This Toys Ad From The 80s Has Resurfaced And It Shows What Kids Dreamed Of Years Ago
When you were a child, did you ever dream of being locked up in your favorite toy store, so that you could play with all the cool toys that you wanted, but your parents wouldn’t buy? Yes, us too. For some, it might’ve even been the Kay-Bee Toy Store where they had GI Joe figures, SEGA consoles and superstar Barbies. One internet user took a trip down memory lane and posted these ads from 1989 of Kay-Bee online. The pictures brought back a lot of nostalgic feelings for some people, so let us walk you down through the history of the company that made a lot of kids’ dreams come true.
The ad from the 1989 features all of the toys we dreamed of, including Game Boy, Nintendo, barbies, baseball cards and action figures
Image credits: Tokka
The history of Kay-Bee began in 1922 when two brothers opened a wholesale candy business in Puttsfield, Massachusetts under the name Kaufman Brothers. The store provided retailers with candy and soda. Harry and Joseph Kaufman got into the toy business purely by accident. During the 1940s, they acquired a wholesale toy company from a previous client as payment for his outstanding debts.
Image credits: Tokka
Diversification of the company was vital at the time, as the cost of producing candy during World War II was extremely high, due to shortages of necessary ingredients, especially sugar. The brothers took a chance and started selling toys as well under the new company’s name – Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby Stores. By the late 40s, the brothers decided to switch their main focus to toys, as this side of the business proved to be much more profitable than candy. The first retail toy store opened in 1959, in Connecticut.
Image credits: Tokka
During the 1970s, suburban malls were popping up across the whole US – credited to growing post-war wallets and suburban growth. In addition, during that time property taxes had decreased across the country and local governments were beginning to lose important revenue.
Image credits: Tokka
Shopping malls, with their potential sales tax revenues, were now supported and encouraged, so naturally Kaufman brothers wanted to take advantage of the “mall boom.” As a result, in 1973 they decided to leave the wholesale business altogether and focus solely on retailing – at the time, they had 26 retail stores.
Image credits: Tokka
By 1976, Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby had doubled the number of their stores and in 1981 the company was already operating 210 of them. The name of the company was changed to Kay-Bee Toy Stores. Times were good for Kay-Bee and they became a prominent figure in the toy industry.
Image credits: Tokka
The company had its ups and downs, but nevertheless grew and expanded throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Kay-Bee Toy Stores used clever strategies to help with business growth, for instance, the company had a long-standing policy of buying discontinued stock from manufacturers and selling it at immensely reduced prices. Low-cost toys were displayed by the entrance of the store – managers reckoned that the buyers would be enticed by the bargains, go into the store and then would be more likely to buy higher-end products.
Image credits: Tokka
The strategies the booming company used differed greatly from their competitors’. Kay-Bee realized that the mall-goers were not necessarily always looking to buy a toy, but that with clever marketing they could be enticed by great deals. A lot of thought was put into the store design – Kay-Bee outlets were designed with bright, eye-catching colors at the front of the store, alongside arranged stacks of toys at bargain prices.
Image credits: Tokka
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Due to a substantial decline in sales, competitors and the demise of “mall culture”, the company declared bankruptcy in 2008. The retail power of toys has since shifted to Walmart, Target and Amazon. People were turned to these big retailers due to their favorable prices and huge product assortment. However the rise and fall of KB may have a happy ending after all. In March, Ellia Kassoff, founder at Strategic Marks (which is reviving old and defunct companies and products) announced that he has plans to bring back KB Toys at mall stores in time for Christmas 2018. Seems a bit far-fetched, if you ask us, but we do believe in Christmas miracles.
Many people were feeling nostalgic after seeing the old ads
109Kviews
Share on FacebookAwwwww! I was an adult by the time this ad was published, but if you showed me pages from the Sears Christmas Wishbook, or the JC Penney Christmas catalog from, say, 1977, it'd be "AAAUGGHHH! Right in the feels!"
Christmas Catologues - the bane of parents everywhere back in the 60s and 70s. We didnt have big shops, but we could beg and plead from their pages.
Load More Replies...$5 action figures, $8 board games, video game systems for under $200 (and as low as $90), a $15 train set. Those were the days. Compare today's $20 Transformers (for the smallest figures), $40 Monopoly game, $300-$500 game systems, and trains.....today Kohl's sells a Bachman set (similar to the one in the KB ad) for $95 (all plastic, of course, unlike the KB one, which was metal).
Honestly, if you take into account inflation, this ad isn't that much different from a toy as today. The NES was $80, which is $160 today, but it was already 3 years on the market by that point. The Sega Genesis was newly released that year (and 16-bit vs the 8-bit NES) and sold for $190 with a game, which is $380 today. Compare that to $300 for a Nintendo Switch or PS4 the year they were first released. Equivalent $40 Disney Trivial Pursuit or $140 R/C cars would probably seem a bit high today. Some things and prices were better then, some are better today. It's great to be nostoligic (if that ad had a Teddy Ruxpin and a My Buddy doll, it would have summed up my childhood), but it's also important to acknowledge that not everything went down the tubes after 1990.
Load More Replies...Teehee, I still remember when I played pokemon on my Gameboy... Sigh. I'm getting old.
Still remember before Gameboys. 1st computer was Commodore 64 age 18 friend had a Sinclair ZX when they first came out.
Load More Replies...KB!!! Used to go to the mall all the time and KB was right next to the entrance. The great thing about KB was that there were always sample toys you could play with and try out first. Our parents would drop us off there like it was damn day care lol.
I absolutely love that everything's illustrated. 'd love to draw toys all day long.
I miss wandering those action figure aisles and having to decide if I wanted a Batman, another Ninja Turtle, or if I needed more mutants for Wolverine to team up with. Almost 30 years ago, eh? I'm beginning to feel ancient..
The 80s were it. The high water mark. Its all been downhill ever since.
my parents tried to make it sound like the NES was a couple hundred dollars. The mini now costs as much as the original did back then,
I remember playing with those old "My Little Pony" ponies. I like them wayyy better than the new ones.
Totally agree. They were magical and innocent. And actual ponies. The new ones are... weird. And all that "Equestria girls" thing, I'm like.. "what? aren't they supposed to be PONIES?"
Load More Replies...I was born in 2003, but the things I wished for as a kid aren't too different from what this ad portrays. Remote control cars, board games....some things never change.
The first sign that told me i use too much old stuff was when my friend told me "i have to hang up to call you back. im on one of those phones tied to a string" And i was using a model 2500 (touch tone phone in the 80's)
The first mobile phone i ever saw was about 1979/80. I was working for a rich family as a nanny age 17. It was literally the size of a brick, but they could use it in the garden.
Load More Replies...*sigh* Once upon a time, when life was sweeter and easier...childhood. I love being an '80's baby! We had the best toys!😘
I had a Barbie Fashion Style Bust (or a head doll) from 1983/84. I still have it somewhere. I loved my Barbie Dream Pool that went with my Barbie Townhouse... and my Father wouldn’t let me put water in the pool when I had it in my bedroom. I was so bummed. I miss all my cool toys I had back then. ~~1976-86~~
Load More Replies...I LOVED my Lil Miss Makeup doll. And I also had the Singing Mermaid one. It was one of my favorite toys!!!
I wanted walkie-talkies so badly! In fact, I still want them. Wait....wait a second. Up until this moment, I hated my cell phone. I am now going to think of it as a walkie-talkie!
Toys R Us is still here in Canada. If you want to move here, go ahead.
this is c**p. 1989?! Everything good was dying. G.I. Joe? Nope. M.A.S.K.? Nope. Masters of the Universe? Nope. It was almost the 90s and the video game world was about to consume the real toys
Sega Genesis was my first console and Alters Beast/ Toejam and Earl and Mortal Kombat were my games!!! I must have spent at least a couple years combined playing those games over and over!
My parents wanted a boy - they were disappointed. I got a fort, toy soldiers, dinky cars and a train set for Xmas. I loved them
Lady Oscar is the main character of Rose of Versailles, a historical animated drama set in - you guessed it - France, in the era of Maria Antoinette. Oscar was born a girl, but her parents wanted a boy for succession related reasons and therefore they raised her as a boy. It's a classic. The way you described your childhood reminded me of her, just this. Have a nice day. ♥
Load More Replies...Imagine getting that box of bowman 89 for 19.99 and finding a ken griffey jr. rookie card and selling it for 100 times more than that,
Now, you have enought money to buy them! But not enought time to play with them...
I was 10 years old at the time. God how I miss my childhood sometimes...
In 89, I was 14. I remember looking at the toy section in the Christmas catalogs daily, dreaming about getting stuff like this
The best thing about a brick-and-mortar toy store is you can actually see the toys, be surrounded by them. You can't get that feeling from a website. Thanks for nothing, Amazon!
Comparing inflation, double the price and you get a rough cost in today's dollars. So technically thanks aren't much cheaper in today's dollars.
Kay-Bee Toys was my all time favorite store when I was a kid. I liked it better than Toys-R-Us mostly because it was small enough not to be so overwhelming and it was in the mall, so you could convince your folks to have lunch at the mall and let you go to the toy store after while they wandered the stores they wanted to visit.
I remember the Nintendo Action set and thinking how completely out of my reach the $99.99 price tag was. There was just no way to get that kind of cash.
Holy smokes, the dollar went so much further than it does today..... Thanks, Reagan, you POS.
Awwwww! I was an adult by the time this ad was published, but if you showed me pages from the Sears Christmas Wishbook, or the JC Penney Christmas catalog from, say, 1977, it'd be "AAAUGGHHH! Right in the feels!"
Christmas Catologues - the bane of parents everywhere back in the 60s and 70s. We didnt have big shops, but we could beg and plead from their pages.
Load More Replies...$5 action figures, $8 board games, video game systems for under $200 (and as low as $90), a $15 train set. Those were the days. Compare today's $20 Transformers (for the smallest figures), $40 Monopoly game, $300-$500 game systems, and trains.....today Kohl's sells a Bachman set (similar to the one in the KB ad) for $95 (all plastic, of course, unlike the KB one, which was metal).
Honestly, if you take into account inflation, this ad isn't that much different from a toy as today. The NES was $80, which is $160 today, but it was already 3 years on the market by that point. The Sega Genesis was newly released that year (and 16-bit vs the 8-bit NES) and sold for $190 with a game, which is $380 today. Compare that to $300 for a Nintendo Switch or PS4 the year they were first released. Equivalent $40 Disney Trivial Pursuit or $140 R/C cars would probably seem a bit high today. Some things and prices were better then, some are better today. It's great to be nostoligic (if that ad had a Teddy Ruxpin and a My Buddy doll, it would have summed up my childhood), but it's also important to acknowledge that not everything went down the tubes after 1990.
Load More Replies...Teehee, I still remember when I played pokemon on my Gameboy... Sigh. I'm getting old.
Still remember before Gameboys. 1st computer was Commodore 64 age 18 friend had a Sinclair ZX when they first came out.
Load More Replies...KB!!! Used to go to the mall all the time and KB was right next to the entrance. The great thing about KB was that there were always sample toys you could play with and try out first. Our parents would drop us off there like it was damn day care lol.
I absolutely love that everything's illustrated. 'd love to draw toys all day long.
I miss wandering those action figure aisles and having to decide if I wanted a Batman, another Ninja Turtle, or if I needed more mutants for Wolverine to team up with. Almost 30 years ago, eh? I'm beginning to feel ancient..
The 80s were it. The high water mark. Its all been downhill ever since.
my parents tried to make it sound like the NES was a couple hundred dollars. The mini now costs as much as the original did back then,
I remember playing with those old "My Little Pony" ponies. I like them wayyy better than the new ones.
Totally agree. They were magical and innocent. And actual ponies. The new ones are... weird. And all that "Equestria girls" thing, I'm like.. "what? aren't they supposed to be PONIES?"
Load More Replies...I was born in 2003, but the things I wished for as a kid aren't too different from what this ad portrays. Remote control cars, board games....some things never change.
The first sign that told me i use too much old stuff was when my friend told me "i have to hang up to call you back. im on one of those phones tied to a string" And i was using a model 2500 (touch tone phone in the 80's)
The first mobile phone i ever saw was about 1979/80. I was working for a rich family as a nanny age 17. It was literally the size of a brick, but they could use it in the garden.
Load More Replies...*sigh* Once upon a time, when life was sweeter and easier...childhood. I love being an '80's baby! We had the best toys!😘
I had a Barbie Fashion Style Bust (or a head doll) from 1983/84. I still have it somewhere. I loved my Barbie Dream Pool that went with my Barbie Townhouse... and my Father wouldn’t let me put water in the pool when I had it in my bedroom. I was so bummed. I miss all my cool toys I had back then. ~~1976-86~~
Load More Replies...I LOVED my Lil Miss Makeup doll. And I also had the Singing Mermaid one. It was one of my favorite toys!!!
I wanted walkie-talkies so badly! In fact, I still want them. Wait....wait a second. Up until this moment, I hated my cell phone. I am now going to think of it as a walkie-talkie!
Toys R Us is still here in Canada. If you want to move here, go ahead.
this is c**p. 1989?! Everything good was dying. G.I. Joe? Nope. M.A.S.K.? Nope. Masters of the Universe? Nope. It was almost the 90s and the video game world was about to consume the real toys
Sega Genesis was my first console and Alters Beast/ Toejam and Earl and Mortal Kombat were my games!!! I must have spent at least a couple years combined playing those games over and over!
My parents wanted a boy - they were disappointed. I got a fort, toy soldiers, dinky cars and a train set for Xmas. I loved them
Lady Oscar is the main character of Rose of Versailles, a historical animated drama set in - you guessed it - France, in the era of Maria Antoinette. Oscar was born a girl, but her parents wanted a boy for succession related reasons and therefore they raised her as a boy. It's a classic. The way you described your childhood reminded me of her, just this. Have a nice day. ♥
Load More Replies...Imagine getting that box of bowman 89 for 19.99 and finding a ken griffey jr. rookie card and selling it for 100 times more than that,
Now, you have enought money to buy them! But not enought time to play with them...
I was 10 years old at the time. God how I miss my childhood sometimes...
In 89, I was 14. I remember looking at the toy section in the Christmas catalogs daily, dreaming about getting stuff like this
The best thing about a brick-and-mortar toy store is you can actually see the toys, be surrounded by them. You can't get that feeling from a website. Thanks for nothing, Amazon!
Comparing inflation, double the price and you get a rough cost in today's dollars. So technically thanks aren't much cheaper in today's dollars.
Kay-Bee Toys was my all time favorite store when I was a kid. I liked it better than Toys-R-Us mostly because it was small enough not to be so overwhelming and it was in the mall, so you could convince your folks to have lunch at the mall and let you go to the toy store after while they wandered the stores they wanted to visit.
I remember the Nintendo Action set and thinking how completely out of my reach the $99.99 price tag was. There was just no way to get that kind of cash.
Holy smokes, the dollar went so much further than it does today..... Thanks, Reagan, you POS.
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