>>6831654Somberly. I'm not bawling over it but I have a lot of memories in the local store that started flooding back. I went by tonight and walked around. It's surreal to think all of that will be gone in a few months.
Probably my earliest memory is going there for Thomas wooden railway trains and Toy Story toys as a toddler. They had the Lego section in the back-right with a big flying saucer in a case with a button that flashed lights and played sounds. Star Wars were kept in the back-left and Dad bought me a Tie Advanced. They had three different chromed Buzz Lightyears at one point and my parents surprised me with them in my Easter basket.
I bought my first Bionicle set there(2001 Onua) and attended the Manas event a few months later. I remember they had a big, plastic Pakari over the Bionicle section for a while. They also had a Bionicle trivia event I attended where they gave out a small promotional version of the same game. I think I threw it away in a box of instruction booklets that had water damage on the bottom layer and I regret that.
I saw figures and merch there that weren't exclusive but never actually hit the other stores nearby, like Bass.EXE's PET and black Energon Unicron.
Oh man, the giant cardboard displays near the front of the store, behind the registers. Those were always impressive, especially when you were just four feet tall.
I still regularly bought figures there until a couple of years ago. The prices began to creep and the selection dried up. Exclusives roped me back in occasionally but otherwise it wasn't worth the gas to drive up there in the morning twice a week only to leave empty-handed.
I bought the last Gipsy Avenger tonight for old times' sake. I'm sure I'll check back a few more times before the doors are locked for good, but that very well may be my last purchase there.
Farewell, Toys R Us. You'd seen better days, and those days were important parts of my life.
