Unfortunitely, I didn't experience most of the good stores until the twilight of their existances (Circuit City, KB Toys, Babbage/Software Etc/EB Games). Didn't live near a mall until early/mid 2000's and by then the shopping experience was shit cause the place was full of overpriced clothing stores for the upper-middle class/rich folk...
closest thing to an old school memory I have with any of these is the Christmas catalog from Sears and seeing Funcoland price lists in gaming magazines in the mid 90s
Truthfully most of these stores were terrible (dirty, disorganized), but they were part of my childhood, and the old photos are so neat to look through.
Wow. I hadn't thought about that, but you're right. That is incredible...It seems like just a few short years ago when my cousin brought home his brand new Dreamcast on which we played hours of Virtua Tennis and Phantasy Star Online (despite having a particularly dreadful internet connection, even for that time period).
I was digging through my closet, getting ready to move, and found a pad of mostly unused paper with an Ames sticker still on the front. The first few pages were used and contained terrible childhood drawings and comics that I made when I was probably 5 years old or so. I couldn't even understand the dialog, it was pretty funny to stumble on.
God has it been that long since the DC launch? I still recall when our local Walmart was bundling Sonic Adventure, Ready to Rumble Boxing 2 and Crazy Taxi with their systems just to push the hardware.
God has it been that long since the DC launch? I still recall when our local Walmart was bundling Sonic Adventure, Ready to Rumble Boxing 2 and Crazy Taxi with their systems just to push the hardware.
I"m also a New Englander and have probably been to a bunch of the stores the OP posted.
RE: K-Mart, it's amazing they're still in business. There was one in Torrington Connecticut until recently. There's still one in Attleboro Mass that actually has the Little Caesers inside. I've never ordered pizza from there. My former job in southeast Mass delivered to a few different K Marts so there are apparently multiple stores still kicking in this area.
Did anyone have one of these in the area? The closest one just closed not too long ago, I wish I would have stopped in and picked up some games. I used to love these stores.
Does anyone know if stores like Funcoland and Babbage's existed on the West Coast? I grew up in California/later on Pacific Northwest and I never heard of these stores until well after they were bought out by Gamestop, let alone visited them. I do remember Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique from back then.
Does anyone know if stores like Funcoland and Babbage's existed on the West Coast? I grew up in California/later on Pacific Northwest and I never heard of these stores until well after they were bought out by Gamestop, let alone visited them. I do remember Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique from back then.
California and Washington had Funcoland but after that it went no further West than Wisconsin/Texas. Funcoland was founded in Minnesota. Babbages in Texas.
Children's Palace is another place in the distant past that I don't hear about anymore.
You nailed it! I live in South Bend/Granger, IN area and recall Children's Palace being THE BEST way better than Toys R Us and they were once stores at the same time and not but a few stop lights away from eachother..the good ol' days...it was like a toy store out of a movie. No Joke.
Child World/Children's Palace was the same store.
I believe they went bankrupt and the final stores closed in 1994, a few years before my series of photos takes place.
Most of their stores, especially the castle themed ones, opened in the early 1970's.
I don't know how many stores they had but there were quite a few for sure and some were not built until 1990/91.
For instance you had them out in Indiana, and I certainly remember plenty of locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well (Nashua was the closest to me, but closed in the early 80's before I was even born) so there were certainly many of these stores.
This was the Nashua, NH location in 1981, like I said it closed a few years later, pre-1985.
This was the former Child World in Colombus, Ohio. Any stores with this type of design was originally a Child World/Children's Palace.
DUDE.
Loved Children's Palace and Media Play. This is the exact one I use to go into as a kid. I remember buying my brother FFVII GH from Media Play around 2000/2001. This was right across the street from the major mall in the area (Westland Mall). The area is completely run down now and the Mall has been shut down for years. (
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing. I am still looking for good pictures of the grindhouses on 42nd Street back in their heyday, haha.
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing.
Thanks a lot! I wonder what the reactions of these people would have been to have known that 50+ years later, a guy in his late 20's would be colorizing a photograph of their first time at a brand new department store that has now been defunct for over 15 years.
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing.
Thanks a lot! I wonder what the reactions of these people would have been to have known that 50+ years later, a guy in his late 20's would be colorizing a photograph of their first time at a brand new department store that has now been defunct for over 15 years.
I bought the vast majority of my collection at Funcoland. Some at Kay-Bee Toys in the late 90s.
And K-Mart still has some stores open. How they still do is beyond me.
I remember Child World was my favorite place to go for toys as a kid before they closed (And they even had video tapes advertising upcoming toys, that I'm assuming were free with purchases.) I did end up going to Toy Works, Kay-Bee, and Toys R Us about equally after that growing up.
I found this photo of the bike department of Rich's Department Store in West Lebanon, NH in 1972. This was a store I frequently visited as a child until its closure in 1996. This is the only photo I've ever been able to find of this store as a Rich's.
Tonight I stumbled on this incredible 11 minute video of the Caldor in Poughkeepsie, New York shot by a few teenagers. It captured pretty much the entire inside of the store and has the original audio. At first I thought this video was from the 1980's, but it is definitely from around 1992-93 (Barney the purple dinosaur can be seen at one point)
Comments
closest thing to an old school memory I have with any of these is the Christmas catalog from Sears and seeing Funcoland price lists in gaming magazines in the mid 90s
I can't believe that was over 15 years ago...
I found these two shots below from Hartsdale, NY (shown above from the OP) that were more updated.
They are both from 2005, by 2006 the Kay-Bee Toys had closed and turned into a T-Mobile, so these shots are also since outdated.
In fact the last open Kay Bee Toys I ever visited, in Rutland, Vermont, had this logo.
This is where those Dreamcast launch photos at the Babbages came from
This one is funny hahahahaha
Originally posted by: kamakaze_ekun
God has it been that long since the DC launch? I still recall when our local Walmart was bundling Sonic Adventure, Ready to Rumble Boxing 2 and Crazy Taxi with their systems just to push the hardware.
September 9, 1999
9/9/99
Will be 16 years this September.
RE: K-Mart, it's amazing they're still in business. There was one in Torrington Connecticut until recently. There's still one in Attleboro Mass that actually has the Little Caesers inside. I've never ordered pizza from there. My former job in southeast Mass delivered to a few different K Marts so there are apparently multiple stores still kicking in this area.
Toys 'R Us was a great place for games too. The one I used to go too recently closed down.
EDITED TO ADD: This TRU was located in St. Cloud, MN, and closed in January.
Originally posted by: Comeau
Does anyone know if stores like Funcoland and Babbage's existed on the West Coast? I grew up in California/later on Pacific Northwest and I never heard of these stores until well after they were bought out by Gamestop, let alone visited them. I do remember Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique from back then.
California and Washington had Funcoland but after that it went no further West than Wisconsin/Texas. Funcoland was founded in Minnesota. Babbages in Texas.
Originally posted by: Trj22487
Originally posted by: NintendoKid
Originally posted by: DreamStar
Children's Palace is another place in the distant past that I don't hear about anymore.
You nailed it! I live in South Bend/Granger, IN area and recall Children's Palace being THE BEST way better than Toys R Us and they were once stores at the same time and not but a few stop lights away from eachother..the good ol' days...it was like a toy store out of a movie. No Joke.
Child World/Children's Palace was the same store.
I believe they went bankrupt and the final stores closed in 1994, a few years before my series of photos takes place.
Most of their stores, especially the castle themed ones, opened in the early 1970's.
I don't know how many stores they had but there were quite a few for sure and some were not built until 1990/91.
For instance you had them out in Indiana, and I certainly remember plenty of locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well (Nashua was the closest to me, but closed in the early 80's before I was even born) so there were certainly many of these stores.
This was the Nashua, NH location in 1981, like I said it closed a few years later, pre-1985.
This was the former Child World in Colombus, Ohio. Any stores with this type of design was originally a Child World/Children's Palace.
DUDE.
Loved Children's Palace and Media Play. This is the exact one I use to go into as a kid. I remember buying my brother FFVII GH from Media Play around 2000/2001. This was right across the street from the major mall in the area (Westland Mall). The area is completely run down now and the Mall has been shut down for years. (
Former Children's Palace/ Child World stores are easily the most recognizable of any chain in my opinion. So distinct.
This was the Bradlees in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. White City Shopping Center.
This is from the 1960's, but an exact year was not given.
This location was once the White City Amusement Park, which was demolished in 1960, and the plaza was constructed immediately afterward.
This was one of the very first stores in the entire chain. I have no idea how long it was open.
As a fun little side project for myself, I am currently in the process of colorizing it. I will post the results when I finish!
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing. I am still looking for good pictures of the grindhouses on 42nd Street back in their heyday, haha.
Originally posted by: Jerbilly
Originally posted by: Trj22487
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing.
Thanks a lot! I wonder what the reactions of these people would have been to have known that 50+ years later, a guy in his late 20's would be colorizing a photograph of their first time at a brand new department store that has now been defunct for over 15 years.
Originally posted by: Trj22487
Originally posted by: Jerbilly
Originally posted by: Trj22487
I put some more work into colorizing my photo today, I am having fun seeing it come along.
Maybe in a week or two I will be near finished.
This is really cool. I love looking at old photos of this sort of thing.
Thanks a lot! I wonder what the reactions of these people would have been to have known that 50+ years later, a guy in his late 20's would be colorizing a photograph of their first time at a brand new department store that has now been defunct for over 15 years.
Stranger things have happened...
Or if in fact they are supposed to be green lettering with a red/green logo like this photo below from 1967 had?
And K-Mart still has some stores open. How they still do is beyond me.
I remember Child World was my favorite place to go for toys as a kid before they closed (And they even had video tapes advertising upcoming toys, that I'm assuming were free with purchases.) I did end up going to Toy Works, Kay-Bee, and Toys R Us about equally after that growing up.
Tonight I stumbled on this incredible 11 minute video of the Caldor in Poughkeepsie, New York shot by a few teenagers. It captured pretty much the entire inside of the store and has the original audio. At first I thought this video was from the 1980's, but it is definitely from around 1992-93 (Barney the purple dinosaur can be seen at one point)
I wonder where all of those people are now...