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I remember in the mid-00s when import toys were affordable and generally easy to find due to living in a mostly asian city. Used to be about 6 different import shops between 2 malls that were a 5min walk away from eachother. Was able to get MG kits for $45 tops, mountains of shit like Shinkis, TFs, Revoltechs, all for dirt cheap prices and in massive amounts. Even more shops in a different part of town. Everything now has become identically priced to online + shipping or considerably more, as well as most of the stores shutting down. Happened around 2011-2012 when everything vanished and now there's not really much since everything left is marking shit up to death or only selling funkos and generic weeb merch like it's Hot Topic.
Genuinely miss that period when you could walk into a store and spend $120, walk out with two Revoltechs, a 1/8 statue and probably a volume of manga. I wouldn't say it's much better or worse now for prices and selection considering online stores have stepped up and Mandarake is much easier to order from for most people since they have an english site, but I do miss just being able to walk out and buy something cool instead of waiting 3 weeks.
Closest thing I can recall in the 90s was going with my dad to the TRU just across the border in the states, had like triple the selection we had in Canada, and he always let me grab whatever I wanted. Specifically went down there to find TM Megatron because he wasn't in any TRU in our city. Great times.
