Відео

I live in the UK and music stores are what I miss the most. In my city there used to be Virgin, Our Price, HMV, Andy's Reords and Chart Toppers. Now there is nothing. HMV were saved over here by Sunrise Records. Not before my local store closed though, I keep hoping it will come back.

I still remember my mother taking me to the local K Mart as a kid to buy me a bottle of 7up when I was sick with the flu. They used to be everywhere and now there aren't any.

Thank you for pointing out there’s no thing as an “unskilled” job.❤

I was working a seasonal job at Macy's during the Christmas season and it had a Toys R Us section. I was ambivalent. On the one hand it was great to see Geoffrey Giraffe again and they even had a bench with a Geoffrey statue where parents could shoot pictures of their children. On the other hand, the entire toy section is so small compared to the old stand-alone stores where you would have one aisle devoted to dolls, one aisle devoted to board games, etc. Having Toys R Us inside of Macy's isn't quite the same.

The problem is that these stores exist as corporate entities. When in reality, the reason why you liked a store at one point in time is because of the leadership involved at that time, who made said store great. These companies get bought and sold all the time. And most of the time, the consumer doesn't know, or care, because when an acquisition of a company takes, the name of the store (most of the time) stays the same. So you don't even realize it that it's now run by a completely different entity. All you notice is that slowly this store you once loved, begins to suck. And you're here scratching your head wondering what the hell happened. My most recent real-life example. My favorite thrift shop was recently bought out by savers. But they still kept the old name of the thrift shop. Things that were once a dollar, are now suddenly five dollars. They prices of everything, used items might I add, have gone up dramatically. So I asked one of the employees, what's going on. They basically said, they were bought out by a big greedy conglomerate, and they raised all the prices, and fired 80% the staff, and bought in a bunch of new employees. Now everything in what used to be my favorite thrift store, is 5X the price. I have only been there once in the past 8 months. And that was last week, just to see if they still had absurd prices. They most certainly still did. So I won't be going back there for the remainder of 2025. The thrift store is dead. Now it's just that store in name only. And I won't be surprised if they officially change their signage to say savers soon. They've completely changed the floor design of the store since I was there last.

11:50 I have a complete Inspector Gadget toy! He is so high quality for a kid's meal toy. The face looks exactly like Mathew Broderick and his chest makes real sparks. This was the best happy meal tie in ever

There's one last original Blockbuster existing anywhere (as far as i know) in Bend, Oregon. I'm not too far away, in Portland, and have considered a road trip just for the experience of walking through those doors one more time 😃

Needlessly long comment, sorry. I'm just passionate about this topic lol. I always look forward to setting foot in my old Toys R Us around Halloween, thanks to Spirit. When I get the chance, I take a peek behind the curtains at the parts of the store they aren't using, and still see signage that was left up from back when the store was still open. For the longest time, that big, chunky loss prevention warning sign with Geoffrey on it stayed up after Spirit began moving in every year, but was eventually taken down. But a couple Octobers prior, I went in with a newly-purchased Game Boy Camera to get that period-appropriate shot I was itching to get, since I knew it wouldn't be up there forever. Looking back on it, retail - particularly before 9/11 - was all about experience. Be it child or adult, you wanted to have a store you were looking forward to go to. Going to the same stores, restaurants, businesses, etc. I went to 25 years ago - if they're even still open - feels different. Like, means-to-an-end different. Aesthetics feel corporate and sterile. Everything looks and feels cold. I feel rushed to buy my things and get out instead of taking my time and enjoying a shopping experience that will get me back in the door next time to spend more money. There is no better example of this than McDonalds. But on the other hand, going to stores that are stuck in the past feels like liminal. My local mall, which is still far from a dead mall (thankfully), had 5 anchors when I was a kid - JCPenny, 2 separate Dillards (Men & Women), Sears, and Kaufmanns (which turned into Macy's in the 2000s). Sears was the first to go in 2017, followed by Macy's in 2020. Dillards consolidated into one store, leaving the empty half to be taken up by Round 1 in 2017. The mall added on a brand new expansion to welcome Dick's as an anchor. That leaves JCPenny and Dillards surprisingly still open, representing the last of the mall's 'Old Guard'. Dillards still retains its pink and dark green carpet accented by its shiny silver escalators, with its late-70s storefront outside still standing tall and proud. JCPenny is still as cramped and dim as it was when I was a kid, and still even smells the same too. But going to either seems...weird. Lifeless. The floors are packed with clothes, but not with people or staff. It feels creepy. I do not want to shop at either. But I live in a densely populated area of town, which helps keeps these two on life support until their eventual death. I predict both will be gone by the end of 2026, and by then, the last of the mall as I knew it as a child will be no more.

It's pretty much like we were in an abusive relationship with these stores 😂

It was totally impossible that Sears could ever go out of business, yet they were already behind K-Mart and Walmart in sales by the mid 80's.

You pretty much nailed everything that I have inside me with a lot of these places. Toys R Us and Kay Bees was a special treat and there are great moments from my youth there. My Step-Father being nice to me, getting a toy because my mom paid attention to me. Mom and Pop video stores, K-Mart, the Mall... all I have is fading memories. Toys R Us in Macy's, in the US is a complete joke. Shopping sucks now.

A chunk of the content I create is of an urbex nature, and nothing has been more nostalgia and melancholy inducing than filming explorations of my former middle school, abandoned 30 years after I went, and the local department store that was my first place of employment abandoned 20 years after I worked there.

My local mall is on its way to becoming a dead mall. It once had TWO toy chains, including Kay Bee. Right across the street, the Toys R Us is now a furniture store. My daughter is too young to remember when we brought her there just before they closed. It's a bummer.

All your base! Take off every zig! Make your time! Viral gorilla marketing reminds me of shepard fairey / obey

Ur literally the best ❤

Super insightful vid, earned my sub! The BK "meme" was part of why it was my favorite fastfood place as a kid, the random jokes and gags on the boxes and the deco, there used to be a stronger BK aesthetic than, "McDonalds light"

Another great video

"Sensitivity" is how we got to this bland, boring state we're in now. It's a shame.

You did not miss anything by not going to Long John Silvers, unless maybe it was a stomach ache. Fast food fish is.... not a great idea.

lol, Zellers. Oldskool.

I love your videos! As a fellow Canadian it can also be difficult to find certain things too. Chumleigh's in Kingston has a lot of cool stuff. Especially DVDs, Blu-rays, and VHS. That's where I began my VHS collection back in 2019. I live in Ottawa and can't get to Kingston as often as I would like, but I make do with Value Village, a second hand media store called Odds & Sods, general geek sales, and Ottawa Comiccon. But, I also have to be economical with my collecting habits, so I only buy something if there's a memory attached to a toy or comic or novel or movie/TV show.

I finally managed to order a t-shirt in my size from your merch store - thank you! I love your vids 👍

Everything I collect I have on display. I wish I had more like-minded friends to share my collections with.

I remember blockbuster music! I was a Huge MJ fan when I was a kid and he would release VHS tapes of all his Music videos or Movies and Blockbuster music was the ONLY place at the time that would sale them. Good times

I would argue that boutique labels are the only ones trying to keep it alive to begin with, like how vinyl is still around. Anyone that preserves the history of media always has great respect for me.

Good Video J

This reminds me of Donald Fagan's 1982 song, IGY, which refers to the International Geophysical Year of 1958. The chorus is 'What a beautiful world this will be. What a glorious time to be free."

Your channel has a way of healing generational depression. I’ve watched countless science-related channels-most quickly turn into empty clickbait-and plenty of tech-focused ones too, speaking as a Network Engineer. But you genuinely focus on the psychological interplay between how we perceive time and how it affects us. More importantly, you approach this subject with real empathy, honoring our basic human needs while acknowledging our longing to dream and escape. I’m proud of what you’re doing, and I hope you remain true to your craft. You offer something no one else on the internet does: genuine compassion for our desire to fantasize and the courage to call it out as it is.

Peanuts were fucking terrible, I've hated the movies since I was young. Every year it's "oh, this again"

Yes thank you I appreciated it and shared subbed liked

Love all your videos! Thanks for continuing despite the low views!

On the subjects of tradition and expectations, one tradition I developed a few years ago was to watch the entirety of your obscure Christmas specials Sleepcore in the two hours before bed on Christmas Eve. The initial logic was that because it’s titled Sleepcore, it would help me with the seemingly impossible task of getting some sleep by morning, which for me is still very difficult to pull off even at 22 going on 23. For whatever reason it never seems to pan out that way. Nevertheless I keep trying each year, and I just realized it can sound like a forced tradition in that case. But what matters to me is the perseverance involved in doing so

Malls are still incredibly fun and convenient, especially in places where the weather is sketchy for a good portion of the year. I feel as if the successful malls these days have a healthy balance of restaurants, entertainment, and attractions to go along with the usual shopping.

I wish we would be watching those commercials with you while you comment on them.also nice touch on the Diddy Kong Racing music!!!brings me back to grade school!

I Watched The Sci-Fi Channel Back In The Day. Lost In Space Is Definitely On The Top Of My List.

A+ video! LOVE IT! Awesome commercials!

Eating Pumpkin Spice Cheerios...while watching this video!

Good recap of the history of video, thanks for the memories. One note regarding anime, don’t forget Speed Racer, which aired in the 1960s in the US.

10/10

I’m really glad I can still find videos from you. I got really concerned when the original channel went full Sleepcore, so when I stumbled upon one of this channel’s videos completely at random it felt great tbh

WTF r u even talking about?! My mall is perfectly alive and thriving maybe u need to do better research on that

I love online shopping sure but like nothing beats the mall and the big anchor stores and eating in the food cort or catching the latest blockbuster movie at the cinema if your mall had one and just there's nothing like the way things used to be in general like i was born in 2004 and feel like im part of the last generation to actually experience all this!

The thing I hate about everything going digital is it makes you loose the social aspect in everything. It’s less common to go to the mall with your friends now instead of just staying home and ordering what you want. I’m a very social person so accepting that new reality has been difficult.😭

Grandma sat out one of those ceramic Christmas trees every year from like 1980 onward, and I can still remember how FREAKING HOT they can get when left on for hours.

My best memory would be shopping with my mom at Sears, Dillard's and so forth. It's been 4 years since I stepped inside the mall in my city. I worked at Suncoast video from late 98 to late 2003 and then Borders books and music 2006 to 2008. I loved those years. So when I visited the mall here in 2020 before Covid hit. None of the stores opened until 11am and everything closed by 7pm everyday. It was dead and really the only people walking around were over 70 getting their daily exercise. It was sad to see nothing I remember existing anymore. Macy's was open but maybe 3 others were shopping . All there is are overpriced jewelry stores, cell phone kiosks and shoe stores. Hot topic was open but the atmosphere was lame. 😢

It’s true that this year is probably the worst year for Black Friday I have ever experienced but I remember that people were tired of all the Black Friday mayhem- myself included, because it was just so negative. Also, it’s not fair to employees of these stores to put them through that. I have zero nostalgia for that mess.

Feeling so fortunate to live near a thriving mall. Went a few days ago and saw a girl begging her mom to let her get a revealing dress and she was saying NO. Tale as old as time!!

Just out of interest, what is the Haterade around All Dogs Go to Heaven?