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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2018 18:16:04 GMT -5
I’m from the UK and the question crossed my mind. I can only think of Toys R Us and KB Toys - surely there were/have been more? In the UK we currently have four.
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Post by LA Times on Sept 29, 2018 18:55:02 GMT -5
Child World-defunct since 1992
Lionel Kiddie City-defunct since 1993
FAO Schwarz-closed in 2015, planning a comeback
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Post by Nivro™ on Sept 29, 2018 19:19:15 GMT -5
K&K Toys were around before KB bought them out in the 90s I believe.
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Post by theMOESIAH on Sept 29, 2018 20:49:35 GMT -5
Was Children's Palace a national chain? I LOVED that place when I was really young. The outside looked like a castle and in the inside it was like a warehouse full of happy. Then TRU cane to town and put them out of business in short order.
About 12 or so years later I saw a children's clothing store in a mall with the same name but I don't know if they're around anymore either.
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Post by Grumpyoldman on Sept 30, 2018 13:51:35 GMT -5
Child World-defunct since 1992 Lionel Kiddie City-defunct since 1993 FAO Schwarz-closed in 2015, planning a comeback Now I have that damn Child World theme stuck in my head. |
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Post by punksnotdead on Oct 23, 2018 10:33:08 GMT -5
Was Children's Palace a national chain? I LOVED that place when I was really young. The outside looked like a castle and in the inside it was like a warehouse full of happy. Then TRU cane to town and put them out of business in short order. About 12 or so years later I saw a children's clothing store in a mall with the same name but I don't know if they're around anymore either. Child World owned Children's Palace. So it was a national chain but under both names. I had a Children's Palace where I'm from. I remember it vividly because of the castle. I remember getting a bunch of the Kenner Swamp Thing figures from there because they were on clearance. I got the swamp playlset there that was made out of the Star Wars Dagobah mold. My store was eventually replaced by an Office Depot and then it became a Christian book store later on. Any time I visit my parents and we drive by the location I get a sad feeling. It shared a parking lot with Venture. So it's like a double sad childhood area for me. Outside of TRU and KB, I remember buying plenty of figures at Suncoast/Sam Goody/EB Games in the late 90s/early 2000s. I was using ebay by 98. So tack on Target, Walmart, Kmart, and the comic book store, and there wasn't a shortage of places. |
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Post by "The Visionary" Eldniw on Oct 23, 2018 10:41:21 GMT -5
K&K Toys were around before KB bought them out in the 90s I believe. That's the one I came here to say. I remember them and K-B competing pretty hard in the early 90s. There was one of each in both malls in Delaware, Dover and Christiana. |
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Post by JC Motors on Oct 25, 2018 18:07:49 GMT -5
KB Toys comes to mind.
There's also the temp/seasonal toy store owned by Spencer Gifts called ToyZam
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Post by Mongo Bears on Oct 26, 2018 12:56:56 GMT -5
I remember going to childworld.
I got a lot of my toys at zayres/ames, caldor and Bradlees
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Post by rowdy1971 on Nov 13, 2018 17:09:34 GMT -5
I met Mr. Perfect at a signing in "Child World". Other than that, I never really went there. It was always so messy.
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LuisTX
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Post by LuisTX on Nov 14, 2018 11:23:10 GMT -5
The only chains I knew of are one of the ones everyone else has posted here, KB Toys and Toys R Us was all I ever knew living in Texas. As for now, I don't think any "chains" exist anymore. You might find some local places with multiple locations, but an actual chain of stores like what TRU and KB used to be, I think that was it.
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doctorwhofan
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Post by doctorwhofan on Jan 20, 2019 1:48:38 GMT -5
I had a toy store that was a toy outlet called Toy Liquidators that was in Gilroy that every time my father went to Gilroy for a pest control job Mom and I would go to Toy Liquidators and buy me most of my toys there and then Toy Liquidators turned into a KB Toys Outlet and then closed for good. Toy Liquidators was one of the biggest toy store chains in the world and you probably had one of these stores in your outlet mall. Then in Salinas we had KB Toys and Toys "R" Us in the same mall and surprisingly the building that Toys "R" Us used to have still says Toys "R" Us but remains empty. Santa Cruz also had Toys "R" Us and when I used to live in the country we would go to that Toys "R" Us to buy most of my Barbie Dolls and video games there. Then we had Kiddie World which was a toy chain based in San Jose but had a store right across from Capitola Mall and it was alright but it mainly sold educational toys rather than action figures and dolls. It's really a surprise that toy stores have disappeared and in a world of stores such as Walmart Target Kmart Big Lots Costco and Fred Meyer becoming toy kings I think we will see a new breed of mail order toy catalogues making it's marks in the world in the near future. I have heard of FAO Schwarz making a comeback and I believe that they have partnered with Kohl's and Macy's to sell their toys during the Christmas season and they have the most wonderful stuffed animals in the world and I have two FAO Schwarz stuffed animals which are a leopard and a tiger cub and are very soft and huggable and well made too so I think FAO Schwarz selling their toys in Macy's and Kohl's during Christmas time is a smart idea indeed
Doctorwhofan
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doctorwhofan
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Post by doctorwhofan on Jan 21, 2019 2:44:29 GMT -5
Another toy store that was popular was Karl's Toys and Karl's Toys was like Kay-Bee Toys and sold toys at cheap prices and were featured inside malls. The Eastridge Mall in San Jose had a Karl's Toys and I mainly bought books there. But then Karl's Toys went out of business in the 90's but it was a nice toy store
Do you remember visiting Karl's Toys?
Doctorwhofan
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Post by LaParka on Jan 21, 2019 7:34:04 GMT -5
Playworld not sure if it was a regional chain but during the Hasbro days they were updated regulary never skipping waves.
Lionel Kiddie city became TRU in my area
KB Toys
Child World
There might be others but they weren't in my area. Even the dept stores Caldor, Bradlees, K-Mart were good locations to get stuff as well.
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Post by Jack Specific on Jan 21, 2019 8:28:01 GMT -5
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doctorwhofan
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Post by doctorwhofan on Jan 26, 2019 1:47:28 GMT -5
When it comes down to it next to retail chains the toy stores had been the lone survivors of stores because there is nothing better than seeing a child smile than a trip to a toy store and by letting the child pick whichever toy he/she wanted was like a dream come true. But in the 80's and 90's the toy store wars had begun and for a time Kay-Bee Toys was the second biggest toy store chain next to Toys "R" Us and you could never walk into a mall without seeing a Kay-Bee Toys store around the corner and when you get the general picture Kay-Bee Toys sold toys at cheaper prices and had decent clearance sales from time to time. Toys "R" Us was known as the low price leader and claimed that you found a toy like a WWE wrestling figure in another store ad you could bring the ad to them and they would try the best to make a deal and sell you the toy for a cheaper prince and it was a great invention that no other store did before and in the 90's Toys "R" Us would still be toy store king by promising shoppers with a banner on their buildings "We Will Not Be Undersold" and it was a success. But in my mind I think the main reason why Toys "R" Us closed it's doors for good and closed all stores was because they had opened too many stores in big cities and they had planned to focus on expanding their stores to smaller cities. Take for example in the Central Coast Salinas had one Toys "R" Us only until Santa Cruz opened their Toys "R" Us and then they kept opening stores in the Bay Area but I also think by having the Toys "R" Us Express stores in malls was a good idea but it failed. I vaguely remember Children's Palace because my godfather bought some of my toys from there and would mail them to me and when Child World /Children's Palace went broke in the 90's it was a surprise because Child World /Children's Palace was a great toy store that sold toys at good prices. Now with the relaunch of FAO Schwarz selling their toys in Macy's and Kohl's during the holiday season I think FAO Schwarz will open stores in malls and become huge again
Doctorwhofan
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Post by LA Times on Jan 27, 2019 19:26:23 GMT -5
When it comes down to it next to retail chains the toy stores had been the lone survivors of stores because there is nothing better than seeing a child smile than a trip to a toy store and by letting the child pick whichever toy he/she wanted was like a dream come true. But in the 80's and 90's the toy store wars had begun and for a time Kay-Bee Toys was the second biggest toy store chain next to Toys "R" Us and you could never walk into a mall without seeing a Kay-Bee Toys store around the corner and when you get the general picture Kay-Bee Toys sold toys at cheaper prices and had decent clearance sales from time to time. Toys "R" Us was known as the low price leader and claimed that you found a toy like a WWE wrestling figure in another store ad you could bring the ad to them and they would try the best to make a deal and sell you the toy for a cheaper prince and it was a great invention that no other store did before and in the 90's Toys "R" Us would still be toy store king by promising shoppers with a banner on their buildings "We Will Not Be Undersold" and it was a success. But in my mind I think the main reason why Toys "R" Us closed it's doors for good and closed all stores was because they had opened too many stores in big cities and they had planned to focus on expanding their stores to smaller cities. Take for example in the Central Coast Salinas had one Toys "R" Us only until Santa Cruz opened their Toys "R" Us and then they kept opening stores in the Bay Area but I also think by having the Toys "R" Us Express stores in malls was a good idea but it failed. I vaguely remember Children's Palace because my godfather bought some of my toys from there and would mail them to me and when Child World /Children's Palace went broke in the 90's it was a surprise because Child World /Children's Palace was a great toy store that sold toys at good prices. Now with the relaunch of FAO Schwarz selling their toys in Macy's and Kohl's during the holiday season I think FAO Schwarz will open stores in malls and become huge again Doctorwhofan Thats not why TRU closed its doors. And how do you know so much about defunct toy store chains from 20+ years ago? |
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Post by Lorenzo Alcazar on Jan 28, 2019 10:23:49 GMT -5
I miss KB and TRU. It's not as fun going to Target and Walmart.
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doctorwhofan
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Post by doctorwhofan on Jan 29, 2019 0:09:05 GMT -5
When it comes down to it next to retail chains the toy stores had been the lone survivors of stores because there is nothing better than seeing a child smile than a trip to a toy store and by letting the child pick whichever toy he/she wanted was like a dream come true. But in the 80's and 90's the toy store wars had begun and for a time Kay-Bee Toys was the second biggest toy store chain next to Toys "R" Us and you could never walk into a mall without seeing a Kay-Bee Toys store around the corner and when you get the general picture Kay-Bee Toys sold toys at cheaper prices and had decent clearance sales from time to time. Toys "R" Us was known as the low price leader and claimed that you found a toy like a WWE wrestling figure in another store ad you could bring the ad to them and they would try the best to make a deal and sell you the toy for a cheaper prince and it was a great invention that no other store did before and in the 90's Toys "R" Us would still be toy store king by promising shoppers with a banner on their buildings "We Will Not Be Undersold" and it was a success. But in my mind I think the main reason why Toys "R" Us closed it's doors for good and closed all stores was because they had opened too many stores in big cities and they had planned to focus on expanding their stores to smaller cities. Take for example in the Central Coast Salinas had one Toys "R" Us only until Santa Cruz opened their Toys "R" Us and then they kept opening stores in the Bay Area but I also think by having the Toys "R" Us Express stores in malls was a good idea but it failed. I vaguely remember Children's Palace because my godfather bought some of my toys from there and would mail them to me and when Child World /Children's Palace went broke in the 90's it was a surprise because Child World /Children's Palace was a great toy store that sold toys at good prices. Now with the relaunch of FAO Schwarz selling their toys in Macy's and Kohl's during the holiday season I think FAO Schwarz will open stores in malls and become huge again Doctorwhofan Thats not why TRU closed its doors. And how do you know so much about defunct toy store chains from 20+ years ago? I know so much about defunct stores because I happen to be a fan of stores and learning so much about the history of stores because my Mom and I love to shop a lot. I used to shop KB Toys a lot when they would have good clearance sales and good deals on any toys like Barbie dolls and action figures and board games. But something my mom told me long ago was that the founder of MGA Toys wanted to buy Toys "R" Us and save it from bankruptcy and so I want to know if you had heard that story? Doctorwhofan |
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Post by The-Rock on Feb 25, 2019 23:53:30 GMT -5
When it comes down to it next to retail chains the toy stores had been the lone survivors of stores because there is nothing better than seeing a child smile than a trip to a toy store and by letting the child pick whichever toy he/she wanted was like a dream come true. But in the 80's and 90's the toy store wars had begun and for a time Kay-Bee Toys was the second biggest toy store chain next to Toys "R" Us and you could never walk into a mall without seeing a Kay-Bee Toys store around the corner and when you get the general picture Kay-Bee Toys sold toys at cheaper prices and had decent clearance sales from time to time. Toys "R" Us was known as the low price leader and claimed that you found a toy like a WWE wrestling figure in another store ad you could bring the ad to them and they would try the best to make a deal and sell you the toy for a cheaper prince and it was a great invention that no other store did before and in the 90's Toys "R" Us would still be toy store king by promising shoppers with a banner on their buildings "We Will Not Be Undersold" and it was a success. But in my mind I think the main reason why Toys "R" Us closed it's doors for good and closed all stores was because they had opened too many stores in big cities and they had planned to focus on expanding their stores to smaller cities. Take for example in the Central Coast Salinas had one Toys "R" Us only until Santa Cruz opened their Toys "R" Us and then they kept opening stores in the Bay Area but I also think by having the Toys "R" Us Express stores in malls was a good idea but it failed. I vaguely remember Children's Palace because my godfather bought some of my toys from there and would mail them to me and when Child World /Children's Palace went broke in the 90's it was a surprise because Child World /Children's Palace was a great toy store that sold toys at good prices. Now with the relaunch of FAO Schwarz selling their toys in Macy's and Kohl's during the holiday season I think FAO Schwarz will open stores in malls and become huge again Doctorwhofan Thats not why TRU closed its doors. And how do you know so much about defunct toy store chains from 20+ years ago? ToysRUs closed because of a variety of factors, like KB Toys, it had financial problems dating back almost 2 decades. However, the recession of the late 00s coupled with the rise of online shopping was ultimately too much to overcome. Also ToysRus only closed in the US. FAO Schwarz has continued to operate for a while, i think Macys or ToysRUS bought their IP a long time ago. It was always a high end retailer, unlikely that it would make a mainstream, widespread come back. Someone in the thread commented on the concept of KB Toys and I think it was off base, KB's business model was to sell discontinued/heavily discounted toys and then sell new stuff at a higher price. I may be wrong, but I think a cornerstone of KB's business model was also to offer volume discounts - for instance buy 3 WWE figures get 1 free, but the 3 WWE figures would be priced at what it cost to get 4-5 at another store. |
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