Off-Topic Forum

What is with the Geoffrey reference? They are beat-up looking but does a store for a child from 6 to 14 really need cutting edge. I think the GBFW of Star Wars, Lego, Barbie, Paw Patrol etc is all they really see!! LOL. We have a new "hip" toystore in Canada and its called Mastermind Toys, supposedly one of the fastest growing stores in the country. I am sure they are shedding a tear right now too!! ;)

Geoffery was the name of the TRU giraffe.

Never knew it was spelled like that. You learn something new every day, I suppose. Makes sense to put the G in front with Giraffe behind it.

Thanks Dan, guess better to learn it now rather than never! Update to story a California entertainment company interested in Canadian branch of TRU but wants it at a deep discount, rumor is they are trying to package in 200 US stores with the Canadian ones. Also have announced that Australia, France, Italy(?) and other countries will all be shutting their doors.

I never really went to Caldor much as a kid...my best memory of them is 1996, we couldn't get a parking spot at the local air show, but Caldor was right under the flight lines and I saw the entire in-air section there. I'll never forget that. And I have pictures to prove it!

What I did forget was Kmart, somehow. Our local K-mart closed last year...it's the store I got my first box of NBA cards from...first three boxes at least.

The news of this probably made me more sad than I would care to admit.  The fact that I won’t be able to take my son to Toys R Us when he is old enough and see the look on his face pretty much stinks.  

Just another store from my childhood going away.  There is a complex that is across from the mall near me that I went to a lot growing up.  Sports Authority closed, Bookstar, and now Toys R Us.  The only thing left there from my childhood on that side is Best Buy.  Not to mention on the other side of the street there used to be a Borders and a Circuit City.  

Interesting related thing I told my wife yesterday, the Bookstar is now a David’s Bridal.  I told my wife when I was a little boy I would like to sit on the floor and look at the pictures in all the Calvin and Hobbes books.  That little version of me had no idea that many years later my wife would be picking out her wedding dress in that very same building. 

Anyways, the Holiday season brings many good memories for me, and I always felt that the malls and stores like Toys R Us were all a part of that.  Every time one of these places closes down it’s like a little chapter of my life had closed for good and has been left in the past.  

Of course on the flip side it means that I get to make new memories.  Man,  all this from Toys R Us lol. Sorry for the monologue. 

Edit: Spelling.  Not very good on my phone. 

If it's any consolation, the place really isn't/ wasn't "magical" anymore. My 3 year old was with me last weekend, and sure he got excited couple of times, but no more than he would during a random stroll though the Target toy section. 

Dont apologize sahal, was a great read. Was always hoping we would get a TRU here in my hometown, looks like we will be stuck with nothing but Wal-Mart forever. I hate losing memories too, just this week I watched my childhood home (which was used for three generations) get bulldozed. =( My sister came up to look at it one last time and it was pretty sad moment. It's location is literally visible in my roof pic from November. My other sister won it back from her ex-husband in lieu of 83,000 in owed child support but then had to list it to pay off the loser's debt still owing on it. Anyway that is way off topic. I miss our Fisher's Department Store and CO-OP Family Centre. Both were hours of fun. Last December Sears went too.

Thanks for answering that for me, Dan. 

Sheesh, the stupid stuff that lodges in one’s brain. Why did I know that?

v3

The first cards I ever collected were 1981 Topps rack packs from Toys R Us.  I have a friend who collects action figures, so I occasionally go into one with him.  Wow, toys sure have gotten expensive.  No wonder they went out of business.  What kid can afford toys anymore?