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07-18-2020, 02:31 PM | #1 |
Finally found a Defiant!
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Virginia
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Everyone will have Toys R Us as at least one of they're favs but what were some of the smaller chains you have fond memories of growing up where you used to get Joes and other toys?
My parents separated when I was very young (too young to remember) & my older brother and I lived with my mom while growing up. She never had a ton of $ and worked two jobs everyday to pay the bills. Anyhow there were 2 stores in particular Jamesway and Bradlees that had awesome toy departents. I have great memories of those stores and because my mom didn't have alot of disposable income it was a real special occasion when we got to go pick something we wanted.
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07-18-2020, 03:10 PM | #2 |
Bill Cosplay
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Staying clear of knee-jerk nerds.
Posts: 5,875
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Stores were magical to me back then (partly due to pre-internet shopping, partly to the stores themselves--they used to give a shit and would go all out on the merchandising--and partly just because I was a broke-ass kid), so I have a few.
-Grand Central, which then became Fred Meyer, springs to mind. They both hold a cozy place in my heart. -TRU, of course, but before that, Lionel Playworld was seriously astounding to my kiddo sensibilities. I remember a literal wall of Super Powers toys. -A grocery store called Alpha Beta that had an amazing toy aisle among other cool things like an awesome candy section, magazine rack and deli. Alpha Beta always gave me a good shot at snagging a Joe while my mom was grocery shopping. Plus, I used to love those Imperial cheap grocery store toys: water pistols, cap guns, detective/spy kits, rubber creepy crawlies... -Shopko. I was always lucky finding stuff there. -Kmart and Sears were these seldom-visited places, which made them more special than they probably had any right to be. |
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07-18-2020, 03:16 PM | #3 |
The Man You Know & Love
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: In The Middle of a Late Night Crew Orgy
Posts: 28,199
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Service Merchandise! I remember one side of the toy aisle was GI Joe and turn around to the other side and it was Star Wars.
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07-18-2020, 03:28 PM | #4 |
US military family
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Posts: 2,214
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Sears, Roebuck and Company toy aisles were big for us. My parents didn’t like to take us to toy stores unless it was near Christmas, but Sears had a great toy aisle, often with exclusive G.I. Joe A Real American Hero products and box art.
Because my father worked at Sears, he would stop by there often to talk with others, while we kids would ask to go over to the toy aisle for a few minutes to take a look at what they had new there.
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07-18-2020, 04:55 PM | #5 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Arizona
Posts: 764
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Quote:
Stores were magical to me back then (partly due to pre-internet shopping, partly to the stores themselves--they used to give a shit and would go all out on the merchandising--and partly just because I was a broke-ass kid), so I have a few.
-Grand Central, which then became Fred Meyer, springs to mind. They both hold a cozy place in my heart. -TRU, of course, but before that, Lionel Playworld was seriously astounding to my kiddo sensibilities. I remember a literal wall of Super Powers toys. -A grocery store called Alpha Beta that had an amazing toy aisle among other cool things like an awesome candy section, magazine rack and deli. Alpha Beta always gave me a good shot at snagging a Joe while my mom was grocery shopping. Plus, I used to love those Imperial cheap grocery store toys: water pistols, cap guns, detective/spy kits, rubber creepy crawlies... -Shopko. I was always lucky finding stuff there. -Kmart and Sears were these seldom-visited places, which made them more special than they probably had any right to be. Toys'R'Us - I know it's not small but I just loved the whole toy aisles dedicated to G.I. Joe. They had awesome exclusives especially in the late 90's and early 2000's. Lionel Playworld - a lot of good G.I. Joe memories. They also had whole aisles dedicated to G.I. Joe and they had the U.S.S. Flagg! Service Merchandise - I think I purchased a few toys from here. It was a fun concept. You look at the display items. You write down what you want. Then it comes up from the back of the store. Target - I know it's also a chain. This is where I'd usually go with my allowance to pick out some new figures. They had a good selection and good prices. Mervyn's - was a department store. In the early years when I first got into G.I. Joe, they had toys. KB Toys - I mostly enjoyed them because of the Toy Biz X-Men / Spider-Man lines. I don't remember them having a lot of G.I. Joe in later years and I believe they were a little more expensive because they were in the Mall. Thrifty - They had good ice-cream. They had G.I. Joe comics. They had a smaller assortment of G.I. Joe figures. They were the only place I remember seeing Slaughters Marauders Spirit until later on eBay. I like Walgreens for their assortment of Toy Biz X-Men figures and now that they get some exclusive Marvel Legends. |
07-18-2020, 05:09 PM | #6 |
A Cimmerian
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Mountain of Power
Posts: 11,002
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Rose’s- always has loose Joes for cheap from damaged packages
Best (not to be confused with Best Buy)- bought most of my 90s Joes here and Sgt Savage. Boy do I miss toy aisles of the 90s
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07-18-2020, 05:19 PM | #7 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Posts: 1,162
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I remember Kay Bee Toys had Gijoes when i was growing up and Longs Drugs Store. not sure if that store is around anymore havent seen it in years.
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07-18-2020, 06:34 PM | #8 |
Finally found a Defiant!
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Virginia
Posts: 526
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Quote:
Not sure if you'll be able to enlarge this well enough to read the tag.. if not I'll take a better pic of it tomorrow.
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07-18-2020, 06:35 PM | #9 |
Finally found a Defiant!
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Virginia
Posts: 526
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You can just make out Rose's on the yellow tag. I'll take a better one tomorrow
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07-18-2020, 10:28 PM | #10 |
Warrant officer
Join Date: May 2016
Location: NC
Posts: 592
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1) KB - the highlight of the week when I was growing up in VA was my parents taking us to the mall on fri nights. I would always find Joes and transformers at KB. In the early 90’s, I would sometimes find ‘84-‘86 Joes in bags with file cards there.
2)Tru - after the mall we would go next door to Tru. 3) Brendles- a sears-like store in VA we would stop at when around town and I bought a rolling thunder there. |
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