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Sep 19, 2017 13:51
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trash
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Sep 19, 2017 13:51
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it's all trash
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Sep 19, 2017 13:51
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If you don't have memories of looking at an impossibly large and tantalizing wall of games safely tucked away behind store glass, in some twisted retail version of 6 year old Valhalla (aka spare Supermarket Freezer shelving), only to pull a paper slip with a giant price on it for the probably terrible game you're taking home,... well then I dont know what you would call a childhood.
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Sep 19, 2017 13:57
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JnnyThndrs posted:Yeah, I'm old and remember when TRU got big, it was because their only competition was small mom-n-pop toy stores and nobody could match their economies of scale and selection. Now that internet sales can undercut on one side and Target/Walmart on the other, there's no place for them. Basically, this. TRU was the only place you could go to get just about any toy or board game in the 80's and early 90's. The Lego aisle was amazing, and it's also where you could get your Nintendo stuff. Otherwise you were stuck with whatever your local grocery store had (nothing good). With how most grocery store chains have become more of an all-in-one store, you don't need a place that specializes like TRU did.
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Sep 19, 2017 14:01
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the old ceremony posted:it's all trash would you say... Endless Trash?
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Sep 19, 2017 14:23
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Goa Tse-tung posted:would you say... Endless Trash? I think it's more like kipple than trash
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Sep 19, 2017 14:26
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FilthyImp posted:If you don't have memories of looking at an impossibly large and tantalizing wall of games safely tucked away behind store glass, in some twisted retail version of 6 year old Valhalla (aka spare Supermarket Freezer shelving), only to pull a paper slip with a giant price on it for the probably terrible game you're taking home,... well then I dont know what you would call a childhood. This reminds me of buying a ColecoVision console in 1984 and then they discontinued it 6 months later. But I had the Star Wars arcade game cart which was pretty cool at the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouJr7v0f4Sc
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Sep 19, 2017 14:37
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I will always remember the period where my TRU did the paper slip thing where you had to pay for the game at the register and then go over to the Game Lockup where you handed the receipt and the paper to the clerk working that area. It was literally like a police lockup but for games.
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Sep 19, 2017 14:43
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Wasn't ToysRus able to lock down some exclusivity on certain products? I remember the only place you could buy those Elmo Dolls that were insanely popular was at TRU. I remember watching some 90's news footage of the free for all of women battering each other trying to scramble for one but I couldn't find anything on youtube. It was just a free for all of soccer moms in bad Christmas sweaters and poofy 90's hair throwing elbows and hangbags at each other over a 30 dollar doll.
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Sep 19, 2017 14:55
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FalloutGod posted:Wasn't ToysRus able to lock down some exclusivity on certain products? I remember the only place you could buy those Elmo Dolls that were insanely popular was at TRU. I remember watching some 90's news footage of the free for all of women battering each other trying to scramble for one but I couldn't find anything on youtube. It was just a free for all of soccer moms in bad Christmas sweaters and poofy 90's hair throwing elbows and hangbags at each other over a 30 dollar doll. Tickle Me Elmo was around 1996, TRU was probably just the most reliable place to get one.
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Sep 19, 2017 14:59
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FlamingLiberal posted:I will always remember the period where my TRU did the paper slip thing where you had to pay for the game at the register and then go over to the Game Lockup where you handed the receipt and the paper to the clerk working that area. It was literally like a police lockup but for games. Probably really helped kept shrinkage just down to employee theft. Back in like 1999 Toys R Us was the #2 retailer for video games software in the U.S. so there was a ton of volume going through that place.
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Sep 19, 2017 15:31
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Big stores seem to be the most vulnerable mostly because they sold the widest variety; both common and niche stuff. But now you can get the common stuff anywhere and the niche stuff more reliably on the internet. I can't wait for Amazon to open Australian warehouses, our price-gougeriffic local retailers deserve to die.
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Sep 19, 2017 16:23
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shadowvine118 posted:I don't have many memories of going to Toys R Us as a kid. Same, my town didn't get one until the mid-90s, and I was long-done with toys by then. I bought a couple SNES games from them but that's it.
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Sep 19, 2017 17:48
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JnnyThndrs posted:Yeah, I'm old and remember when TRU got big, it was because their only competition was small mom-n-pop toy stores and nobody could match their economies of scale and selection. Now that internet sales can undercut on one side and Target/Walmart on the other, there's no place for them. There was Children's Palace (aka Child World?), but it must have been mostly east coast and at least as far west as Indiana. That's where all my Kenner Star Wars stuff came from and then they went out of business due to the recession in the early 90s. Then, by the time they were gone Toys R Us had taken over and went there for video games. Kay-Bee was the worst and deserved to go out of business.
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Sep 19, 2017 20:40
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I’m trying to think of what great stores TRU killed and I’m mostly drawing a blank. Prior to TRU, department stores at least had better toy departments. So when you were dragged to the mall there would be a chance you’d get a toy at Sears or Rich’s. Otherwise all toy stores sucked rear end. Like however bad TRU was, KB Toys guaranteed you a worse selection of lovely plastic at a higher price. They must not have sold LEGO because when I think KB Toys I can almost smell the Megablocks.
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Sep 19, 2017 20:51
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Krispy Kareem posted:I’m trying to think of what great stores TRU killed and I’m mostly drawing a blank. Prior to TRU, department stores at least had better toy departments. So when you were dragged to the mall there would be a chance you’d get a toy at Sears or Rich’s. Otherwise all toy stores sucked rear end. Like however bad TRU was, KB Toys guaranteed you a worse selection of lovely plastic at a higher price. They must not have sold LEGO because when I think KB Toys I can almost smell the Megablocks. I can remember a chain (maybe is it was local?) in Kentucky called Thornberry's and they had reasonably sized locations in the malls plus a really big store that sold bikes. This was back when BMX and dirt bikes were THE thing so they did pretty well. I think KB toys eventually bought them out in the early 90s. Maybe its me but it seems like toys fizzled out once Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, and He Man lines became bloated and their respective afternoon cartoons went off the air.
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Sep 19, 2017 21:00
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Didn't TRU put out a giant toy catalog each Xmas? It was either that or SEARS, and I remember that was something my parents showed me when I was young (pre internet).
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Sep 19, 2017 21:31
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wins.
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I remember when I was a kid, the "fancy" toy store was FAO Schwarz. I remember going to the "big" mall, which according to Wiki is the 4th largest mall in America, was a special thing even though it realistically wasn't THAT far away. It just wasn't the local mall, which Wiki says is the 5th largest mall in America, but I don't recall ever having a toy store worth a drat (although it was across the street from the Toys R Us). But as a kid, that FAO Schwarz had all these videogame consoles hooked up with "demos" that would reset every 15 minutes or so. I got really good at the first level of Sonic. RIP FAO Schwarz, although now that I think about it, I don't think I ever bought a single thing there.
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Sep 19, 2017 21:37
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Lionel Kiddie City Turns You're Frown...Upside Down!
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Sep 19, 2017 21:44
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PassTheRemote posted:Didn't TRU put out a giant toy catalog each Xmas? It was either that or SEARS, and I remember that was something my parents showed me when I was young (pre internet). I do remember a few years that TRU would but out a huge newspaper insert. Sears and JC Penny also had massive toy sections in the back of the their "Wishbook".
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Sep 19, 2017 21:45
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The Sears Wishbook was loving amazing http://dinosaurdracula.com/features/the-1992-sears-wishbook/
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Sep 19, 2017 22:02
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When I was a kid Toys R Us was some sort of mythical place, the only stores at the time being on the other side of town, and my parents weren't going to spend a weekend trying an hour to a toy store. So my toy shops were the toy sections of Gold Circle, Woolworths, drug stores, and when we went to the mall, the toy sections at Lazarus, JC Penny, Sears, Service Merchandise, and the standard Kay Bee store.
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Sep 19, 2017 22:41
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AvesPKS posted:Lionel Kiddie City Turns You're Frown...Upside Down!
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Sep 19, 2017 23:15
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JnnyThndrs posted:Yeah, I'm old and remember when TRU got big, it was because their only competition was small mom-n-pop toy stores and nobody could match their economies of scale and selection. Now that internet sales can undercut on one side and Target/Walmart on the other, there's no place for them. There were other places, at least around me, like children's palace growing up. Didn't last long though. Oh and overpriced kb toys.
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Sep 19, 2017 23:57
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PassTheRemote posted:Didn't TRU put out a giant toy catalog each Xmas? It was either that or SEARS, and I remember that was something my parents showed me when I was young (pre internet). Sears definitely did
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Sep 20, 2017 00:01
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FlamingLiberal posted:I guess they officially entered bankruptcy this morning but it is not going to affect their operations Yet. But they're owned by private equity firms and will follow the same path all the others do. The PE loads them up with debt and lines their own pockets in the process, the executives actually running the company loot it for whatever they can as the ship sinks, and then it after it has been hollowed out from the inside, the skin and bones are sold off to satisfy creditors and whoever else at a significant discount.
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Sep 20, 2017 00:17
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ReidRansom posted:Yet. Yeah, including Bain Capital who are infamous for it
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Sep 20, 2017 00:39
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ReidRansom posted:Yet. 
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Sep 20, 2017 00:43
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I wouldn't blame any low level employee at this point for lining their own pockets while they still can in whatever way they can. When C-levels at failing companies still pay themselves bonuses and spout bullshit justifications for their inflated salaries while the whole enterprise is going tits up, the front line folk would be doing themselves a disservice not to follow that lead and sell the season's hot toys right out the back door to themselves to be flipped online or whatever.
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Sep 20, 2017 00:51
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GrandpaPants posted:I remember when I was a kid, the "fancy" toy store was FAO Schwarz. I remember going to the "big" mall, which according to Wiki is the 4th largest mall in America, was a special thing even though it realistically wasn't THAT far away. It just wasn't the local mall, which Wiki says is the 5th largest mall in America, but I don't recall ever having a toy store worth a drat (although it was across the street from the Toys R Us). But as a kid, that FAO Schwarz had all these videogame consoles hooked up with "demos" that would reset every 15 minutes or so. I got really good at the first level of Sonic. Of course, TRU has been selling FAO brand stuff since they went out of business. A steady, sobering reminder: "You're next."
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Sep 20, 2017 01:35
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brugroffil posted:There were other places, at least around me, like children's palace growing up. Didn't last long though. Oh and overpriced kb toys. I don't think we had Children's Palace on the west coast. There was a small chain called King Norman's in the Bay Area that had good quality stuff, but the selection was 'meh' and the prices high. TRU wiped 'em out in a few years. And KB just sucked, period. It was either the Sears Wish Book or Toys R Us when I was growing up. I liked Legos and holy poo poo, if you think they're pricey now, they were like plastic gold back then. I'd get all my 'birthday money' together and buy one set, it would be $20-$25. In 1973. Candy bars were 10 cents and gas was 45 cents a gallon, for comparison's sake.
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Sep 20, 2017 03:27
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Video game prices are cheap these days by comparison, too. I'm pretty sure Nintendo and Sega cartridges cost $49.99 back in the early 90's. And I definitely remember the wall of paper slips with yellow price tags at toys r us.
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Sep 20, 2017 03:55
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We got our Switch the week after launch from Toys R Us. We were able to stroll in one hour after opening time on a Sunday and just pick it up off the shelf. No queues, no drama. If they're so out of the public thought that we were able to do that that probably speaks volumes to the fate that's in store for them It was the red and blue one as well (though they did also have the grey one).
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Sep 20, 2017 07:31
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Mammal Sauce posted:There was Children's Palace (aka Child World?), but it must have been mostly east coast and at least as far west as Indiana. Bought an NES from a children's palace in Kansas City around 1990-1991 or so. I think it used the same "pay for ticket, bring ticket to employee in cage to get item" system Circa 1996-1999, I remember going though the same system many times at TRU for N64 games. The games were $59.99
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Sep 20, 2017 16:14
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TRU only exists for grandma's to buy Christmas and birthday presents at. When every kid has a phone and tablet at 8 years old there is no need for them to want to go to the toy store when they all have e Amazon prime accounts
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Sep 20, 2017 16:23
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crayon85 posted:We got our Switch the week after launch from Toys R Us. Reminds me of the day Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out. Sold out in every location you'd think to look for video games. The one place that had plenty of copies that didn't already have them reserved was KB Toys. Walked right up to the counter and got my copy no problem. Wonder what happened to them... Wikipedia posted:The K·B Toys brand and related intangible assets were sold by Streambank LLC to Toys "R" Us on September 4, 2009, for a reported $2.1 million. D'oh!
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Sep 20, 2017 16:51
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$2.1M, ouch. Someone wanted that off their books pretty badly.
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Sep 20, 2017 16:52
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KB Toys was one of the big cited examples of how a big 'vulture capital' firm (Bain Capital, formerly run by Mitt Romney) basically ran the toy company into the ground but turned a profit because of their financial dealings
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Sep 20, 2017 17:13
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brugroffil posted:Video game prices are cheap these days by comparison, too. I'm pretty sure Nintendo and Sega cartridges cost $49.99 back in the early 90's. And I definitely remember the wall of paper slips with yellow price tags at toys r us. Because you had to pay for the price of the cartridge itself, which were often custom-made and had things like math and sound coprocessors. Nintendo's cartridges nowadays are physically the same and consist of the shittiest Flash memory they could find that would still run the game.
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Sep 20, 2017 17:20
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