Oh man, reminds me of Murphy's when I was a kid. <3

So many toys. So little money.

Wow...I haven't seen that many models in one place in a very long time.

Yeah Places like this do not exist thanks to large chains like Walmart.

yeah only place i have seen even close is HMS Hobby Craft but they do not have costumes. But a Five and dime had everything from Candy to Kids toys and everything in between including Kites and Model kits.
I think a Five and Dime would only survive in a Farm town in the US or Canada.

well he was an Inventor/lawyer/and he ran I guess a Five and Dime... might have been the one that came up with that kind of store...
fight have even made a commercial Practical Iron Stove. so I'm Told... so if you find what looks like a Doll house stove from the Franklin Stove Company Hold onto it because they where Demos that the Sales men carried around.

Ah Mike. Once again you have filled my heart with a spirit of Nostalgia. I really like the "Oh WOW!" expression on the young Felimorph's face, which would most likely cross my Countenance whenever I'd enter a new hobby shop or toy store.

Judging by the model kits on display in the Left Foreground, I'm guessing the original image was taken in the late 1970s or early 1980s?

To the best of my recollection, the picture was taken in late 1979.

1979, somewhere around nearby would have been an establishment with a pinball machine in it.

Thanks Mike.

yeah they had them in the back next to mops and buckets I think I saw one that had them up near the front where the vender could watch you, Kids kept breaking the lock on the games change box to get free games.... Had two "Five and Dimes"in my Neighborhood in Calgary Alberta my city is really about five small towns. Canada we had the HBC Store outlets they Sold everything. even Houses, Pumps, Stoves, Windmills the Works

I miss those stores.
They had such neat stuff.

It looks like Monogram descended and exploded! All gone now; there's one company in Connecticut that still sells that many hobby items.

Those were the days!

I could spend hours, and several hundred dollars in such a place . . .

Ah, the hobby shop, such joy.
I wonder if they have a Big Trak!

I've always liked mixed media stuff, like this

This kind of reminds me of the old Ben Franklin stores I used to see in the small cities in Michigan .

Oh, man. There was one of those in Lake Odessa. The guy running it kept it open until the very end... his very end, actually. After that, his next of kin transformed it into a museum and antique store, which makes sense as five and dimes are themselves antiques. (Although one could argue that the seemingly ubiquitous dollar store is the descendant of the five and dime. More corporate, but kind of the same concept.)

Stores like this are gone even in germany, i miss it when toy stores hat modelrailways and such. Today only the modern things that are a anime tie in and are worthless whennthe anime is terminated.

I remember buying deleted record albums at 2.97$ at our five and dime store in 1980.

Ah, part of my childhood !

59 cents!

I remember places like that. :) Usually a hobby shop or possibly a Woolworths by the looks of the photo.

M2 I've been buying a "new" line of 1/64 cars over the last couple of years, even better than Green Light -- detailed engines, opening doors, authentic wheels, complete interiors and beautiful pain jobs. They are a bit pricey, though.

"Wow..." is al I can bring.

"I gotta run to the store! We're all out of Spider-Man-head-on-a-stick!"

(woo, memories of old days with my Dad going to the hobby shop)

I'm relieved that somebody said something about those...

Kids today don't appreciate a good plastic Hulk head on a stick.

They remind me a little much of the cheap prizes you can get at a Chuck E Cheese arcade.

"Why did you get the useless plastic head on a stick?"

"It was the only thing I could get with the tickets I had"

Yeah, but based on the context those things look to be about the size of a cantaloupe, maybe even a little bigger, and then mounted on something like a 3/4 inch dowel. That ain't just some dinky carnival prize, that's an almost life sized head on a stick.

What are they meant to be? Hobby horses? Is a kid supposed to gallop around with Spider Man as their trusty pretend steed? Is it some kind of bizarre baton for twirling? A pinata striker? A puppet friend? A wizard's staff to conjure the everlovin' Hulk? (Call Dr. Strange and tell him to hang up the Eye of Agamotto. The Rod of Hulkly Might has been found!) Are there beans inside, is it some kind of massive maraca for the Mighty Marvel Marching Society?

I am simultaneously delighted and boggled by those artifacts.

Reminds me of the five and dime that was about 8 miles from me in another town, very much like it... I can still walk through it in my mind's eye for the most part. :)

Wowzers, that opened a bag of emotions for me :-/

The Bugs Bunny "Cartoon Characters" cardboard stand:
the ideal place for furry comics like Captain Jack

All those models on the shelves! Wow!
I don't recognize the logo: AMT? Aurora had an oval.
My "old neighborhood" had hobby and toys shops like that:
rows and rows of models!
And they were all mom and pop shops, not chains or franchises.

But most of all is the kid's expression of sheer joy!
I remember being like that as a kid.
I'm still capable of such pleasure but it's rare, either
- I don't have the money for any toys
- most of the stuff on the shelves is junk *and I know it*

Very cool, I'm trying to think of what the equivalent was in Australia for the Fivendime but I don't think there was one. The newsagent used to sell some toys but nothing like the range I see here.

Swoon...all those model kits. I want a time machine...and several hundred dollars in period currency. I don't care if depleting their stock will change history. Me just wanty. ;)

Woolworth's