Question on toy prices from old stores/catalogs (Sears, JCPenney, Heroes World, etc.)

[Retro76]

Hi Folks,
Hope everyone is doing well. I was recently looking at Sears, JCPenney and Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogs from the late 70’s/early 80s and reminiscing on the fantastic toys within (Mego, Kenner Star Wars, Tyco Trains, the old Matchbox vinyl playsets, etc.) and was wondering on how pricing compared between the various stores (i.e. Sears, ToysRUs, Heroes World) of that time. My parents never ordered from the big catalogs, they stuck to mostly discount stores that were in the Chicago area back in the day such as Venture, Zayre and Community, the exception being ToysRUs which I suspect was higher such as it was in present day before they shutdown. I would like to know if any of you recall how the Sears, JCPenney and Montgomery Wards ranked in terms of pricing. Were certain stores considered higher-end or higher-priced than others? I imagine ToysRus may have been more expensive than Sears or JCPenney. The only catalog I ever ordered from was Heroes World for a Pocket Heroes Spider-car set with Spider-Man and Hulk and I suspect the prices there were higher than others, perhaps like a GameStop or a Comic Book shop today.

[B-Lister]

TRU was actually well priced back in the day. The high prices that led to their demise started in the mid-late 90s when new investors took over the company.

[Werewolf]

From what I remember Department stores like Wards, Penneys and Sears were slightly higher than Kmart. But nothing extreme. Toys R Us and Children's Palace were always competitively priced and their sale prices and discount aisles were fantastic. Kaybee was probably around the same as then department stores.

[cjefferys]

Yeah I remember the department stores like Sears, Eatons, etc. being a bit more expensive than K-mart, Zellers, Towers, etc.

[pmwasson]

I remember the Hero World prices to be crazy high.

[Retro76]

Thanks for the replies guys. Since I was not paying during those days I really couldn't tell the price differences for the most part. My perception was that Sears was high-end and mostly unattainable, in part because of the production of their catalog which makes sense since they were the granddaddy of the store catalogs. What I really marveled at was the way they staged the toys back then. For some reason they were able to display the toys in a way that generated a sense of play and fun with pictures of kids who looked liked they were enjoying the heck out of them. They also would mix and match toys of different brands with playsets including their own exclusive playsets which gave ideas to expand your imagination. Nowadays you look at a Target flyer and they barely show a picture of the toy itself and that’s it. And I sincerely doubt toy companies today would allow stores to display their products interacting with other brands or lines.