Retroguy 76's blog

 I can sure relate to this waking up on Christmas Morning finding that certain toy or top selling video game console underneath the tree. Most of these I got for Christmas in the days where no online shopping or getting deliveries via Amazon existed. We had to go to actual brick and mortar locations and hope and prayed they were some on the shelf and some kids Christmas was gonna be a special one.                                                                      Transformers 1984 The vehicle or something or other turning into a robot a battle of the Autobots and Decipticons. Optimus Prime vs Megatron. Midway thru the 80's was that kind of feel not only transformers also Go-Bots, Voltron and a few others. I was happy to get Optimus Prime underneath my tree 40 years ago. It was tough that holiday shopping sea...

 Which defunct toy store was the best. Growing up most of my toys came from most of these stores I believe one I never went to even though it was in my area when I moved over 30 years ago. I will break down which was was my favorite                                                                          Toys R Us From kiddie toys to video games Toys R Us was frequently visited from the 70's to the 1990's. Toys R Us was like being a kid in a candy shop. A nice selection of everything and most of my shopping experiences came from there even video games where you had to get a slip, pay for it and get it a customer service I know the next store i'll talk about Child World did the same practice. Toys R US suffered financial problems in the 2000's where they went out of business in 2018. Toys R US has see...

 I ventured over to nearby Woodbridge Center mall with less than a week till Christmas. Currently the mall is doing okay but slowly dying but not dramatically yet. It depends if Macy’s and JC Penny remain after this year is over. The only store which was doing very well was Boscov’s since they opened in what was Fortunoff and Hahne’s a decade ago. The rest of the mall has half stores open and a lot closed in the wings where Lord and Taylor and Sears once was not too long ago before the pandemic happened in 2020 A history of the mall.  In March of 1971, Woodbridge Center opened with the first A&S in the garden state. Ohrbach’s and Stern’s would follow. In 1978, the mall recieved its expansion and adding two more anchors which was Hahne’s in 1979 and JC Penny in the early 80’s after moving from nearby Menlo Park mall. The first two anchor changes happened from the mid to late 80’s as Ohrbach’s went out of business and Steinbach came in 1987 and Hahne’s was dropped by May dep...

 Over the past years A&S expanded into different states including New Jersey and Pennsylvania                                                     1971 Woodbridge center   A first for New Jersey as the chain opened its first store at Woodbridge center mall with its pointy unique structure on the exterior it was a huge three floor store. The chains first effort in NJ was a success. In 1992, the store received a renovation inside in which there was a celebration in which the late NJ Nets star Drazen Petrovic signed autographs and 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris who played Andrea Zuckerman on the show. Sadly the store closed in 1995 after Macy’s phased out the A&S brand. The store was sold to Sears and opened that year and remained till 2020 and closed during the COVID pandemic it currently sits vacant.          ...

 Found some ads when some of the malls opened in NJ. The one mall I actually went to opening day was Freehold raceway mall in 1990. Over that summer I stayed at my grandmothers while my mom had to work. So that was pretty easy in a way.                                                      Woodbridge center 1971  Woodbridge center opened in march of 1971 with just A&S with its very first NJ Store followed by Stern’s later Macy's and Orbachs later Steinbach and Lord & Taylor a few months later.  In 1978, the mall got a expansion in which JC Penny and Hahne’s later Fortunoff and now Boscov's got added as the mall had five anchors and over 200 shops, restaurants. Gaylan's later renamed to Dick's sporting goods became the malls 6th Anchor in 2003 Today when I go to Woodbridge, its on the verge of dying since the pandemic. It's slowly go...