Your Favorite place for toys is...........

[Kidhuman]

As collectores we go from store to store to store and so on. Even as a kid I would do things like this with my parents at the malls. I have found alot of luck at Wal-Mart in the past couple of years. I hadn't had a TRU near by and Target never put out new toys. I have never liked KB toy stores due to their crowded, cramped feeling. When I lived in New York I was always at TRU finding new stuff. That is probably the store that has been the best to me for finding new stuff. I perfer TRU to most stores because they usually have the most on the shelves. Wal*mart is down to 10 pegs by me and 5 have Cantina sets on them. Now that I work near a TRU I have new avenues to go down.


What store,(s) have been good to you? Where have you found the best selection, prices and deals(i.e. Buy one, get one, 2 for 5, etc.)?

[Reject_Kid]

Wal*Mart has been the best for me. Not only do they get in newer toys and sell them for cheaper, for some reason the boxes always look like they traveled through Hell to get there and are really beat up (hey I am an opener, I don't care) so most scalpers try to stay away from them!

[LusiferSam]

Wal-Mart was my favorite, right now its Target. When a new line is launched I find Wal-Mart is better, bigger section. But as time goes on Target seems to have the better section. K-Mart has nothing, but every now and then I find a score. The closest Toy 'R Us is 90 miles away, so that's out.

[kool-aid killer]

I usually go to Walmarts because they seem to have a better selection and get exclusives. Target would have to be my second favorite but i right now all their basic figure pegs are empty so i anticipate they will get newer figures sooner than Walmart will. TRU always seems to have the same figures clogging the pegs so i hardly ever go there and KB seems to have a lot of older toys that wont sell (Earthworm Jim) but i prefer them to TRU. Kmart and Shopko i almost never go there for toys or anything. They just seem to have a bad selection and they cost more.

[InsaneJediGirl]

Wal-Mart is pretty much my first choice,because of the figure price,followed by Toys R Us.TRU normally has the newer figures in stock,while it takes WM a bit to get them.

[Hasbro'sBountyHunter]

TRU always has what I want.

[Exhaust Port]

I always liked the old TRU setup before they went to this new arrangement that has replaced the aisles with islands. When you wanted action figures you had a single aisle to navigate. Now with the islands you're forced to walk around circles and looking the nearby walls trying to find even the right area.

I don't know if they were regional, but as a kid I loved going to Childrens Palace for toys. It seemed like a warehouse filled with toys when I was younger. Too bad the squeeze of TRU put them under. :(

As for selection, TRU is hard to beat around here, followed closely by Target. Walmart just isn't very good about restocking or anything.

[scruffziller]

WAL MART, because I get a discount. However back in 1999 I found alot of older obscurer stuff at the drug store.

[Kidhuman]

Originally posted by scruffziller
WAL MART, because I get a discount. However back in 1999 I found alot of older obscurer stuff at the drug store.

I have found a few figs at CVS that I needed. You pay a little more for em but hey its life. Takes care of two addictions in one store.

My favorite as a kid was Childs World or Play World. They had everything from you needed and more.

[plasticfetish]

Over the past few years I'd say Wal-Mart has been pretty good on a year round basis. Good prices also.
Toys-R-Us is always the most fun to wander around at. Their stock is pretty sporadic, but around the holidays you can't beat 'em.
Target has its moments. They could stand to have a few more moments lately, but I have gotten some good clearance stuff there in the recent past.
KB is a crap shoot. You pay more and I know that most of them around me get picked over by the employees (sorry kids, you've told me so yourselves.) They are a nightmare around the holidays but have good clearance sales sometimes.
K-Mart used to be a super lucky place for me. Nobody ever goes to the ones around me ... so, I'd always score even the most difficult to find stuff there. I don't go there much now, Wal-Mart tends to come through so I gave up on the "K".

There are a few good local shops here in the LA area. The local comic book shop is "amazing" ... and has a decent selection. The price hike isn't so bad ... sometimes they even clear out their older stuff. There was another place I wandered into a few years back that had a whole wall of Japanese sticker POTF cards for really great prices. I picked them over for a while ... it was a nice source while it lasted.

[scruffziller]

Originally posted by kidhuman
I have found a few figs at CVS that I needed. You pay a little more for em but hey its life. Takes care of two addictions in one store.

My favorite as a kid was Childs World or Play World. They had everything from you needed and more.

Yea you'd be suprised what you can find by taking a tour of Des Moines for any place that sells toys. Alot of times it is also timing.
I went to the Kay Bee Toys one day and they had just happened to have cleaned out their storage attic that day. They had a number of things that I had never knew existed stashed away for like 5 years up there, it was cool!!! I got that fig of Obi Wan in dual with Vader where you buy one half with Obi and one half with Vader. The Obi has a green lightsaber:eek: ;). They didn't have the Vader half though. I think it was an FX series. I am not sure I took it down and packed it away. I also got a R2 that is on a model of the Tatooine floor just before he gets attacked by the Jawas. I think that is also an FX series.

[Mandalorian Candidat]

Originally posted by plasticfetish
There are a few good local shops here in the LA area. The local comic book shop is "amazing" ... and has a decent selection. The price hike isn't so bad ... sometimes they even clear out their older stuff. There was another place I wandered into a few years back that had a whole wall of Japanese sticker POTF cards for really great prices. I picked them over for a while ... it was a nice source while it lasted.

There's a store in Long Beach not to far away from CSULB called Amazing Comics and Cards. Is that the "amazing" you're referring to? That store is pretty good with the selection of all kinds of SW stuff, though their prices can be somewhat inflated.

I actually started my figure collection there in 1997. They had a Thanksgiving sale with all POTF2 figures at 2 for $5.

[InsaneJediGirl]

Originally posted by Exhaust Port
I always liked the old TRU setup before they went to this new arrangement that has replaced the aisles with islands. When you wanted action figures you had a single aisle to navigate. Now with the islands you're forced to walk around circles and looking the nearby walls trying to find even the right area.


I hate the new setup as well.Seems darker than before.I remember when they had the single isles and being 9 or so and thinking that the shelves went up forever.Pretty cool,but now they have these blasted 'islands' that are barely 7-10 pegs across.

[plo koon 200]

Luckily, for me at least I don't have to walk to the very end of the TRU now.

For me, Targets has always been the best until I moved. I used to live by a Targets that no one else ever went to and I could get all the Y-Wings I wanted. As well, they were pretty reliable for figures.

[Teeska Mon Eebon]

I also hate the new setup ar TRU I used to think the isles went on and on when I was a little kid and now ecerything is in little clusters and it isn't as fun anymore.... :(

But anyways all we have here is Target and Walmart and neither get figures so they are not my favorite....
Lately I've been getting stuff from yestertoys but I just don't get very exited about seeing them unlike when I find them at wally world or Target... so I'm confused....

[Kidhuman]

Luckily the TRU near me has the old set up. I hate that new walk around the entire store and having to wait to find everything I want. Istill havent found what I 'm looking for(where have I heard that before). These elusive 2003 figures are starting to P.O. me. I think I will order a case of them in a few weeks when I have some extra dough floating around.