Our Favorite Toy Stores

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Visiting local stores to buy new toys was always exciting when I was a kid, and I have fond memories of going to toy stores to pick out the latest additions to my collection. My idea for this thread isn't as much about recommending places to purchase models, but rather a place to reminisce and discuss shops, past and present, that were influential to our collections.

I'll start with mine-- The store was called Resource Island and they sold classroom supplies and educational toys. It was located about a half an hour north of me and visiting was always a treat when I was younger. When I first started going, they stocked Schleich, Papo, and Safari. Most of the Carnegie dinosaurs that I purchased at retail came from here. Over the summer of 2011, I'd use their coupon each month and buy quite a few Carnegies at a time, nearly (if not) completing the lineup of figures in production by the end of that year. Sadly, the shop met a tragic end with the death of the owner. It hung on for a few years afterwards, but I could tell that the passion and effort put in by the original owner were gone.



Other notable stores I bought figures from include the gift shops at my local museum, and at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

It always felt great to visit these types of shops, but unfortunately, with so much business being done online nowadays, decent shops to buy toy animals are becoming fewer and farther between. I recently discovered a toy store in my area that has an impressive selection of toys from different manufacturers and it reminds me a lot of Resource Island when they were around. It seems that gift shops at various attractions have declined in quality over the past few years as well.

[Pliosaurking]

I got many safari and Schleich figures from my local micheals and ToysRus when I was a kid
I fondly remember my grandmother taking to them and buying me figures
Now a days I occasionally go to them mostly toysRus for Mattel JW figures and sometimes Michaels for the odd safari figure

[Newt]

The town I grew up in didn't have any independent toy stores, or if it did my family never went to them. I do remember being blown away by Dino-Riders, Invicta, and Playskool dinos at the KayBee Toys in the mall - until then the only dinosaur toys I'd been exposed to were Marx knockoffs and Hong Kong screamers. These were on another level entirely. If I'd had my way I'd have owned every one of them - but I didn't have any money, so my collection was limited by my parents' resistance to wheedling.

Occasionally we would go to a mall in the nearest bigger city, an hour's drive away, and visit the Nature Company store. This store carried an odd assortment of educational toys, high-end figures, hand-made knicknacks from around the world, and natural history specimens. I was completely enthralled by it. Somewhere I have a tiny Phacops fossil I bought there.

Every now and again I daydream about running a store of my own, that sells all the things I wish the local stores would sell. Sometimes it's art supplies, pets, plants...and sometimes toys and collectibles. Then I remember that (1) the glory days of the brick-and-mortar store are long gone, (2) the things I like are not that popular or profitable, that's why the other stores don't carry them, (3) I hate working retail, and (4) I have approximately the same organizational and leadership skills as a bowl of high-fiber cereal. So endeth my dreams.

[Dusty Wren]

Occasionally we would go to a mall in the nearest bigger city, an hour's drive away, and visit the Nature Company store. This store carried an odd assortment of educational toys, high-end figures, hand-made knicknacks from around the world, and natural history specimens. I was completely enthralled by it. Somewhere I have a tiny Phacops fossil I bought there.

I remember the Nature Company! What a great store. We had a similar store at my local mall called World of Science. I just spent 10 minutes trying to find a photo of it on Google, but no luck. It seems to be lost to history. I don't remember if it sold toy dinosaurs, but it did sell fossils and fossil replicas.

Looking back, I think most of my toy dinosaurs came from yard sales, not actual stores. My parents loved a good yard sale, and they'd bring home a bag of assorted toys they'd picked up for a couple of bucks. I had an eclectic collection as a kid (including a couple of Invictas, which I didn't realize until I found the DTF )

[Halichoeres]

When I was a kid there was a place called Imaginarium at the mall on the rich side of town. It was a chain with a pretty good gimmick: there was a regular size doorway next to a miniature doorway for kids. We went there only rarely, but it was a treat. They had AAA animal figurines, which at least to my kid memory were the best thing going at the time.