So, I have no personal childhood love for TRU. When I was a kid, it was simply visiting the toy sections of stores like Target and JC Penney's, or at the department stores like Famous-Barr and Stix, Baer & Fuller (where the toys were overpriced but man, they had everything and in nice displays!) -- and most of those places are already gone (although, I can still remember the excitement of discovering the Mego WGSH at Target when I was around 7). We didn't get a toy-only store in the area until a place called Toy Chest opened when I was around 10 or 11, and that was a place of wonder that went out of business when I was in college. We got Children's Palace a year or two after Toy Chest, and they closed shortly after I was married and bought a house (which, serendipitously, was 5 minutes away). I looked forward to someday taking kids there, but then they closed.
I don't recall when TRU opened here I think I might have been in high school or even college. The only memories of it I have are of taking my son there, especially when he was a toddler, and of going on the hunt there for whatever the Christmas or birthday "it" toy was that year (Bionicle really stands out). But given he's graduating college in a couple months, it's been a while since I've done that, either.
I find it mostly sad for kids going forward, because they don't have these places to visit and be wowed or discover something they've never seen but love the way I did the WGSH. It's all looking at pictures online -- almost like the Sears Wishbook, but, really, not nearly as much fun.
I don't recall when TRU opened here I think I might have been in high school or even college. The only memories of it I have are of taking my son there, especially when he was a toddler, and of going on the hunt there for whatever the Christmas or birthday "it" toy was that year (Bionicle really stands out). But given he's graduating college in a couple months, it's been a while since I've done that, either.
I find it mostly sad for kids going forward, because they don't have these places to visit and be wowed or discover something they've never seen but love the way I did the WGSH. It's all looking at pictures online -- almost like the Sears Wishbook, but, really, not nearly as much fun.
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