Hanging out at a KB Toys store in the mall in 1998 

Love how they are talking about wrestling. Man kids these days have no idea how huge it was in the late 90’s

I am so thankful for being a kid in the 90s.

I remember buying video games based solely off the box art. You had no idea beforehand whether the game was gonna be any good or not lol

I miss KB Toys. It was so much fun to go in those stores back then.

Whoever filmed this is a genius, like watching this is pure gold

I’m 31 years old born in 1992 , I still have dreams of roaming around kb toys / toys r us

I swear youtube is like the closest thing we'll ever get to a time machine keep up the good work much love

As a kid, going to this store or Toys R Us was magical. Sadly kids nowadays are only focused on their electronics. Technology advancement had a lot of pros, but also had a lot of cons.

This brings back tons of memories for me. Worked as a assistant manager at KB from 97-99. Having to be at the store black friday at 4:30 AM for a big furby sale. Good times

As an 8 year old in 98, I was a big fan of KB. Thank you much for this footage.

I’ll never forget those die cast vehicles and the deals KB had. Mall near me had one up until maybe the recession at the latest. I definitely miss those days.

This is the best footage I've seen of KB toys on all of RU-vid

This video brought back a really bittersweet memory, and what better place to reminisce than the RU-vid comments section right? So here goes. In 1998 I was coming up on my 10th birthday in October. I was a huge nerd, geek, gamer, what have you. I'd done pretty well for myself, big grades got rewarded with presents, and I earned a very special big boy present for my 10th birthday: as a growing boy and as a reward for all my other good work, I was allowed to pick out any one thing I wanted and get it as my birthday present. I went with my mother since my dad had to work. That trip to KB Toys, that feeling I had as I was walking around deciding what to get... It was one of the most profoundly magical experiences of my life. The present itself is long gone after all these years, and as much as I did cherish it, I will forever cherish the feeling my parents gave me, that feeling of absolute blissful freedom, where it felt like I could have everything I wanted and the world was at my fingertips. I was like Jack in Titanic, I was the King of the World. We are walking out of KB Toys after I make my selection, and I am trying very hard but very badly to explain to my mother what an incredible experience this has been for me and how I'll always cherish this moment. She kept getting that I was really excited about my present, she couldn't seem to get what I was saying about how much more important it was to me that my parents consistently went out of their way to make these memorable moments for me and how happy I was as the birthday boy in general but also as their son in particular. Then my mother got a page on her beeper. It was my dad. Since we were at a mall anyway, they had phones everywhere, so my mom called on a payphone to see what was up. And as magical as that moment was for me, as I was smiling and practically beaming with joy, I will never forget the way the light was taken out of my mother's eyes as my Dad had to explain to her that my Uncle Felix was just discovered dead from a heroin overdose, leaving behind a wife and young daughter. I come from a big family. A big Hispanic family. I have dozens of uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins and kinfolk. But Felix was my favorite uncle. Felix knew I was into comics so he got me into and even routinely gave me comics featuring the type of 90's shlock that in hindsight we all admit is trash but in the moment felt and looked revolutionary. Felix would let me play his Super Nintendo and he'd give me spare issues of Nintendo Power he had finished reading. I have all these little memories of Felix doing all these little things just to show me he was looking out for me. And then I have the memory of learning he overdosed on the day of my birthday. It's likely a memory that will stick by me until the day I die. I'm very liberal when it comes to most drugs. But I have to admit, there are some drugs I do consider "evil". Crack cocaine is one, methamphetamine is another. And heroin. Definitely heroin. Heroin is an evil drug. For anyone that takes the time to read this comment, thanks for checking it out, and hopefully your own reminisces on KBT aren't nearly as bittersweet as mine own.

Kids today will never get to experience the wonders of walking around dreaming in KB toys or Toy r US. 😊

Lol, the teen idol books on the counter. Hanson and Prince William! 😂 Waldenbooks across the hall.

My heyday at KB (Kay-Bee as I knew it) was around 1986 to 1991. Those were the days of wacky impulse aisle candy, readable copies of Nintendo Power, MUSCLE figures in plastic garbage cans, and boxes upon boxes of the latest series of Garbage Pail Kids. Man, I miss it.

Never thought I would see authentic footage of someone playing WCW Nitro when it was new.

I miss the days when we could laugh and enjoy ourselves, my generation was fortunate enough to have the cool stuff!

Now this video, I can finally relate to! The way they displayed the toys was so much prettier than other stores. And I recall a gift wrapping person in most of these places!

Ahhhh the days of corded video game controllers. Especially when your dog or little brother runs through the house, hits the cord, and knocks your playstation off the shelf.

Anyone remember the little barking dog toy that would be in the front area of every KB Toys for like 20 straight years? Lol.

I had forgotten they had video games back then. So we’ll stocked too. It’s funny because I was just at Best Buy and the shelves for physical games were basically bare. Crazy how things change.

You know it's the 90's when the Playstation controller doesn't even have analog sticks.

Love this, it's nostalgia overload! I actually worked at a KB Toys around this time, it was great until the Tickle me Elmo's came out. I still can't stand Elmo to this day!😂

I can still remember going to KB in 1998 to buy wrestling toys. Great video!

I miss KB toy store, it’s my childhood store 🥺

Who knew that 25 years later, people all over the world would he watching this video and reminiscing of their childhood memories of a store that’s long gone.

all the wcw stuff man this really takes me back. the amount of wrestlers bought there lol plus all the playstation and dreamcast games. thank you for these videos

I was nearly 10 in 1998. I very clearly remember those game kiosks, especially when the N64 came out and seeing Mario 64 in a Toys r Us. I was beyond blown away and never thought I'd own a game console like that. Then when the Dreamcast came out, i very clearly remember seeing the game screen demo's in my local KB toys and a Sonic game running in the background. Those memories always stuck with me. But i will never forget the isles with the Mcfarlane figures. Me and my brother first discovered them around that time actually.

Always the first place we'd walk into when we'd go to the Hamilton Mall in the 80s 90s. May's Landing NJ. 3:05 ha I had that WCW ring 5:52 that guy didn't want you checking out his doll collection

Great video. Brings back a lot of memories. 💕

Watching these videos remind me of just how great we actually had it back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I was a 70's kid. Born in 1967, my childhood was the 70's, my teen years were the 80's and my young adult years were the 90's. However I used to go to Toys R Us long after I "matured".....lol. There was absolutely NOTHING that could compare to these stores, especially during the holidays. 🎄Christmas🎄 back then was such an amazing experience. The anticipation was great. After 🎃👻Halloween👻🎃 it would begin. Along with the Toys R Us and Kay🔴Bee Toys shopping sprees, there were TWO Books that kids loved, craved, needed, absolutely had to have! The JC Penny's Christmas Catalog and the Sears Wish Book. Those two publications would turn a wild and crazy kid into a calm, well behaved child who'd sit "reading" for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. You could make multiple Christmas lists. I knew one kid who even, in his lists would "BARTER" with his parents. If you get me this more expensive present then I'll take these moderately priced items off the list then. I didn't to that, I just begged! LOL. Just kidding. Honestly though those 📖two📖books📖 were extremely awesome. It aided the anticipation even more. But there was NOTHING like physically walking into a Toys R Us or a Kay🔴Toy store. Not only seeing the action figures, but holding them, studying them, and LOL dreaming of opening them on Christmas Day. It was magical for a little kid. Kay🔴Bee wasn't as BIG as Toys R Us. Every Kay🔴Bee Toys that I remember was inside of a shopping mall. Southridge was the one that we mostly went to. Mayfair Mall had one, so did Northridge Mall as well. Southgate was one of our oldest malls. It was laid out kind-of like a Strip Mall however you could go inside. It wasn't a traditional Strip-Mall. They didn't have a Kay🔴Bee Toy store, they had a All-in-One Hobby store, which was still a cool store, but it wasn't a true "Toy Store" like the other's were. Kay🔴Bee was, if I remember correctly, they were a little more expensive compared to Toys R Us, K-Mart, and 🎯🎯Target🎯Stores🎯🎯. They were still a really cool store to go to. The one that we had at Southridge Mall used to have a table set up in the front and they had some toys on display that you could play with, try, whatever. They had a TV Monitor that had the Nintendo NES that you again could try it out. They always had some really unique toys that other places didn't have. I used to love animals and sports. Our Kay🔴Bee Toys store had a display of small but highly detailed animals which I used with my Train set dioramas. They also used to carry the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL team magnets which I also collected and loved. This really makes me really miss those days! Wow we really, really really had it made so to speak. Kids nowadays have no idea what they missed out on. We may not have had all of the "Bells and Whistles" that the video games have now, but what we lacked in technology, we more than made up for it with our imaginations and our determination! Those were some really great times!

Kid knew he was being watched and played it cool, though. 😎

I remember getting kicked out of a KB Toys back in the day because I hid a WWF wrestler so no one else could buy it until I got money. They used to sell out like crazy.

Love these videos brings me back From Hawaii here

I finished Mario Bros 3 in the store when I was a kid. Playing Mario for hours after school in the store.. the boy behind me just stood and watched.

I worked at KB from 1989 to 1991. This definitely brings back memories. I thought it would be an easy job but it was hard. Remember, every time someone picks up something to look at we had to put it back on the shelves. Everything had to be straight and touching the front of the shelf to make the shelves always look full. It would take up to 2 hours after closing to clean up and vacuum. There was a LOT of theft. Back then long leather trench coats were popular and grown men used to shoplift large electric cars and trucks in their coats and walk out. We had no store security back then. We just let them leave. We were always too busy to notice anyway. I remember the toy companies would only send out a handful of the really popular toys and people were not allowed to put a hold on them. Then they would shoot the prices up a lot. That’s how they created a false surge in popularity with certain toys. If you couldn’t get it it must be a great toy! I think cabbage patch dolls were a big thing back then. If we tried to buy it before it hit the shelf we would be fired. It was nuts.

The alien skateboard! 🖤

I never got to go in these type of toy stores. It was pretty much the Walmart/target/Kmart toy aisle for me. 😢

Damn lil girl got the wrong game only worked on the Gameboy Color! Haha how I miss the old days sometimes 🥹

I miss KB Toys. And i haven't been in one since 2004. 😭

I think this would actually be 1999, most likely spring; they have signs that say Star Wars Episode I: Racer coming May 18 and Sega Dreamcast coming September 9. Still a huge nostalgia trip. August 12, 2023 10:02 pm

I love the flashback. My childhood especially talking about wrestling. My parents and sometimes grandma would take me to KB Toys in the late 90s and early 2000s in Florida. I would get mostly wrestling toys and sometimes video games from Kay Bee Toys. Those were the times to be a child of the 90s.

A year before The Phantom Menace and the World Wide Web was this phenomenon. I didn't have a computer I was always anxious to go to the public library, everybody was. 😂 😂

Toys from Walmart, Kmart, Toys R Us, Target, and KB Toys in the 90s and Early 2000s we’re undefeated I swear. Todays toys are made so cheaply and every thing is 3D printed. It’s not as good of quality nor the details of figures today can’t even remotely compare. Damn I wish I can go back exactly the age I was in 1998 or even 1996-1997 but with the same knowledge I have now, my health is the same as when I was when I was kid and leave any illness and bad health conditions in 2023. Damn what a great time to be alive 💯

Loved it there as a kid!

I miss being a kid in the 90s and early 2000s.

1998 gran turismo ps1 released as well as need for speed 3 hot pursuit. These ps1 games I played alot in late 90 s

I feel bad for people that tried to play Pokemon Gold & Silver on their original Gameboys and couldn't

That little boy is like "dang, I'm trying to steal something but that dang cameraman keeps looking" 😂

Just like most of you folks, 32 here, born in the early 90's (1991), and those were the days. I remember seeing copies of games right at the front, exactly like that store in the video. Appreciate all your uploads Vampire! Really are crisp nostalgia trips I keep visiting!

I remember being at the KB Toys in West Lebanon, NH in this EXACT era! Playing WCW Nitro as Alex Wright and I couldn't figure out how to stop dancing and the guy behind me was laughing his ass off so hard!

The clarity of this footage is like stepping into a time machine.

PS1 days are so memorable. I was 11 and played at my friend's house who had one. Man we be playing Need For Speed 2, NHL '98, and the first game I saw that played like a movie, Metal Gear Solid.

God I loved KB Toys. They weren't as big as Toys R Us, but they always had cool stuff, and they weren't ludicrously overpriced. The last one in my hometown got turned into a "KB Outlet" or whatever it was called, so they got all the unsold product from other KB stores. It was pretty cool actually, since they'd get older stuff that I'd missed out on. I was sad when it was finally shut down.

The joys of staying up all night playing ps1 😂 .......I can't believe I paid that much for video games for ps1 91 bucks?! 😮

Good times in 1999 my parents told me I can get any toy that was on sale so I picked a 12 inch admiral Kirk never played with it still have it to this day simple times

I miss this store so much..was always in there back in the days..

Tamagotchi and Giga pets were the hot toys that year Pokemon cards started getting really popular in 99

1998 best era of PlayStation1 released games. Still have sealed DualShock1

00:22 Burago and Maisto diecast, Super soakers, Ps1 and WCW Nitro/Thunder.... So much childhood nostalgia

I worked at a kb toys in 2003. Feel like i age myself by saying that sentence.

WCW and WWF were fighting each other on TV. A great time to be a wrestling fan.

Loved this store when I was younger! Only window shopping for me though!!

Those were the days Great memories. I feel sorry for kids today as they can’t be kids like we had the opportunities. Life was so more simpler!

I miss being a Kay-Bee toys kid so many amazing toys and sets there i think my most favorite is the crash dummy toys

Beautiful nostalgia yes!

This video brought back so many memories! I worked for KB from 1999 to 2002 and it looked exactly like this store 🥹🥹 God i loved this store! I met a few celebrities in this store like Robin Williams, Andy Dick, some wrestling guys too

OMG KB toys! They had one in my mall as a kid. Used to stock up on Monsters in my pocket here.

Bro got them socks and sandals on lmfaooo true classic style

KB Toys was the only dedicated toy store in my town until Toys R Us eventually came to town. KB was in our mall and the space they had was way too small and it constantly looked like a tornado had hit their inventory. I loved sifting through the piles of TMNT figures as a kid. Those were great times.

That KB kid at the beginning is probably 35-40 years old now.

this was my childhood, right when pokemon fever happened.

I've been to a KB Toys a handful of times in the late 90's/early 2000's...good memories.

I miss that store. It was a blast when I shopped there.

Back then when i was 12 years old and wanting toys to play with. Things seem cool at the time.

KB Toys had the best scent of any mall store.

Aww this could have been me in ‘98. Good times!

5:52 - 6-button arcade pads for the Sega Genesis 3. The Genesis had been discontinued the prior year to make room for the Sega Saturn... which, unfortunately, was also being discontinued.

I think the PlayStation won the war of the 1990s. The only issue was that it did not come in colours like N64. The Nintendo 64 was fun too... But CD ROMs proved the way. Nintendo was stingy with licensing too, sometimes it was better to develop for the PlayStation anyway.

Best Buy in the 90s had such a different atmosphere too!

So much has changed in the last 25 years it doesnt even feel like the same world..

KB toys. That was my spot. Can't count how many times i dragged my mom into that store. "I don't know what i want, but it's in here." Haha

This is like going back in time!

I remember this era of the store being when I started losing interest in the place, no doubt partially because because I was getting older :) But I can remember all Kay Bee locations near me suddenly were redesigned and became more sleek and clean feeling like what's seen in this video. Some locations previously had carpeting if I'm not mistaken, and the lights weren't industrial grade stuff making the whole place feel bright, but instead was more akin to a soft ambience like a child's bedroom. It really had a whole other vibe that complimented it being a store for kids. Once it ditched the carpeting for the wooden floors and turned up the lights and suddenly made all the walls all that plain white, it lost the charm it once had, in my rose-tinted glasses humble opinion. Not to say I don't have nostalgia for this era too, especially since it's so long ago now so you can't help but still see it as a lost era. But I'll never forget feeling the same way back then. Toys 'R Us also redesigned around this same time, painting the store exteriors plain white and ditching many of the ceiling high aisles with everything more at head-level, which eliminated the feeling of walking through this gigantic forest of toys. I remember feeling betrayed by both these stores tbh lol

Good times! Wrestling and KB Toys

Those are the days of our lives The bad things in life were so few Those days are all gone now but one thing is true When I look and I find I still love you

4:16 the Hanson brothers 🥰🤌🥁 AND PRINCE WILLIAM, HARRY IS ALL SOLD OUT😆 5:27 this tiny candy aisle was everything! Omg!

Kb is where I used to like buying my figures. Man I miss my youth 🥲

Talk about my childhood right there! I can’t keep track how many times I went to Kb toys and got everything there!! Now you are just forced to go to a mostly empty or disorganized Walmart!!! I remember going to the mall to Kb toys and then going to Spencer’s not knowing it’s only for adults! Mostly going for the party lights!! Man those days!!!!

Was hoping to see the stacks and stacks of Atari Jaguars for $30 bucks lol

Judging by the Star Wars posters of the Phantom Menace, this was probably at the earliest 1999, since the movie came out the Summer of that year.

Oh the GameBoy Color!!!! That was my first GameBoy! It was purple! My parents got it for me as a present with Pokémon Yellow.

I remember getting 007 Goldeneye for N64 at KB Toys in 98 for $40. Best game for N64 IMO

Man we used to get our allowance and me and my friends would go door to door and offer to wash neighbours cars for 2 dollars or cut grass for like 10. Then we’d ride our bikes to the abandoned dirt lot that was a few miles away and practice BMX tricks and go to the Burger King across the street then take some of the money we got and go to KB toys if we could get a ride and get toys and wrestling action figures by the mall I miss the late 90s we had so much fun we knew how to enjoy days outside 😂

my most significant purchase was at a kb store in new jersey and it was marvel vs capcom 2. Saw it on shelf in october of that year and got it for xmas! My most valuable purchase period

MAN me and my brother use to go and play with the toys here every chance we got lol. Radioshack was the next best spot not as good though haha

I remember those coupons for 1 free toy it was like a Richie rich character on front.. I always got an aliens toy ram alien. I was so happy

The second I hit play and saw the first shot. I caught a resurgence of that KB toys scent . ❤

Kinda sad. About 75% of every item shown in this video you'll find for like two bucks at a Peddler's Mall today.