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I do remember the Toys for Joy stores in Upstate New York, though I had no idea there were so many at any time. My sister was a clerk at one for a while. When I moved to Rensselaer in 1991, the toy store was closed or closing; the Joy Department Store held on for just a little bit longer.

I also remember the Lionel Kiddie City on Erie Boulevard in Dewitt, NY, outside Syracuse -- it was round, with a roof that looked like a child's top (when there were such things, of course). It served for a while in the late '80s as one of the bigger locations of the Record Theater chain. It may still be standing, but I haven't been out that way in a long while -- it was certainly a unique building. (Unfortunately, Google's Street View doesn't quite reach that portion of Erie Boulevard!)

Back when I lived in New Mexico, there was a Lionel Playworld store in Albuquerque that we went to on occasion in the mid-to-late Eighties to early Nineties (I remember my parents buying NES games there, and I remember seeing sales brochures for the new NeoGeo system when it cost $600 to buy the system and the games were $200 apiece. If I had to provide a date range, I'd have to guess it opened sometime between 1986-1987, and I recall being there ar various times up until about 1992. I remember that the store was actually fairly large and somewhat warehouselike in overall appearance. I can't be entirely sure, but I seem to recall they had some sort of cartoon kangaroo as their mascot (Geoffrey ripoff anyone?)

buckhead wrote:

dth1971 wrote:Who remembers these former toy store chains that once rivaled Toys R Us?:
Child World
Children's Palace
Lionel Kiddie City
(Lionel) Play World

Also: For mallies there was Circus World, Toy Box, K & K Toys, Toys By Rizzi, and Playland Toys ...

<<Edited by moderator to consolidate multiple similar threads. Please do not start new toy chain threads.>>

I remember Lionel Leisure City operation first...later rechristened Lionel Play World. I think the latter name may have represented scaled down stores.

There were also Toy Liquidators and Toyland stores that I remember.

The other names the Lionel Toy Stores operated under were:

• Lionel Kiddie City (Philadelphia, PA area)
• Lionel Play Town (Philadelphia, PA area)
• Lionel Playworld (outside the Philadelphia, PA area)

When the Lionel Toy Stores finally closed, one of their regional offices was in the former Penn Fruit Company HQ building, which was located on Grant Avenue in Philadelphia, PA.

Brian Lutz wrote:Back when I lived in New Mexico, there was a Lionel Playworld store in Albuquerque that we went to on occasion in the mid-to-late Eighties to early Nineties (I remember my parents buying NES games there, and I remember seeing sales brochures for the new NeoGeo system when it cost $600 to buy the system and the games were $200 apiece. If I had to provide a date range, I'd have to guess it opened sometime between 1986-1987, and I recall being there ar various times up until about 1992. I remember that the store was actually fairly large and somewhat warehouselike in overall appearance. I can't be entirely sure, but I seem to recall they had some sort of cartoon kangaroo as their mascot (Geoffrey ripoff anyone?)

The Lionel Toy Store kangaroo mascot has been around since the late 1960's.