The Sabotaging of Child World and Children's Palace Toy Stores
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- Опубликовано: 18 авг 2021
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Child World was an American chain of toy stores founded in 1962 known for their castle like store fronts.
Child World once had 182 stores and revenues of approximately $830 million annually. From 1977 until its closure Child World also operated the Children's Palace chain of toy stores until it closed in 1992 as a result of some bad business decisions and maybe, just maybe, some sabotage!
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We threw an incredible rave in an abandoned Children's Palace in 1995! So many good memories with this store!
any pics? This sounds like a dream come true
Since I've gotten into collecting action figures a few years ago, I actually wish toy stores were still a thing.
Trust me, you don't. I used to leave a little early from High School on Fridays to drive to Toys R Us to get the new shipments of Star Wars Action Figures, only to find out that the employees were getting a hold of the rare figures and telling the customers that what was there was all that came in.
I do too. The TRU near me was pretty crap though, in the final years before the end anyways. Kind of makes sense I guess, since their story is similar to this video's. (Dan did a video about them too)
@@allnamesaretakenful yeah but it's still fun to walk through a store of just toys. I remember walking through Toys"R"Us when they were closing a couple years ago AND from my childhood. All fun memories
@@allnamesaretakenful Damn. That's pretty scummy of them. Kinda reminds me of another certain trend with a certain toy line
@@bmgoliath0081
I was walking through a Toys R Us when they were closing as well and the one thing that kept going through my mind was wow I haven't been in a Toys R Us in like 10 years.
Problem was Toys R Us was always expensive I would go there mostly to see what was like basically on clearance or cheap or marked way down. As a kid I mostly shopped at KB simply because that was more "financially acceptable" to me if you catch my drift.
the line "one with no space for what a toy store should be" hit me right in the feels! 😭
I would gladly pay a markup for toy stores to come back, the same way I pay a markup to shop at Safeway instead of Walmart. Im in, take my money, lets go.
The town I was born in once had a toy shop (possibly even a shoppe) where they sold handmade wooden trains and boomerangs and things of that nature. Older folks used to talk about that place being put under by big box toy stores the same way you do about big box toy stores being put under by the internet. Before that I'm sure they complained that kids making their own toys was put under by the toy shoppe. I'm guessing the next step is people complaining about online shopping being put under by 3D printing. That would bring us oddly full circle.
@@singaporesammy
Yeah I literally had a toy store called toy n' model which was both toys n models (shocking I know) as well as like wooden toys and some crazy stuff. It was definitely sad seeing the smaller stores die just as fast as the bigger stores did. It was a lot like watching the bigger gaming stores kill off the mom and pop ones during the late 90s and early 2000s.
My Dad was a jeweler in a large high-end mall in the 80s and it was big enough to have two KB Toys, one on each end of the mall. The toy stores made such a spectacle of everything back then and it filled me with such a sense of wonder to just to see it all. I hope this time will come again.
When I was a kid, I met He-Man, She-Ra, and Catra at Children's Palace and got their autographs. :P
well He-man just died so that might be worth some money. Ha jk, that's awesome, I loved that place.
@@charleswalls1127
Netflix doing to he-man what they seem to do with everything else they adapt into a Netflix original.
Yeah but non of them were as cool as Robo T, cuz rap’n was his claim to fame….NOPE!
I always showed up to those things hoping to get Prince Adam's autograph, but it seemed like him and He-Man were never in the same place :(
Damn, I was only able to see He-Man on stage at Astro World which is now called Six Flags over Texas.
In 1978, I got straight A's on my third grade report card. As a reward, my mom brought me to Child World and said I could pick out any toy I wanted.
Being your typical "sugar and spice and everything nice" girly girl, I had chosen the 2ft tall Mattel Shogun Warrior, Gaiking.^^
My brother's and I had that toy for 15 years. Loved it!
You were built different lol.
dope
I was born in 84, oldest brother was born in 71. When I got my Power Rangers Megazord, he kept saying "Is that Mazinga? Totally looks like Mazinga!" Back then I had no idea who Mazinga/Mazinger was 🤣
LEGEND!
Children’s Palace was my favorite toy store as a kid. The whole experience of going there with the “castle “ exterior and they had the biggest displays of toys just stacks and stacks of vehicles and playsets with row after row of full pegs of figures. I was heartbroken when they closed.
The toy catalogues for Child World are probably a collector's item now.
I saw one with the tagline "Our Annual Sale Lasts All Year". 🤩
I would love to see a scan of one of these from the late 80s.
When you hear Dan Larson randomly mention Things Remembered and suddenly remember that you worked there. Mostly making keys, and personalizing Zippos. My boss was emotionally unstable. Thanks, Dan.
He mentioned highways and exits. I live near these places. Toys R Us didn't show up around here until 1992. Before that, I never saw one before only on tv
I worked in a Things Remembered for about 2 months. Wasn't a horrible experience. The pay was terrible.
🎶 "I can't stand it.
I know you planned it.
I can set it straight.
This Watergate."
I can't stand rockin' when you're in here because your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear.
@@Th3Treasoner so why dont you sit back and wonder why
I've got this fuckin' thorn in my side!
Right in the feels. I remember hitting all these stores as a kid and even working at TRU for some time. My kids will never know that feeling of "we get to stop at the toy store" and that is the real tragedy.
I remember the old Dedham Mall. On one side was Child World. On the other side, Toys R Us and Stop & Shop. IN the mall, you had KB Toys. Retrospectively, it's hard to imagine three rival toy stores all being so close together.
These were my stores too!! My parents must have loved going to all three in one trip so I could buy whatever X-MEN or TMNT action figure I couldn't find at the other locations
Probably a radioshack too with remote control cars.
The building which housed Children's Palace when I was younger (which was literally next door to a Toys R US!!!) is still standing, with the exterior still having the iconic castle look. It's a school now, but still. Nostalgia indeed!
Children's Palace was my favorite store as a kid. I can still remember walking in the front door and seeing all the board games.
*looks at hands* What happened to my life? How did I get here?
Plays "Once in a Lifetime" in the background.
Cool video. I’m pretty sure Child World/Children’s Palace is where my grandma took me to get my first GI Joe figure. I remember being amazed at how many figures they had on the wall.
Dude this was *MY* toy store. I'd always visit the Quincy, MA location when I got a haircut as a kid. It was like a toy mecca to me. I always called it "Child's World", I guess I amalgamized it without even knowing it. Thanks for video Dan!
Wow I vaguely remember going to this place somewhere around my grandparents house in West Boylston MA.
So maybe Worchester, Leominster or Fitchburg??
That’s going back:)
We had one in Medford too
Quincy store was 2 floors. I remember it very well.
Didnt they have a location in dedham for awhile? Hmm
Westgate mall brockton
As a native Mass-hole that went to Child World a lot as an 80s kid I loved this video so so much
I liked Toys ‘R’ Us, but was bummed when it moved into the old “Children’s Palace” building near me. “Children’s Palace” felt like an adventure. I was totally sucked in by the castle facade. It felt like I was going on a ride from the local amusement park that could end up with me getting a B.A.T. G.I. Joe figure. I will always remember the stacks of toys they had.
Here in Memphis I was there when Children’s Palace opened in 1982 and I was there as an employee when we shut the doors forever in 1992. It’s my all time favorite toy store and i feel sad that My kids and their kids will probably never have an experience like I had growing up in the 70s and 80s. Magical times.
Yeah it was always run by child world. When they closed in 92 they never reopened. Toys R us opened stores about a year later in a lot of the husks of the old CP locations.
Though I never heard of Child World before this video, it makes me sad to live in a world with no space for what a toy store should be 😥
If they ever make LBOs as illegal as crack cocaine and start hanging vulture capitalists, maybe we can get toy stores again.
Love this one, i live in Quincy & worked at child world in the 80's. This was really a walk down memory lane. Ty
I remember Child World. I used to go to the one in Fitchburg, MA. We need stores like this again!
Me too! on the John Fitch Highway :)
Brockton
so they can go broke again?
Growing up in Maine Child's World was a destination when we would visit family in Massachusetts. I remember daydreaming about what GI Joes I would find there.
The Childrens Palace was the only place that carried the REALLY expensive LEGO sets back in my day. I associated the Castle LEGO sets with the castle style building.
Only place I ever saw a G.I. Joe Defiant back in the day too.
And I thought Children's Palace was long forgotten. 🥺
I was one of the managers at store #1 in Quincy when it closed. I will always love my memories of working there. Thank you for the video. I love your use of humor as you explained a sad situation. :-)
@brian bollinger how long did it take to liquidate everything? At the one here in Evansville, I showed up one day and it was just closed, I feel like there wasn't much warning here.
@@Fermicirrus We knew it was coming. We had seen several stores in the area close before us (in an attempt to save the chain?) Once the decision was made in only lasted a few weeks. During that time we were still receiving truck loads of miscellaneous toys. They must have come from stores like yours that closed with no notice.
I remembered all of these toy shops fondly. Throw in Kay Bee for good measure.
I Remember this place and the gift pack I got that had that video you showed. I loved that as a kid XD
Thank you for giving a loading bar for the sponser deal, I usually skip past them mainly because I have no clue if their gonna take 10 seconds or 4 minutes, so having a visual of how long it'll last makes it a bit more tolerable to watch it to make your sponsors get their end of the deal
Although, while living in the Florida, I never heard of "Child World", I do however, fondly remember "Lionel's Playworld" and the kangaroo. 🙂🦘
I want to thank you. I have had foggy memories of a toy store on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain Georgia my mom would take me to when we'd visit my great-aunt back in like 91'-92'. I can't remember. I was like 5yrs old.
Anyway the name of the store has been bugging me for decades. I know it wasn't a Toys-r-us, and now I am 90% sure it was a Lionel Playworld because I remember that damn kangaroo.
@@jonathanprince707 I remember that particular store,my parents bought most of my Barbie dolls and Transformers figures,just sucks that it doesn’t exist anymore
There was a Playworld in Elmont, NY and Rockville Centre, NY
@Nancy, where in NY are those locations? Downstate north of the city? Or in the western portion of the state? I have lived in CNY, the Capital region and Mohawk Valley, but don’t recognize those areas.
@@MrChristopoop Nassau County, LONG ISLAND. Tragically the Elmont location burned down, killing a woman and her grandson
I was a kid through the 80's, graduating high school in 1990. I don't remember either Child's World or Children's Palace. Had plenty of Toy's R Us and KB Toys. I don't think the malls in AZ had Thing's Remembered in the 80's, but they weren't far off in the 90's.
Seems like a very easy coast thing.
I don't remember seeing them at all.
Same here. Living in California I only saw Kay Bee's and Toys R Us.
I grew up in the Deep South, and don’t remember Child World. Our big regional chain was Service Merchandise. Not just a toy store, but they had a lot of them. We had Toys R’ Us and Kay-Bee, too.
Oh man I remember Service Merchandise. What an enthralling name for a retailer. Even better than Donut and Donuts.
Ya same grew up in Texas don’t remember this one
@@ILoooooveCamels They had one of everything behind glass with a number. You wrote the number down, and got your product at a stockroom window. There was a chain in the Northeast that was similar.
Yeah, Service Merchandise was in the Northeast too. I recall the catalog and sizable toy aisle. We didn't have Toys R Us in my area, and the KB Toys in the mall was expensive, so Service Merchandise is where I bought Transformers in the 80's.
@@Talrich77 I looked it up, the other chain was called Consumers Distributing.
Child World was my jam. There was one in the mall “in Dartmouth, MA off of 195” that also housed by grandparents favorite casual dining restaurant. Every Friday when we went for dinner as soon as we ordered my grampa would take me to buy a toy and by the time we got back my food was there!!! One of my best memories.
I worked at the Hanover Mall location around 1989, and of course had no idea any of this was going on. Judging by the behavior of myself and my other high school-age associates working there, I always thought they went out of business because of all the rampant employee theft! ;) Definitely have some fond memories of that place: Once Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) came in shopping for diapers and I got his autograph (on some waxy receipt paper that immediately made his signature disappear...LAME!) He was in the Barbie isle and made some observation about how "Barbie has gone from hottie to wh*re" or something... right after that security had to come rescue him because the store got flooded with fans! After all the excitement I definitely needed to cool down with a refreshing Orange Julius by the mall fountain.Thanks for the awesome video!
Word of warning on KiwiCo. I tried them for about 1 year while I lived in Florida. We tried the STEAM sets and then the World Culture types. They are REALLY bad at managing subscriptions and kept sending repeat kits that you CANNOT return. One of the issues was a line switch mid-subscription - that I initiated. In the end my daughter receiver about 9 original sets and 6 duplicates; and I told them after switch that we already had some of the culture sets, but still mistakes. Kits were nice though and engaging, just they Ops management side needs work. After a year and a three month extension, I cancelled.
Different experience with Kiwico. We have subscribed to at least 3 different lines and never got a duplicate kit.
I miss Child World so much that I wrote an article about them once. My family bought so many GI Joes and Transformers there, and my first Tamiya RC car, a wicked sweet Grasshopper! It was such a fun shop, and they had great toy displays.
That was when the mall in Salem, NH was a dinky little thing across the street from where I lived. I remember them building the castle parts of the store there, and thinking how magnificent it was, Camelot for toys. There was an Aladdin's Castle in the mall too, adding to the awesomeness.
I remember the Peter Panda mascot well, to me they were the real Toys R' Us competitor...not KB Toys.
We had multiple castle front mall locations and one standalone Children's Palace as a kid. Regardless of what our folks actually forked over money for, the experience was always thrilling and cathartic.
I remember we had one Children's Palace near us growing up. It was "far away" according to my extensive mom based research. I recall requesting to go there for my birthday in the late 80s to pick out a present. I had assumed it would be a mythical wonderland but it ended up having all the same things as Toys R Us did and well, i was disappointing.
Wow...this was sad. I remember going to one Children's Palace down in New Orleans only once when I was a kid. By the time I did go the location was actually actively in the process of closing down. I always loved the castle design of that store, it always drew me to it.
I remember Children's Palace when I lived in Colorado. Just seeing the overstock stacked up like they did always left me in awe. When we moved from CO I never saw another one and Toys R Us just didn't feel the same.
Thank you so much for covering Child World/Children’s Palace! I lived in a small town until I was 6 years old, when we moved to a much larger city.
Children’s Palace was literally the coolest thing I had ever seen until that point. That location was eventually replaced by a Toys R Us. It was essentially the same, and yet somehow less impressive.
I still have fond memories.
Wow, a beloved toy store chain ruined by a leveraged buyout that WASN’T masterminded by Mitt Romney for once 😅
No Bain Capital lol.
@@manofmainstreet1503 Which was founded by Mitt Romney!
Dare I say, "get your Mitts off of that toy store?" 😆
Great video! Not only was Child World my favorite store growing up (Hanover MA store in the former Hanover Mall FTW!), my dad probably saw that ridiculous commercial with the private eye hawking the GI Joe stealth bomber and bought it for me back then! That thing ruled. Man, I spent so much birthday and Christmas money in that place.
I worked for Children's Palace for years while all this happened. I was there through the liquidation of everything, which eventually hit 90% off, and right up until the store closed.
It's still one of my favorite jobs I've ever had. Not because it was a toy store, but many of the people I worked with.
The store is still there and still has the arched windows and entry... It's a Dollar Tree now.
4:08 Mascot alliteration. Company mascot was Peter Panda (4:25) and company president was Peter Hayes (6:10). Coincidence?
*sigh* I miss the hell out of them.
In Charleston S.C. we had Children's Palace. Damn I miss that freaking castle.
As a kid going to the Framingham location was pure heaven! My parents didn’t make the drive from Marlboro to Framingham often so it was always a special occasion.
I was Peter Panda at our local Children's Palace in while I was in college. It was a great job. I would get hammered the night before then put on that insanely hot suit and sweat out all the toxins that day. So by the time I got off work I was ready to go out that night. I also got to walk in parades, give gifts to sick kids, and be Santa's helper in the mall. I loved that job. I worked the floor when I wasn't the panda. It was great. I have many happy memories from my time working there. I loved that store.
did you sound just like woody allen?
This was awesome. I vaguely remember seeing the children's place logo but never went to a store. I actually thought it was a daycare center or something.
Growing up in Maine, I definitely remember Child World. Loved your Massachusetts/Dunkies references too.
In my old neighborhood Child World moved in late to the game. I can't remember when exactly, but probably in '88. It had opened across the street from our Toys R Us and I was excited to have 2 major toy stores in my area. A few years later though I recall the store looking neglected. We gave Child World a chance, but we continued to do the majority of our shopping at the store that had been there forever, Toys R Us. My fammily moved to a new community and there was a Child World there as well, but I don't recall ever being in there. It closed around the time mentioned in this video. To this day whenever I look at either location I still recall the Child Worlds being there even though the store fronts had been remodeled. I had always wondered how a toy store could come into play and try to take on Toys R Us? Thanks to this video I now know it wasn't exactly a pop-up store and already had an almost 20 year history before appearing in my area.
Great video and answered some questions I had that didn't know anyone would have the answers to.
I used to love Child World! I used to get all of my Atari games there (or at the Auburn Flea Market). I had an uncle who worked at the store in Shrewsbury, and of course I thought he was the coolest person on Earth.
Also, I love the constant name-dropping of local places. I still hit Shopper's World pretty frequently, and shed a tear every time I see the Hobby Lobby that used to be a Toys R Us.
Good to see Dan's finally getting some use out of that blazer he bought for his brother's wedding. :)
Every single video on this channel would deserve a thumb up for quality, presentation and research, but even being picky, this one comes out as one of the best
When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, there was a stand-alone Children's Palace on a two-lane secondary road, a couple of miles away from any other shopping area. It was an 11-mile drive from where I lived as a kid. 11 miles doesn't seem like a big deal today, but it was back in the 1970s during a fuel shortage in a giant V-8 Ford Galaxie. So going to Children's Palace was a very special and magical experience. I wish I had a time machine.
In the mid 80's, near Groveport, OH, we had a Children's Palace and a Toys 'r Us practically next door to each other. Good times...
I remember them, there was one that I recall, never went in it though. We had a K-Mart and an Ames, then when I moved a little further south, we had a Toys for Joy and that place went under along with it's parent stores Joy's in 1994.
I remember Children's Palace store in the Greenspoint area in my native Houston but it's now a business center!
As a kid all I knew was KB and Toys R Us. Never even heard of these other places before. That's why I love this channel, always discovering new things.
children's palace was my first job at 15, as it was going out of business. i bought everything i could. I miss that place
Fondly remember Child World being in Garden State Plaza over in Paramus, NJ. I remember getting lots of great toys and especially watching their video tape. And then suddenly one day it went away. Always wondered why. Thanks for the memories and explaination. And to add even more nostalgia, that space for Child World turned into a Borders Books and Music. Lots of fun there as a teen. Sadly even that has long gone.
We had a Children's Palace about an hour away from where I used to live. It was the first "Big" toy store I had ever been in. I still remember being blown away by the sheer volume of stuff. I also remember purchasing Secret Wars Magneto, Kang, and Dr Doom from there, about five years after that line was canceled. Ours was one of the earliest closings, in either 91 or 92. Of course, 12 year old me didn't know why at the time. All I knew was I was losing a cool toy store.
I used to love going to Child World in Dedham, right off of route 1 next to the Dedham Mall. Near the rotary with the dunkin donuts, you cant miss it!
I knew it! Refreshed my memory thank you. Sighs lol
Child World and Kay Bee were the two local toy stores near me. Nearest Toys R Us was an hour away. Child World is where I got my Kenner Boba Fett and others. Heck the theater I saw Jedi in was in the same shopping center as Child World. Remember waiting in line for hours to get into see Jedi. My dad took me and my brother for a walk to Child World while mom waited in line for a figure for each of us. Child World holds a ton of memories for me and thank you Dan for this video.
Growing up in northern Pittsburgh area, we lost our Children's Palace long before we had a Toys 'R' Us in the area. It went out of business in the '80s. What killed it in the area was the rise of Circus World and KB Toys. Those made the local mall a one stop shopping experience and drove down the business at the stand alone store. We didn't have a Toys 'R' Us until the mid '90s, just in time for when my wife and I started having our own kids. There was one to the south of the city but to go there was a day trip. Circus World or KB was a quick trip. We could ride there on our bikes or even walk.
I had a Children's Palace pretty close to me growing up. Obviously, it went out of business and was handed off to another business (and another and another). Despite the building changing hands many times, it has always kept the arched entrance and ramparts.
I remember being a little kid and being very bummed out when the children's palace near me closed. and then being older and being bummed again when the only toys r us near me closed as well.
I remember going here as a very very young child. My brother got his Gameboy here in 1990. Back when you would take the ticket to the register for big ticket or large items.
Our Children's Palace is now a Bed Bath and Beyond-- but not without the arches still on the front 🥰
I remember going to our local Children’s Palace a few times. I remember one time seeing that new Super Mario Bros 2 game, but pretty sure that was back when I was still an Atari Kid; despite how much I cried that I needed a Nintendo.
A few years later I remember my mom (ever the deal detective) taking me to their liquidation sale multiple times. I remember getting a jar of slime for must have been a quarter and for a dollar the NES Speedboard. The slime was a deal, but that Speedboard was a waste even at a dollar.
lol
Great video. We never have a child's world where I grew up, but a really good Toys R Us that used to be part of a major indoor mall until it was razed and converted into a strip mall.
That Toys R Us continue to be around until the bankruptcy. Had many great memories from there.
One of the Children's Palaces in the Pittsburgh area had this low lighting which made for a really cool atmosphere, wish I could go back or even just find some pics
Growing up in Canada in the 70s and 80s, going to Toy World and Toy City (Consumers Distributing) was the highlight of my weekend!
I didn't recognize the franchise name, but I do remember occasionally seeing an empty building with the castle spires but no logo when my family drove down the shore every summer when I was a kid. So that's what it was.
When I was a kid growing up in Hudson I used to shop in the Child's World you mentioned at Shopping World in Natick Mass. I was born in Framingham.
This was awesome as always. I love the humor and delivery @Toy Galaxy. This video especially resonates with me being I'm from CT. and have friends and family in MA. Dan describing the locations of these places and questioning why they decided to be there was priceless lmao!
I grew up with Children's Palace as my toy store as there was no TRU's anywhere near me. It was a great store I remember loving. Then it closed down and became a Circuit City. That close down and became a derelict building for like 10 years and now it's been torn down and built into townhomes. Good memories.
growing up in the 80s, only knew of one Toys R Us because it was the only one we'd go to until more popped up. but there was a great sensation of finding sooooo many toys at the time. just walking into it had a certain feel. bought a vast majority of our Atari 2600 games from there as well as the Super Powers collection. can only imagine what it could've been like if now they'd have anime sections with all the toys they pop out now. miss those toy stores (Toys R Us, Lionel Kiddy City, KB Toys, et al) because now that i'm buying for kids, it's made searching so much more difficult.
For a treat in the 80s my aunt's would take me and my sister to new haven ct . Right off 95 they had child's world on one side of the highway and toys r us on the other.
The Ollie's Children's Palace at the end of the video was my childhood Children's Palace. I stocked up on everything from GI Joe figures to classic NES games there. I was sad when it was gone, but I love showing friends new the area the Ollie's that looks like a castle.
I vividly remember going to a castle-themed toy store as a kid and two distinct toy purchases I got there (a King Kong figure and the TMNT Flushomatic). Was recently telling the wife about it and that I couldn't remember the store's name. Here we are. Thanks for this.
I remember the Children’s Palace in Evansville Indiana, it stayed a toy store for awhile in the 90’s and eventually became a Lone Star Steakhouse.
It became a best buy then jo-ann fabric. Lonestar Steakhouse was next door.
this was the best toy store, the selection was insane! cheap! and if you missed a toy release they still would have them months after other stores stopped carrying them
My first day of kindergarten, 1984. My parents picked me up from school, took me to the Child World in Warwick Rhode Island and I got my first ever Transformer. Thundercracker.
All my favorite toy stores as a kid, i remember my Mother taking me out on Saturday to buy WWF LJN figures! i really miss these days!
I'm from NYC and I don't remember having a Child World here. But there were multiple Lionel Kiddie City Toystores here. And the main one was on 34th street and it was an action figure paradise. I remember when I discovered it I almost fainted. And when Toys R Us was finally let into NYC in like 1990 I feel Lionel was still the superior toy store [during its existence]. At least in NYC. But who knows, the perspective of a child can be romanticized. I would have liked to go to Child World. I used to love the mini Kay Bee Toy stores which somehow were stacked with action figures. Nothing will ever beat the TRU Times Square experience when it first started 20 years ago though.
Wow, I was even alive at the right time and in exactly the right demographic to go berserk with excitement for a toy store shaped like a castle. Those must have been profoundly regional or my Midwestern parents tried desperately to keep me from learning about them
Oh man I remember how exciting it was to try and find the new Star Wars or GI Joe releases by heading out to East Haven CT where there was a Child World on one side of the highway and Toys R Us on the other and Dad had the patience to checkout both!
We already had a Children's Palace so it wasn't technically Child World, but I definitely was there when Child World owned the store. It always felt special going there because other toy stores I had access to were next to other stores my mom went to or were in a mall. Children's Palace wasn't at a particularly good location, so there was no "hey, while we're at Big Lots, can we go to this toy store too?" card to play. That meant if we were there, it was specifically because they were taking me to that toy store. When the company went out of business, "Children's Palace" became "The Palace," a skating rink that kept the same building shape. The Palace itself, I think, has since closed, but shockingly lasted as a skating rink through my senior year of high school in 2005.
I don't particularly remember Child World but we had a toy store at our mall in the 80's called Circus World. I love learning.....nice video man.
I have fond memories of going to Child World in the Rockingham Mall (see: NOT The Mall at Rockingham Park) as a kid in Salem, NH.
They had one of those NES arcade machines and I used to play Super Mario Bros. 3 on it for as long as I could with a few quarters while my parents shopped in the other stores.
I definitely remember an aesthetic overhaul around the early-to-mid 1990s. The store started looking like some red and white Wonka-style factory (with exposed piping and ceilings).
I ended up buying a hamster there when the store began selling pets and pet supplies.
It was really sad when I discovered the store was replaced with a Christmas Tree Shop the last time I ever visited that mall (mid-to-late 1990s).
My neon ninja weapon arsenal came from Child World. One of my favorite places as a kid.
A trip Child World in Salem NH was a trip to nirvana, surpassed only by the holy pilgrimage to Mr. Big Toyland
Children's Palace was my childhood toy store. Toys 'R' Us wouldn't open nearby until 1988 meaning it was pretty much the only large, dedicated toy store. After Toys R Us came to town they almost immediately went into decline. The entire shopping center it was in is gone now, the mall across the street torn down as well. It's so strange that this era is now long gone. Shopping online isn't anything close to the same as being taken to the toy store by your parents. And you never knew when you were going to come across cool stuff being put on clearance. I once got nearly a complete toy line, I believe it was Starriors, because they were closing it out.
Just when I thought I was the only one who remembered Child World lol
There was Childrens Palace less than 5 minutes from my house when I was a kid. Somewhere along the way, a Toys R Us opened a block away. I can’t remember how long they coexisted but it wasn’t long. Anyway, great episode!
Had a children’s palace in my hometown of Independence, Missouri. I loved that store as a kid in the 70s and early 80’s. The building still stands and still retains some of that palace character. But it is separated into a few shops now. There was a toys r us about a quarter mile up the road. It closed down a few years back.
I recall getting to pick a few toys from the Child World liquidation. Growing up poor, it was awesome to actually be able to buy toys from the toy store, but so sad to see it closing.
Visiting my first Children's Palace was a big moment in my childhood. :D I had never imagined such a place existed before that.
We had a Childrens Palace long before a Toys R Us, in the Twin Cities, so this was my go-to store as a kid. The fact that it looked like a friggin' castle only made it that much more magical. But I knew my relatives on the east coast had better access to stuff at their Toys R Us (I used to hear about it all the time from my aunt and cousins.)