Toy Stores
#1
Posted 15 September 2006 - 02:01 PM
#2
Posted 15 September 2006 - 02:06 PM
#3
Posted 15 September 2006 - 03:03 PM
#4
Posted 16 September 2006 - 08:17 AM
Good old Toy Palace! Bob Bolen's place, started in the Westcliff Shopping Center back in the '50's. His dad had a watch and clock repair business in the old Westcliff Theatre building which was eventually torn down. He moved into the Toy Palace and ran his business out of there for a long time. I guess they moved over to Wedgewood sometime in the late 60's or early 70's. Bob gave me my first job putting flyers on all the cars in the Westcliff Shopping Center parking lot. It was the middle of the summer, and was it hot! Got paid a dollar!
There was another toy store on BlueBonnet Circle, called Circle Toy and Hobbies. They had a pretty good selection of just about everything toy and hobby related, but the owners weren't very friendly, especially to kids! You could look, but couldn't touch ANYTHING in that store. Strange way to market to your potential customers. They had a really neat model train setup as I recall. It was an HO guage and was quite intricate.
I think I remember the place with the B-58 over the door. Seems like when I was young, I always wanted to go in there, but never did. Wasn't that the place where the B-58 was flat up against the building, nose down, directly over the entrance? I can't remember for sure.
Seems like the days of toy stores has been replaced by the big box store, Toys R Us. Hobby shops these days are as scarce as hen's teeth having been replaced by an 800 number and a credit card.
Interesting topic!
Bill Sievers
#5
Posted 16 September 2006 - 09:29 AM
I remember those stores! Tolson's was a favorite place to go, and there was one guy in there who was aleays very helpful. I think eventually they drifted more into picture frames. Wonder when they closed.
Good old Toy Palace! Bob Bolen's place, started in the Westcliff Shopping Center back in the '50's. His dad had a watch and clock repair business in the old Westcliff Theatre building which was eventually torn down. He moved into the Toy Palace and ran his business out of there for a long time. I guess they moved over to Wedgewood sometime in the late 60's or early 70's. Bob gave me my first job putting flyers on all the cars in the Westcliff Shopping Center parking lot. It was the middle of the summer, and was it hot! Got paid a dollar!
There was another toy store on BlueBonnet Circle, called Circle Toy and Hobbies. They had a pretty good selection of just about everything toy and hobby related, but the owners weren't very friendly, especially to kids! You could look, but couldn't touch ANYTHING in that store. Strange way to market to your potential customers. They had a really neat model train setup as I recall. It was an HO guage and was quite intricate.
I think I remember the place with the B-58 over the door. Seems like when I was young, I always wanted to go in there, but never did. Wasn't that the place where the B-58 was flat up against the building, nose down, directly over the entrance? I can't remember for sure.
Seems like the days of toy stores has been replaced by the big box store, Toys R Us. Hobby shops these days are as scarce as hen's teeth having been replaced by an 800 number and a credit card.
Interesting topic!
Bill Sievers
I think the guy you were speaking of at Tolson's as being helpful was Mr. Tolson himself. He was always there and I am sure he was the owner. I can remember marveling at the model airplanes in the display case and also at the model train that was always set up. I had only been to Bolen's a few times when they were located in Westcliff. And maybe once when they moved to Wedgwood. It was another great store. I don't recall the shop on Bluebonnet Circle. And you are right about the B-58. It was over the door and pointed downward. . . I regret never having made it in to that place. I am pretty sure it was called Alexander Edd's Hobby Shop. And you are correct in saying these shops have been replaced by Toy's r Us or an 800 number. . . or a website. It's really too bad. Of course kids today could care less about train sets or model planes. . . today it's Ipods and computer games.
#6
Posted 16 September 2006 - 10:34 AM
#7
Posted 16 September 2006 - 11:57 AM
#8
Posted 16 September 2006 - 03:02 PM
Such fond memories! Thanks for adding this thread!
Mary Bess
#9
Posted 17 September 2006 - 10:44 PM
It was called Ed Alexander's and in the 1950's. it was a large scale silver Convair B-36 that was hanging over the doorway in downtown Fort Worth. Ed, like Bill Tolson's hobby shop on Camp Bowie, could get any kind of hobby kit that you wanted. But, Ed specialized in gas engine airplanes, Radio Control airplane kits and engines, and plastic model kits. Ed had some very old antique model airplane engines in a case. They were not for sale. Everything from miniature to large, gas and diseal engines were in display cases. The store was located in one of those narrow store fronts with two narrow dispaly windows on each side of the doorway. Inside was a tall ceiling from turn of the century architecture. One very long glass top counter served the customers. Ed had a good crew to wait on the customers and they were experienced in the hobby to help and give tips.
Bill Tolson's shop's speciality was model rail roading and always advertised in the back of Model Railroad magazine. If one were traveling or lived out of Texas and picked up a copy of the mazine, it was always nice and warm feeling to see Fort Worth, Texas name still on the map, even if it was in a hobby magazine. Bill also had plastic kits and balsa models too. Seems like it was about 1996 that I last visited with Bill in his shop. It was dark in there and not very much business. It was shortly after that when Tolson's Hobby closed its doors. There was a short article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about it. I bought and built my first model airplane from Tolson's about 1951 and had many, many enjoyable moments in my life constructing those kits bought from Tolosn's as well as Alexander's.
I can't begin to tell you how I miss those good old days.
FortWorthMan
Forth Worth Man
#10
Posted 19 October 2006 - 10:26 AM
#11
Posted 15 November 2006 - 10:46 AM
we use to go there and buy those cigarettes that blew up and those hand buzzers.
Good Times
#12
Posted 28 February 2007 - 09:37 AM
The Hobby Hub that was located in the old Seminary South shopping center.
#13
Posted 24 October 2007 - 06:36 PM
I recall the Toy Chest. My brother and I often walked up there from my great aunt's house on Lafayette Avenue. Mott's Five and Dime was fun, too, for spending our allowance. We used to visit here from Wichita Falls and thought Ft. Worth was the big time. lol
M.
#14
Posted 22 November 2007 - 03:24 PM
#15
Posted 02 December 2007 - 11:07 PM
A few others I remember were Alexander Ed's Hobby Shop downtown. I never went there but I do remember the large model of a B-58 jet hanging over the door. . . . Also, Bolen's Toy Palace in Wedgwood.
Man oh man! I browsed Bolen's Toy Palace several hundred times when I was a kid. Never bought anything there, though, because they had the highest prices in town. I recall the big "cage" right outside the front door where they kept swingsets; I often used to chain up my bicycle on the bars. You could buy plastic model kits, Hot Wheels cars, etc. In the early '80s you could get game cartidges for the Odyssey 2 home video game system, but it was outrageous how much Bolen's charged for them. My brother may have bought his Testor's model paints there. I think there was a Bolen's bicycle shop in the same shopping center.
I remember seeing a big model of a jet airplane (could have been a B-58) that hung over the entrace to a hobby store near Paschal H.S. That would have been late '70s or early '80s. This was right around the corner from Mac's House restaurant. Eventually they took down the model and my dad and I went in there once to ask why; the guy said they kept it inside the back room for some reason. That hobby store has long since closed.
#16
Posted 02 December 2007 - 11:12 PM
A place I loved for toys as a kid (the more vintage variety of things) was Mott's 5&10 - we used to go to the one in the old Monnig's shopping center at Jacksboro Highway and River Oaks Blvd. It was how I stayed "busy" when mom was shopping for clothes and probably explains my love for vintage things at a very early age!
Our Motts 5&10 was on Trail Lake Dr. at Loop 820. It was right next door to Kragen's Auto Supply (both of these are now gone). I usually went there as a kid while my mom was getting her hair done in the beauty parlor a few doors down. I remember buying Magic Rocks (those little colored rocks that grew into stalagmites in just a few minutes) and "Balloon in a Tube"... it was a very smelly chemical that you squeezed out of a toothpaste tube and twirled onto the end of a straw, and you blew into that straw to make your own multi-colored balloon when it hardened. Stank to high heaven and could easily put a kid into a stupor.
#17
Posted 09 December 2007 - 12:02 PM
There was another store that I visited only once or twice on NE 28th, A & A Hobby Center. They had a lot of early HO stuff the like of which I never saw anywhere else.
I honestly do not remember any downtown hobby shop yet I do remember a huge B-36 hanging over someone's door. Could it have been at one shop and later at another? I just remembered another one ( but not its name ) and it seems like it might be the one where I saw it: on highway 80 next to Donn Heath's gun shop there was a hobby shop that specialized in military model kits, no trains. Owner was a bit of a of a jerk. Later, when Heath built his new store across the road, the hobby shop moved there too. They had an M5 tank parked out front. I'll bet I'm not the only one who remembers that.
#18
Posted 09 December 2007 - 12:29 PM
I remember the Toy Chest. I remember driving past the Toy Chest but never getting to stop; I always wondered what it was like in there. Of course, many of those trips past were trips to Tolson's Modelcraft. I wonder if the helpful guy there may have been Charlie Jetton, who worked there while in college. At Tolson's you could bring in your old choo-choo stuff and sell it on consignment.
There was another store that I visited only once or twice on NE 28th, A & A Hobby Center. They had a lot of early HO stuff the like of which I never saw anywhere else.
I honestly do not remember any downtown hobby shop yet I do remember a huge B-36 hanging over someone's door. Could it have been at one shop and later at another? I just remembered another one ( but not its name ) and it seems like it might be the one where I saw it: on highway 80 next to Donn Heath's gun shop there was a hobby shop that specialized in military model kits, no trains. Owner was a bit of a of a jerk. Later, when Heath built his new store across the road, the hobby shop moved there too. They had an M5 tank parked out front. I'll bet I'm not the only one who remembers that.
I do remember that tank outside the hobby shop on Highway 80. I think I went there maybe once.
#19
Posted 11 January 2008 - 12:34 AM
#20
Posted 11 January 2008 - 12:35 AM
#21
Posted 20 August 2008 - 08:01 AM
#22
Posted 20 August 2008 - 09:49 AM
#23
Posted 20 August 2008 - 12:03 PM
Yes, I was going to mention Mott's. We used to go to the one on Camp Bowie. It had a small toy section but I always loved to browse. I also remember getting pencil boxes and other school stuff there.
Voice & Guitars in Big Heaven
Elementary Music Specialist, FWISD
Texas Wesleyan 2015
Shaw-Clarke NA Alumna
#24
Posted 27 August 2008 - 01:03 PM
Does anyone happen to remember a Christmas train at Leonard's downtown that the kids could ride? I know I remember riding a train that went behind the walls and there were little animated creatures wrapping presents and helping Santa. It seems like it was along the top of the walls and you had to go upstairs to get on the train. It would have been in the late 50s' or early 60's. My sister doesn't remember it and thinks I'm imagining things. It would be nice if I could prove to her that I'm not totally crazy.
#25
Posted 28 August 2008 - 10:14 AM
#26
Posted 28 August 2008 - 02:22 PM
Thanks Baily! That's a relief. I didn't remember all of the details, but I knew it was real. I have to go call my sister now.
#27
Posted 22 September 2008 - 03:29 PM
Thanks Baily! That's a relief. I didn't remember all of the details, but I knew it was real. I have to go call my sister now.
My favorite place was The Model Shop, just behind Flynts' Drugstore on 6th ave. and Terrell Street. A tiny place, but he had a large train diorama with mountains, tunnells, rivers, bridges, and many buildings and autos. It always smelled of Testors Cement and airplane dope. This was late '40's_early '50's.
#28
Posted 23 September 2008 - 12:30 PM
I believe it was Kay's Hobby Shop.
#29
Posted 02 May 2009 - 02:46 PM
Yes, I was going to mention Mott's. We used to go to the one on Camp Bowie. It had a small toy section but I always loved to browse. I also remember getting pencil boxes and other school stuff there.
Go see the Leonard's Museum in Fort Worth.
#31
Posted 03 May 2009 - 01:42 PM
http://www.fortworth...epartment.shtml
#32
Posted 07 May 2009 - 04:02 PM
http://www.fortworth...epartment.shtml
Thanks, Papaw... I'll definitely check it out!
#33
Posted 13 May 2009 - 03:16 PM
Lonn Taylor
#34
Posted 17 May 2009 - 10:03 PM
#35
Posted 18 May 2009 - 12:58 PM
See post #17, this thread. Early 90s? I didn't know A & A was around that long.
#36
Posted 15 November 2009 - 02:40 AM
Another toy store that I remember as a kid growing up in the 1980's was Children's Palace. Although it was a chain, it stood out due to its castle-like facade. According to Wikipedia, the chain went out of business in 1992.The one I occasionally was lucky enough to check out was at Grapevine Highway and NE Loop 820 in North Richland Hills across from the now demolished North Hills Mall. The location later became a Best Buy, and then that moved to Hurst, and now the location is an off-price Children and Baby Store.
#37
Posted 15 November 2009 - 09:45 AM
#38
Posted 15 November 2009 - 09:31 PM
#39
Posted 16 November 2009 - 04:12 PM
Grandma sent $2.00, my folks pitched in 5 and I was off to
the upstairs toy department at the Stripling on Berry to pick out
my own birthday present.
#40
Posted 18 November 2009 - 08:37 AM
Grandma sent $2.00, my folks pitched in 5 and I was off to
the upstairs toy department at the Stripling on Berry to pick out
my own birthday present.
#42
Posted 04 January 2010 - 08:31 AM
I used to go there a lot as a kid in the 60s and 70s. Hobby Hub too.
Don't recall when Toy Faire went out of business, sometime in the early/mid 70s. They demolished that section of buildings to build the Dillards around 1976 or so. I think Toy Faire had already gone out of business by then. Of course, Dillards is also gone from the mall now too.
I remember as a little kid, I was born in 1963, I used to dream or imagine that I found $100 and went into Toy Faire and bought out the entire store. Guess I thought $100 was like $1 million back then.
#43
Posted 04 January 2010 - 09:17 AM
Remember the toy store at Seminary South? It was called Toy Faire I think. The front facade looked like a little gingerbread/Hansel and Gretel type house. It was over by that grey 5-story office building in the mall.
I guess that was down at the end of the mall--near El Chico's and Buddie's Supermarket.
I spent plenty of money at Murphy's--$2.66 at a time--buying records. And then going downstairs to the pet department and checking out if anyone forked over the $200 to buy a pirhanna that they had for sale down there.
#44
Posted 04 January 2010 - 02:09 PM
My parents bought several pets for me from their pet dept. too. Remember the little red-eared turtles with the plastic bowl with the island and plastic palm tree?
#45
Posted 04 January 2010 - 03:55 PM
Actually those little red-eared turtles and the island & plastic tree are one of my oldest memories. I had one when I was a toddler. It probably would have been when my parents were still married or very shortly after when we lived in River Oaks, so I would have been two to four years old. I loved that little turtle.
#46
Posted 21 July 2013 - 05:05 PM
The old Bolen's Toy Palace in the Westcliff Shopping Center was the place when I was a kid in the '60s. What sticks in my mind was how you could walk into the toy store, then pass through, from inside, into the bicycle store (that included a multi-lane slot car track you could rent time on), and then continue thorough to the Hallmark card store. Good memories!
#47
Posted 12 August 2013 - 01:45 AM
A place I loved for toys as a kid (the more vintage variety of things) was Mott's 5&10 - we used to go to the one in the old Monnig's shopping center at Jacksboro Highway and River Oaks Blvd. It was how I stayed "busy" when mom was shopping for clothes and probably explains my love for vintage things at a very early age!
I remember going to Mott's and also Monnig's ( now Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity Re-Store respectively). They had a wide variety of inexpensive toys I really loved back then.
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