Every cool place died in the 2000's thanks in part to corporate greed. The small mom and pop toy/collectable stores in malls were just magical. Malls are straight up depressing now a days. No arcade, no toys, or people.
"No arcade, no toys, no people." I visited the mall of my youth a few months ago and half the damn thing didn't even have electricity. All the fountains were dry. It was soooooooo depressing.
Not just corporate greed, but changing behaviour in new generations. The new "kids" (if you can call them that) aren't into feverishly collecting toys like we were. They prefer staring at their iPad all day. Which is part their fault, part parent's fault. And sadly it won't get better, it will only get worse.
Part of the reason why the website cost so much is _they were on track to take advantage of that_ So yeah, unlike the other Big players, Kay Bee was poised to take advantage of the shift. .... At least until _someone_ stole all the money that was going to support the site and transport of product to customer. They were basically going to be "toy Amazon" before there was an Amazon, by buying out and incorporating smaller scale toy manufacturers into the existing delivery routes. Don't have something at one store? Look at the rest of the stores in the state, or even the next state over! Order it for a certain amount, within a certain distance, and shipping is free!
KB Toys, Waldenbooks, and Electronics Boutique, the stores i made sure to hit on every visit to the mall with my 10$ allowance. oh yeah, and Aladdins Castle arcade with whatever change i had left!
Those were the go to stores for me as well. Then took my change over to The Gold Mine arcade. Now they're all gone, including the mall they were in, Port Plaza.
KB toy stores, Sears wish list annual Christmas catalogs. There are some great things the generations moving forward will never experience for themselves, unfortunately.
JC Penny, Ward's and Sears Christmas Catalogs. The HOURS we would spend oogling those toys. Circling the important ones. Showing mom...AGAIN which ones we wanted. She must be told. SHE MUST BE TOLD!!!
I worked at a KB in high school during the name change from Kay-Bee to KB. I can't tell you how many times people writing checks would get mad when they asked how to spell the store's name and I told them "It's just KB"...like I was messing with them. I still have my old name tag, and it very clearly says KB on it. It was one of the best jobs I ever had, and I was sad to see them go under.
Nothing beats the feeling of seeing a toy or figure in hand and the childhood excitement of being allowed to stop at the toy store. But with scalpers buying up all the good stuff and bleeding stores dry, then selling it marked up on the Internet, does it matter so much anymore anyway? For instance I like figures and never find the ones I want at the stores. Only dozens of overproduced figures no one wants.
Tryksta 724 I think that the moments when I actually find something I’m looking for in the wild (at either a target or a GameStop) and that feeling I have makes it worth it. It’s just unrealistic in today’s climate
@@tryksta7247 That happened before the Internet--even in the '80s the hot Star Wars and later GI Joe action were always inexplicably like what you describe. Certain ones could just never be found because a-holes would buy them all up to sell at flea markets (?) Not sure where, but same deal. I remember going through racks and racks of figures looking for that one "Firefly" or "Gung Ho" figure and seeing nothing but "Scarlett" two feet deep. Scarlett was that decade's Rey.
@@bb5242 For sure. There were also unequal numbers produced of figures and sometimes only ones released overseas. I remember Silver Surfer being like that and Batman Returns Catwoman and Robin...
Honestly in around that time I worked at a mall and would stop by the KB Toys on the way into work. Built my Batman Collection that way and my Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks figures collection. Loved it!
Thank you for such a clear and educational video. I had no idea that Bain Capital was responsible for multiple downfalls within toy retail. Such a sad and miserable story. The world is certainly a less fun place without a proper toy store. And, of course, so many people loss their jobs and pensions.
I worked at a Toy Liquidators (KB Toys outlet), and here's a little secret of our store that may be true of others as well. I think people know that KB seemed to never get rid of toys, they would just discount and discount until they sold. Well, what happened if the toys never sold? Here's what happened at my store, those toys just got thrown up on top of the aisle rack where they were out of sight. My favorite thing to do was to get up on the ladder and sift through the mountains of dusty, forgotten toys on the top of the racks. The best part was, when you'd ring them up, the system kept discounting them all those years later and they were a small fraction of whatever the sticker price was by that point. To give you an idea of the randomness up there, my favorite find was a 1996 WWF Bend-ems ring with Paul Bearer figure, and I worked there in 2001-2. Easily my favorite (and least paying) job!
the fact I found this FASCINATING despite being British and never hearing of KB before speaks # volumes to the research, scripting, presentation and production of this Chanel.
Back in the early 90's my favorite store was the corner store. There were magazine racks full of comics, an area dedicated to Arcade machines, and the front counter was all trading cards. Now you don't find any of that stuff at a corner store...
KB was my first job out of school. I worked there for 3 years and honestly loved every day of it until I got a new manager and started hating every day of it. I honestly miss those day. The early 00s was a different more simple time. I was sad when they went under.
holy shit i was gonna type exactly what you said. same exact thing happened to me. loved it and then new manager was a bitch. i quit a few months before they shut down and found a better job. before they closed i would always go in there to look for marvel legends and see the worried faces of the managers because they were getting shut down. seeing them shitting bullets put a smile on my face, but hey! got the toybiz marvel legends for cheap . i dont miss the managers telling me to help every single customer and tell them the same thing 5 other employees just told them. they always had secret shoppers and thankfully they gave good feedback about me. r.i.p. KB, my only regret was not using my employee discount
I had a KB manager who didn't want to share the code to accept a return. So every time a customer would return a product (which was often), I'd have to go to her office and wake her up. Also her son would hang out and hit me in the nuts a lot. That job had so much more potential on paper.
Having worked for TRU, and that is a company I owe (at least their people) in my time of need after my military service, I feel for their employees. I'm glad you made this so people will see the real reasons behind why these companies go out of business behind the scenes. I didn't know it was the same company with Kay Bee. Those were childhood memories! Great video as Always T.G.
Pretty sure it was a mixture of things. The advent of online shopping and Toys R Us' firm stand on selling product over MSRP when you could get it at cost or under MSRP online played a large roll in their downfall.
KB Toys and the arcade were my sole reasons for being okay with having to go to the god forsaken mall. That applied to me as a child and an adult. Then they both died. Now when asked if I will go to the mall, I break down and weep. Mostly because my wife doesn't want to take a crying grown man with her to the mall. It's an effective escape plan. try it.
RIP also the excessive extravagant portions of Chinese mall food!!! I swear I was getting damn near 5 pounds per single entree! 😭 Those effing styrofoam packages were always STRAINING and about to burst!!! For ~10$ I could eat for three days! 😱
KB was my first job while I was in High School in the early 90's. GREAT JOB on the history and research regarding it. I really remember some key points that were happening during my employment there!
Gotta love America, where a faceless corporation will buy a smaller company for the sole purpose of bleeding them dry, running them out of business, and earning a profit just for themselves. Stuff like this is what just makes me sad, but then again I get an odd satisfaction in knowing that those executives *have no souls and know no true happiness* . Oh yeah, toys. Toys are COOL!
@@Samael1113 Oh look, stuff I already knew. You might want to learn how to spot tongue-in-cheek comments before you type out an entire lecture. Will save you some time.
@@RandomAmerican3000 Those faceless corporations will always have the money and the creative types always won't. Wave a big enough check in front of someone's face, and desperation is a stinky cologne. Everyone has integrity until they don't.
I friggin love these history videos. Thank you so much, Dan. You guys have filled the void left behind after Glenn Webb passed away as the history aspect of his channel was something I truly looked forward to watching and loved. Toy Galaxy has become my favorite UA-cam channel.
I've recently started watching this channel, mostly bingeing on stuff you've already done. I greatly appreciate the topic material, and also the amusing style with which you present, including the interleaved bloopers.
Kay-Bee was where I bought ALL my Gobots! Including Thruster and the Command Center! I think I had fonder memories of going into Kay-Bee because it was always sporadic and unexpected that I was allowed to go, a pleasant surprise, meanwhile, Toys R Us visits were fewer and far between, and planned. I always found more obscure toys there, too, and a larger selection of stuff like Gobots. Great trip down memory lane, Dan!
KB had the mall advantage, because it's easier to go nationwide into malls than what Toys R Us did in opening their own stores outside of malls- more expensive startup, as well as longer. Sure, your profits may be higher per store, but it takes a lot longer to expand that way.
Company man, had already clued me into the cartoon villains that are bane capitol, but I enjoyed your take on this as well. I especially loved the "meeting footage"You are in my top 5 favorite channels, and even though I don't always comment, I always watch, and I always thumbs up. Keep up the good work sir (s)!
It was awesome to hear the story of what really happened. My wife was a store manager and left right before everything came crashing down (she did the same at Toys R Us). So many fond memories of those stores from childhood too.
I grew up pretty poor, so a trip to the mall or Toys R Us (once we got one in our city) was a pretty rare occurrence, however KB was more likely to happen since my mom could drop us off at the mall for hours and have some probably much deserved time to herself. So a lot of my paper route money was spent at good ole KB. In college one of my close friends managed the KB store, and I worked in a Pipe and Cigar Store in the same mall. So I spent some time helping with truck, and still spending chunks of my pay check there.
Kay Bee was where it was at. Toys R Us was a palace with more toys and seeing a pyramid of Technodromes will always be in my memories but I built my collection because of those 3 for $10 and 3 for $5 deals. Those sales were my life. TrU was also on the other side of town the mall was only 5 minutes away by car. There was only one choice to satisfy my toy fix.
This one hurts. K.B. Toys is actually where I started my Marvel Legends collecting. One fateful day I walked in with one of my first high school job paychecks and walked out with series 1 Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk (Toad had already sold). My life and hobby was changed forever that day.
This may be my favorite history episode yet. When can we expect the Toy Galaxy Inspirational Posters? That government sugar rarioning quote tugs at the heart strings.
Wow! Wow. I had no idea that the same "investment" company was at the heart of both major toystore closings.. mind blower. If it turns out that Bain's silent partner is Heat Miser, I am going to be very dissappointed.
@Lassi Kinnunen even so there then becomes a mentality if Bain and other corporate raiders that reads: "Got mine, duck yall, solve your own problems, not my fault you can't make more money for yourselves."
@@BornToPun7541 The right name for them is "neoliberals". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism Despite the name, it means big business being allowed to run amok, like OCP in the movie RoboCop.
It was so fun going into that store and finding interesting toys you didn't find anywhere else. G2 Transformers... Machine Wars... it was the Wild West of toy stores.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are when my Dad used to take me to KB Toys in our local mall. I honestly would be the happiest kid on earth whenever we could afford to go there
This so very sad. Our company, The Party Source, is an ESOP (Employee Owned) company. Seeing Bain systematically destroy someone's livelihood is purely sickening. I loved KB Toys, they were the only toy store in my town were I grew up. So many happy memories with them. Cheers, -J.O.
Rob T You work for Bain or something? They did destroy KB and TRU. They bought TRU with huge loans and the forced TRU to pay off those loans themselves... AFTER paying Bain various management fees (which is laughable considering their ‘management’ is what killed them). TRU could barely pay down the interest on the loans and eventually had to file for bankruptcy. And since their hands were tied trying to pay the fees Bain as well as paying off the loans they didn’t have any capital to evolve and compete in a rapidly changing retail landscape. This is what killed them. This is what Bain does over and over. Fuck them.
I'm from the UK, so this was really interesting as we didn't have KB over here. I'm interested in the business and history of the toy industry as much as I am in toys themselves. Thanks! Keep up the good work and interesting, well researched content.
I started as a part-time seasonal overnight stocker and worked my way up district manager... 13 years after I started they closed the doors and I enlisted in the Army... yeah it had that kind of effect on me lol
@ Toy Galaxy I was a manager at a KB in Utah for a while. I miss that job! At the time, it paid well, was way fun and the employee discounts were generous. Good times..
I was a young, young, every so young manager at Toys R Us when Bain Capital bought us out with KKR and Vornado Realty as their partners. Everything changed after that. Store closings, higher prices and constant threats to our jobs if we didn't like the changes. However, in all fairness, Toys R Us (like KB) left themselves open to that by making a lot of foolish business decisions. Fortunately, I left well before the hammer fell at Toys R Us. Until this video, though, I didn't know Bain Capital had done this to KB. Damn shame.
@@loucipher6839 They take roughly 10%. So does Mercari, but they seem to be more transparent about it. Looks like Facebook Marketplace is adding selling fees as well for shipped goods.
Ebay may charge more fees but I find selling on ebay a lot faster a lot. Post the same item on all market places and it will almost always sell on ebay first.
I am 48 years old and of all your videos I have watched so far, this made me the most happy with so many memories of the three big toys store chains, but at the same time, the most sad because I remember the decline of KB and Toys R Us and especially going from Toys R Us to Toys R Us when they were having their going out of business sales. Every once and a while I still pass an old Toys R Us that never became anything else. It just sits there with it's original outside Toys R Us paint job, reminding every time just how great we had it for so many years when there were actual stand alone toy stores. It makes me sad knowing that my daughter only had Toys R Us in her life for about the first six years of her life. She is eleven now and still has a few memories of our Friday night stops at Toys R Us even it we didn't always make a purchase. I think I am more sad now just thinking back on how much fun she had there. It truly was a store of wonders when you were under the age of seven. Thank you so much for this trip down memory lane.
I'm not even a toy person and I can't stop watching Every-Single-One of your infernal videos. Damn you, Toy Galaxy, damn you!!!! (Also, great job on this one.)
I loved KB Toys as a customer, and I was both a customer and an employee of Toys R Us. I actually gathered the shopping carts from the parking lot of the Daytona Beach Toys R Us for the last time shortly before we closed the doors for good on our last day of operation. Neither one of these great stores had to go out of business except for the greed of a few money grubbing individuals....
I miss going in to a K- B toy store as a child. The battery operated dog that barks and does back flips and along with the penguin staircase that when they get to the top they slid down to go back up again. All set up to draw attention of children as they walk past with their parents. I miss it all 😭😢
My friends and I worked at a KB in an outlet mall in our early 20's, we would smoke weed all day and had to deal with creepy old men who collected 1:18 scale diecast models. Good times.
Great video. I had a 2nd job fresh out of college working at KB in the late 90's that helped me pay off school loans. It was a great environment and thankfully I left long before it went belly up. Those stacks of discounted toys right inside the door were a PITA though, especially on Black Friday *shudders at the memory*
This is a bit weird, but the first time there's a picture of KB looking the way I remember the one I used to visit looking, it triggered a long-forgotten sense memory. I suddenly remembered how that store smelled. A combination of plastic, whatever the mall used to clean/shine the floors, and - weirdly - baking spices. The first Playstation game I ever bought with my own pocket money and without parental involvement came from KB. We didn't know what we had.
Kay Bee always had the best toys and lots of stuff TRU didn’t have. If only the Wayne Foundation had stepped in, Bain Capital wouldn’t have murdered all the toy stores.
that was a phenomenal Video. Thank you for this trip down memory lane and filling those of us who were not paying attention in on how it all went down.
And they ALMOST got Dunkin' Donuts. Ever wonder why their donuts seem small and cheap compared to the good old days? It's because they *only just survived* Bain Capital.
I grew up in Pittsfield and remember the giant KB Toys that was a few minutes from our house. We went there all the time, mostly to look and waste time, but I always got my video games there. I still remember getting my copy of Perfect Dark from a big discount bin they had near the front. I even dreamed about living in the small house next to that shopping plaza so I could play the game demo stations whenever I wanted. I had no idea about how my "local toy store" meant so much to so many other people until many years later. After the company went under, that location sat until eventually becoming a new bank branch. It means a lot seeing this video and more recently, the Company Man video covering this same topic, as it'll always be my fun home away from home.
You can thank a force fed "Instant Gratification" online shopping culture. I feel sorry for the new generation who knows nothing about walking into a store full of toys : D I really hope those days will be seen again soon!
@@forsaken-exile9083 Yeah I feel sorry for the new Generation too the only thing we got is Walmart and target 🎯 and GameStop and Walgreens and best buy all those toy stores like KayBe and toy are us Were obsolete years ago
Can we PLEASE do something about Bain? They exist entirely by leeching off other companies until they die. Or, hey, maybe start a class action lawsuit with as many former KB and Toys R Us employees as possible. Fortunately, FAO Schwarz is back again. Frankly I hope Toys R Us goes after their assailants once they've finished recuperating, and maybe we can put those parasites down once and for all.
KB toys, Radio Shack, Suncoast video, Sears ... Malls used to be so much more fun than they are today. I'm glad my daughter got to see at least the last few years of physical toy stores before they all closed up and she out grew them. Telling her kids about places like this is gonna be like telling them about a fantasy they'll never experience.
That Silverhawks crack hit me right in the nostalgia-very distinct memories of purchasing all the ones I owned from KB back when. I was always able to hit KB up over my maybe once a year trip to TrU on special occasions. And then even as I got older, realized KB was still rocking old stock, and purposely seeking them out to find older stuff.
KB Toys was my hangout spot in the early to mid 90s. It was less then 100 yards away from the arcade in the mall so I was in each of those places everytime my parents and I went to our local mall. I can still see the stores interior in my mind...wow I miss that store. Thanks for bring back those memories
Sigh....so many Toy Biz toys bought, but the most note worthy was my buying all those Exo-Squad toys. Ohh what a magical time to be a kid and having a KB in a mall near me, it was beautiful Dan...sooo Beeeaauutifull *weeps incohrently
You know, it's that totally awesome vulture er, venture capital firm that made Mitt Romney a mint! Gotta love those anarcho-capitalist venture capital companies, they exploit, use up and cast aside the dead carcasses of companies that actually provide a service and/or product! How I loath them!
@Sith'ari Azithoth it's not fallacious, as it is only rules extetnal to the markets that they want removed, like any form of external regulation. This doesn't make it logically unsound, just stupid, as even cobtract law is external regulation. But even if it is fallacious, the philosophy exists and there are still plenty of people that believe it is a good idea and some of those people run things like venture capital firms and act unethically.
@@munstrumridcullyYou know I voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 just because Obama didn't keep his promises as President. Now even though Obama screwed the country up with his identity politics, I think Mitt would have screwed us up even worse. In a strange way it was a blessing for Obama to be voted in for a second term. Mitt would have ruined our economy even worse then what Obama would have ever done.
My best KB purchase was getting a Laser Rod Optimus Prime for $15 on clearance. Sidenote, just looked at the subscriber count. I remember when it was 5K. Kudos to you guys for the work you have done!
As a KB Toys Store Manager in TN and CA, I approve of this updated HR Orientation video...Do you need any batteries? How about a cow tail? They’re 3 for a dollar.
i worked register at a KB, we had to ask every customer if they wanted a cow tail, I never even heard of a cow tail until i worked there. and i haven't had one probably since i worked at one. for some reason i'm craving one now and i don't even remember them being that good.
I worked at a KB Toy store for exactly one week and quit because the manager hated kids and he griped about how much mess they made of the toy displays. It was one of the most depressing places I ever worked and I never regretted leaving there.
I forgot all about k b toys now I feel sad and nostalgic at least we still have toys r us... oh wait never mind. Good bye toy stores. I'll be in my corner crying.
Mitt Romney, what a Grinch! But it's just business. That ass hole I think is a Senator now. If the people who voted for him only knew. At least Obama beat his sorry Mormon ass.
that and the market shifted, so these stores they overloaded with debt weren't able to shift with it. They probably played 70 to 80% in their demise, the rest was market shift.
Good video. I miss toy stores in general. KB was where I would go to buy action figures and video tapes. There's something about holding a toy in your hands and looking at it that makes the experience special.
I miss that feeling of going inside a real toy store....
Same. Worked at TRU for four years.
@@wadecarmen7501 unless you were the manager.....it wasn’t all that fun there.
@@wadecarmen7501 so did I, it was awful lol
Nothing like it😊
Yeah..
Every cool place died in the 2000's thanks in part to corporate greed. The small mom and pop toy/collectable stores in malls were just magical. Malls are straight up depressing now a days. No arcade, no toys, or people.
Barely any arcades. Kids dont even go outside where i live.
Corporate greed and the internet. Never underestimate the laziness of the unwashed masses who can't be bothered to leave their houses.
"No arcade, no toys, no people." I visited the mall of my youth a few months ago and half the damn thing didn't even have electricity. All the fountains were dry. It was soooooooo depressing.
Not just corporate greed, but changing behaviour in new generations. The new "kids" (if you can call them that) aren't into feverishly collecting toys like we were. They prefer staring at their iPad all day. Which is part their fault, part parent's fault. And sadly it won't get better, it will only get worse.
Part of the reason why the website cost so much is _they were on track to take advantage of that_
So yeah, unlike the other Big players, Kay Bee was poised to take advantage of the shift.
.... At least until _someone_ stole all the money that was going to support the site and transport of product to customer.
They were basically going to be "toy Amazon" before there was an Amazon, by buying out and incorporating smaller scale toy manufacturers into the existing delivery routes. Don't have something at one store? Look at the rest of the stores in the state, or even the next state over! Order it for a certain amount, within a certain distance, and shipping is free!
KB Toys, Waldenbooks, and Electronics Boutique, the stores i made sure to hit on every visit to the mall with my 10$ allowance. oh yeah, and Aladdins Castle arcade with whatever change i had left!
Waldenbooks was the only bookstore in my town until B/N came to town. I still miss it.
Those were the go to stores for me as well. Then took my change over to The Gold Mine arcade. Now they're all gone, including the mall they were in, Port Plaza.
Electronics Boutique = EBGames = Gamestop
Word! My arcade was called Timeout. If you think about it, those stores were damn expensive even for 1980s prices.
I miss Aladdins Castle.
KB toy stores, Sears wish list annual Christmas catalogs. There are some great things the generations moving forward will never experience for themselves, unfortunately.
Garbage now.
Do they even care about it? They're either playing video games, watching UA-cam memes, tiktok and whatever rots their brains.
MANNNN, that big ass Sears x-mas wish book was the greatest thing ever. I wish i still had one (from @ '
84, '85) to Check Out For Nostalgia.
@@satanlaffing You should Google old Sears catalogs. There is a site that has scanned many of them.
JC Penny, Ward's and Sears Christmas Catalogs. The HOURS we would spend oogling those toys. Circling the important ones. Showing mom...AGAIN which ones we wanted. She must be told. SHE MUST BE TOLD!!!
"Oh, you think the mall is your ally. But you merely adopted the mall; I was born in it, molded by it."
-Bain Capital
Kgmer
"Trust in the mall Starbucks coffee Luke."
-Obi Wan Valdez
" i didn't play with the toys until i was already a young man and by then they were nothing to me but profit."
" ahh, i was wondering what would break first, your mall stores.........or your website."
😂😂
I worked at a KB in high school during the name change from Kay-Bee to KB. I can't tell you how many times people writing checks would get mad when they asked how to spell the store's name and I told them "It's just KB"...like I was messing with them. I still have my old name tag, and it very clearly says KB on it. It was one of the best jobs I ever had, and I was sad to see them go under.
It didn't even occur to me that it changed from Kay-Bee. Thought I was undergoing some mandela effect from the video title and intro.
Oh how I miss KB toys. Or just toy stores in general
Nothing beats the feeling of seeing a toy or figure in hand and the childhood excitement of being allowed to stop at the toy store.
But with scalpers buying up all the good stuff and bleeding stores dry, then selling it marked up on the Internet, does it matter so much anymore anyway? For instance I like figures and never find the ones I want at the stores. Only dozens of overproduced figures no one wants.
Tryksta 724 I think that the moments when I actually find something I’m looking for in the wild (at either a target or a GameStop) and that feeling I have makes it worth it. It’s just unrealistic in today’s climate
@@tryksta7247 That happened before the Internet--even in the '80s the hot Star Wars and later GI Joe action were always inexplicably like what you describe. Certain ones could just never be found because a-holes would buy them all up to sell at flea markets (?) Not sure where, but same deal. I remember going through racks and racks of figures looking for that one "Firefly" or "Gung Ho" figure and seeing nothing but "Scarlett" two feet deep. Scarlett was that decade's Rey.
@@bb5242 For sure. There were also unequal numbers produced of figures and sometimes only ones released overseas. I remember Silver Surfer being like that and Batman Returns Catwoman and Robin...
Rip toy stores nationwide
KB: where you went in 2007 to find 'Robocop' toys from ... 1993.
Hmmm, that sounds pretty neat. Lol
Honestly in around that time I worked at a mall and would stop by the KB Toys on the way into work. Built my Batman Collection that way and my Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks figures collection. Loved it!
You understand.
That’s actually pretty cool. LOl
Thank you for such a clear and educational video. I had no idea that Bain Capital was responsible for multiple downfalls within toy retail. Such a sad and miserable story. The world is certainly a less fun place without a proper toy store. And, of course, so many people loss their jobs and pensions.
Clear and absolute lie video you mean.
@ you know nothing
@ I lived it. AND you are a piece of shit. I said that...
@@DavidASinSTL
You annihilated him.
@@SaraphDarklaw not according to ratio.
I worked at a Toy Liquidators (KB Toys outlet), and here's a little secret of our store that may be true of others as well. I think people know that KB seemed to never get rid of toys, they would just discount and discount until they sold. Well, what happened if the toys never sold? Here's what happened at my store, those toys just got thrown up on top of the aisle rack where they were out of sight. My favorite thing to do was to get up on the ladder and sift through the mountains of dusty, forgotten toys on the top of the racks. The best part was, when you'd ring them up, the system kept discounting them all those years later and they were a small fraction of whatever the sticker price was by that point. To give you an idea of the randomness up there, my favorite find was a 1996 WWF Bend-ems ring with Paul Bearer figure, and I worked there in 2001-2. Easily my favorite (and least paying) job!
the fact I found this FASCINATING despite being British and never hearing of KB before speaks # volumes to the research, scripting, presentation and production of this Chanel.
Back in the early 90's my favorite store was the corner store.
There were magazine racks full of comics, an area dedicated to Arcade machines, and the front counter was all trading cards. Now you don't find any of that stuff at a corner store...
KB was my first job out of school. I worked there for 3 years and honestly loved every day of it until I got a new manager and started hating every day of it. I honestly miss those day. The early 00s was a different more simple time. I was sad when they went under.
It’s funny how much a manager can affect a job. They can instantly turn a great place to work into a horrible place to work.
Yeah, they were!
The 80s we're much better...even the early 90s
holy shit i was gonna type exactly what you said. same exact thing happened to me. loved it and then new manager was a bitch. i quit a few months before they shut down and found a better job. before they closed i would always go in there to look for marvel legends and see the worried faces of the managers because they were getting shut down. seeing them shitting bullets put a smile on my face, but hey! got the toybiz marvel legends for cheap . i dont miss the managers telling me to help every single customer and tell them the same thing 5 other employees just told them. they always had secret shoppers and thankfully they gave good feedback about me. r.i.p. KB, my only regret was not using my employee discount
I had a KB manager who didn't want to share the code to accept a return. So every time a customer would return a product (which was often), I'd have to go to her office and wake her up. Also her son would hang out and hit me in the nuts a lot. That job had so much more potential on paper.
I've only been in a KB/Kay-Bee once but enjoyed the history lesson, and Greg really produced the heck out of this episode :)
Having worked for TRU, and that is a company I owe (at least their people) in my time of need after my military service, I feel for their employees. I'm glad you made this so people will see the real reasons behind why these companies go out of business behind the scenes. I didn't know it was the same company with Kay Bee. Those were childhood memories! Great video as Always T.G.
Moral of the story: Everyone says Amazon killed the toy store, when in fact it was Mitt Romney. True story.
Mitt Romney took out KB AND Toys R Us... I think I personally despise this man more than any other evil billionaire in the world..
@@kidwajagstang I agree
I didn't know Mitt Romney killed Toys R US...what a greedy pile of human garbage.
Pretty sure it was a mixture of things. The advent of online shopping and Toys R Us' firm stand on selling product over MSRP when you could get it at cost or under MSRP online played a large roll in their downfall.
No he didn’t they K.B nor Toys’R us didn’t evolve so they died.
KB Toys and the arcade were my sole reasons for being okay with having to go to the god forsaken mall. That applied to me as a child and an adult. Then they both died. Now when asked if I will go to the mall, I break down and weep. Mostly because my wife doesn't want to take a crying grown man with her to the mall. It's an effective escape plan. try it.
RIP also the excessive extravagant portions of Chinese mall food!!!
I swear I was getting damn near 5 pounds per single entree! 😭
Those effing styrofoam packages were always STRAINING and about to burst!!!
For ~10$ I could eat for three days! 😱
KB was my first job while I was in High School in the early 90's. GREAT JOB on the history and research regarding it. I really remember some key points that were happening during my employment there!
Gotta love America, where a faceless corporation will buy a smaller company for the sole purpose of bleeding them dry, running them out of business, and earning a profit just for themselves. Stuff like this is what just makes me sad, but then again I get an odd satisfaction in knowing that those executives *have no souls and know no true happiness* .
Oh yeah, toys. Toys are COOL!
The moral of the story is, don't sell out to faceless corporations. In fact, don't sell out to anyone without a face.
Same with our social security polesi anyone
@@puckerings Found the liberal.
@@Samael1113 Oh look, stuff I already knew.
You might want to learn how to spot tongue-in-cheek comments before you type out an entire lecture. Will save you some time.
@@RandomAmerican3000 Those faceless corporations will always have the money and the creative types always won't. Wave a big enough check in front of someone's face, and desperation is a stinky cologne. Everyone has integrity until they don't.
Awesome video and quality work Dan & Co.! Easily my favorite channel on UA-cam!
I friggin love these history videos. Thank you so much, Dan. You guys have filled the void left behind after Glenn Webb passed away as the history aspect of his channel was something I truly looked forward to watching and loved. Toy Galaxy has become my favorite UA-cam channel.
I've recently started watching this channel, mostly bingeing on stuff you've already done. I greatly appreciate the topic material, and also the amusing style with which you present, including the interleaved bloopers.
Kay-Bee was where I bought ALL my Gobots! Including Thruster and the Command Center! I think I had fonder memories of going into Kay-Bee because it was always sporadic and unexpected that I was allowed to go, a pleasant surprise, meanwhile, Toys R Us visits were fewer and far between, and planned. I always found more obscure toys there, too, and a larger selection of stuff like Gobots. Great trip down memory lane, Dan!
KB had the mall advantage, because it's easier to go nationwide into malls than what Toys R Us did in opening their own stores outside of malls- more expensive startup, as well as longer. Sure, your profits may be higher per store, but it takes a lot longer to expand that way.
Company man, had already clued me into the cartoon villains that are bane capitol, but I enjoyed your take on this as well. I especially loved the "meeting footage"You are in my top 5 favorite channels, and even though I don't always comment, I always watch, and I always thumbs up. Keep up the good work sir (s)!
For me it was always K.B. toys, rarely ever went to Toys R us because "They're too expensive" lol
I come here to hear how every piece of my childhood has been liquidated, crushed, and discontinued.
Murder mysteries, inspirational quotes, AND Bill & Ted references? Best episode EVER!
Quintin Fortune isn't this some Mandela effect stuf? I thought KB went out way earlier?
It was awesome to hear the story of what really happened. My wife was a store manager and left right before everything came crashing down (she did the same at Toys R Us). So many fond memories of those stores from childhood too.
I grew up pretty poor, so a trip to the mall or Toys R Us (once we got one in our city) was a pretty rare occurrence, however KB was more likely to happen since my mom could drop us off at the mall for hours and have some probably much deserved time to herself. So a lot of my paper route money was spent at good ole KB. In college one of my close friends managed the KB store, and I worked in a Pipe and Cigar Store in the same mall. So I spent some time helping with truck, and still spending chunks of my pay check there.
I've gotten most of my toy-biz action figures from KB toys .it was a great store for my children too. If toys r us didn't have it THEY SURE DID !
Kay Bee was where it was at. Toys R Us was a palace with more toys and seeing a pyramid of Technodromes will always be in my memories but I built my collection because of those 3 for $10 and 3 for $5 deals. Those sales were my life. TrU was also on the other side of town the mall was only 5 minutes away by car. There was only one choice to satisfy my toy fix.
15,000 years of human evolution, and I really feel like we've peaked with this video. Dan, you are a goddamn national treasure and I salute you
The BainCapital "vest" logo gag was particularly brilliant
My goodness. What a great voice you've got. I could easily imagine lots of cartoon characters brought to life by your deep and gritty pipes.
This one hurts. K.B. Toys is actually where I started my Marvel Legends collecting. One fateful day I walked in with one of my first high school job paychecks and walked out with series 1 Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk (Toad had already sold). My life and hobby was changed forever that day.
This may be my favorite history episode yet. When can we expect the Toy Galaxy Inspirational Posters? That government sugar rarioning quote tugs at the heart strings.
Wow! Wow. I had no idea that the same "investment" company was at the heart of both major toystore closings.. mind blower. If it turns out that Bain's silent partner is Heat Miser, I am going to be very dissappointed.
They are the toy slayers
@Lassi Kinnunen even so there then becomes a mentality if Bain and other corporate raiders that reads: "Got mine, duck yall, solve your own problems, not my fault you can't make more money for yourselves."
What about Burgermeister Meisterburger...
@ it makes for good politics to paint all capitalists as Scrooges and Meisterburgers. When in doubt, say that businessmen are killjoys
@@BornToPun7541 The right name for them is "neoliberals".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
Despite the name, it means big business being allowed to run amok, like OCP in the movie RoboCop.
I'm 38 and I absolutely love going into brick and mortar toy stores.
It was so fun going into that store and finding interesting toys you didn't find anywhere else. G2 Transformers... Machine Wars... it was the Wild West of toy stores.
UncleDeluxe lol that was where I used to go for machine wars
I got a Troll doll from a series not available in other stores. I still have it and the packaging somewhere.
I found old Legos and yes transformers that were retired in other stores at Kb.
Yep, i found "The Karate Kid" action figures there, nowhere else.
It's where I first discovered Spider-Man Classics figures, the line that would become Marvel Legends. I miss when they came packed with a comic.
It's Kay-Bee Toys.
I miss walking by Kay-Bee Toys and seeing all the backflipping dogs and mini coaster toys lol
I don't know how you find the time to make these videos but I'm damn pleased you do!
I used to work for Kay Bee. I was very “green”. My first day was on Black Friday. Not a good experience at all.
worked at KB for 4 years, which kicked my collecting hobby into high gear at the age of 16. 32 years old now been going strong ever since!
Same thing with Gamestop, with its inflated value I'm sure they took out a crap load of loans. Killing it for sure now.
i used to love KB toys, this was a great vid happy new year Mr. Dan Larson...
Some of my fondest childhood memories are when my Dad used to take me to KB Toys in our local mall. I honestly would be the happiest kid on earth whenever we could afford to go there
This so very sad. Our company, The Party Source, is an ESOP (Employee Owned) company. Seeing Bain systematically destroy someone's livelihood is purely sickening. I loved KB Toys, they were the only toy store in my town were I grew up. So many happy memories with them. Cheers, -J.O.
Dylan. Pierce. Crowley.
Rob T You work for Bain or something? They did destroy KB and TRU. They bought TRU with huge loans and the forced TRU to pay off those loans themselves... AFTER paying Bain various management fees (which is laughable considering their ‘management’ is what killed them). TRU could barely pay down the interest on the loans and eventually had to file for bankruptcy. And since their hands were tied trying to pay the fees Bain as well as paying off the loans they didn’t have any capital to evolve and compete in a rapidly changing retail landscape. This is what killed them. This is what Bain does over and over. Fuck them.
@ A lot of loyalty for a hired gun
Wow, this is the first video I ever watched from this channel and I just realized I have been thoroughly enjoying for the last year. Nice
I'm from the UK, so this was really interesting as we didn't have KB over here. I'm interested in the business and history of the toy industry as much as I am in toys themselves. Thanks! Keep up the good work and interesting, well researched content.
“This is a Candy business, but it’s still a business.” Love that
I have a lot in common with 10 year old Dan.
I started as a part-time seasonal overnight stocker and worked my way up district manager... 13 years after I started they closed the doors and I enlisted in the Army... yeah it had that kind of effect on me lol
@ Toy Galaxy
I was a manager at a KB in Utah for a while. I miss that job! At the time, it paid well, was way fun and the employee discounts were generous. Good times..
I was a young, young, every so young manager at Toys R Us when Bain Capital bought us out with KKR and Vornado Realty as their partners. Everything changed after that. Store closings, higher prices and constant threats to our jobs if we didn't like the changes. However, in all fairness, Toys R Us (like KB) left themselves open to that by making a lot of foolish business decisions. Fortunately, I left well before the hammer fell at Toys R Us. Until this video, though, I didn't know Bain Capital had done this to KB. Damn shame.
Mitt Romney was involved in Bain.
KB helped me score some rare toys that collectors are drooling for today, and I'll always thank them. They had a great selection with awesome prices!
Just posted some toys for sale on ebay that still had the KB Toys price stickers on em :)
I have a bunch as well
ebays going to rob you once you sell them, better off posting on your facebook, craigslist, offerup or selling in person...
@@loucipher6839 They take roughly 10%. So does Mercari, but they seem to be more transparent about it. Looks like Facebook Marketplace is adding selling fees as well for shipped goods.
Ebay may charge more fees but I find selling on ebay a lot faster a lot. Post the same item on all market places and it will almost always sell on ebay first.
I love buying toys with those price stickers on them. It’s like a little time capsule.
I am 48 years old and of all your videos I have watched so far, this made me the most happy with so many memories of the three big toys store chains, but at the same time, the most sad because I remember the decline of KB and Toys R Us and especially going from Toys R Us to Toys R Us when they were having their going out of business sales. Every once and a while I still pass an old Toys R Us that never became anything else. It just sits there with it's original outside Toys R Us paint job, reminding every time just how great we had it for so many years when there were actual stand alone toy stores. It makes me sad knowing that my daughter only had Toys R Us in her life for about the first six years of her life. She is eleven now and still has a few memories of our Friday night stops at Toys R Us even it we didn't always make a purchase. I think I am more sad now just thinking back on how much fun she had there. It truly was a store of wonders when you were under the age of seven. Thank you so much for this trip down memory lane.
I'm not even a toy person and I can't stop watching Every-Single-One of your infernal videos. Damn you, Toy Galaxy, damn you!!!! (Also, great job on this one.)
Khmer
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Maher Modifier and
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KHIMovir
"They Melvined me." I had a feeling you were going to say this... xD
I miss you 😭Kay Bee Toys 85% my collection came from this store
I loved KB Toys as a customer, and I was both a customer and an employee of Toys R Us. I actually gathered the shopping carts from the parking lot of the Daytona Beach Toys R Us for the last time shortly before we closed the doors for good on our last day of operation. Neither one of these great stores had to go out of business except for the greed of a few money grubbing individuals....
"they melvin'd me" is also what popped into my head when you said Melville as well
I miss going in to a K- B toy store as a child. The battery operated dog that barks and does back flips and along with the penguin staircase that when they get to the top they slid down to go back up again. All set up to draw attention of children as they walk past with their parents. I miss it all 😭😢
I need that Silverhawk motivational poster... that made me laugh harder than it probably should have.
After seeing that reference, I'm binge watching my SilverHawk DvDs.
My friends and I worked at a KB in an outlet mall in our early 20's, we would smoke weed all day and had to deal with creepy old men who collected 1:18 scale diecast models. Good times.
You missed the chance to play the clip of Rises where businessman Daggett tells Bane in fear: “but we’ve paid you a fortune.”
"And that gives you...power over me?"
Do YOU FEEL IN CHARGE ?
CIA agent Bill: "So what's next in your master plan?"
Bane Romney: "Crashing this toy company...WITH NO SURVIVORS!"
Great video. I had a 2nd job fresh out of college working at KB in the late 90's that helped me pay off school loans. It was a great environment and thankfully I left long before it went belly up. Those stacks of discounted toys right inside the door were a PITA though, especially on Black Friday *shudders at the memory*
Dan, thanks for all of your hard work. Your videos are almost always a highlight in my week. And I live a pretty great life, so..... 😀
This is a bit weird, but the first time there's a picture of KB looking the way I remember the one I used to visit looking, it triggered a long-forgotten sense memory. I suddenly remembered how that store smelled. A combination of plastic, whatever the mall used to clean/shine the floors, and - weirdly - baking spices. The first Playstation game I ever bought with my own pocket money and without parental involvement came from KB.
We didn't know what we had.
Kay Bee always had the best toys and lots of stuff TRU didn’t have.
If only the Wayne Foundation had stepped in, Bain Capital wouldn’t have murdered all the toy stores.
Yeah...Bruce talks a big game but when we needed him he was brooding in that damn cave. They're DEAD. Get OVER IT!
that was a phenomenal Video. Thank you for this trip down memory lane and filling those of us who were not paying attention in on how it all went down.
holy crooked finances, Danman. Bane broke the backs of toy businesses by buying them out and beating them down with bankruptcy.
It's Bain metaphorically breaking the backs of toy businesses, not Bane breaking the back of Batman =)
@@tryksta7247 well, yeah. Though I wasn't privy to the spelling until after posting.
@@AstrobotJones I know what you meant. It was my GREED at wanting the opportunity to make the joke =)
And they ALMOST got Dunkin' Donuts. Ever wonder why their donuts seem small and cheap compared to the good old days? It's because they *only just survived* Bain Capital.
I grew up in Pittsfield and remember the giant KB Toys that was a few minutes from our house. We went there all the time, mostly to look and waste time, but I always got my video games there. I still remember getting my copy of Perfect Dark from a big discount bin they had near the front. I even dreamed about living in the small house next to that shopping plaza so I could play the game demo stations whenever I wanted. I had no idea about how my "local toy store" meant so much to so many other people until many years later. After the company went under, that location sat until eventually becoming a new bank branch. It means a lot seeing this video and more recently, the Company Man video covering this same topic, as it'll always be my fun home away from home.
I miss kB toys and Toys R Us!
me too
SO SAY WE ALL ,SO SAY WE ALL !
Me too
You can thank a force fed "Instant Gratification" online shopping culture. I feel sorry for the new generation who knows nothing about walking into a store full of toys : D I really hope those days will be seen again soon!
@@forsaken-exile9083 Yeah I feel sorry for the new Generation too the only thing we got is Walmart and target 🎯 and GameStop and Walgreens and best buy all those toy stores like KayBe and toy are us Were obsolete years ago
Can we PLEASE do something about Bain? They exist entirely by leeching off other companies until they die. Or, hey, maybe start a class action lawsuit with as many former KB and Toys R Us employees as possible.
Fortunately, FAO Schwarz is back again. Frankly I hope Toys R Us goes after their assailants once they've finished recuperating, and maybe we can put those parasites down once and for all.
Yo, KB was my favorite. They had toys u couldn't find in other stores.
KB toys, Radio Shack, Suncoast video, Sears ... Malls used to be so much more fun than they are today. I'm glad my daughter got to see at least the last few years of physical toy stores before they all closed up and she out grew them. Telling her kids about places like this is gonna be like telling them about a fantasy they'll never experience.
That Silverhawks crack hit me right in the nostalgia-very distinct memories of purchasing all the ones I owned from KB back when. I was always able to hit KB up over my maybe once a year trip to TrU on special occasions. And then even as I got older, realized KB was still rocking old stock, and purposely seeking them out to find older stuff.
I have a Silverhawks lunchbox. I was good for a month to get it. Retired my Fonz one.
Dan, this is the store that introduced me to the Toy Biz Marvel Legends! Thanks for this stroll down memory lane my brother 🤘🤘
Every time I watch one of these videos I think about how much fun it would probably be to hang out with these maniacs.
KB Toys was my hangout spot in the early to mid 90s. It was less then 100 yards away from the arcade in the mall so I was in each of those places everytime my parents and I went to our local mall. I can still see the stores interior in my mind...wow I miss that store. Thanks for bring back those memories
Wow, this episode turned out so great! I want to work in toys, but the money is in toy business murdering.
Same thing I said when TRU went out of business: if I want to overpay for last year's toys, there's still Target.
Sigh....so many Toy Biz toys bought, but the most note worthy was my buying all those Exo-Squad toys. Ohh what a magical time to be a kid and having a KB in a mall near me, it was beautiful Dan...sooo Beeeaauutifull *weeps incohrently
Thank you for this video, I worked for KB Toys from 1996 to 2010 and still miss working there, it was a great place to work even when in hard times
Bain Capital? Why does that name sound fami-
OH.
OH NO.
You know, it's that totally awesome vulture er, venture capital firm that made Mitt Romney a mint! Gotta love those anarcho-capitalist venture capital companies, they exploit, use up and cast aside the dead carcasses of companies that actually provide a service and/or product! How I loath them!
@@munstrumridcully I'm right there with ya!
They all absolutely suck!
@Sith'ari Azithoth it's not fallacious, as it is only rules extetnal to the markets that they want removed, like any form of external regulation. This doesn't make it logically unsound, just stupid, as even cobtract law is external regulation. But even if it is fallacious, the philosophy exists and there are still plenty of people that believe it is a good idea and some of those people run things like venture capital firms and act unethically.
@@munstrumridcullyYou know I voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 just because Obama didn't keep his promises as President. Now even though Obama screwed the country up with his identity politics, I think Mitt would have screwed us up even worse. In a strange way it was a blessing for Obama to be voted in for a second term. Mitt would have ruined our economy even worse then what Obama would have ever done.
My best KB purchase was getting a Laser Rod Optimus Prime for $15 on clearance. Sidenote, just looked at the subscriber count. I remember when it was 5K. Kudos to you guys for the work you have done!
As a KB Toys Store Manager in TN and CA, I approve of this updated HR Orientation video...Do you need any batteries? How about a cow tail? They’re 3 for a dollar.
I worked in a Cigar and Pipe shop in the Mall above a KB Toys that my friend managed. I remember being talked into eating a cow tail once. Once...
i worked register at a KB, we had to ask every customer if they wanted a cow tail, I never even heard of a cow tail until i worked there. and i haven't had one probably since i worked at one. for some reason i'm craving one now and i don't even remember them being that good.
@@morebakeder exactly
This is your funniest video yet!!! Love it
Toy Galaxy makes me smile.
I worked at a KB Toy store for exactly one week and quit because the manager hated kids and he griped about how much mess they made of the toy displays. It was one of the most depressing places I ever worked and I never regretted leaving there.
I forgot all about k b toys now I feel sad and nostalgic at least we still have toys r us... oh wait never mind. Good bye toy stores. I'll be in my corner crying.
Makes me sad that I can't take my own kids to a KB, Toys R Us, Blockbuster or any arcades thay have me such joy as a kid
Thanks Baine Capital Murdurer of Toy Stores 😢😢😢😢😢😢
Mitt Romney, what a Grinch! But it's just business. That ass hole I think is a Senator now. If the people who voted for him only knew. At least Obama beat his sorry Mormon ass.
Baine is the worst. It was good to see that picture of Mitt grovelling for job in Trump's cabinet. He is as slimey as they come.
that and the market shifted, so these stores they overloaded with debt weren't able to shift with it. They probably played 70 to 80% in their demise, the rest was market shift.
I’m happy i got the chance to enjoy this store, the 90s were awesome!!!!
Thank you for making an awesome video!!
KB was a fun store. We had Child World here, I don't know if that was a national chain?
But Selection was massive there.
*seeing the Christmas background* I just had a flashback!!!
I love this channel.
I have fond memories of KayBee. I still remember the store layout.
Love the Bane usage. LMFAO
Great video dan and company!
Every time a toy store closes.
A great disturbance is felt throughout the universe.
That and when I fart.
Good video. I miss toy stores in general. KB was where I would go to buy action figures and video tapes. There's something about holding a toy in your hands and looking at it that makes the experience special.