I've been doing a lot of reminscing about one of my favorite childhood stores, Toys "R" Us. I also miss the way the store used to be compared to the heap it is now (ever since around 2000).

I'd be interested if you could tell me about your local Toys "R" Us stores, stories and if your store still looks like this: http://www.henrybros.com/images/toysrus.JPG (the original "retro" looking store)

I'm also convinced there are more TRUs out there that are still old looking! So tell me about yours!

I loved Toys "R" Us when I was a kid.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were in their prime during my early childhood, so I could go there and find a whole aisle dedicated to them.  Sadly, things have gone down and my Toys "R" Us is closing.

The TRU near Boston still kinda looks like the pic you showed, at least from the outside.  But it's rather a mess inside!  My guess is that with internet shopping, buying toys from a specialty store is not what it used to be.  Personally though, I miss REAL toy stores, which were locally owned and had all kinds of cool (non-video game) toys
Maybe that's just me.

cheers,

-avatar!

The Toys-R-US nearest me still looks like that. I haven't been to that in a long time, though, so I can't say what it looks like inside.

I heard that there are lots of Toys-R-U stores closing, and you can get some great deals at the closing branches.

I hated TRU. They charged me $74.99 for FFIII (as it was called back then) and half of the time, the games I wanted were all sold out. It was like one gigantic race to get what I wanted.

We didn't have a Toys R Us here in time for my childhood. Which doesn't really matter anyway because it really seems to suck when it comes to having stock in time for their advertised sales. I guess I have to bow to the reality that stores' Sunday sales actually start on Tuesday because that's when they finally get their stock in.

!!

You must tell me which one it is! I live near Mass (been to the Holyoke Mall and Springfield ones) and I'm usually going through there. Can you tell me (exactly) which one it is if it's not too much hassle?

Don't know if this helps, but here's the list of stores closing down in MA (courtesy of CAG):

MA (4)
200 Alewife Brook Pkwy. (Cambridge) (50%-70%)
14 Allstate Road (Dorchester)
50 Ingleside Mall (Holyoke) (30%-50%)
630 Fellsway West (Medford)

Say, do any of the stores still use the "ticket system" for item purchases?  My local one doesn't anymore, apparently.  As a child, I remember those days when mom and dad wouldn't buy that video game for me or my brother, but it still felt sorta special to nab one of those tickets, bring it home, and stare longingly at it.

Then I'd take the ticket, and stick it up on the fridge with a magnet to drop them a hint.  Like, BUY ME!  PLEASE!

^

GAH! The blasted ticket system! The trauma is all coming back...

I always hated Toys R Us, mostly because of the god awful ticket system.  First you had to wait in line to buy the ticket, then wait in line AGAIN to actually get your game.  The only good memories of Toys R Us I have are playing SF2 there.  I remember repeatedly unplugging and replugging the display while trying to get the Capcom code to work so two people could pick the same character.  I also got SimCity (SNES) for $5 or $10 new when they were closing out SNES games in the late 90s.

The Toys R Us in my area is closing, and I say good riddance.  I went in to see if they had any good game deals, but it looked like they shipped all the good games out and dumped other stores' overstock in this store since they had about 100 copies of three of four different titles for each system.  The only actual deal they had was the Game Boy Micro for $69.99, but that's still a rip off if you ask me.

Well, I can't promise you I'm right, but I believe the one I'm thinking is in Alewife (which is part of Cambridge).  You should give them a call and ask them (not sure how you'd phrase the question, but you can think of something) just to make sure   Actually I might be going there soon and can check for you.

cheers,

-avatar!

For nostalgia, if anyone would be interested in an Authentic blue Toys "R" Us Employee Polo Shirt, complete with the Giraffe on the back (from 1995 or 96), I recently found the shirt in a box from when I briefly worked at a TRU for a summer before starting college.

Any reasonable price considered, just drop me an email.

All the stores in Calgary have gone for a more conservative, modern approach. To be honest, I wouldn't care either way, just as long as they start selling Gundam action figures again. It's lost steam in Canada, so the toys are hard to find.

And for the record, Gerry the Giraffe is still the mascot down here . .

Thanks a lot, avatar!

Although all my friends think I'm a little out there, I've been obsessed lately about finding old-looking Toys R Us stores in light of the 87 stores closing across the country. I suspect the older (historic) models of the store will be soon withering into oblivion so I've been trying to visit more obscure stores where they might have never gotten to revamping older buildings. I spite never taking photos of one near me that [finally] recently renovated just last year (in a lower-income area).

About the ticket system Toys R Us used to have: I loved it. I think it's what made Toys R Us so magical. What was more amazing about having hundreds of games at your tips with only a ticket in your immediate reach (besides the money factor there was no salespeople to hassle a la Walmart, Kmart, etc.).

The suspense killed and then when you finally got your game, it was unadultered joy. I remember back in (maybe) 2001, they still had it. I would just buy some older clearance games just to utilize the ticket system.

The TOY R US on Allstate Road (South Bay) is closing and is one of the older modeled buidlings....50% all games...

I hate that place though... When I was little, we bought a supposedly brand new Battletoads game, that didn't work

so we exchanged it for another - that also didn't work

Years later, we bought another game, Donkey Kong, this was supposed to be new and sealed game taken from storage, and yet, it had a saved game in it!

That was the last time I ever bought a console game from TRU ever again...

The ones over here in the UK are pretty big, they dont really have small local ones, they are normally huge and are in shopping centres outside the cities and places like that, they do have the same dreadful ticket system here but they do generally look like the pic you showed - the sign is pretty much the same and we too have that giraffe thing on the signs. It was a pretty magical place as a child for me too - had the biggest lego section ever!

LEGOS!!!! 

Man I had a ton of cool lego sets, big towns with policestations and car shops, a massive flying spaceship that could split into 3 smaller crafts, forest hideouts and pirate coves....

WTF is up with the "new" legos like Bionicle and crap, where you don't even get to build the stuff anymore, it's basically all premolded figures and stuff that's already put together??  It seems like the fun is gone with current legos....

I had an *enormous* Lego collection while I was a kid.  Well... still do, assuming my parents haven't thrown them out or anything while I've been in Japan.  I wouldn't say that Legos these days are really all that different... you're just seeing mostly the branch-off products.  If you look at all of what they're offering, there ARE still normal Legos.  Although... the new Castle themed stuff pretty much blows compared to the old sets.

I had tonnes as well - but I was the type that never followed the instructions and just used any old bits to make my buildings - I used to combine the old style castles with bits of spaceships and other strange things, was the joy of lego really, it could literally be anything - I had one big box full of the stuff and used to jus go crazy and build whatever I wanted.