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Toys By Roy - Winrock Center Mall - Albuquerque, New Mexico - A Trip Down Memory Lane
About ten minutes east of the city of Lake Charles are the remains of an abandoned water park . The decaying structures are clearly visible from the busy I-10 freeway and for years drivers have wondered about it's history and why it was left for dead. The Pirate's Cove Water Park actually has a rather interesting story behind it. A story that has been repeated over and over again, unfortunately, here in Louisiana. It's just another example of how government bureaucracy in this state killed an enterprise before it could ever get off the ground. Construction on the park began in 2008 and it was scheduled to open sometime in 2010. The sprawling complex was envisioned as an oasis from the hot summer heat that would feature luxurious amenities like a 900 foot long lazy river, a giant splash pad for the kids and eventually a five star hotel. The Pirate's Cove would have been an obvious tourist destination that could have brought much needed tax dollars and employment oppo...
I was in Texas and Toys-By-Roy was the go-to place! They had all the Japanese Robots pre-Transformers and the Britian's Deetail die-caste stuff. It was the best! I can't believe there is so little on the chain online. I would love to see some photos. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteKen,
ReplyDeleteWe also, had a Toys by Roy here in Oklahoma City. It was where I-35 & i-240 crosses and was in Crossroads Mall, somewhat over 1,000,000 square feet. Toys by Roy even sold coins ?
I never did visit the one at Crossroads Mall, but I do remember there was a Quail Springs Mall location i went to when I was 3 or 4, on the east side of the mall near the Sears.
DeleteWe had three Toys by Roy near us- Cortana Mall in Baton Rouge, the mall in Hammond and one in New Orleans. From Macross Models to Micronauts, they had it all. They closed the store in Cortana and moved all of the stock to a much smaller store near Service Merchandise. They put up a banner sign with some name like "Michael's Toys" or something that didn't sound as inviting. It was not the same and the store closed soon after.
ReplyDeleteTbR was such a wonderful toy store. I fear there will never be such again.
We lived in Albuquerque in the late 70's and remember Toys by Roy. It was my favorite toy/hobby shop at the time. Great time to be alive. Plastic model kits, trains, coins, and stamps, Toys by Roy had it all. They even had a small n-scale layout behind glass in the back of the store. Great memories!
ReplyDeleteI'm Alan Ater, the youngest of two sons of Roy. Roy was actually his middle name but naming the store Toys by Reverdie (yes, his real first name) wouldn't have been as catchy! Anyway, it brings a huge smile to my face knowing that Toys by Roy not only brought happiness to the lives of so many all those years ago, but continues to do so in memories even today. Toys by Roy belonged as much to my mom as it did to my dad. Trust me, even though you didn't see her at work in the stores, she was at home in her office making sure all of the bills, receipts, records, payrolls, tax stuff, and everything else behind the scenes of a successful endeavor got done. My dad passed away in 2001 and my mom in 2005 but I can tell you that they would have been thrilled to read what others on this site have said about Toys by Roy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid growing up in Dallas in the 1970's the Toys By Roy at Valley View Mall was a wonderland to me. It was there that I fell in love with plastic soldiers(Airfix)...a passion of mine to this day. Also, I still have my Shogun Warriors from there as well as some Britains and die cast tanks by Corgi. My older brother actually worked at the Toy Train counter at the back of the store for a while. When we moved to New York, we would visit Dallas every summer and I couldn't wait to get back to Toys By Roy!
DeleteMr. Ater, is there a chance you have any photos of the store in the Winrock Mall, circa 1978?
DeleteWe had Toys By Roy in Phoenix - I remember the ones at Metrocenter and Paradise Valley Malls. They had seemingly everything up until the NES came out, and before Toys R Us started to come to town they felt like top dog.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I loved to frequent the Toys by Roy @ Valley View Mall in the Dallas area (we lived in Duncanville then 1970-1972). The manager at the time made beautiful 1/35 WWII dioramas and had fully dressed manikins in WWII uniforms in his office there at the shop. He is responsible for getting me into model making, diorama building and figure painting which I still do today some 52 years later. They always had the best stock there, cases filled with Elastolin soldiers and knights, Airfix soldiers which no one else in the States seemed to carry, and model kits imported from Japan at a time when most other shops only carried the US made kits like Monogram and Aurora. Yes many fond memories of visiting that shop and gazing through the display window at the manager's latest dioramas....
ReplyDeleteWow! I grew up in Albuquerque and remember going to Toys by Roy in the 60's at the Winrock Center. They had a great collection of Avalon Hill games, and a terrific model of the CSS Alabama that I dreamed of owning someday. Looking at the photos, it seems to me that they might have moved to a different location in Winrock because I remember walking down the long causeway and then turning right into a smaller area where Toys by Roy was. I don't recall it being next to the Ben Franklin's. Anyone else remember this?
ReplyDeleteI remember visits to the Toys by Roy in the Valley View Mall in Dallas. I fondly remember the cases full of Corgi, Dinky and Britains toys. I loved receiving those tanks and soldiers as toys when I was a boy. What a wonderful place to visit and daydream.
ReplyDeleteI’m thrilled to learn that there were multiple Toys by Roy stores! I reminisce regularly about the location I grew up with, at Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, Texas. The towering stuffed giraffe inside was iconic, and I spent hours admiring the Schleich animals, model kits, puzzles, coloring books, and DoodleArt posters. It was a wondrous place that sparked imagination and creativity in me and so many of my friends, and I treasure the memories made there.
ReplyDeleteI am from Jonesboro Arkansas and in the early 80's our mall had a Toys by Roys store. I had so many mind blowing things for a weirdo like me to sink my teeth into. They even had Britain's space toys there!
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