So Long, Old Friend

Posted by Chris on 07/02/18 at 11:45 AM Category: Toys R Us

This is the actual store where I first found the Legacy Collection expanded universe wave.

I have an odd relationship with Toys R Us. It is not the nostalgic toy store of my childhood for the most part. That honor goes to regional chains such as Child World, Bradlees and Zayers, and the inimitable local store Spag's of Shrewsbury. All of those trademarks have long since gone to the retail happy hunting ground. The site of Spag's is now a Whole Foods. There is no greater indignity to one's childhood than that. Toys R Us was that unbearably far away store (half hour drive) that was only visited when all else failed (and that was a rarity).

My childhood ties to Toys R Us were almost exclusively through the commercials and its catalog which was a precursor of its doom. Look at it in the Toys R Us catalog, but buy it at Child World. Of those commercials, it was the video game focused ones that really stand out to me:

No, Toys R Us is two things to me. First, it's mostly the place where the nest of my adult collection was feathered. It's where I finally found the Toy Biz recalled Iceman. It's where I was buying an army of POTF2 AT-AT's for $20 a pop (after weeks of stalking). It's where I literally filled up a shopping cart with $2 Commtech Stormtroopers and holographic Leia R2-D2's (likewise after much stalking). It was the home of some of the most amazing exclusives in the modern line. Truly great exclusives like the mutli-packs filled with the more obscure characters. Honestly, it's those exclusives that I will miss the most.

The second thing Toys R Us was to me was a harsh spotlight on the state of our hobby. It was a place you could go to see an absolute glut of unsold Star Wars product from years past. It prompted me to pen this tongue-in-cheek article about mastering time travel. Most of our Toys R Us stores went out of this world with dozens of the same Rogue One line figures that couldn't be sold at 70% off.

I don't grieve for businesses that collapse as a consequence of terrible upper management. I feel bad for the employees for sure, but sometimes private equity needs to suffer a burn to learn that the stove is hot. Nevertheless, this is nothing I wanted to happen, and if this farewell notice in the window of the above-pictured store doesn't stir something in you, you have no soul.