the composer is acting up. I hope this makes sense because editing is making it worse..
Toys R Us always had the largest amount and selection of the latest toys. The prices were slightly higher higher across the board. The Lionel there as I recall was never anything other than starter sets , extra track in blister packs, and maybe a crossing gate, whistle shack, etc....but usually most were not electric versions of those either. Both were there, but Tyco trains were pushed in MPC days not Lionel. At one time, every dept store seemed to have a service dept. including TRU (good or bad with trains is another issue), but they began phasing them out in the late 60s and few if any remained by the end of the 70s. I visted quite a few Toys R Us I suppose. A little over a dozen from tbree states ...nope four.
One west of Lake Mich. somewhere. Some small ramdom mall the Toys R Us was keeping alive for other small buisnesses. If that closed, I bet that and a few other would be at similar risk too. (gorgeous little mall inside...just empty for two weeks, maybe ten cars all day, most went to a doctors office or Toys R Us...it was spooky. )
Store condition was almost always a middele and/or lower management issue or bad neighborhood issue. Theft a side issue, some stores and it's wares are treated with more respect by customers than another 5 miles away, despite having great managers at both stores. Employees are usually drawn from the same local population as the shopper and will often refllect that with the same atttitude about careing in general. Condition is near luck of the draw anymore. When I was young, if I or my pals grabbed a toy to look at or show to elders to suggest they try, or plead for it myself, or just plain discuss it, I had better put it back right as possible after because everyone knows that effects the bottom line and the next customer....today we toss meat into the flour isle to rot and contaminate without thought except that the didn't have to walk two isles....(come on, dump it on the cashier at least)....retail sidetrack, but the most recent act of stupidity I thought of..... Toys R Us at Christmas was a madhouse even in the best areas. ... I watched a remodel get destroyed in a single year but the one down the road, actually in a worse area was fine.
It's the first place I ever saw "kids on leash" , lol. It is also where I saw my first Polar Express and Harry Potter stuff. .....Found the large Star Wars figures there my pal had sought out for bookends...Cabbage Patch/ Beanie Babies......many "traditional" plastic models...hobby rocketry supplies... small Star Wars figures (the first toys I bought to display. Toys R Us had them all, nobody else did. Luke R2 and the landspeeder, C3P0, Ben, Jawa, and a "Tuscan Raider" came along asap. I used my knowledge of PRR tuscan to mess with local "experts" (ie super foamers) wildly theorizing where the name might tie in; wind um up & point at cliff, lol.
..Cox engine supplies...replacement slot cars...some special Six Million Dollar Man my brother wanted more than life itself (stopped eating & drinking, hospital)....Holly Hobby... Evil Knevel trike.. Mrs Beasley, and G.I. Joe with the full beard and Knug-fu grip! That's just what I recall that was always there that others couldn't get any of...including one of the best Sears Toys in the country.
....but the prices meant it was often the last stop for a family too, so I imagine they aren't going to have an easy time of it with a need to be more competitive price wise. The higher price stigma has run too long for fast change in public opinion.(imo)
at a local store, I noticed the number of isles hasn't changed, but the type variety has dropped to basics, of vehicles, & figures for both sexes and deliberately androgynous as could be managed unless it was reality style licenceing, which is how the figures & vehicles are seperated there. E.G. All the cars used to be grouped together inwheelse or rectangular sections with brands stacked here and there; basically columns of various widths.
The new layout for over half an isle was tv/media marketing by show vertically in thin columns. I.e, it created a matrix/graph chart out.of the display: vertical rows by media name; horiz. rows by the famous/star figures only. under that all the vehicles at the same height , or accessories if there wasn't a car, but never accessories higher than a car is one Vert. column, figures of "extra players" and "dumb" accesories at the bottom, no shelf spot. At $5-10ea averaged Id say whats being marketed hardest is $ per square inch, they could give a crap what we would like to see.
