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Post by zambot3 on Mar 17, 2018 5:01:02 GMT -5
Kind of sad to hear as it was a big part of my toy collecting at one point in my life. Didn’t really go in the 80s but more early 90s. Mostly a video game place for me earlier. First thing bought for me there was a Sega Master System and then the Super Nintendo, prepaying for the Nintendo 64. I remember their system of having tickets you took from the display, paying for it at a cashier and taking the paid receipt to another window. They still sort of do this but differently.
Didn’t get to go at the height of 80s toys. But in the 90s and through the years, for action figures bought a bunch of Toy Biz Marvel stuff, the Trendmasters Voltron, Transformers Reissues to Transformers Masterpiece.
I think I saw more adults buying these kinds things than kids toward the end. It was nice to know it was always around even when I stopped collecting American toys altogether and now they are all eventually closing. Sad.
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Post by actionawesome on Mar 17, 2018 8:52:32 GMT -5
I am not surprised honestly. I could never find anything I was looking for there. The exclusives we're never on the floor and never seemed to hit them. Stories of employee scalpers were rampant. The prices were also higher than could be found elsewhere.
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Post by greengetterguy on Mar 17, 2018 12:01:41 GMT -5
Yeah, i remember being there but i dont really have lot of fond memories.
One of the first place i visited when i moved to the states somefourdecades ago. The first thing Bought there was what i think was a diecast spiderman....a friend broke its hip joint almost immediately.
I think i also bought few diecast micronauts and along with original G.I.Joes action figures, original starwars action figures and vehicles.
The last thing i bought was few hasbro Movie Transformers when i was still a working man. Never went back when i started collecting gokin. Which is
well over a decade...
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Post by supergetterv on Mar 17, 2018 21:55:43 GMT -5
Best part or toys r us is hunting them exclusive Masterpiece Transformers. I remember when Masterpiece Soundwave got released, me and a friend went hunting for it for weeks, calling every toys r us in the Bay Area. After two straight weeks of disappointment, we finally got it. The day we found it, I remember we started at the Emeryville store, then we drove over to the Dublin store, then to Hayward. The manager at the Hayward store help us called around after we told them we been to two other stores already that morning. After his calls, he told us that two in stock at the San Mateo store and 3 at the Pinole store. We asked for the Pinole store to hold two for us and the manager said we have 30 minutes to come claim it, otherwise, he is selling to any customer that comes in asking for it. I remember the drive that morning to the Pinole store. There was a bit of traffic going from Hayward to Pinole and my buddy, who is a much bigger Soundwave fan than me, he was literally sweating. We got their on time and We even got to use my 20%off $100 coupon.
Sometime part of the fun in collecting toys is to actually go out to the stores and try to find these hard to find toys. My 4 year old son, he was 3 at the time, Prior to the Cars 3 movie releases, there was so much hype with the Jackson Storm die cast car. When the first wave came out, that $5 car was selling on the secondary market for over $25. During the worldwide Cars 3 toys releases, we went to all the retail stores looking for the Jackson Storm car. It took me weeks of going to Target, Walmart and ToysRUs’s before finally seeing one on the pegs. My son was so thrilled to have it.
I’m going to miss these stores when they are gone. Just not the same thrill clicking around and waiting for package. Still love that instant gratification of paying for something and having in hand.
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Post by greengetterguy on Mar 17, 2018 22:58:14 GMT -5
Ah, the toy run...
Especially with your son must have been magical.
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Post by actionawesome on Mar 18, 2018 0:03:18 GMT -5
The Masterpiece Soundwave was one of my greatest disappointments. I could need find one
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Post by supergetterv on Mar 18, 2018 0:53:01 GMT -5
Ah, the toy run... Especially with your son must have been magical. Magical moment was when he first realized what toys stores were. In the beginning, it was just going to the store. But one day it clicked and he realized that he get to go there and play and sample all of the toys there. After that, he always want to go to the stores. He knows that he can’t get everything but he get to touch and try things out. That’s another thing that will be missed. Ordering things online, you don’t get to pick it up look at it up close and sample the sounds and light features etc... |
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Post by krimpov on Mar 18, 2018 11:48:29 GMT -5
They may be sold to another company, but their Canadian stores aren't closing, yet. Unlike the US branch, they're said to be profitable.
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Post by mpchi on Mar 18, 2018 13:13:39 GMT -5
Fond and not so fond memories in the mix. Masterpiece MP10 Prime my wife hunt for me there (same deal, multiple calls and stores visits, got the last one at the time) is one of my most memorable Christmas gift. Then the TFs and even earlier MS in Action Gundam figures like more than a decade ago. But the feeling of driving around but left empty-handed (rarely have the new stuff I look for on time, if at all) eventually got me stopped doing that, especially when I lost interested in the cheaper TFs. I do visit TRU once in a while, just window shopping or gift shopping. It will be missed, even though it barely plays a role in my collecting hobby anymore.
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Post by coldiron on Mar 18, 2018 18:04:03 GMT -5
In related news, KB toys just announced they may be returning with a goal to be ready for Christmas shopping.
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Post by chogo on Mar 19, 2018 13:49:13 GMT -5
TRU usually empty besides weekends. Most kids these days don't care for action figures like when we grew up back then. You go to toy aisles it mostly adults looking for Marvel, Star Wars and Hot Wheels.
I mean $20 dollar for plastic figure its expensive buy for parents. I stopped going on there myself once I got back into super robot collecting again. Sucks to see it go like music stores but everything is online and
we don't have drive around wasting gas looking for figures anymore.
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Post by zambot3 on Mar 21, 2018 23:00:08 GMT -5
You could probably get your action figure and video game needs at any Target shop these days. Soon the adults buying the same character as a figure with different features over and over again will stop. Guess companies will have to find new buyers for their figures. It just got too adult and expensive. You can purchase loose vintage figures on eBay for almost the price of some of these newer ones if nostalgia is what the adults are looking for.
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Post by Coletron on Mar 30, 2018 23:16:54 GMT -5
I went to Toys R Us for the last time today. Every year, for my son's birthday, I take him for a shopping spree. Since this was the grand finale, I may have gone overboard. Most things were 5% to 10% off... whoopie. It was enough to pack the store and lead to long lines. I spent a couple hundred bucks on Legos, snagged some Ben 10 stuff, found a small Beast Man, and then... in one isle - Voltrons, Transformers, and Pacific Rim Robot Spirits FILLED the shelves. It was like they'd finally gotten it right. I bought every Jaeger they had. For one moment, it was 1985 again. Toys R Us will be missed.
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Post by glane21 on Apr 1, 2018 22:31:04 GMT -5
If you actually find something worth buying at your TRU, here is how to get an additional 25% off your purchase. Before you check out, go to cardcash.com where they have $10 TRU e-gift cards clearanced at 25% off. Buy just enough to cover your purchase or just under. You’ll get an email with the card(s) attached as PDF in about 2 minutes. Open the PDF and cashier will scan it at checkout. Boom, you just saved 35% rather than the 10%. I did this today.
Their gift cards are being honored through 4/21. But don’t buy one unless you are in store with something to buy and will use it right away. Don’t want to get stuck with any unused balance.
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Post by mecha-mania on Apr 2, 2018 9:09:45 GMT -5
If the TRU in my country closes, i dont think any of you will miss it. It is mainly stock with kiddy toy’s and very little collectibes let alone exclusives. Glad that many of you have good memories of TRU in your country  |
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