Where did you buy your toys?

[palitoy]

Woolco, Eaton's, Sears, Hudson bay, Dominion Playworld and Pinnochio's Toys.

I also remember getting a Falcon at a baby goods store and buying my 12 back SW figures at the local Miracle Mart.

[theantiquetiger]

TG&Y (Toys, Guns & Yo-Yo's), Howard Bros, K-Mart, Sears Wish Book, and drug stores.

[tmthor]

Most of these places don't exist any more but

Child World (Gone)
Kings Castle Land Toy shop (Gone)
Bradlee's (Gone)
Caldors (Gone)
Ames (Gone)
Zayre's (Gone)
Hills (Gone)
Kings (Gone)
JM Feilds (Gone)
Mr Biggs Toyland (Gone)
Toys R Us
KB Toys
Toy Liquidators
Woolworths (Gone) (Also the best place to get KO's)

[Sweep Secondhand]

I don't know how I could have done so, but I sincerely apologize for forgetting TOY KING! It was one of only two actual toy stores we had in my town and the other, Jack & Jills, tanked when I was still fairly young. My grandmother always took me in TK because it was right next to the Publix supermarket she always bought groceries in. Even though it had to be the very early 70's, I disctinctly remember seeing the Remco Lost in Space robot in it's box on one of their shelves. Either this place had some really old stock or Remco kept pumping these things out after the show was long gone. I used to get my Johnny West, Billy Blastoff, and even a few Ding-A-Ling robots there. TK was some type of Florida chain because I remember seeing them in other cities. The one by me finally closed it's doors in the mid 1980's. Damn I miss that place!

[Wee67]

I don't care how many times this question comes up, I love saying it - Kiddie City!

A great name. I even remember hating Toys R Us when they seemed to replace them in the landscape.

I also love this topic because someone awlays brings up another favorite discount department store- Two Guys. What a great 70's name! The one by me even had an arcade near the greasey cafeteria with awesome pinball machines like Lost World.

[batmanmc]

wooolco and zayre i forgot about those two. my favoite store thats gone now was caldor. mike

[EmergencyIan]

K-Mart, Ayr-Way, Woolco, Woolsey's, Sears, Kuester's, Children's Palace, K-B Toys, Service Merchandise, Target and Hills. There was also this great and huge toy store in St. Louis called: The Toy Chest. I think it was the first toy store of that size that i had ever been inside (visiting friends of the family). It was amazing! I remember getting the Mego pocket hero Batman and Robin with the Batmobile (I played with them forever) there and also getting a Fisher Price Adventure People set there. It was the boat with the divers and the sharks...very cool, too!


- Ian

[Bionic Joe]

I don't care how many times this question comes up, I love saying it - Kiddie City!

A great name. I even remember hating Toys R Us when they seemed to replace them in the landscape.

I also love this topic because someone awlays brings up another favorite discount department store- Two Guys. What a great 70's name! The one by me even had an arcade near the greasey cafeteria with awesome pinball machines like Lost World.

Wow how can i have forgotten KIDDIE CITY, glad i'm not the one to rember TWO-GUYS i rember as a kid the TWO-GUYS in MARLTON N.J always had a great selection of gi-joe and megos

[grayhank]

I think some of these were New England based, but it's what I remember:

K-Mart
Zayre's
Bennie's
JJ Newbury's
Woolworths
Sears
McCrory's
Jordan Marsh
Apex
Ann & Hope

[saildog]

Local
Ben Franklin
OTASCO (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company)
TG&Y
Wal-Mart

Four times a year (Meaning a trip to Oklahoma City)
Sears
JC Penny
Service Merchandise
Hobby Lobby (Tamiya Models...the best!)

[GSPUSA]

Sears, TG&Y, Toys r Us , K-Mart, China Mart oh I mean wal mart, Perry's, Toys By Roy

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Gosh I bought toys from so many different places, and it's funny how many of them aren't around anymore, at least not in my area....

Sears toy department and the Wishbook catalog were big for me, bought many toys of all kinds through there.
JcPenny and Service Merchandise catalogs were another mainstay.
The Toys R Us in South Chicago (that was called Bargain Town Toys R Us for some reason), Calumet City, and the one in Merrillville, were favorites of mine. As well as the KayBee and Child's World stores in Merrillville.
Kresge and K-Mart were some early places I bought alot of toys from I recall.
Venture and Zayre....I specifically remember getting alot of Star Wars and 3-3/4 GI Joes from there in the early 80s.
In my immediate neighborhood, I often bought toys (especially Mego, SW, and 12" GI Joes) from Tru-Value and Ben Franklin. I remember buying quite a few SW figures from the Jewel/Osco down the street, but I think they stopped carrying them by the time ESB came out.
I even managed to order some figures from Heroes World catalogs as well!

[The Sentry]

K-Mart, Hecks, The Toy chest, Arden's, Children's Palace, Toy Magic, Ben Franklin, Murphy's Mart, and Hills. No Toys 'r' us when I was little round here. *sighs* but We got 2 now near me!

[kresge1]

Sears and Two-guys

[MIB41]

The hot spot in Louisville back in the 70's was Thornbury's toys (must of been more of a local chain). They had one in a mall and one free standing. I can picture walking into each store even to this day. I got everything there from my first Torch to the infamous KISS figures. Another name I haven't seen mentioned is Roses. I got my first Spider-man figure there. It was the only time my dad ever actually went out and bought one for me (it was always my mother when it came to toys - my dad pretty much resented the idea of me playing with action figures but I loved them anyway). I got alot of GI Joe stuff from Ayr-way. Still have my talking commander from 1972 with the Ayrway tag on the box! That was a Santa Claus gift though (I guess Santa had to make a quick stop that night...). Of course the Sears wish book also produced a number of Joe items as well. I think that was the kid-standard in the early to mid '70s for Christmas shopping.

Kmart is where I saw my first ever RC Batman. I'll never forget that day because it was mostly him and Robin on this circular display rack. I remember the clothes being really loose fitting on them initially and the masks were on every way but the right way (but I loved them anyway- have five right now). Toy's R US and Children's Palace moved in during the late 70's and that eventually ran Thornbury's out of business. Interesting enough I saw Megos in Children's Palace as late as the mid-80's before they were phased out. They were imports but it was pretty easy in those days to walk in and get a Batman, Robin or Hulk figure for about four dollars and change. They also had the 12 inch figures in abundance (Batman, and Captain America were the most common). Great memories!