Are you old enough to remember Child World? The chain of stores was once the second largest chain of toy stores in America, operating from 1975 to 1992. I have very vague memories of going as a child, but it's really just a blur. Most of my memories of Child World come from the commercials and sales flyers we would get in the local newspapers.
A few weeks ago I was at an estate sale, in the basement of an old house in town. I was finding nothing at all in this dingy mess, but out of the corner of my eye, I spied a familiar logo. Sticking out of a pile of papers was an old insert from Christmas of 1985 - for Child World. It had been perfectly preserved somehow, and I took it home with me.
Join me as we look at some of the items for sale. It must have been a pretty crappy week for toys, as there was no Star Wars, no Transformers, no He-Man almost nothing we collect now was present. But what they did show was an interesting sort of time-capsule of what was on the shelves at the time.
Check out the great collage of toys being held up by the mascot, Peter Panda. In the collage you can see Voltron 2, Voltron 3, a Gobots Semi-Truck, Transformers Roller Skates, and even a G.I. Joe Hovercraft.
The only G.I. Joe item in the catalog - the Cobra Hydrofoil, retailed for $17.86 in 1985.
Remember Construx? Fisher-Price's building sets never really attained the popularity of their chief competitors, Lego. I like how that ad states "Some Items May Require Assembly". You know, for building toys.
At $25 bucks each in 1985, the Hugga Bunch tried to cash in on the Cabbage Patch Kids craze, but are now mostly forgotten.
I had forgotten that they actually made some toys for Fraggle Rock. I used to love that show, although I was probably a bit too old to be watching it at the time.
Next time, electronics!
Comments
8 comments postedI remember Child World.
After it closed in my town, the retail space seemed to be cursed as no store stuck around in it for more than a year.
Same. There was a wonderful Child World store right in the middle of my towns shopping district. I still fondly remember the first appearance of Star Wars action figures there. To this day I still remember them more fondly than TRU. There was also another chain, "Toy World" maybe? I remember their logo was a squashed wire frame globe. Plus Child World had a really catchy tv jingle.
In Maryland, we had the Kiddie City chain. After those closed in the early 90s, one of them became a Wal-Mart, and that store had surprisingly good "toy karma" when it came to finding new stuff there. It was the only place I ever saw Alternators Ravage (the Jaguar, not the Corvette) on the shelves.
... that was where my Child World was. The number of cardboard box, plastic handle, styro tray import toys was astounding (tho it wasn't Mr. Big.
I do still remember to this day seeing the Scott Bernard Cyclone on the shelf and not being able to afford it.
Mine was Chelmsford. I suspect my memory is cheating, but I feel like I can still remember the store layout.
It's where I caught the robot bug: my first encounters with Shogun Warriors, Diakron, Transformers, Godaikin, Go-Bots, etc. all happened there. I had to wait until my one visit to Mr. Big to see a diecast Yamato, though...
I've been sad that I've never managed to make it to Mr. Big, but, now I think I'd be depressed that my resources didn't meet my wants while I was in High School.
This is awesome. I loved Child World as a kid and went there way more often than Toys R Us (which in those days I hardly ever set foot in) because my mom used to work at the flower shop in Quincy Center and she would occasionally take me with her. I'd earn a few extra bucks helping out and then go up the street to Child World to get my GI Joe fix. I distinctly remember buying Dr. Mindbender there as well as the Defiant.
Wow,
What a great find!
I miss the chain to this day as TRU was never quite as nice a Child World in it's prime.
Unfortunately I have vivid memories of the worker's strike the helped lead to the chain's demise.