I survived the grand opening Biway

[palitoy]

[palitoy]

Shoprite was a personal favourite.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I survived a Wal-Mart opening during the "Power of the Force 2" days...does that count?

Chris

[MysteryWho]

Oh man, I loved Bi-Way and Towers. I don't think I ever went to a Bargain Harold's, but I used to see the sign
every time I visited my Gramma in Toronto. I always thought he looked crazed or drunk with those eyes.
There's a Giant Tiger in the old Bi-Way building closest to me, which I think is a nice fit. I breeze through their
toy section sometimes but it's mainly where I get dvds now.
It's nice having Target these days, some of them are actually in the same building that Towers had been.
Towers was apparently modelled after Target and when I go there I get a slight Towers vibe.
I've posted this link before, but here's a site about Towers.

http://www.towersdepartmentstores.info/index.htm

[MysteryWho]

The only Mego I remember seeing at Bi-Way was a bunch of Chips 3 3/4 sets, but there
were probably other things that I've spaced on. At Towers I saw everything, even though
I didn't often get to have it. I still remember vividly the obligatory bin of Mxyzptlks on
clearance. I'm sure every Towers, maybe every store with toys, had such a bin. Instead,
of a greeter giving out stickers they needed an old-timey Hawker stationed nearby.
"Mxyzptlks! Get your Mxyzptlks hee-yah!"

[samurainoir]

Just found this website devoted to Consumer's Distributing.

http://cdarchive.ca

[samurainoir]

It's apparently run by same fella who opened the personal computer museum in brantford.
Another reason for us to go there!

[cjefferys]

Ha, so we can check out his Consumers Distributing archive in person too then.

When did Consumers finally shut down? He has catalogs from 1996 and I was surprised that it was around that late.

[samurainoir]

[samurainoir]

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/toyark/120541-consumer-distributing-catalogs-2.html

fascinating to see this PotF1 era catalogue page. By this time I was busy looking at the sections with video games and electronics like walkman and "ghetto blasters".

I remember to make it worth their while (and in retrospect avoid the "peg hangers", the figures were sold in 4's without packaging in plain brown boxes.

Looks like by this time, they were selling them in two's, and the "discount" pricing was a whopping five bucks each figure.



fascinating as well that Super Powers and Secret Wars were selling for six bucks a pop. For whatever reason, I remember being at a K-Bee in the states (Boston?) and buying a handful of Secret Wars (including Wolverine, Black Suit Spiderman and Daredevil) for my younger brother for a dollar each. They must have been blowing them out.

[ubermanx]

As a wee lad in Hamilton we lived very close to a Kresges and Biway. I remember buying a Spider-an Web shooter that fired silly string. Opened it right outside the Biway store. By the time I got home I had emptied the can.

Man I dreaded going to Biway in Peterborough. I knew I was in store for some Wrangler jeans and Champions Choice shoes when the standard "uniform" was Nike and Levis. I knew I could expect some bullying after that shopping trip once I got back to school.

Later on I recall stopping in at the Peterborough Biway to buy crayons to write my Grade 13 English exam. The teacher told me earlier that week I needed 120% on the exam to pass.

- Marty

[palitoy]

I think I know that Consumers guy, I had a massive find a couple of years ago and met the other two consumers collectors.

[samurainoir]

Man I dreaded going to Biway in Peterborough. I knew I was in store for some Wrangler jeans and Champions Choice shoes when the standard "uniform" was Nike and Levis. I knew I could expect some bullying after that shopping trip once I got back to school.

Yeah, by the time you get to High School, you couldn't be seen anywhere near a Bi-Way. When I was 13/14, I got a job washing dishes for Austrians so I could save up and buy Polo/Ralph Lauren shirts, Gant sweaters and Converse all stars. Lucky for me I went to a Catholic high school, so I wore a uniform most of the week, so only needed a few sets of "cool" clothes for weekends/dances/house parties. Then in the spring, I discovered if I joined the Rugby team, the school Rugby jersey gave you instant cred and shielded you from bullying because it instantly means you had a "crew" who got your back.

Okay... I didn't realize Woolco had a Catalogue store!

[cjefferys]

Man, these pages are a great trip down memory lane. Love the page with all the electronics, look at that VCR and the video camera. Wish I could make out the prices.

Boy that RC Artoo was sure expensive, the regular price was about $35? No wonder why I didn't know anyone who had it. This is one vintage SW toy that is probably cheaper now than it was when it first came out.

[palitoy]

I have some of those Woolco Catalogs and I don't remember them either. What's even worse is the one I have lists there being one in Oshawa....