If you grew up in anytime between the ’70s and the early 2000s, then you understand the powerful allure of Toys “R” Us. Every kid in North America has that catchy commercial jingle emblazoned on to their brain forever. For many of us, a trip to the local Toys “R” Us was the closest we got to a theme park. And now, via Kotaku, we’ve discovered a video that captures the retail toy giant in its heyday: the year 1991.
Recorded in the mad post-Thanksgiving shopping rush, the footage below is from one of the New York City locations. It was uploaded to the YouTube account btm0815ma, which also has several vintage Nintendo videos. For a lot of ’90s kids, this video is sure to bring back a metric ton of memories. Not only of toys, but of bad acid wash fashion. You can watch the full 20-minute video here; prepare for a wonderfully ridiculous walk down memory lane.
So many memories here. Who can forget the hot pink monolith that was the Barbie aisle? Sure, Barbies are a perennial. But this is when all products celebrating Mattel’s most popular diva came in hot pink packaging. So entering the Barbie aisle was like entering a candy-coated kingdom. It was a lot. LEGO items came in bright yellow packaging at the time too. So this was clearly the era of color-coding products.
In 1991, the biggest pop culture icons for kids were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And so of course, they have a huge area all their own. Chances are you recognize (or owned) a few of these classic TMNT toys. Also very ’90s are the video games on display. We’re pretty sure you can see a Nintendo Game Boy somewhere in this rainbow consumer paradise.
The btm0815ma channel has lot of other fantastic vintage footage, going back to the ’70s. You’ll enjoy falling down the rabbit hole of their amazing virtual “Way Back Machine.”
Featured Image: Bionic Disco