Head on over to Toy Bender.com and share your memories with (Ru?) Paul.
Myself? Yeah, like most kids of the ’80s mall era, KB (then called Kay-Bee) was a frequent hot spot. Couldn’t go into the mall without making a Kay-Bee stop. Even if my parents told me I wasn’t getting a toy, my pleas to “just look” often hid the diabolical strategy of getting them into the toy store and then giving them the ol’ “Gee, I wish I could have this toy…” + =( routine.
Even as a kid though, I knew Kay-Bee (should I start calling it KB again?) was a bit of a ripoff. Sure, they had Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, WWF, Marvel, DC, Army Ants and Micro Machines, but those prices! GADZOOKS! Luckily, as a child, you’re not expected to pay for your own toys (EXCEPT when you get birthday or Christmas money).
KB was always just kinda generally sloppy anyway. I work in retail, I know how to “face” a store, those pimple-ridden teenagers and plump over-the-hillers didn’t face. It was half-overpriced toy store/half-discount shop. Gotta say though, their markdowns were usually pretty good. Of course, it would only be 3 year old toys always in beat up boxes that got discounted, but still.
Anyway, I can’t say that a part of me has died over this. There was KB where I last lived in Fort Walton Beach, FL, and having a nephew I went in there often and was usually disgusted at their high quality prices for low quality toys.
Now if Toys R Us ever went out of business, that’d be a cause for a full week of memorial blog posts…
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