Memories from a 1980's Toy Shop

[jedisearcher]

Thats a brilliant story, i remember the shop, still have a few figures from my childhood bought from there, my gran would take us out to either crosby or bootle strand each week on a saturday, and i would get to pick a figure, or if it was a special occasion a minirig to, damn this thread brought back happy memories, i was only a little kid at the time so i don't remember much, but i remember the figures, a nice little shop, small world eh?

I'm shocked someone on here actually remembers the place! That's brilliant!!

I also remember the Toy Shop in Crosby as well as we used to live there. I got most of the Palitoy 12 backs from there in 1978 and I remember it pretty clearly, they had some great stuff there like Play People, Airfix and Action Man and we used to go every week with our pocket money.

Sadly, it's a hole in the ground now - they knocked down Crown Buildings a few years ago and they've not built on it yet :roll:

 

[Andyclarke]

Great great post and surprisingly well written.

I remember getting figures from Asda and they used to have a load of opened first wave Jedi ones to play with. I'm ashamed to say I pinched a few!!!

 

[Stormtrooper37]

Great post and thanks for one of the best reads on here.

For me and probably quite a few others on here your post sums up why we collect and treasure our collections today - nostalgia and the thrill of the hunt of tracking down the toys of our youth.

I had been on the hunt for Ben Kenobi for nearly 2 years back in the early 80's and nearly every Saturday I would ring round (with my parents permission of course) the local toy shops asking if they had him and everytime the answer would be no sorry until one day I rang the usual shops and a man came back on the phone after checking the pegs and casually said 'yeah we got a couple of Ben Kenobi's' :shock: :!: :!: :!: :!: well to say I was gobsmacked and at the same time so excited was an understatement. I asked if he would put one by for me and later that day I was the happiest kid in the world

Funny can't believe you never had any Klaatu's in stock. As I remember he wasn't exactly a peg warmer unlike Madine, the two Bespin Guards (they were ****ing everywhere) and Ree Yees which no one wanted.

 

[Caswellbot]

Great read, really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.

 

[stratpack]

Some fantastic stories folks

Its funny, I always remember Klaatu as a peg warmer. Kept seeing him everywhere back then.

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

One of the best posts on here. Thanks for sharing 8)

 

[Darthin]

Thanks for that heartfelt piece, it was a great read, well written and it almost played as a short film in my head. Brought back memories of my own endless wandering around in the local toy shop here in Trondheim, Norway, leafing through the MOCs as they hung foot-deep on their hangers.

 

[SAVORY100]

Great piece of writing that really evokes memories of a time now lost in so many ways... reminded me of long passed away Grandparents taking me to such emporiums of wonder and magic as well as the sounds sights and smells of toyshops as a child.
Thanks for taking the time to compose it and having the thought to share such a personal recollection really made my morning

 

[x-pack]

Thanks for posting this piece. Real life stories don't half transport you back. I was kind of imagining a shop I used to go in and fitting your tale around it

We used to go to Cash & Carry to stock up for my dad's restaurant and they sold Star Wars figures which were all hung on a rotational hanger display. I remember loads of Jedi figures and a few Jedi carded Boba Fetts. The most enduring memory I have is seeing boxes of carded figures going for 50p on the bank holiday market we used to have on the pub car park. Could have probably offered a tenner per box. If only we knew... :roll:

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Thanks for posting that story, it was a welcome change of pace to the normal online discussion.

35 years is a long time ago and I know I must have bought (or rather begged, negotiated, saved up, put on my birthday list) vintage Star Wars from many different shops but I do have some specific memories from a smallish toy shop in Banstead High Street... the SW section was on the left hand side of the store I can still picture the layout - and of course the 'smell' when you opened them on the back seat of a morris minor.

 

[edd_jedi]

Do you remember getting any tri logos in the shop, or do you think it closed before they were released?

 

[chipsteak]

I would ring round the local toy shops asking if they had him and everytime the answer would be no sorry until one day I rang the usual shops and a man came back on the phone after checking the pegs and casually said 'yeah we got a couple of Ben Kenobi's'

'Can you keep it for me? My name? Yes, it's....Ben Kenobi'

And awesome story, jedisearcher. Thankyou so much.

 

[theguiltyone]

Great read, thanks.

marc

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

I would ring round the local toy shops asking if they had him and everytime the answer would be no sorry until one day I rang the usual shops and a man came back on the phone after checking the pegs and casually said 'yeah we got a couple of Ben Kenobi's'

'Can you keep it for me? My name? Yes, it's....Ben Kenobi'

"Fly Fishing" by Ben Kenobi, that's a classic!

 

[jedisearcher]

Do you remember getting any tri logos in the shop, or do you think it closed before they were released?

I don't think so Edd.

We definitely had some characters like Han Endor and Leia poncho of which the only Palitoy versions were full trilogos, but I'm also pretty sure that I didn't see proper full trilogos until much later, and definitely once the shop had closed. So the only real explanation is that there were some Kenner cardbacks mixed into the packing cases.

I'm pretty sure that we had some of the transition cards because I clearly remember the new trilogo backs and not being very impressed with the new design. I don't know why this sticks in my memory, but it does.

So no trilogos at the shop but probably some Kenner stock mixed in with the true Palitoy stock.

Out of interest, do we know when full trilogos actually hit the shelves in the UK?

The more I think about it, there must've been a real mix of stuff in the packing cases because checking the cardback guides last night a lot of the characters I remember weren't available on 65's, only on 45's.

So at any one time, the cases were full of all kinds of different cardbacks and offers, and probably both Kenner and Palitoy cardbacks too. I don't suppose that would happen now where production is so controlled and regimented, but back in the day I think they were just happy to get anything out to retailers and didn't care that things weren't consistent.

 

[Cazza]

Excellent post, thanks for sharing! You lucky thing- bet you were the envy of all your mates!

My favourite toy shop was Hurleys in Burnham-on-Sea. Always used to go in when visiting my Gran. They had a massive soft toy lion on the stairs- he's still there now! They had a fantastic corner at the front right as you came up the stairs to the first floor. Scalextric first, then Action Man, Action Force and finally loads of SW.

Other legendary shops for me were Zodiac Toys in Swindon and Tesco Home and Wear in Cirencester 8) Got a funny feeling in my stomach when I went into what used to be the Tesco recently- smells the same and the sound of my feet on the floor was the same too. Weird, I know, but little things like that bring the memories/feelings flooding back

 

[SAVORY100]

Zodiac Toys in Swindon... now there's a memory or two.

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

What a great post. Thanks for sharing. It really brought back memories if my own childhood search for Star Wars figures. I wish I had been able to befriend a friendly small shop owner in Romford! I didn't mind seeing characters from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back for sale in 1983-84 because I needed so many for my collection. A cantina character was of more interest to me than something from Return of the Jedi. The local branch of Zodiac ended up with an entire wall of Ree Yees on discount and I still didn't buy one.

The mention of ESB characters supplied with the first wave of Return of the Jedi is interesting, as if Palitoy was supplying the likes of Han Solo in Bespin Outfit in lieu of a version of Han from the new film. I suppose Darth Vader was a constant also.

I still own many of my original Return of the Jedi card backs and they are all Kenner, which I suppose were supplied to Palitoy to run through their production line. Most of the vehicle packaging was Kenner too in 1983, which I suppose was supplied to Palitoy to save them the expense of developing and printing their own packaging.

I seem to remember a sticker on the back of the Kenner ROTJ figures stating that the Y-Wing was not available in Britain. I always removed stickers from my card backs, so all the evidence has been lost.

It was great to hear that your shop received stock from Palitoy and also from wholesalers. Local newsagents and market stalls in Romford received stock of ROTJ figures well ahead of the big stores. It seems clear now that the wholesale companies were the source of this stock.

Anyway, thanks again for sharing. It made my day.

Craig.

 

[chipsteak]

I too was happy to see the Cantina figures in the ROTJ idea. The phrase 'Hammerhead and Snaggletooth' came out my childhood mouth often. They seemed oddly elusive to me for a while - maybe it was a regional thing.

 

[rhyfelyser]

Fantastic read. 77 backs was my era. "1/3 older SW/ESB figures and 2/3 new ROTJ figures" supplied - one reason i couldn't find a Luke Farmboy figure on a 77 back in 1984/85!
Those were the days.
I don't remember seeing many Tri logos for sale in shops, i presume they weren't supplied in as many quantities as ROTJ cards? Although i was searching for GO-BOTS toys by end of 85 too..