The one in Columbia, MD is a pop-up, but there's one in Arundel Mills not that far off which is being called a flagship. Many are permanent stores. However, they're much smaller and sparser than the old ones, more like toy boutiques (no video games, no budget toys, not piled high)
Awesome! I had no idea. I was doing some research on the late 70s/early 80s Punk/DC Hardcore music scene a few years ago. Madams Organ played host for a short time for bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, etc. but that Madams Organ location was 2318 18th St. It was a minor art collective and then opened in its current location sometime later. I haven’t checked Google Maps but perhaps you’re looking at the wrong building entirely. I was there two years ago because I tracked down a forgotten filming location for the movie St. Elmo’s Fire to a building across the street for a YouTube video I was working on, and stopped to take a few photos of Madams Organ. The Martin Luther King Jr. library has an entire section dedicated to the DC music scene and you might find that you can cross reference the building history over there.
I had that thought too, but an old ad in one of the articles I linked shows the address as the current Madam's Organ address. It was actually a few addresses, so it was one big storefront. I suspect the structure has been altered.
In regards to toys in every store, I remember from my childhood (90s/00s), Farm and Fleet would had a special toy section for Christmas have a grand opening for the toy section
Cool! That reminds me, semi-related, of Shop-Rite (mine was in Flemington, NJ), an supermarket chain from the 1960s. They used to sell TVs and small appliances kind of crammed into the tops of endcaps and stuff. Now that I think of it, that's probably a little remnant of old-fashioned smaller urban supermarket organization. None of the stores with more modern designs or lineages do that.
The ad in the article has to be after the Beltway opened in 1961. The store locations are noted by Beltway exit numbers and it references the Wilson Bridge in the ad. Great work as always.
Heh, I realize it's actually 3! There's a third one mentioned right at the top and two at the bottom, but yes no D.C. one. I found an ad from 1961 for the University Blvd/Adelphi store grand opening that still has the K Street store listed (and another one, in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia). And it doesn't say "Toys 'R' Us." So this ad must be early 60s and the D.C. store must have closed by around 1964/65.
It seems correct that the very original store was smaller and was not ever really part of the eventual Toys R Us brand, while the K Street store was kind of a proto TRU but obviously didn't last long, and may never have carried the TRU name at all.
Really interesting! I worked at Toys R Us for about 5 years in the early 2000s and didn't know all of that history, including that Lazarus was born in the first store!
I also didn't realize he had used the "Supermarket" moniker at one point. A few years ago, I wrote a long piece on TRU, with comparisons to a supermarket, but didn't realize the company was so explicit about that connection at one time:
I have fond memories of the Bailey’s Cross Roads location from around 1965. Bicycles and superhero costumes suspended from the ceiling. It was Nirvana. I later lived in Rockville and would ride my bike from Viers Mill Rd over to the 355 location in the mid 1970s.
I’m originally from the DC area but was watching the evening national news in Boise, Idaho when I heard them report on the roof collapse (due to snow) of the Toys R Us in New Carrollton, MD. The building was subsequently demolished. A bank with a much smaller footprint was built in its place.
Wow. I think that was one of the original four in Maryland. I had come across the roof collapse in working on this piece. (By the way, the Value Village on 193 in Adelphi/Langley Park is the second original Toys 'R' Us.)
We were at a mall storefront in Columbia this weekend. They said it was a holiday pop up. Do you know if any of the new locations permanent?
The one in Columbia, MD is a pop-up, but there's one in Arundel Mills not that far off which is being called a flagship. Many are permanent stores. However, they're much smaller and sparser than the old ones, more like toy boutiques (no video games, no budget toys, not piled high)
Awesome! I had no idea. I was doing some research on the late 70s/early 80s Punk/DC Hardcore music scene a few years ago. Madams Organ played host for a short time for bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, etc. but that Madams Organ location was 2318 18th St. It was a minor art collective and then opened in its current location sometime later. I haven’t checked Google Maps but perhaps you’re looking at the wrong building entirely. I was there two years ago because I tracked down a forgotten filming location for the movie St. Elmo’s Fire to a building across the street for a YouTube video I was working on, and stopped to take a few photos of Madams Organ. The Martin Luther King Jr. library has an entire section dedicated to the DC music scene and you might find that you can cross reference the building history over there.
I had that thought too, but an old ad in one of the articles I linked shows the address as the current Madam's Organ address. It was actually a few addresses, so it was one big storefront. I suspect the structure has been altered.
I think I also read there was a fire in that current location so altering makes sense.
In regards to toys in every store, I remember from my childhood (90s/00s), Farm and Fleet would had a special toy section for Christmas have a grand opening for the toy section
Cool! That reminds me, semi-related, of Shop-Rite (mine was in Flemington, NJ), an supermarket chain from the 1960s. They used to sell TVs and small appliances kind of crammed into the tops of endcaps and stuff. Now that I think of it, that's probably a little remnant of old-fashioned smaller urban supermarket organization. None of the stores with more modern designs or lineages do that.
The ad in the article has to be after the Beltway opened in 1961. The store locations are noted by Beltway exit numbers and it references the Wilson Bridge in the ad. Great work as always.
Ah great catch! But only two stores are listed so it is pretty early 60s
Only two stores - so the ones in DC had closed already?? Early victims of white flight?
Heh, I realize it's actually 3! There's a third one mentioned right at the top and two at the bottom, but yes no D.C. one. I found an ad from 1961 for the University Blvd/Adelphi store grand opening that still has the K Street store listed (and another one, in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia). And it doesn't say "Toys 'R' Us." So this ad must be early 60s and the D.C. store must have closed by around 1964/65.
It seems correct that the very original store was smaller and was not ever really part of the eventual Toys R Us brand, while the K Street store was kind of a proto TRU but obviously didn't last long, and may never have carried the TRU name at all.
Really interesting! I worked at Toys R Us for about 5 years in the early 2000s and didn't know all of that history, including that Lazarus was born in the first store!
I also didn't realize he had used the "Supermarket" moniker at one point. A few years ago, I wrote a long piece on TRU, with comparisons to a supermarket, but didn't realize the company was so explicit about that connection at one time:
https://heathracela.substack.com/p/the-many-incarnations-of-toys-r-us
Cool!
I have fond memories of the Bailey’s Cross Roads location from around 1965. Bicycles and superhero costumes suspended from the ceiling. It was Nirvana. I later lived in Rockville and would ride my bike from Viers Mill Rd over to the 355 location in the mid 1970s.
I’m originally from the DC area but was watching the evening national news in Boise, Idaho when I heard them report on the roof collapse (due to snow) of the Toys R Us in New Carrollton, MD. The building was subsequently demolished. A bank with a much smaller footprint was built in its place.
Wow. I think that was one of the original four in Maryland. I had come across the roof collapse in working on this piece. (By the way, the Value Village on 193 in Adelphi/Langley Park is the second original Toys 'R' Us.)