Want more Post-Mortar?? Here's the series playlist: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8whzI9wyj-A.html Thanks for watching! Consider Liking, Subscribing, and Sharing the video!
I worked there in 89-90. It was a train wreck. They did have an incredible management training program at the time where they sent assistant managers to a dedicated training stores for a 6-8 weeks to complete training course with a dedicated training manager. I didn't know it at the time, but no other companies were investing a fraction of this on training and developing their management.
When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s there was only one Toys R Us near me and it was over an hour and a half away each way, and I can count the number of times I was in one on one hand. Kay Bee Toys was in every mall, from the Fort Henry Mall in Kingsport to even the Middlesboro Mall in Kentucky. So Kay Bee or KB Toys as it later was called was the toy store I grew up around and went in. I never noticed it had older or markdown/close out toys, if anything it had the toys I couldn't find anywhere else. RIP KB Toys, you are missed and were a part of a lot of our childhoods.
Awesome Video! I was going to release a “Top 5 Forgotten Toy Stores,” but opted out to go ahead and work on a (Part 4) installment of my Forgotten Department Stores
I loves going to Kay-Bee. They carried high end vinyl statues and figures. Not a huge selection, but you could find some treasures there. It's always sad to see somewhere you shopped at go under.
Aisles were narrow, you had to brush against people to get past, the place was always a mess although they had numerous employees who only responsibility was to watch you like you're going to steal.
I remember Kay-bee toys when I was a kid and I was living in great falls Montana at the time in the late 80s to early 2000s and I went to the Kay-bees toys store and I remember the store front has a cool looking design.
K&K Toys, worked for them in Myrtle Beach SC. Name stood for Kenny Kaufman., nice family company but as they started the Dollar Tree chain, which was a cash cow, they sold K&K off to fund the rapid growth of DT. I ran the former store at Myrtle Square, Briarcliff Mall and Inlet Square which is dead. Myrtle wa the better mail, replaced with the lame Coastal Grand. K&K was a fun job, I hope like K.B.
Are you familiar with Children’s Palace? I think they were a midwest only chain. Their buildings were shaped like castles. We had one near me long before we had a Toys R Us
Funny you would say that! I chose this song because I heard it on the LGR! I figured it would make a perfect theme, so I kept it in mind for later. It came in handy for the show, so I got permission to use it from its creator, DanoSongs. Good ear!!
I worked for K.B for years eventually becoming a District Mnager. Great company until Bain came along, then the end was near. Sadly though, the stores never made real profits, just a good store that most malls wanted as part of the Melville chains of stores: This End Up, Piercing Pogoda, Merry Go Round, CVS, etc. Melville loved to rent multiple spaces at a discount, and used K.B’s sale to fund the CVS growth, which were making $ hand over fist. Let’s not forget that KB did 18+ versions of a larger Toys R Us called: Toy Works. Eventually they bought out Playland Toys, Tons of Toys, Toy Liquidators, Circus World Toys (great southern chain) and a few others. I miss the chain and to this day have fond memories of working there during the holidays.
