Anyone else ever see or own this banner?

Retrogamer72Retrogamer72
in Collector's Corner
image

Here is a banner you probably don't see everyday. It was used at Lionel toy stores in the early 90s. The kangaroo was the store mascot. For those of you that don't know what the Lionel Toy Stores were I found this on Wikipedia:


After the sale of its train product lines, Lionel Corporation became a holding company that specialized in toy stores. At its peak, Lionel Corp. operated about 70 stores, mostly in the eastern United States, under the names Lionel Kiddie City, Lionel Playworld, Lionel Toy Warehouse, and Lionel Toy Town. For a time it was the second-largest toy store chain in the country. However, the larger Toys R Us was consistently able to undercut its prices, and Lionel found it increasingly difficult to compete. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 14, 1991. By 1993 it had dwindled to 28 stores in seven states, and on June 2, 1993, it announced its intention to liquidate all of its stores and go out of business.



Based on that article there shoud only be about 70 of these around and I can't imagine many surviving the store closings.

My dad and I went to the Going Out of Business sales at a few of the stores and you were basically just allowed to wander around the whole store (front, back room, offices, where ever) and I think he found this in the back storage area. I was only 4 at the time and probably didn't even know what a video game was so I really don't know why my dad even picked this up, but I'm happy he did now. Anybody else ever see one of these?

I also found this cool NES commercial from the Lionel Toy Stores on youtube. (only the first 30 secs after that there is nothing else game related)
Commercial

Comments

  • nma800nma800
    Not only have I never seen this, but now I'm annoyed that there's another World of Nintendo piece that I don't have and will likely never find image Oh well, that's a nice banner!
  • DainDain
    That is very cool -- I remember Lionel's Playworld. We had one pretty close to us growing up.
  • NationalGameDepotNationalGameDepot
    Very cool. I have never seen one of them before.

    ~~NGD
  • jaredkkjaredkk
    I remember Lionel Kiddie City as a kid.  The commercial said "Lionel Kiddie City turns your frown upside down"  You're supposed to sing that part!image
  • dangevindangevin
    Jared, I didn't remember until you mentioned the jingle. I always wanted to go, like it was a mythical wonderland, but I was stuck with Child World (New England chain). Always heard the lionel song on the radio though, they spent a fortune on advertising, as is evidenced by this licensed Nintendo crossover promotion image
  • wrldstrmanwrldstrman
    cool sign ok i guess i dont see to well in my old age wheres the kangaroo
  • dangevindangevin
    It's that vaguely kangaroo-shaped thing in the bottom right corner. image
  • dangevindangevin
    By the way, if you watched the YouTube vid, you get bonus points if you can identify the games from which the sampled sound effects came.
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