Retro Toys "R" Us Round-Up

It's been too long since we've featured a Toys "R" Us related update, and thanks to plenty of badgering by our own reader Jonah Norason, a regular who always provides worthwhile feedback in our mall sphere, he provides us with his own array of photos captured from a vintage store still out in Waco, Texas, which appears to resemble one such store in Horseheads, New York and a now (still?) vacant one in Battle Creek, Michigan.

WACO, TEXAS: STILL FEATURES RAINBOW-STRIPED CURTAIN MOTIF, RETAINS JEOFFREY SIGN; AN ENDANGERED SPECIES (IMAGES: J.NORAHSON)

The Caldor Rainbow knows of most of the vintage-looking, left-behind, or unremodeled stores left in the country in large part to our own research and on-site of Ames Fan Club board member Daniel Fife, who'se just about raided the entire eastcoast in confirmation of these stores. This year, we've visited one such location in Boardman, Ohio and have no updates regarding other stores we've since exposed here including Horseheads, NY; Clay, NY and Woburn, MA. We've also got a superb set of shots submitted by Steven Swain, another friend of ours, whose taken shots direct from the Roanoke, Virginia store.

ROANOKE, VA; FEBRUARY 2008 (IMAGES: S. SWAIN)

BOARDMAN (YOUNGSTOWN), OHIO; MARCH 2008




SAINT CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO; MARCH 2008




WOBURN, MA; MARCH 2008

LIST OF KNOWN VESTIGIAL OR RETRO STORES
Below is a compiled list of stores we know of that still feature original build date design elements, though some may be painted over, signs and other features removed or replaced.

NEW YORK
CLAY
HORSEHEADS Stripes repainted white

MASSACHUSETTS
WOBURN Stripes repainted blue

MAINE
BANGOR Stripes, roof repainted white

OHIO
EUCLID (MIXED USE; STILL VACANT)
BOARDMAN Original; removed Jeoffrey
SAINT CLAIRSVILLE Stripes repainted white

CALIFORNIA
ANAHEIM (VACANT)
ONTARIO A real oldie! Roof repainted white, stripes removed
RICHMOND (VACANT) Stripes removed; roof repainted white, then green

MARYLAND
CATONSVILLE Stripes, roof repainted white

INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS / 4575 W 38th St. (VACANT) Stripes removed
LAFAYETTE Original though roof ripples removed

ILLINOIS
BLOOMINGTON Stripes repainted white
MOLINE Stripes repainted white, signage updated to "Concept 2000"

IOWA
CEDAR RAPIDS Stripes repainted white

IDAHO
BOISE Roof repainted red, removed ripples

MICHIGAN
GRAND RAPIDS
BATTLE CREEK (VACANT)
PORTAGE/KALAMAZOO Stripes repainted blue

KENTUCKY
BOWLING GREEN Rainbow stripes removed

TENNESSEE
KNOXVILLE

ALABAMA
MONTGOMERY

FLORIDA
BRADENTON Stripes repainted white, roof repainted blue
GAINESVILLE Stripes repainted white
TALLAHASSEE
ORANGE Roof repainted gray, stripes repainted white

NORTH CAROLINA
WILMINGTON
DURHAM Stripes removed

GEORGIA
SAVANNAH (RECENTLY RELOCATED, NOW VACANT)

TEXAS
WACO

VIRGINIA
ROANOKE Stripes repainted blue

WASHINGTON
SPRINGDALE Roof repainted blue, stripes repainted white

If you have an update or one we've forgotten, please inform us.

Hey, You! We like on-site photography here and since our resources limit us from traveling halfway across the country, you'd be swell to lend us your digital eye for The Caldor Rainbow and its audience. Just enter any information about old-school Toys "R" Us stores -- we've become synonymous with any information and, of course, the best images out there.

If you missed our report on the now twenty-year, classic Clay store, see it here. Look at my personal collection, a gallery of stores on Flickr. And of course, tons of user submitted pictures on the Ames Fan Club forums.