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Post by qdogg on May 20, 2013 10:57:22 GMT -5
Ya I used to love going to the mall to go to stores like KB Toys. Thats when malls were fun to go to and had all kinds of fun stores in them. Now its pretty much just womens clothing stores, at least in my malls anyway. No DVD/music stores, cool arcades, trinket stores etc. etc.They do have a place called Hammond Toys but they dont sell alot of great figures there at all, pretty pathetic selection of shelfwarmers.
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Post by blu3blazer on May 20, 2013 14:06:59 GMT -5
The economy being on the downturn was the main reason they went out of business in the first place, so that's a moot point. I loved KB and I worked there for about 2 1/2 years as an assistant manager. They paid us like crap though. I only made $9.00/hr. in a management position so I had to move on. I left there probably 2-3 years before they went out of business. As far as the pegs always being full, they weren't allowed to have empty pegs or empty spaces. If there was an empty space we would move stuff around and fill in the spots. That's why they put price tags on the items themselves instead of on the shelves, to make it easier to move stuff around. I guess what I meant, was if they had survived the economic downturn, the result would have been more modest orders. It seems like even at Christmas time, all the stores that aren't Wal-mart are modestly ordering. Taking guaranteed sales on a limited quantity over less predictable sales on huge orders. I personally hate how few figures I buy at Target because of how much of the year is spent without stock. I remember the Christmas of 2011. I had a Target on the way home from work and checked it every night I worked because I kept thinking, "This is Christmas, the one time of year that toys actually sell." I was wrong for having that logic. They got a case of BO2011 basics in November and about 3 weeks before Christmas had the BO2011 Elites, again just one case. I stared at completely empty pegs every day I went in. Even the Flexforce was gone. As a store, it looks terrible to have gaping holes with no product. And TRU, the store that specializes in toys no less, had very minimal stock this year and it was all old. When I walked over to the TMNT section, there were tumbleweeds the entire month of December. They didn't simply get the stuff on truck days and sell out, they just never had it. They peeled the price stickers off of the pegs so that they could put placeholders such as TMNT earbuds in their place. They had something like 10 pegs for TMNT action figures with one set of earbuds on each peg. OK. I get what you were saying now. Yeah, I'd like to believe that they would still order a ton of stuff for Christmas. At the one I worked at, we literally had hundreds (no exaggeration!) of WWE figures in the overstock, not to mention all of the other lines of figures. KB would start getting stuff in the beginning of October for Christmas and start ramping up the amount of product they had. It was awesome!
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Post by Flair Forever on May 20, 2013 14:27:02 GMT -5
Great discussion guys.
I had started the thread in the JAKKS Board because I noticed there weren't a lot discussions going on there... but I'm glad the Mod moved it over here, really got people talking!
I'm glad I'm not alone in missing being able to walk into a store and having to choose what I was going to buy - not just hoping there is any type of product on the shelf. And then, more often than not - walking out disappointed, not because there was nothing new - but there was nothing to choose from at all.
I like Target's products for the most part - but their toy department is shameful in general. There really isn't a good store that's taken the place of Kay Bee, in my mind...Wal Mart's shelves are usually bare too - more often than not.
I don't go to the mall anymore - even FYE used to have a few figures and stuff - now FYE's not even there anymore.
I guess I could afford to shop online - but I always liked the thrill of finding stuff at retail. The "thrill of the hunt."
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Post by wrestlingbillyho on May 20, 2013 15:07:42 GMT -5
Good ol' days for sure. I miss Kay Bee as well. So exciting to go in there every time.
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Post by mikey1974 on May 20, 2013 15:39:55 GMT -5
yeah,mall's suck anymore. around here,within roughly an hour's drive south,20 minutes drive south,a half hour's drive north,and a 45 minute drive north,we had:
3 TRU's 5 FYE's 4 K-B Toys 2 Suncoast Video's 4 Spencer Gifts 3 Borders'
now,it's down to :
still 3 TRU's 2 FYE's 0 K-B Toys 0 Suncoast Video's 2 Spencer's Gifts 0 Borders
and only 1 of the FYE's is good for figures and such,and Spencer's sucks now.
nothing will ever replace the 90's/ early 2000's when all these places were selling tons of figures.
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Post by DZ: WF Legacy on May 20, 2013 16:02:04 GMT -5
One of my top 3 figure finding experiences was at KB when I was around maybe 13 or so.
RealScan technology had just been announced. RSC just got in Double Slam 4 Hardy Boyz, but as you can probably imagine, the price was through the roof due to it being their rookie figures.
Meanwhile, all us young collectors were out searching for them. I came across HHH/Billy Gunn first at KB, and I was amazed to see Triple H with his trademark leather jacket and NEW beard (anyone else feel old?). I was excited to come across the rest of them in the set, but I had to wait until the following weekend to go back to KB.
That next Friday, I went out and couldn't believe what I found at KB. If anyone remembers, they'd sometimes put the WWE figures in a kiosk in the middle of the store, not just in the figure aisle. Well, here they had the entire set of TTL4. TTL4 was the first RealScan singles set, and it had amazing figures of Road Dogg, X-Pac, Cactus Jack and Big Show. X-Pac had a brand new thin singlet and something else that was brand new at the time - kneepads. Yes, it was a big deal; I'm sure if you could find a thread over at AFR/Wrestleworld about this set, you'd see that. Road Dogg had new parts and this badass DX barcode shirt. Cactus Jack had his flannel and at the time an amazing likeness in the scan. Big Show had his ponytail and a cool shirt/shorts combo that was relevant at the time. Nobody cared about the HHH/Rock in this set, it was all about these four.
I spent all of my allowance that day. I can still remember that eye-catching blue Smackdown packaging. I knew right when I saw them that it was that set due to that.
As far as KB goes, I miss it, but what I really miss is Toyworks - an offshoot of KB. They had an entire aisle dedicated to WCW/WWE/ECW. I'm talking rings on top, that Evolution of Sting set, figures on the end caps, discount figures in another aisle - it was awesome! I first played PS2 there (SSX, Dynasty Warriors 2), as well. My best memory at Toyworks was me and my cousin finding the entire R3 line of the nWo. Singles, the 2-packs (Hall/Austin), you name it. We spent the whole weekend coming up with storylines for our own nWo Invasion in our respective federations. I miss being a kid, as I'm sure we all do.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2013 17:26:26 GMT -5
Kay Bee was an amazing store always had fun going in that place!!
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Deep Shadows
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MXW 6 is here! https://youtu.be/LiDlNuiKmjA
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Post by Deep Shadows on May 20, 2013 18:24:50 GMT -5
I assume if Kay Bee was still around they would probably be in the same shape as other retailers. It has a lot to do with Mattel, not the stores themselves.
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Mizzah
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Post by Mizzah on May 20, 2013 18:51:52 GMT -5
KB Toys was fantastic all around. I remember as a kid running in there looking for the latest figures, and would be surprised by new waves. I still remember finding Shane McMahon bca in there in his xpunk gear. One of the best moments ever.
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Post by Darkhawk on May 20, 2013 20:54:42 GMT -5
I freaking loved K-B Toys!! I remember that'd be the only reason why I'd like going to the mall. I found all my figures there and usually when Toys R Us didn't have anything good. I'd always go to K-B toys which was about 2 miles away and find what I'm looking for. Towards them going out of business I went to the mall every saturday and bought some TNA Marvel figures which were only like $5 bucks each, it was awesome. Now I hate going to the mall, there's nothing there just a bunch of clothing stores I don't bother buying from.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2013 21:13:29 GMT -5
I like others loved it It kinda makes me sad to think about it I loved to run in there and look at the stocked shelves overflowing with figures now at stores there's nothing. But I would see like 5 of each diva figure etc. a ton it's sad that it went outta business may I ask why?
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CM Hardy
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Post by CM Hardy on May 20, 2013 21:23:15 GMT -5
I freaking loved K-B Toys!! I remember that'd be the only reason why I'd like going to the mall. I found all my figures there and usually when Toys R Us didn't have anything good. I'd always go to K-B toys which was about 2 miles away and find what I'm looking for. Towards them going out of business I went to the mall every saturday and bought some TNA Marvel figures which were only like $5 bucks each, it was awesome. Now I hate going to the mall, there's nothing there just a bunch of clothing stores I don't bother buying from. Same here... oh how I miss K-B toys
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Post by Flair Forever on May 21, 2013 0:52:20 GMT -5
I like others loved it It kinda makes me sad to think about it I loved to run in there and look at the stocked shelves overflowing with figures now at stores there's nothing. But I would see like 5 of each diva figure etc. a ton it's sad that it went outta business may I ask why? Interesting story.... seems a company by the name of Bain Capital, and a certain man by the name of Mitt Romney had a hand in putting Kay Bee Toys out of business.... here's an article on it, quoted from timesunion.com - here's the link; blog.timesunion.com/berkshires/kb-toys-got-buried-mitt-romney-got-paid/1662/" One of the saddest stories of the changing Berkshire economy was the long, slow death of KB Toys — the Pittsfield toy company founded in 1922, which at its peak employed about 500 people in the city. The company finally went bell-up in 2009, after a decade of cuts and bankruptcies. But as the New York Times reported last weekend, it wasn’t bad news for everyone. Private equity firm Bain Capital managed to make a lot of money off the dying company, some of which was paid through a cleverly structured retirement package to former employee, Mitt Romney, who happened to be governor of Massachusetts. There couldn’t be a more clear example of the contradictions in this man, that at a time when he should have been focused on saving jobs, he was actually personally profiting from their disappearance. From the Times:
During his political career, Mr. Romney has promoted his experience as a businessman while deflecting criticism of layoffs caused by private equity deals by noting that he left Bain in 1999. But records and interviews show that in the years since, he has benefited from at least a few Bain deals that resulted in upheaval for companies, workers and communities. One lucrative deal for Bain involved KB Toys, a company based in Pittsfield, Mass., which one of the firm’s partnerships bought in 2000. Three years later, when Mr. Romney was the governor of Massachusetts, the company began closing stores and laying off thousands of employees. This much has come up before. In June 2007, before his last White House run, the Times also looked into the unsavory details of how Bain makes its money:
One transaction, involving the medical diagnostics company Dade Behring, took place in 1999 as Mr. Romney was leaving the firm, and the other, involving KB Toys, occurred about two years later. Bain and its co-investors extracted special payments of over $100 million from each company, enabling Bain to make a healthy profit even before re-selling the businesses — a practice known as ‘getting back your bait.’ Lenders say Bain is one of the firms that has taken the most in such payments, which companies usually make by taking on additional debt. Both Dade Behring and KB Toys soon suffered dips in their business. Unable to meet the burden of their debts, each filed for bankruptcy and laid off thousands of workers. Bain Capital spokesmen have said the company did nothing improper. Mr. Romney, who remains an investor in Bain Capital said he had not been involved in those decisions but acknowledged that such payments became part of the buyout business ”very early on.” ”It is one thing that if I had a chance to go back I would be more sensitive to,” Mr. Romney said. ”It is always a balance. Great care has got to be taken not to take a dividend or a distribution from a company that puts that company at risk.” He added that taking a big payment from a company that later failed ”would make me sick, sick at heart.” Now that four and a half years have passed, he’s probably had more than enough time to change his mind about that “sick at heart” business. And he needed that money, obviously, to continue his second career convincing us he is a leader and a “job creator.” So there you have it - KB Toys is gone because some investors bought it, milked it, then allowed it to go under/bankrupt - walking away with the cash. And one of those investors may or may not have been Mitt Romney...
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Rasslin.Bros
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Post by Rasslin.Bros on May 21, 2013 2:07:42 GMT -5
Great timing on this thread. I'm 28 years old and have money to blow on toys these days, but nothing around to buy. I'm from a relatively small town, but at one point our mall had 2 KB Toys stores. They always had different stock, so those legendary 3/$10 sales were glorious. WWF Hasbro, ToyBiz X-Men, Kenner Star Wars, I loaded up at that place. Toy hunting is basically Walmart or the internet for me these days, and it sucks.
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Post by poindizzle on May 21, 2013 5:18:22 GMT -5
Anybody from the Piedmont region of NC probably knows of Hanes Mall. They're the formerly cool mall that now just has overpriced clothing stores. Anyway, I always thought it was strange that they had 2 KB Toys. The way Hanes Mall is set up, is that there are two general mall sections divided in the middle by a JC Penny. One KB was all the way at the opposite end, and the other was initially just beyond JC Penny beside of a Radio Shack (It later moved to the exact opposite end of the mall in the years before closing, since that very end section has pro-rated rent. We all refer to that as the gypsy caravan as businesses come and go every few months down there.). I used to run from one end of the mall to the other to check for figures, since it always seemed like they had a lot of different stock. Must've been hell for scalpers to hoof it all the way across. The second location shut down probably about 1999 or so. I wonder, did anybody else ever have 2 KB's in their mall?
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JDP
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Post by JDP on May 21, 2013 5:40:44 GMT -5
The best toy store I've ever been to. Every month they always stocked up with the newest RA figures. Good times.
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Post by The Madness on May 21, 2013 7:23:53 GMT -5
I miss Kay Bee, but I also miss how Toys R Us used to be in the '80s. It's hard to imagine given how it is now, but before they remodeled in the mid-'90s and started sucking, they used to have long aisles that were stacked from floor to ceiling, with figures practically falling off the pegs.
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Post by poindizzle on May 21, 2013 8:44:20 GMT -5
I miss Kay Bee, but I also miss how Toys R Us used to be in the '80s. It's hard to imagine given how it is now, but before they remodeled in the mid-'90s and started sucking, they used to have long aisles that were stacked from floor to ceiling, with figures practically falling off the pegs. Even in the late 90's and early 2000's, before probably 2004 or so, they were still pretty decent. I was a Gundam fanatic in high school, and TRU used to have this huge section of the wall dedicated to it, with figures all the way out and falling off the pegs every time I went there. It seems like my getting my first job in 2004 coincided with there being no toys on shelves. "Hey I got money!" "Well, Daniel's got money, guess it's time to stop having what he wants!" Seriously, every time someone finds out I like something, it isn't made anymore.
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brochester
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Post by brochester on May 21, 2013 13:26:14 GMT -5
Yea I agree here. I loved KB Toys i'd make a trip from Beaufort, SC to Hilton Head just for KB Toys because I knew they always had what I needed. I miss KB toys.
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Post by Midnight-Metal-Master on May 21, 2013 14:56:24 GMT -5
Man Kay-Bee Toys was the BEST toy store that ever existed on this EARTH! I really hate they went out of business because they were 1,000xs better than Toys R Us to me. I never went to Kay-bee toys looking for something and not leaving with it. I remember in '96 when the jakks "WWF Superstars Series 1" came out, I went there and bought the whole series! They had about 10 of every Superstar. Kay-bee toys was the good ol' days.
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