1983 Joe toys there. I feel like I can practically reach out and touch the shelves full of FLAKs and HALs and MOBATs. I'd stand there for what felt like hours (but was probably just a few minutes before my mom dragged me away) in awe of all the super cool toys I needed to save up my allowance money for. Quote:
HILLS! I’m an upstate NY native and Fays always had an amazing toy aisle, especially for a drug store. I have a ton of memories of cool stuff that I saw there (most of which I ultimately didn’t get)... Eagle Force, ROM, Remco Warlords... I remember reading the Marvel Star Wars issue with the debut of Lumiya off the rack at Fays.. and I also remember finding the ROTJ blue sabre Jedi Luke on the peg and bugging my mom to buy it for me. (You already have that Luke!)
My biggest Fays memory though is standing there staring at the Star Wars Imperial Transpot so long that my mom moved on to another aisle... I couldn’t find her right away and panicked because I thought she left without me! |
09-09-2020, 01:24 AM | #42 |
CG Immortal Commander
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: New York
Posts: 19,276
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Local store here in upstate NY called Toys for Joy. There were 2-3 in the area. Very similar in size and layout to TRU. Remember going one day with my mom. Night raven had just come out. Begged her to get it. "You have to ask your father." Dad worked nights and I had to wait until he woke up at 3pm. Went back and scored it! All the Jinx's on the pegs used to fake me out in my quest for Crimson Guards lol. Very fond memories.
Another store called Duane Toy Land. Old wooden building, mom and pop type store. Boys toys in the basement. Walking down the stairs was like walking into toy heaven. Last edited by CG23; 09-09-2020 at 01:27 AM.. |
09-09-2020, 03:53 PM | #43 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Boston
Posts: 1,361
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As I think of it, after the ARAH line was canceled in 1994, I'd still find Battle Corps and Star Brigade figures on the pegs at Woolworth's for probably 2-3 more years before they cleared them out (and eventually the chain went under).
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09-09-2020, 05:26 PM | #44 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Castle Destro
Posts: 390
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TRU, Bradlees, Woolworth, Consumers, and Kay Bee toys was where I found most of my Joe's back in the day. I used to love those Consumers catalogs too. There was also a gift shop around the corner from me that also sold Joe's from 87-94.
Last edited by IGuru; 09-09-2020 at 05:32 PM.. |
09-09-2020, 10:46 PM | #45 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: May 2016
Location: nowhere land
Posts: 20
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I brought my first Joe from woolworth. it was rock & roll. Sadly lost him in a McDonald couple days later. Brought the rest of my Joe's from Service Merchandise and T.S.S (time square store) good times.
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09-10-2020, 05:55 PM | #46 |
Bridge Layer Driver
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Ft. Wadsworth
Posts: 737
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My first Joes (Breaker and Short-Fuse) were at a Woolco, circa March 1982. I think that chain went out-of-business by the end of the year.
LaBelle's (later BEST) became my favorite in 1983. They were usually a dollar or two, cheaper, than the other stores. Not many kids went there, so they usually had a good selection. I pulled some scheme to get my mom to take me to Burger King, so I could run across the parking lot and get Snow Job at LaBelle's. There was a Skaggs Drugstore near me. It was the only store you could (safely) bike to, growing up. I remember being excited to go there, sometime in June 1984, for the sole purpose of getting Ripcord-- who was the final 1984 figure I needed. We didn't get Children's Palace in my area until 1987. I was always impressed by their Joe selection, as they went all-out and filled the shelves, ceiling to floor. They did that for everything, it seemed. The absolute worst for me was K-Mart. My parents always went there...and their selection usually sucked. Nothing but old Princess Leia Bespin figures and knock-off Remco He-Man figures.
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09-11-2020, 11:05 AM | #47 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 70
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The ones I remember the most are Toys R Us, Kmart, Roses, Ames, Kaybee, Best, and Children’s Palace.
My very first GI*JOE figure, straight arm Grunt, came from a store called County Fair. It went out of business 2 or 3 years later. Last edited by FAKER II; 09-11-2020 at 11:07 AM.. |
09-11-2020, 04:28 PM | #48 |
Bucketbot
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: ATX
Posts: 1,402
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I really liked the book stores I went to as a kid. In particular, "The Book Stop" and "Half Priced Books" were my favorites. They had photography books with naked ladies in them!
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