Via the BBC. I must be getting old, because the first thing I noticed is that the British kid is wearing a U.S.A. sweatsuit.
Archive for the 'Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments' Category
Toy Aisle Zen (1980/1983): The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
Published April 13, 2016 Kenner Toys , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 5 Comments
The location is DeSoto Square Mall in Bradenton, Florida. The big stack of games on the left is Ideal’s Battling Spaceships (1977). I also see Kenner’s Super Shift 600 and a Coleco CB-40 Transceiver Base. There’s a Welcome Back, Kotter toy of some sort underneath the boy’s head, and it doesn’t look like the classroom playset. Anyone know what it is?
(Photo via Malls of America)
Christmas Toy Aisle Zen, 1980: The Empire Strikes Back
Published December 17, 2015 Christmas , Department Stores , Kenner Toys , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 8 Comments
The caption, via the Birmingham Mail:
Edgbaston twins Antony and Richard Joseph, both aged six, are seen here enjoying the toy department at Lewis’s in Birmingham on December 15, 1980.
Lewis’s was a department store chain in the UK that was in business from 1856 to 1991.
Lovely photo from a time when man-children weren’t snatching up all the Star Wars toys before the kids could get to them.
‘High Tech’ Toys News Report, 1987
Published December 14, 2015 Lazer Tag/Photon , Masters of the Universe , Thundercats , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments Leave a Comment
Nice up-close look at a big toy store with some nice displays in New York City. The report itself is an interesting peek at the rise of technology in the toy industry: both Lazer Tag and Photon make an appearance. At 2:16 you’ll see the Masters of the Universe and Thundercats aisle representing the old guard.
Toy Aisle Zen, 1987/1988: Rambo and G.I. Joe
Published December 11, 2015 G.I. Joe , Rambo , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 1 Comment
Stills from the movie Big Business (1988), which I haven’t seen. Is Body Count a Rambo parody made specifically for the film? I can’t find anything on it. The toy store is New York City’s FAO Schwartz, once the oldest toy store in the U.S. and the scene of the famous Hanks-Loggia piano dance in Big. Owner Toys “R” Us closed the store in July 2015 “to save money.”
That’s 14-year-old Seth Green in the shots above, by the way.
There’s more toy aisle goodness in 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Christmas Toy Aisle Zen, 1983
Published November 30, 2015 Christmas , Dimensions for Children (DFC) , Kenner Toys , Remco Toys , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 1 Comment
The store is a K-Mart in Billings, Montana, and I’m only going to name one of the toys I see, other than the gorgeous, underrated Crystar figures the kid is holding: there are Dragonriders of the Styx figures hanging on the rack in front of him. You guys name the rest.
‘Tis the season. Visit posts of Christmas past here.
(Photo via the Billings Gazette)
The Real Ghostbusters Shelf Talker (1989)
Published February 9, 2015 Ads , Kenner Toys , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments Leave a Comment
Kenner’s The Real Ghostbusters was after my time, but damn, this is how you get a kid’s attention.
(Images via eBay)
Toy Aisle Zen (1982): Coleco’s Tabletop Arcade Games
Published November 12, 2014 Electronic Handhelds , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments , Video Games 1 Comment
Pop’s Toy Store, November 24, 1982. (Photo: Walter McCardell/Baltimore Sun)
Serious. Business.
On the top shelf you can see a few Microvision games: Bowling, Baseball, Alien Raiders, Phaser Strike, and Connect Four.
(Photo via Tribune Photo Archives)
Toy Aisle Zen (Circa 1976): Matchbox Display and Ideal’s Evel Knievel Super Jet Cycle
Published July 28, 2014 Department Stores , Evel Knievel , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 1 Comment
J.C. Penney, somewhere in Baltimore, is the store in the first photo. Toys are on the left.
(Images via eBay, Evel Knievel Stunt Toys, and Yesterville)
2 Warps to Neptune 