Those gone but not forgotten Retailers..

[Sweep Secondhand]

In my small town in Florida we had a Neisners, a McCrorys, West Brothers, and a Woolworths. Neisners always had the best Mego and knock off Joe stuff. We also had a G. W. Grants that was excellent for Johnny West stuff and a J.M. Fields that had a few things. Later on K-Mart opened and that became my go to store for years. Sadly every single one of them is gone and now and except for the K-Mart that closed a few years ago, all the other are long gone!

[ScottA]

I remember shopping at Ames, Zayres, Gaylords, Grants, Circus World, Lionel Playword, TG&Y, K-mart, Sears and Roses - to name a few.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

My most missed stores would have to be Ben Franklin, "Bargain Town" Toys R Us, Child World, Kresge, and the toy departments at Sears and American Sales.

[Flynne]

I miss buying toys at David's, Woolco (Woolworth's), TG & Y, but most especially Children's Palace. The sad day our Palace closed in the late 80's I remember going up and down the aisles looking for figures to save from impending doom of being boxed for receivership.

We still have K-Mart's here, but they are nowhere near what they were "back in the day". The same with Sears in the heyday of the "Wish Book" years.

[PCofmisfittoys]

i forgot about service merchandise. Use to have some great stuff too. there catalogs always had those cross by the regular price and then the SM price.

[Captain]

Gone, but not forgotten:
Woolco
Consumers Distributing
Tops in Toys
Toys and Wheels
K-Mart
and one of my personal favourites, as they always had all the cool Marx and Corgi stuff--The old Mayland Heights Drug Store!

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

My first (and worst) job was in a Woolworths variety store. They just sell boring groceries now.

[mitchedwards]

Anyone remember Murphys and Ben Franklin?

[BradMego]

I remember Murphy's. Mostly because I was just learning to read, and hadn't learned that ph=f in pronunciation, so I kept saying Murpy's.

And, the only Ben Franklin near us is having a going out of business sale.

Before we had Service Merchandise, we had Tepe's. Same setup in the catalog with the regular price slashed out, and their lower price listed next to it. I remember my mom let me order a bunch of stuff from that catalog one year. I got a couple of Battle Star Galactica figures, Starbuck, and whatever Lorne Green's character was.

I also remember the first time I got any Megoes. The store was called 3D. It had a big oval for a sign, with a blue 3 and a red D. And the sign would light up, 3, D, 3D, on and off like that. We had a green station wagon with the wood siding. It must have been around 1975. I think it was my mom and my grandfather and I. We went in there, and mom got me what seemed like one of each of the Mego figures they had for sale. I recall having Capt. Marvel, Penguin and Robin. Can't remember all the others. Best childhood memory of my life. 3D went out of business sometime around 1988. I remember they had some crazy sales going on there, but I didn't make it in, and I was pretty well out of collecting any toys by that point.

I also remember having an Ames. I think that replaced Murphy's and was then replaced by Kroger's grocery store.

And I can remember a Zayre's that was replaced by Ames.

We only have two Kay-Bees that are still in business near us. I thought the whole company went under for a while.

The closest Toys-R-Us went out of business a while back, but we still have another one not too far away.

Meijer's used to be another great source of toys. They still have quite a bit, and I can get a little bit of reliving that feeling walking up and down the aisles now.

I can remember everytime we went into one of those department stores, just begging my mom to let me go look. I knew if I didn't have any money of my own, there wasn't much chance of me getting anything that day, but I would stand there and dream while she did her clothes shopping.

[palitoy]

I also remember the first time I got any Megoes. The store was called 3D. It had a big oval for a sign, with a blue 3 and a red D. And the sign would light up, 3, D, 3D, on and off like that. We had a green station wagon with the wood siding. It must have been around 1975. I think it was my mom and my grandfather and I. We went in there, and mom got me what seemed like one of each of the Mego figures they had for sale. I recall having Capt. Marvel, Penguin and Robin. Can't remember all the others. Best childhood memory of my life. 3D went out of business sometime around 1988. I remember they had some crazy sales going on there, but I didn't make it in, and I was pretty well out of collecting any toys by that point.

Weird I had never heard of this store before but by this afternoon I discovered a picture of it...

[Wee67]

I've never seen this thread come up before with two of my favorite stores- Two Guys and Kiddie City- mentioned as often.

A Two Guys treat-
YouTube - Two Guys Department stores Commercial

YouTube - Two guys department store 1980

I didn't know Kiddie City lasted this long
YouTube - Lionel Kiddie City Toy Store Commercial

[werewolfz]

The stores I remember going to that are no longer:
- TG&Y
- White Front
- JJ Newberry
- Zody's
- Pic 'N' Save (I know they became Big Lots but the stores are just not the same)
- BEST
- Gemco

[brannon86]

Stores

I really miss some of those old stores. Here is my list: Some are gone, some are still around, but not in my city anymore.
1. K-Mart
2. Woolworths
3. Woolco
3. TG&Y
4. Sears(when they had a killer toy section, and sold popcorn, and peanuts, and you could walk in and smell it)
5. Treasury Drug
6. Ben Franklin's
7. Circus World
8. Jacki's Toys
9. The Play Pen (Still in town, but sells baby cloths and accesories, used to be a KILLER toy shop.)
10. Howard Brothers
11. Wilson's
12 Service Merchandise
13. Western Auto(when they sold toys)

[brannon86]

Stores

Oh yes, I got some toys at JC Penny's also....

[nvmbrsdoom5]

4. Sears(when they had a killer toy section, and sold popcorn, and peanuts, and you could walk in and smell it)

That is probably one of my strongest memories, walking into Sears, especially around Xmas time, and smelling the popcorn, and seeing all the decorations for the holidays and making a beeline for the toy department. I sorely miss that!