Memories from a 1980's Toy Shop

[spoons]

A really great read - I remember shops like yours from my childhood too, it's a shame the small independent toy shops are really only found in tourist towns now

I hope your folks were ok after the shop closed - did they stay in retail?

 

[Stormtrooper37]

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.

I found all the cantina figures hard to find when collecting as a kid.

Got Greedo first in 1979 (never saw him again ever in a shop)
Saw Hammerhead about 3 times (remember getting him in Tesco of all places in around 1981)
Walrusman was the easiest to get saw him around 6 - 7 times, but he was far from easy to find compared to other figures.
Never saw Snaggletooth ever

 

[paulcalf]

Jedisearcher

That was an amazing read thanks so much.

Interesting to read the other posts about which figures were hard to find as well. I remember spending months searching for certain figures.

 

[Fishtalk]

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

 

[Maxdude]

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

Lucky boy, 3p was alot BITD!

 

[Alas-1]

Lovely story. Thanks for sharing.

Sadly, I don't have many memories of buying SW back in the day but 2 main memories lol.
First and foremost, Tesco Irlam (Manchester) was called Tesco Hypermarket at the time. Specifically remember buying a Chief Chirpa and Luke Stormtrooper. So obviously 1985 i'm guessing.
And Woolworths! Bought a speeder Bike and completely remember being annoyed and probably crying that there were no figures with it lol.

Of course, I had the lot! AT AT's, Jabba playset, most of the figures (never had Yoda - which is why I probably favour him most). And ALWAYS wanted a Millenium Falcon. I never got one, the only place that ever had one was a market stall in Warrington but they wanted £35 for it (mum wouldn't pay that - haha). I was the type of kid that ripped off cloaks and capes and lost weapons within hours... Sadly.

It's these memories and your story that makes me collect these things now 8) 8) 8)

 

[ZippyNL]

Great post and nice memories from everyone. My hunting grounds were Camberley Toys and Woolworths, both on Camberley high street. Camberley Toys was best and kept going right up until the Last 17, when the interest sadly just fizzled out. I saw Luke Stormie there once but didn't have the money, and just a couple of days later it was gone, and a few weeks after that, they all were.
But then Woolies began their infamous sell off, which coincided nicely with first paper round.

 

[Andyclarke]

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

Please tell me that you've checked to see whether they've got any long forgotten sealed cases of Star Wars stored in the back or not!! :wink:

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

Great post and nice memories from everyone. My hunting grounds were Camberley Toys and Woolworths, both on Camberley high street. Camberley Toys was best and kept going right up until the Last 17, when the interest sadly just fizzled out. I saw Luke Stormie there once but didn't have the money, and just a couple of days later it was gone, and a few weeks after that, they all were.
But then Woolies began their infamous sell off, which coincided nicely with first paper round.

I was a long way from having a set in 1985 and although I was 15 years old, Star Wars figures remained a huge obsession. The figures I was most proud of included a Greedo on a Kenner ESB card I had bought in 81', a Hammerhead I found on a ROTJ Palitoy card around the time of the movie in my local Woolworths and a Tri-Logo original Princess Leia in the summer of 84'.

The thing about the last 17 is that when they were originally released in those pre-internet days, nobody knew how many there were and what the set consisted of. A letter in Return of the Jedi Weekly was from a fan who had picked up a figure called Barada which sounded terribly exotic. Letters in subsequent issues mentioned a few more from the range. I bought a Han Solo in Carbonite and Luke Skywalker Stormtrooper Disguise in the shops and was struck by the apparent drop in quality. The comic might have attempted to put a list together in one issue.

Even though I had become more adventurous and was scouring London and all of the local towns for Star Wars by bus, I only found around half of the Last 17. Tri-logos were everywhere but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps as you indicated ZippyNL, the last 17 did not hand around in the shops very long. The Woolworths sell off was fantastic but it was only vehicles and playsets that I ended up buying and tottering down the road with.

It was only when I began buying second-hand Star Wars advertised in local newspapers that I finally bagged EV-9D9, Imperial Gunner, Imperial Dignitary, Amanaman, the last Ewoks, Anakin Skywalker and those illusive final Cantina Creatures. It's funny that the very last figure that completed my set was that Barada I had read about years before. I had begun clubbing together with other collectors by then in the late 80's and we managed to figure out what the entire set actually consisted of, Blue Snag included. As I had completed my loose set I could concentrate all of my efforts on collecting MOCs. My first job was only £40 per week, so that didn't go very far.

One of the main enquiries I received when I ran the old fan club was regarding the set of figures. I had a typed list and a photocopy of the range ready and waiting to post back to people. Those happy days when the postman would arrive with something interesting!

Craig.

 

[ZippyNL]

Yes, I remember my friend grabbing a Luke Stormtrooper, and I managed to get a Han Carbonite, and they were both a bit ugly, but I loved the idea of them. Like you said Craig I was mystified that they didn't appear on any cardback, and initially doubted if they were genuine when I heard of them - had no idea there were another 15 available. I managed to pick up a Yak Face and an Anakin after that, but never heard of the Last 17 until I started collecting again in 2003.

Still, I've got them all now (loose) and that's what counts. Only took me about 20 years too ;-)

Cheers

Jason

 

[chipsteak]

I must have been lucky with the last 17. I never knew they were hard to come by until a while later.

Toward the end of the run my family were shopping at a local supposed cash-and-carry : Castle in Glasgow. I say supposed because they didn't sell stuff in bulk to retailers or anything like that. Anyway, I got the last 17 in there without much fuss.

The first time I saw one of them was my schoolmate bringing in Amanaman. I didn't beleive it was a SW fig and flipped it over looking for the LFL mark. I stopped just short of checking out the COO in those days.

 

[paulcalf]

Wow 99p what area was that in? My first figures were £1.35, Kenner and Palitoy 12/20 backs.

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

 

[Fishtalk]

Wow 99p what area was that in? My first figures were £1.35, Kenner and Palitoy 12/20 backs.

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

Most of my figures were bought in Staffordshire, I thought 99p was the standard price across the Country? Where I was figures didn't cost £1.35 until midway through the Empire figures, 20 backs cost £1.12, first Empire wave £1.20. Jedi figures were £1.40, and of course thanks to those hideous stickers everyone knows the last 17 cost £1.59.

 

[paulcalf]

Wow thanks, very Interesting information. This may change my assumption that my UK bought Kenner cardbacks were in the shops prior to Palitoy cardbacks being produced. I thought there was a demand for SW figures so they started selling Kenner ones in the UK before the Palitoy ones were ready.

Childhood cardbacks from Goldie in Coventry
C3P0 SW Palitoy 12B back - no price sticker
Luke SW Kenner 12C back - UK bought for £1.35
Snaggletooth SW Palitoy 20 back - £1.35
Greedo SW Palitoy 20 back - no price
Jawa SW Kenner 20A Back - UK bought, no price sticker
Leia Hoth ESB Palitoy 30 back - £1.35
Stormtrooper ESB Palitoy 41 back at £1.50
All my other ESB backs were Palitoy - except Yoda who was kenner - i remember him being very hard to get!

Wow 99p what area was that in? My first figures were £1.35, Kenner and Palitoy 12/20 backs.

Great read, thanks for taking the time to type it. One of my favourite memories is hearing that a newsagents in my town had a Darth Vader on the pegs, previously impossible to find. I went up clutching a pound note, only to find to my horror that the price had gone up from 99p to £1.02. Luckily the lady behind the counter took pity on me and let me have Vader for a pound. The newsagents is still there today, virtually unchanged.

Most of my figures were bought in Staffordshire, I thought 99p was the standard price across the Country? Where I was figures didn't cost £1.35 until midway through the Empire figures, 20 backs cost £1.12, first Empire wave £1.20. Jedi figures were £1.40, and of course thanks to those hideous stickers everyone knows the last 17 cost £1.59.

 

[pizzathehutt]

i seem to remember paying 99p each for weequay and ree yees from my local newsagent.

the local toy shop i think i paid £1.29 each for leia boushh, chief chirpa. and also the han hoth i got in cornwall was £1.29.

i can remember going into a sweetshop just off the north circular with my dad and they had a boxed hoth transport, my dad just laughed at me and said no way! for some reason ive got in my head it being £25 but i could be wrong?

 

[jedisearcher]

i seem to remember paying 99p each for weequay and ree yees from my local newsagent.

the local toy shop i think i paid £1.29 each for leia boushh, chief chirpa. and also the han hoth i got in cornwall was £1.29.

i can remember going into a sweetshop just off the north circular with my dad and they had a boxed hoth transport, my dad just laughed at me and said no way! for some reason ive got in my head it being £25 but i could be wrong?

I'd have thought £25 is about right for that, then a bit more for the Falcon and a bit more again for the ATAT.

Anyone remember what things like the mini rigs, speeder bikes and Jabba cost?

 

[sith-smith]

I must have been lucky with the last 17. I never knew they were hard to come by until a while later.

Toward the end of the run my family were shopping at a local supposed cash-and-carry : Castle in Glasgow. I say supposed because they didn't sell stuff in bulk to retailers or anything like that. Anyway, I got the last 17 in there without much fuss.

The first time I saw one of them was my schoolmate bringing in Amanaman. I didn't beleive it was a SW fig and flipped it over looking for the LFL mark. I stopped just short of checking out the COO in those days.

I had no luck at all. Remember seeing 3 new figures on the Pegs in 85 I think and bought all 3. Imperial Dignitary, Anakin and A-wing Pilot...not exactly the most exciting 3!!

It wasn't until 92 when I started hitting carboot sales that I started to find others.

Funny you mention Barada Craig as I picked him out of a loose figure box under a table and thought, 'that's not star wars' and put him back down.

Wasn't until Summer 94 when I got Sansweet's book that I finally saw the full range of the last 17. Had managed most from Car Boot sales, but still a few to get. Including Barada!!

 

[pizzathehutt]

I must have been lucky with the last 17. I never knew they were hard to come by until a while later.

Toward the end of the run my family were shopping at a local supposed cash-and-carry : Castle in Glasgow. I say supposed because they didn't sell stuff in bulk to retailers or anything like that. Anyway, I got the last 17 in there without much fuss.

The first time I saw one of them was my schoolmate bringing in Amanaman. I didn't beleive it was a SW fig and flipped it over looking for the LFL mark. I stopped just short of checking out the COO in those days.

I had no luck at all. Remember seeing 3 new figures on the Pegs in 85 I think and bought all 3. Imperial Dignitary, Anakin and A-wing Pilot...not exactly the most exciting 3!!

It wasn't until 92 when I started hitting carboot sales that I started to find others.

Funny you mention Barada Craig as I picked him out of a loose figure box under a table and thought, 'that's not star wars' and put him back down.

Wasn't until Summer 94 when I got Sansweet's book that I finally saw the full range of the last 17. Had managed most from Car Boot sales, but still a few to get. Including Barada!!

i did a bit of the same at carboots, managed to pick up r2 pop up, lando general, romba and luke poncho just by guessing they were star wars and did the same with your barada on it was an amanaman that i threw back :roll:

 

[sith-smith]

Luckily I recognised Amanaman from a ROTJ book I had. Yak Face I recognised too so got him as well. 50p each. No idea back then on the rarity of Yak.

The only ones I never saw were imperial gunner and several of the ewoks.

All others were there but some were incomplete. I saw R2 with a hole in the dome and didn't really know what that was.

Lando and Luke Poncho were missing their capes Han had no carbonite block and Ev9d9 was missing an arm!

Surprisingly my Luke Stormtrooper was found complete with helmet.

 

[theforceuk]

I never sow any power of the force MOC's in shops and I put it down to being to far down the line, living near Penzance I was literally at the end of the line! My friends Gran lived in North Cornwall and he got Luke Poncho, Lando but not sure if Tri-logo like me. I remember their being loads of Anakins, Amanamans and worst of all Yak Face!

Funny you say about Barada as I was looking at him last night and thinking he doesn't look like a Star Wars figure especially if you compare him to other Jaba figures like Klaatu and Weequay. :?