Toys R Us in the 1970's...

[tomanderson]

If you're not old enuff to remember this, I wish you could have seen Toys R Us in the 70's around Halloween time. I mean, stores still sell stuff, of course. But back then the stuff was different, and they displayed it differently. Toys R Us had a huge section that you saw as soon as you walked into the store...it hit you right in the face, and there was everything.

Masks, LP records on display racks, high-tech makeup kits (much more sophisticated than what is sold today!), decorations, trinkets. I still have a little thing or two from the mid-70's...a cool rubber skeleton and part of my old Beistle glow in the dark cardboard skeleton.

At that time, I was a little kid, and so this display, which was large to begin with, seemed just huge, like a whole world of Halloween stuff. And all the artwork and packaging, well, it looked much different then because design work was all done by hand, on paper...no computer paste-up work. These goodies were striking to look at, and no photos exist of the Toys R Us displays, that I know of. Here and there you may find a vintage black and white photo showing what masks looked like on display in a smaller store, but as far as I can tell, the documentation we wish we had was never done because no one thought to take out their cameras.

[mandy0221]

That is amazing you remember it with that detail. Halloween sure was a much bigger deal back in the day. In the 1970's I wasnt even born so unfortunatly I definitly can not remember the Toys R Us at Halloween but at least you have the memory.

[tomanderson]

Well, actually I have a little help: Ebay! You don't have to buy something to go on Ebay to see vintage stuff, what it looked like. If you go to Ebay and do a search on "Halloween LP" ("LP" stood for "long playing record" back then...a vinyl album held 40 whole minutes of music or maybe a little more!) you can find some great old records. An LP was a 12" record, of course, so the cover artwork was large and detailed.

Home video was just beginning to become available in the LATE 70's. So back then, a record album was the most accessible way for most people to have a vivid, on-demand entertainment experience. You could buy 8mm and Super-8 films with "selected scenes" of some of your favorite movies, but that stuff was expensive and not many people had the equipment, whereas just about everyone had a record player.

A cheap Halloween LP at that time might cost 2-4 dollars, and some of these, like "Sounds to Make You Shiver" or Disney's "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" were actually really scary!

[mandy0221]

Now they are selling those new cd and record player combo's in the stores and we have hundreds of records here at home...not sure what size or anything since I know very little about them. But I would LOVE to have a spooky record to play on a record player. That may be something i look into this year

[tomanderson]

Oh, you might like it. For years I had my old records in storage--no record player--and then I bought a cheap turntable on ebay. After years of mostly listening to music on CD, playing records is a real crazy thrill! And a spooky record, even more so.

[Retrohal]

Really? Toys R Us in the 70's? We only had Kiddie City in Philly. By the way, both the glow-in-the-dark die cut skeleton, and his not so bestowed brother are available for sale at http://www.Retroween.com. Glow-in-the-dark die cut ghosts too.

[Ichabod Crane]

I remember that very well. All the department stores used to have big Halloween displays too. Seems like things have changed so much. Even before the economy took a dump it seemed like hardly any of the stores or down towns pulled out all the stops for Christmas anymore either. I also remember in grade school (I'm 46) there was so much anticipation building up to Halloween. The entire week we'd do all sorts of Halloween activities. When my kid was in grade school, they dressed up on Halloween and that was about it. Ah, for the good ol' days...

[Pumpkin_Man]

I remember all the comercials for Toys R Us, but we never wene there, becasue they were a might too expensive. We bought most of our Halloween decorations at Zaers, and most of our Christmas decorations and presents at Sears Roebuck, or Montgomery Wards.

Mike

[Spookymufu]

when I was a kid Toys R Us was down in LA but not out where we lived. We had to go to a store called "Gemco" a membership store. We didnt get a Toys R Us in our town until the late 80's.

[iHaunt]

I do remember Toys 'R Us when I was kid.... right now, I don't see it anymore.... Are they running out of business?

[Pumpkin_Man]

The Toys R Us in Joliet, as far as I know is no longer in business, but I think the chain itself is still going pretty strong. Also, I think they do a lto of business on line, as so many others.

Mike

[Spookymufu]

most collectors buy a lot of Star Wars items from TRU....they are still going strong

[The Phantom]

Toys R Us is still going strong in Indiana.

I always loved going there as a kid but I remember Halloween was a special treat. They have since gone downhill rapidly and this was back in the early 1990s.

[Andybev01]

I only go to one Toys-backward 'R'-Us because it's haunted. I lived down the street from there for several years but the only things haunting it were screaming yuppie-spawn and overindulgent parents.

http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/cahaun ... s_r_us.htm

I got my Halloween stuff from local drug stores when I was a kid.

[Pumpkin_Man]

The last time I was in a Toys R Us was last Christmas season. I was shopping for a gift for my grand nephew, and to say the place had gone down hill is an under statement. Prices were astronomical, quality was cheap, the employees there had the heads inserted in a very dark place......if you kow what I mean.......and the place was thronged with screaming, greedy brats who appearently where taught nothing more about the Christmas season then it's a time to GET GET GET. GIM ME! GIM ME! GIM ME!

I ended up buying his present at Parmidia in Dwight.

I did see some interesting Halloween items on their web site, and I might order them, but NEVER AGAIN will I walk into one of their stores.

Mike