Re: When We Had to Grow Up: Remembering Toys R Us
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:04 pm
I have many TRU memories going all the way back to 1979! I remember seeing the shogun warrior Godzilla there...
Of course as I got older. Toys R Us was always a great experience, especially since the one closest to me in Hayward CA was right next to a Chuck-E Cheese. Going to one, then the other was always a cherished event. Transformers were still quite expensive back then, but I do remember seeing tons of them on the shelves always, even though I had only a few back then. Masters of the Universe was more economical for my family, and my mom would coordinate *lists* with my family members so I'd never get duplicates of anything, and get the greatest hauls during the holidays.
Then of course there was the scary story of the Ghost that haunted another Bay Area Toys R Us in Sunnyvale (I’ve told the story several times, you can google it) which made national news in the early 80's. I had only gone there a couple of times, never saw anything weird, but it freaked me out quite a bit as a kid.
Upon turning 14, and moving to Sacramento I, for a time, tried to put my childhood away, going through angst ridden teen years, but after highs cool, and the Emergence of Beast Wars, this encouraged me to get it all back, and then some. The TRU closest to me in Sacramento was never that great, but in the late 90's a new store opened in Roseville (considered a *cleaner* higher-end city, not associated with Sacramento). We loved to go there, because their selection was usually vastly superior, that's where I got most of my BW toys, and TF commemorative series in the early 2000's just after getting married. Unfortunately in 2005, I had to sell most of my collection. And for a decade I had no Transformers. I'd still take my toddler kids in the store, just for the experience, though we often didn't purchase anything. We would occasionally get a random TFA or movie figure, but nothing with real purpose...Until of course Combiner Wars. This gave me purpose again as my most loved aspect of Transformers was back, in a big way. Unfortunately in 2015 I found TRU to be lacking when compared to Walmart & TRU in terms of selection & price, with the exception of Titan Class figures of course.
I'm just glad my kids got to experience it a little, even if it was not during its best time.
Of course as I got older. Toys R Us was always a great experience, especially since the one closest to me in Hayward CA was right next to a Chuck-E Cheese. Going to one, then the other was always a cherished event. Transformers were still quite expensive back then, but I do remember seeing tons of them on the shelves always, even though I had only a few back then. Masters of the Universe was more economical for my family, and my mom would coordinate *lists* with my family members so I'd never get duplicates of anything, and get the greatest hauls during the holidays.
Then of course there was the scary story of the Ghost that haunted another Bay Area Toys R Us in Sunnyvale (I’ve told the story several times, you can google it) which made national news in the early 80's. I had only gone there a couple of times, never saw anything weird, but it freaked me out quite a bit as a kid.
Upon turning 14, and moving to Sacramento I, for a time, tried to put my childhood away, going through angst ridden teen years, but after highs cool, and the Emergence of Beast Wars, this encouraged me to get it all back, and then some. The TRU closest to me in Sacramento was never that great, but in the late 90's a new store opened in Roseville (considered a *cleaner* higher-end city, not associated with Sacramento). We loved to go there, because their selection was usually vastly superior, that's where I got most of my BW toys, and TF commemorative series in the early 2000's just after getting married. Unfortunately in 2005, I had to sell most of my collection. And for a decade I had no Transformers. I'd still take my toddler kids in the store, just for the experience, though we often didn't purchase anything. We would occasionally get a random TFA or movie figure, but nothing with real purpose...Until of course Combiner Wars. This gave me purpose again as my most loved aspect of Transformers was back, in a big way. Unfortunately in 2015 I found TRU to be lacking when compared to Walmart & TRU in terms of selection & price, with the exception of Titan Class figures of course.
I'm just glad my kids got to experience it a little, even if it was not during its best time.