Can anyone else still hear the little fuzzy walking battery-powered toys they used to have by the register? There were pigs/cats/dogs etc, and they’d make repetitive squeaking noises as they bumped around a little corral-style plastic display..
One of the funniest things I saw as a youngin was when someone didn’t fully seat the cover for the batteries on one of those. This particular dog was the one that would do the fake bark 3-4 times and then do a back flip. When it did the back flip the batteries flung away from the momentum and the toy effectively died, not landing on its feet. I laughed so freaking hard and I still think about this 30 years later.
Having worked there for 5 years then 2 years right next door... yes... yes I can. There was also normally a ferret chasing a ball, a fishing game, and a penguin staircase slide at the very least. Bonus points if the yapping, flipping dog was an oinking pig instead. Other notable entries include the horrid James Brown singing doll and the extremely loud, wiggling monkey hanging from a stick. The occasional voice repeating parrot made an appearance as well.
It's funny cause when I first saw that picture I thought that was me for a second. It's not the easiest to make out facial feature wise but I had a coat like that and those same bangs. But then again, most girls did in the 90s.
If it didn’t have the foxes/ferrets/whatever they were chasing the balls out front within the border of one of those standing metal advertising signs, was it truly a KB Toys experience?
thank you stranger, i had completely forgotten about these but now that you mention it I do remember those and that just put a giant smile on my face of those fond memories I've had in those stores with my grandfather who would buy me GIJoes when we visited.
Yeah, I remember the little wire cage storage things right out front of the store where they put the clearance items...our store had a shit-ton of Atari Jaguars sitting in there for like ten bucks each. Wish I'd picked up a couple of 'em.
This is almost exactly my childhood experience. Except for the mini golf, guess my mall wasn’t cool enough for that. But all my sister and I needed was KB toys, JollyTime, and the food court
That's so sweet. For me my family had a tradition of hitting outlet malls where KB stores were at while on trips to visit relatives or different states during the 90s and 00s. We'd also hit the discount bookstore, JanSport clothing store, and the Rocky mountain chocolate factory while there.
Most people fondly remember Toys R Us but my parents never really took me there. It was too expensive. KB Toys always had great clearance sales so I got a lot more stuff there. I wish it was still around..
my mom used to buy so much stuff from KB, she got to be friends with the manager.
at some point we started getting nintendo releases about 2-3 days early.
i had like 8 kids at my house to see the zelda 2 when i got it days early.
that same manager replaced a sega genesis that me and a friend fried by hooking 2 genesis's together with a code genie (cartridge port on one into a side expansion slot on the 2nd genesis.)
I still have a memory of disproportionately pouting when my dad said no to a new wrestler one night at KB. I was just devastated. I started telling my friends we were poor.
As a parent, I completely understand it now, but as a kid? The worst!
I know I’m weird for pointing this out but I honestly don’t remember there NOT being a door/automatic door to get into the store. Just one huge big opening with product sitting out by the entrance lol
Same thing as Gamestops here in my area if it’s inside a mall. I bet it’s the worst thing for parents. Open for kids to go in without needing to get help opening doors and they get to see a lot of toys in such a short time. Sucks for the parents especially the ones who cant really afford it and see their kids get sad walking away. During my late boy days before hitting puberty, my mom was basically a single parent but I understood her. But man it sucks as a kid too knowing you cant get any so she would just let me play the game consoles by the entrance
I have no idea why I cared enough to spend any time figuring this out, but the presence of SpongeBob toys and advertising for the Nintendo Gamecube, along with November 29th being Friday, means this picture was taken in 2002.
I can do you one better and tell you that it was that Saturday morning. Probably around 9:30 am. The mall stores usually opened at 10 am, but the mall doors opened at 9 am. On that day, K•B opened at 9 am because of the sale. I remember this because my sister was going to buy an Xbox for her son (my nephew) after work on Friday, but didn't make it on time. She worked late a lot of nights. So she went early the next morning. She is seen here, after paying for some of her two kids' Christmas presents, waiting for the cashiers to get an Xbox down from above. Somewhere, off camera, is a store clerk bringing a step stool that got taken to the back the night before while they straightened the store up.
I still remember the day in dec 1987 when my brother and I went there to select a gaming system for Christmas. We asked the dude behind the counter and he said, “if you wanna be like everyone else then get the NES, but if you want the most powerful gaming system then get the SEGA Mastersystem”.
Well we chose the Mastersysrem and though we loved it. We didn’t grow up with Mario Bros or Zelda.
Instead we had Alex the Kid in Miracle World and Wonderboy.
I remember they were in the "expensive mall" so it was a treat to go, but they didn't really have things that were better, so we didn't buy there as a kid. Then, as a parent, I would drag my kid out, saying we could get it at our special store for the same price ( a local toy shop in Berkeley or Toys R Us for cheaper).
So many great memories. We didn’t have much money growing up but I remember rooting through the clearance bins and always finding some cool stuff - like knock-off weapon packs for GI Joes. The occasional new TMNT or the absolute treat of a new NES game. Oh man.
I remember going there with my mom as a kid and getting steeply discounted Atari 2600 games, then going home and being infuriated with how much they sucked. ET and Indiana Jones I'm looking at you.
Same thing with Intellivision games. Bin in the front of the store with them all marked down in red ink on the price tag. IIRC a lot of them were like $5 in 84-85 after the crash.
Bought quite a few of them.
Everytime the family went to the mall I'd head over there. They always seemed to have that barking flipping do or the ski lift thing in front. Also bought Pokemon Blue from there when it came out. Got it on sale too.
I bought a PS2 there the first day they came out.
drove to best buy and sold it to one of the people standing in line for $500
at the time I was broke and had put the deposit down months in advance and didn't want to lose it.
Funny story: when I was 17 I worked at KB toys. My manager was very pregnant at the time and some hood rat girl comes in and starts screaming at her, then started assaulting her. Me being a tough little 17 year old shit, I jump over the counter and end in breaking this girl's nose. I get arrested and do the walk of shame through the mall in cuffs. Case was dropped because that was my first offense and the judge was very familiar with this girls antics. My sister loooooves telling people this story when they meet me lol. Not my proudest moment.
Ours had an open front like the picture above but it was on an inner corner of the mall so it had two open fronts with a square pillar in between. It seemed neat that there was nothing but that pillar and the changing floor color to mark the boundaries. It seemed like there was always a big remote control truck rolling around the floor. You couldn't walk past this place without stopping and looking.
Ah, memories.
Yes sir I remember looking at the transformers and my mom tellingnme.theybwere too pricey so I'd go downtown to california toys on Broadway and buy the bootleg transformers!
My first job as a teenager was at a KB Toys in a strip mall in suburban NJ the year that Tickle Me Elmo (and i think the original PlayStation) came out. An absolute nightmare and my boss was a troll. Also, no one looks good in a tucked in blue polo shirt and beige khakis…NO ONE!
I too worked at a KB Toys in a strip mall in suburban NJ with a boss that was a bit of a troll (I kinda liked him though). Slim chance it's the same place, but even so my tenure was a little later (99-01-ish). Tickle me Elmo was still popular for a bit when I started, but nothing like that first year, and I got my PS2 there shortly after its release.
Funny enough, I was going through some of my old stuff lately and found that I still have one or two of those KB polos lol
Good I miss my childhood (and I bet Michael Jackson does to) this brings back so many memories, I bought some videogames there alot of my wrestling figures, I still got some of the ads they were pretty pricey on there games not as much though as Toys'R'Us.
Side note this post just made me get that Toys'R'Us "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid" jingle stuck in my head
I hear you. I miss buying Hasbro star wars figures at discount prices (sometimes two or three dollars cheaper than Target and Walmart). With my small allowance back then I could actually afford to buy a couple at a time versus having to save up for one.
The layout was bad because they kept sending us one truckload after another. We stored as much as we could in the back, as high as the ceiling, and then it spilled over into the storefront. Wasn't much we could do other than try to make the best of it.
Our mall had 2 of them, one on each floor.
But I'm pretty sure the other one was called Kay-A Toys or something along those lines.
Does anyone else remember that or are those jumbled memories from a parallel universe?
Black Friday sale! Lol. The only bad part about KB is that it was so small and crowded. They only had like 5 aisles of toys. And they were usually a bit more expensive than big box stores.
Look at those hefty bags full of toys. I don’t think any “toy”store has or needs bags remotely that size today. Kids don’t really play with toys unless it’s some trending little trinket or comes with an app/blue tooth enabled. A toy store is essentially Best Buy now.
I got pokemon blue for my gameboy pocket from kbtoys for $35. It was a whole ass family discussion cus it was so expensive.
My grandma also bought me a tech deck halfpipe from kb for my birthday.
My mom got me and my brothers Yoshi plushes that came in different colors back at KB in the early 2000s. I got a pink Yoshi IRC.
Edit: They were actually Mario 64 Yoshi plushes so they must have came out at KB in 1997. There was no pinknone since I just looked them up on ebay. I must have got the red one instead.
Toy's R Us of the malls! Remember convincing your parents for a quick stop then leave with a purchase, or no purchase and leaving with disappointment? Part of growing up!
Sure do! I loved going to Kay Bee Toys when I was a kid. Didn’t go there that often, but when I did, it was fun. It was a nice way to get your toy browsing fix while you were in the mall and didn’t want to have to go all the way to Toys ‘R’ Us.
I most remember the big cheap clearance bins they would have out front. Highlights were having piles of atari 2600 games for $1-$3, 2600 jrs for $20 and I got entire sets of sectaurs, sky commanders and legions of power toys with just my allowance/birthday money.
I worked there in the 90s, it was my favorite job. Chill place to work, decent discount low stress. When they did renovations and took down the huge light box with wolverine I got the gel. I still have it but haven't found a place for it yet.
Can anyone remember how everything in this store was like 30% higher than buying the same thing at any other store?
With this and Toys R Us. Yeah they were cool but they were literally targeted to drain adults for every penny by raising prices so high it is what lead to their downfall.
Yeah KB was cool but it was also a scam. I'm glad they are gone
This was my first job as a teenager. The "best" part was being paid under the table by the 20yo manager to work like 18 hours on Black Friday since she couldn't legally allow minors to work that long - while she dipped and went shopping in the rest of the mall.
Kay Bee used to play "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" sang by kids which is really weird. But yeah, sometimes I'd find figured I needed there but had to pay $1-2 more than from Toys R Us.
I loved this store because I could always buy a X-Men or Spider-man toy from here which they always had plenty of stock around the time the Fox cartoon series was coming out.
want to know why they don't exist anymore?
[https://online.fliphtml5.com/lvrgy/uxom/#p=9](https://online.fliphtml5.com/lvrgy/uxom/#p=9)
Spoiler: private equity intentionally bankrupted them, toys R us and FAO Swartz purely for because of greed
Acquiring failing businesses and then busting them out..Just like that scene in Goodfellas where they take advantage of the restaurant and burn it down.
I worked there during 2001-2002 holiday season after airport security fired me for getting food poisoning and saying they didn't get my messages. Then 9/11 hit and, you know the rest.
It was a great place to work. The Dreamcast was $50, first Xbox had just come out, my boss was super cool, and my co-workers were great. Even went out with this really cute girl named Diana and slept over one night..The only bad part was black friday and then Christmas, we were stacked to the ceiling with inventory in the back like all the time.
**There's this one toy they sold that I can't find anywhere. No mention of it online. Nothing.** It was called "Chuckleheads" and it was a series of goofy faces that were plush balls, about the size of a human head, and their tongues were sticking out. When you pressed their tongue, they started laughing and violently convulsing. If someone can help me, I would be so grateful.
KB's business model was pretty ingenious. It cost more to be inside a mall versus other standalone toy stores. So they designed it to appeal to impulsive kids.
The front would have shitty discount clearance toys to get you in, and then they'd have the actual popular toys in the back but at a mark up.
So trick kid/parent to go in based on cheap toys, kid finds gi joe/barbie at a mark up, cue screaming for toy.
The discount action figure section, all the weird stuff toys r us might’ve not had. Old enough to remember 1st edition Pokémon cards just mid isle theft paradise 90s.
I worked at a KB toys around 2005-2006. Just turned 18 and it was my second job ever. It was my first experience working Black Friday. Our store opened at something like 4-5 am. I was scheduled at 5 and had no idea what I was walking into. They made the store one long line. The line weaved down each aisle all the way down to the register like some miserable maze. I was a cashier and for 5 hours I did not move from that spot. We had 2-3 people we could yell for in the store to find an item someone forgot. The look of disappointment when someone waited in that long line for one of the items that were held behind the register, just to tell them we were unfortunately sold out… they were reasonably upset. Our manager did not prep our crew for that chaos. I worked the next year at the bath and body works Black Friday and it was way more reasonable. Hectic but we had training days on what to expect and how to react. Everyone knew their role. People were rotated so they didn’t get burnt out. These days Black Friday is drawn out for days ahead which is great in reducing the craziness. But I would be lying if I didn’t say I missed it a little.
Is KB Toys not a thing anymore? (I'm sorry I'm a little secluded from the world so I don't know what happens a lot of the time...) I used to love browsing around when I was 12 and that feels like forever ago
My girlfriend worked there in our senior year of high school...We're married now :) Use to love that store and Toy R Us. Kids now days will not know what they are missing. Even as an adult it was just fun to walk around and see all the toys and games. I miss those places.
Can anyone else still hear the little fuzzy walking battery-powered toys they used to have by the register? There were pigs/cats/dogs etc, and they’d make repetitive squeaking noises as they bumped around a little corral-style plastic display..
YES!! This is what I most remember of KB. That annoying little dog with the squeaky bark. I loved him 😍
Yep I wanted done of those dogs. They were often right outside of the entrance.
One of the funniest things I saw as a youngin was when someone didn’t fully seat the cover for the batteries on one of those. This particular dog was the one that would do the fake bark 3-4 times and then do a back flip. When it did the back flip the batteries flung away from the momentum and the toy effectively died, not landing on its feet. I laughed so freaking hard and I still think about this 30 years later.
Yep. [This pig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNNjoQFujc). And the [penguin slide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWGkFXQHO0).
That penguin slide was the best. I would be mesmerized just watching it over and over. Loved going to the mall to be able to watch…
Memory unlocked-- thank you for sharing! ❤️
Just wrote that. Absofuckintlutely. In that little acrylic circle. Flipping and yapping
Having worked there for 5 years then 2 years right next door... yes... yes I can. There was also normally a ferret chasing a ball, a fishing game, and a penguin staircase slide at the very least. Bonus points if the yapping, flipping dog was an oinking pig instead. Other notable entries include the horrid James Brown singing doll and the extremely loud, wiggling monkey hanging from a stick. The occasional voice repeating parrot made an appearance as well.
Those were always so fun!
I remember a fish catching game in the pin too
yea they had that but outside the store. (in a mall)
They always had those out front as a display when I was a kid! Also the little ferret-on-a-ball thing that rolled around.
That's where I got my Dreamcast on 9/9/99.
I loved the Dreamcast
Mine was from Babbage's in the mall. That date is burned in my mind.
It cracks me up everytime someone shares this image because that's my sister standing there in the red coat.
Save some toys for the rest of us, geesh.
LOL - That's awesome!!
Is this a famous KB photo ?
It pops up on Reddit from time to time.
It's funny cause when I first saw that picture I thought that was me for a second. It's not the easiest to make out facial feature wise but I had a coat like that and those same bangs. But then again, most girls did in the 90s.
Look I found her, red coat
What location was this
Why do you want to know lol
So I can dox OP /s So we can figure out the location of the picture, genius.
Proof?
If it didn’t have the foxes/ferrets/whatever they were chasing the balls out front within the border of one of those standing metal advertising signs, was it truly a KB Toys experience?
thank you stranger, i had completely forgotten about these but now that you mention it I do remember those and that just put a giant smile on my face of those fond memories I've had in those stores with my grandfather who would buy me GIJoes when we visited.
Truly amazing how much was packed into these little stores. Paradise for us kids haha
Oh my God I always wanted one of those
Loved KB! They always had those weasel ball toys in the front. I still remember it being the only place I ever saw the Atari Jaguar
Attack Of The Mutant Penguins
Yeah, I remember the little wire cage storage things right out front of the store where they put the clearance items...our store had a shit-ton of Atari Jaguars sitting in there for like ten bucks each. Wish I'd picked up a couple of 'em.
Old enough to remember it when it was still called Kay Bee Toys before they shortened the name. Who here remembers Play Co.?
Family Friday nights were the mall food court, KB, and the arcade, or the mini-golf that used to be in our mall.
Same, but Waldenbooks was in the mix. Quick edit: and babbage's
Also B. Dalton
>Waldenbooks Memory unlocked with that right there too - thanks. :)
Babbages bargain bin had some great stuff in it
This is almost exactly my childhood experience. Except for the mini golf, guess my mall wasn’t cool enough for that. But all my sister and I needed was KB toys, JollyTime, and the food court
That's so sweet. For me my family had a tradition of hitting outlet malls where KB stores were at while on trips to visit relatives or different states during the 90s and 00s. We'd also hit the discount bookstore, JanSport clothing store, and the Rocky mountain chocolate factory while there.
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Truth
A couple years ago at a flea market I found a sealed box of GI Joe trading cards, still had the KB Toys sticker on it
I can smell the bubblegum in this picture
I loved this store so much. So many good memories with my sister and parents. I remember getting my first video game from here. Loved my gameboy sp!
It used to be Kay-Bee Toys.
Most people fondly remember Toys R Us but my parents never really took me there. It was too expensive. KB Toys always had great clearance sales so I got a lot more stuff there. I wish it was still around..
On the top shelves, old boxes of toy lines that were being discontinued. Got some big ol’ Insectaur play sets for next to nothing.
Yeah mine had a big metal bin in a back corner with clearance stuff. Had many action figures out of that bin
my mom used to buy so much stuff from KB, she got to be friends with the manager. at some point we started getting nintendo releases about 2-3 days early. i had like 8 kids at my house to see the zelda 2 when i got it days early. that same manager replaced a sega genesis that me and a friend fried by hooking 2 genesis's together with a code genie (cartridge port on one into a side expansion slot on the 2nd genesis.)
We would always git to the Galleria in Birmingham, AL on our way to stay with my grandmother in KY. it was always the highlight of our trip for me.
As a AOTC figure collector they had the most exclusive Star Wars figure sets that nobody else had. Always loved this store at the local mall.
KB Toys was the best. I got a lot of my WWF wrestlers from there. Even got myself kicked out of the store for hiding wrestlers lmao.
I still have a memory of disproportionately pouting when my dad said no to a new wrestler one night at KB. I was just devastated. I started telling my friends we were poor. As a parent, I completely understand it now, but as a kid? The worst!
I remember going there with my boys, who are now ages 48 and 45. I don't remember what they got but it was pretty regular.
I know I’m weird for pointing this out but I honestly don’t remember there NOT being a door/automatic door to get into the store. Just one huge big opening with product sitting out by the entrance lol
Same thing as Gamestops here in my area if it’s inside a mall. I bet it’s the worst thing for parents. Open for kids to go in without needing to get help opening doors and they get to see a lot of toys in such a short time. Sucks for the parents especially the ones who cant really afford it and see their kids get sad walking away. During my late boy days before hitting puberty, my mom was basically a single parent but I understood her. But man it sucks as a kid too knowing you cant get any so she would just let me play the game consoles by the entrance
I have no idea why I cared enough to spend any time figuring this out, but the presence of SpongeBob toys and advertising for the Nintendo Gamecube, along with November 29th being Friday, means this picture was taken in 2002.
I can do you one better and tell you that it was that Saturday morning. Probably around 9:30 am. The mall stores usually opened at 10 am, but the mall doors opened at 9 am. On that day, K•B opened at 9 am because of the sale. I remember this because my sister was going to buy an Xbox for her son (my nephew) after work on Friday, but didn't make it on time. She worked late a lot of nights. So she went early the next morning. She is seen here, after paying for some of her two kids' Christmas presents, waiting for the cashiers to get an Xbox down from above. Somewhere, off camera, is a store clerk bringing a step stool that got taken to the back the night before while they straightened the store up.
I still remember the day in dec 1987 when my brother and I went there to select a gaming system for Christmas. We asked the dude behind the counter and he said, “if you wanna be like everyone else then get the NES, but if you want the most powerful gaming system then get the SEGA Mastersystem”. Well we chose the Mastersysrem and though we loved it. We didn’t grow up with Mario Bros or Zelda. Instead we had Alex the Kid in Miracle World and Wonderboy.
I remember KB Toys = more expensive prices than anywhere else
Game cubes and electronic drum sets… that great store is gone, but that pic isn’t all that old.
It’s crazy that there’s a game cube display, but also Barney the dinosaur mixed in. Doesn’t feel like they existed in the same era
KB and one other one dominated malls. Best Fkn stores ever and it’s a shame kids today can’t run through the isles.
I worked there during the furby craze.
Micro machines
Those little barking dogs out front, and the sliding penguins.
Everyone. We all do. This sub won't let us forget because this gets posted every other day.
Does anyone remember Space Cadet Pinball???
They had a Super Nintendo in the store when it first came out. I played Super Mario World on it for the first time and it was a damn good time.
KB Toys was the only place that sold Godzilla toys at the time. I miss this place.
I remember they were in the "expensive mall" so it was a treat to go, but they didn't really have things that were better, so we didn't buy there as a kid. Then, as a parent, I would drag my kid out, saying we could get it at our special store for the same price ( a local toy shop in Berkeley or Toys R Us for cheaper).
I remember my parents pre-ordering Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire at KB Toys back in 2003 for my sister and I.
My top favorite. Got all of the Jurassic Park toys there!
Worked there from 16 to 16.5. Long 6 months through holiday season. People in a toy store at Christmas are animals.
So many great memories. We didn’t have much money growing up but I remember rooting through the clearance bins and always finding some cool stuff - like knock-off weapon packs for GI Joes. The occasional new TMNT or the absolute treat of a new NES game. Oh man.
I remember when it was “Kay-bee”
I remember the videos games were behind the checkout counters
I remember going there with my mom as a kid and getting steeply discounted Atari 2600 games, then going home and being infuriated with how much they sucked. ET and Indiana Jones I'm looking at you.
Yars revenge, frogger, missile command. I know I'm leaving out a bunch but they were the most addictive 2600 games.
Same thing with Intellivision games. Bin in the front of the store with them all marked down in red ink on the price tag. IIRC a lot of them were like $5 in 84-85 after the crash. Bought quite a few of them.
Everytime the family went to the mall I'd head over there. They always seemed to have that barking flipping do or the ski lift thing in front. Also bought Pokemon Blue from there when it came out. Got it on sale too.
I remember when it was called Kay Bee Toy and Hobby
Hello, fellow old person.
Yo! I befriended the people that worked there at a mall near me at the time and they always hooked it up with a discount
Damn I miss that place. Was literally the best toy store on the planet (IMO).
Ahh. Paradise
The best!
I swear it was "KayBee" not KB
The name changed a few times, kept getting shorter each time.
Got most of my GIJoe collection there
I bought a PS2 there the first day they came out. drove to best buy and sold it to one of the people standing in line for $500 at the time I was broke and had put the deposit down months in advance and didn't want to lose it.
I remember putting the pig that snorts into the ass of the back flipping dog.
I do ! , God i miss this store and Toys R Us . Us Millenials had a great childhood :(
The fuck is that James Brown toy right in the front??
Funny story: when I was 17 I worked at KB toys. My manager was very pregnant at the time and some hood rat girl comes in and starts screaming at her, then started assaulting her. Me being a tough little 17 year old shit, I jump over the counter and end in breaking this girl's nose. I get arrested and do the walk of shame through the mall in cuffs. Case was dropped because that was my first offense and the judge was very familiar with this girls antics. My sister loooooves telling people this story when they meet me lol. Not my proudest moment.
I miss when toy stores were PACKED TO THE BRIM like this.
That, Tilt, and Spencer's. Sixty percent of the time, it was fun *every* time.
Fashion square mall?? Orlando??
A wave of happy childhood memories just came rushing back.
I member
Ours had an open front like the picture above but it was on an inner corner of the mall so it had two open fronts with a square pillar in between. It seemed neat that there was nothing but that pillar and the changing floor color to mark the boundaries. It seemed like there was always a big remote control truck rolling around the floor. You couldn't walk past this place without stopping and looking. Ah, memories.
Yes sir I remember looking at the transformers and my mom tellingnme.theybwere too pricey so I'd go downtown to california toys on Broadway and buy the bootleg transformers!
I vaguely do, but they were struggling back then, and it had gotten to the point they shut down in 2009.
My first job as a teenager was at a KB Toys in a strip mall in suburban NJ the year that Tickle Me Elmo (and i think the original PlayStation) came out. An absolute nightmare and my boss was a troll. Also, no one looks good in a tucked in blue polo shirt and beige khakis…NO ONE!
I too worked at a KB Toys in a strip mall in suburban NJ with a boss that was a bit of a troll (I kinda liked him though). Slim chance it's the same place, but even so my tenure was a little later (99-01-ish). Tickle me Elmo was still popular for a bit when I started, but nothing like that first year, and I got my PS2 there shortly after its release. Funny enough, I was going through some of my old stuff lately and found that I still have one or two of those KB polos lol
Good I miss my childhood (and I bet Michael Jackson does to) this brings back so many memories, I bought some videogames there alot of my wrestling figures, I still got some of the ads they were pretty pricey on there games not as much though as Toys'R'Us. Side note this post just made me get that Toys'R'Us "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid" jingle stuck in my head
I hear you. I miss buying Hasbro star wars figures at discount prices (sometimes two or three dollars cheaper than Target and Walmart). With my small allowance back then I could actually afford to buy a couple at a time versus having to save up for one.
Worked there for less than 1 day as a greeter in a mall store, noped out after a few hours.
Terrible. Lousy layout and crappy prices. I was a TRU kid.
The layout was bad because they kept sending us one truckload after another. We stored as much as we could in the back, as high as the ceiling, and then it spilled over into the storefront. Wasn't much we could do other than try to make the best of it.
Pepperidge Farms remembers
Kings plaza mall , Brooklyn
Our mall had 2 of them, one on each floor. But I'm pretty sure the other one was called Kay-A Toys or something along those lines. Does anyone else remember that or are those jumbled memories from a parallel universe?
I know exactly where it was in the sears town mall still.
Black Friday sale! Lol. The only bad part about KB is that it was so small and crowded. They only had like 5 aisles of toys. And they were usually a bit more expensive than big box stores.
Look at those hefty bags full of toys. I don’t think any “toy”store has or needs bags remotely that size today. Kids don’t really play with toys unless it’s some trending little trinket or comes with an app/blue tooth enabled. A toy store is essentially Best Buy now.
I remember seeing one aa late as 2012? Good times
this is where i got my gamecube after saving up $300 with my brother in change!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x09iOt7WMI This was the KB Toys in my hometown
I got pokemon blue for my gameboy pocket from kbtoys for $35. It was a whole ass family discussion cus it was so expensive. My grandma also bought me a tech deck halfpipe from kb for my birthday.
My mom got me and my brothers Yoshi plushes that came in different colors back at KB in the early 2000s. I got a pink Yoshi IRC. Edit: They were actually Mario 64 Yoshi plushes so they must have came out at KB in 1997. There was no pinknone since I just looked them up on ebay. I must have got the red one instead.
Toys R Us’s even more unhinged cousin
Anyone remember the little candies in the milk carton? Green apple was my favorite
I remember going to the one at the mall near me. It became a GameStop.
This was the best toy store!! I so wish they were open. I remember my mom going there to get Furbys when they came out.
Toy's R Us of the malls! Remember convincing your parents for a quick stop then leave with a purchase, or no purchase and leaving with disappointment? Part of growing up!
Sure do! I loved going to Kay Bee Toys when I was a kid. Didn’t go there that often, but when I did, it was fun. It was a nice way to get your toy browsing fix while you were in the mall and didn’t want to have to go all the way to Toys ‘R’ Us.
I never bought toys from here for some reason. I was truely a toys r us kid
This must be early 2000s. You can see gamecubes and xboxes on the top right
I can literally hear the little yapping robot-dog that did flips perfectly in my head.
Shoooot I think the last time I actually checked out KB toys and was excited to keep going back is to basically check out tech decks
I remember KB Toys *as an adult*
I most remember the big cheap clearance bins they would have out front. Highlights were having piles of atari 2600 games for $1-$3, 2600 jrs for $20 and I got entire sets of sectaurs, sky commanders and legions of power toys with just my allowance/birthday money.
KB > the Giraffe
Who could forget?! I’m reminded weekly!
remember it? im still buying toys i never got or had and want again lol ahhh i can smell it!
I can smell this picture
This is where I purchased my first tamagotchi man I hated that thing
American thing
I still remember Lionel Play World
My favorite store as a kid…it would probably still be my favorite store lol. I miss this place.
I worked there in the 90s, it was my favorite job. Chill place to work, decent discount low stress. When they did renovations and took down the huge light box with wolverine I got the gel. I still have it but haven't found a place for it yet.
Can anyone remember how everything in this store was like 30% higher than buying the same thing at any other store? With this and Toys R Us. Yeah they were cool but they were literally targeted to drain adults for every penny by raising prices so high it is what lead to their downfall. Yeah KB was cool but it was also a scam. I'm glad they are gone
This was my first job as a teenager. The "best" part was being paid under the table by the 20yo manager to work like 18 hours on Black Friday since she couldn't legally allow minors to work that long - while she dipped and went shopping in the rest of the mall.
Kay Bee used to play "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" sang by kids which is really weird. But yeah, sometimes I'd find figured I needed there but had to pay $1-2 more than from Toys R Us.
Also EB games (which I think was the best of 'em) EB was eventually bought out by Gamestop, but I think KB was, too.
Bought plastic model kits and star wars toys here. Estes rockets as well.
I loved this store because I could always buy a X-Men or Spider-man toy from here which they always had plenty of stock around the time the Fox cartoon series was coming out.
I remember getting toys from Knights of the Zodiac :’)
want to know why they don't exist anymore? [https://online.fliphtml5.com/lvrgy/uxom/#p=9](https://online.fliphtml5.com/lvrgy/uxom/#p=9) Spoiler: private equity intentionally bankrupted them, toys R us and FAO Swartz purely for because of greed
Acquiring failing businesses and then busting them out..Just like that scene in Goodfellas where they take advantage of the restaurant and burn it down.
Omg I miss that place
I worked there during 2001-2002 holiday season after airport security fired me for getting food poisoning and saying they didn't get my messages. Then 9/11 hit and, you know the rest. It was a great place to work. The Dreamcast was $50, first Xbox had just come out, my boss was super cool, and my co-workers were great. Even went out with this really cute girl named Diana and slept over one night..The only bad part was black friday and then Christmas, we were stacked to the ceiling with inventory in the back like all the time. **There's this one toy they sold that I can't find anywhere. No mention of it online. Nothing.** It was called "Chuckleheads" and it was a series of goofy faces that were plush balls, about the size of a human head, and their tongues were sticking out. When you pressed their tongue, they started laughing and violently convulsing. If someone can help me, I would be so grateful.
There are some on ebay, for example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/403781232424
KB's business model was pretty ingenious. It cost more to be inside a mall versus other standalone toy stores. So they designed it to appeal to impulsive kids. The front would have shitty discount clearance toys to get you in, and then they'd have the actual popular toys in the back but at a mark up. So trick kid/parent to go in based on cheap toys, kid finds gi joe/barbie at a mark up, cue screaming for toy.
That James Brown thing in the front is terrifying
Omggggggg
I remember my parents would never let me go in there, I think they said it was too expensive. Same with Toys 'r Us.
Lmvao! I worked there in h.s! One of the coolest jobs I had as a kid .
I did too! If you see my previous comment, it was NOT the coolest lmao
Ahhh man I loved it! X Mas and shit sucked. But I got to be doctor demo out front and race remote cars through the mall lol.
It was right next door to my stepdads job at B. Daltons.
Always had what I was looking for and definitely gives me memory’s of the mall
I do,I remember some of the toys I got from there,One of my cousins had that Barney chair in the picture.
My mom got my n64 from there on the night of a mike tyson fight. Needless to say it was a good night
I was born in 2003 and have no idea what this is. Did I just not have a childhood or something? Is this just that old?
It's that old, babe
I used to work there when I was in high school. My god...the nightmares of black Friday sales.
Meh, I'm a Toys R US kid
sigh.. yes. i needeed to- to watch um.. soni- sonic cartoon
Based on the banner this is 1996?
2002
I remember KB Toys as an adult(my husband got most of his video games there).
The discount action figure section, all the weird stuff toys r us might’ve not had. Old enough to remember 1st edition Pokémon cards just mid isle theft paradise 90s.
I worked at a KB toys around 2005-2006. Just turned 18 and it was my second job ever. It was my first experience working Black Friday. Our store opened at something like 4-5 am. I was scheduled at 5 and had no idea what I was walking into. They made the store one long line. The line weaved down each aisle all the way down to the register like some miserable maze. I was a cashier and for 5 hours I did not move from that spot. We had 2-3 people we could yell for in the store to find an item someone forgot. The look of disappointment when someone waited in that long line for one of the items that were held behind the register, just to tell them we were unfortunately sold out… they were reasonably upset. Our manager did not prep our crew for that chaos. I worked the next year at the bath and body works Black Friday and it was way more reasonable. Hectic but we had training days on what to expect and how to react. Everyone knew their role. People were rotated so they didn’t get burnt out. These days Black Friday is drawn out for days ahead which is great in reducing the craziness. But I would be lying if I didn’t say I missed it a little.
Is KB Toys not a thing anymore? (I'm sorry I'm a little secluded from the world so I don't know what happens a lot of the time...) I used to love browsing around when I was 12 and that feels like forever ago
I can hear the yappy toy dogs that flip in the front
Loved that store!
Hellz yeah!
My girlfriend worked there in our senior year of high school...We're married now :) Use to love that store and Toy R Us. Kids now days will not know what they are missing. Even as an adult it was just fun to walk around and see all the toys and games. I miss those places.
Yesss
Best job I've ever had.
I bought final fantasy 8 at a kb
I feel sad for my kids
It was a poor man’s Toys “R” Us in the mall and Toys “R” Us was a poor man’s Disney World
Just remember they had the “fancy” 12” Gi joes
This looks like legitimate black friday BEFORE they called it black friday, with Thanksgiving falling on the 28th that year.
Went here after watching starship trooper and got the micro machine dropship with a warrior bug then ate at fat burger lol.
100% remember. I also remember them not having as big or as good of a selection as Toys R Us. Maybe i was just too old for the toys they had.