Hi all,

I'm going on a USA trip in July and will be visiting New York (New York), San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Does anyone know of any vintage toy shops that are located in these places? (ie ones that sell original G1 items carded/boxed etc as well as other old action figures)

I'm asking because I always used to read "Action Figure News and Toy Review" and remember seeing all these advertisements for actual stores that stocked vintage carded Transformers items. Where are all these stores located?

Has anyone compiled a list anywhere of vintage toy shops in the USA?

Just clarifying I'm not talking about normal toy stores...like Walmart or Toys R Us. I'll find those easy enough. I'm talking ones that have the old stuff...G1 1984-87 and Thundercats...G I Joes etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Dude maybe you should try posting this in the NY or the various US sightings thread. i did.

A few weeks back when i was abt to go on a trip to Gold Coast, Australia. i post a similar sort of question on the oz sightings thread. a couple of oz boardmembers were kind enough to provide me the heads-up on where to look for stuffs. it really did make my trip a more enjoyable experience.

That said it's still too early (since u only just posted this thread) maybe later someone from any of the US areas hopefully would provide you with more details on this.

 

I can think of a few in NYC but its been a few years since I've been to those stores.I moved away about 4 years ago.

Theres Middtown comics they have 2 locations but the store near Times square is the better of the 2
http://www.midtowncomics.com/

Love saves the day on 2nd ave
http://www.yelp.com/biz/love-saves-the-day-new-york

Village comics And Collectibles in Greenwich Village
http://www.yelp.com/biz/village-comics-and-collectibles-new-york

And 2 doors down from Village comics was an other old toystore but I can remember the name.

Toy Tokyo on 2nd ave
http://www.toytokyo.com/index.php/page/content/id/23

Jim Hanley's Universe on the west side of 33rd. streat
http://www.jhuniverse.com/

Forbidden Planet on the corner of 12th and Broadway.
http://www.fpnyc.com/

And theres plenty of smaller ones in China town.A real good one here is
Good Fortune Gifts
32 MOTT.st

And thats just in MANHATTAN but your going to have to get to know the Subway system real good to get to all of them.

There are plenty of good stores all over Queens,Brooklyn,Statan Island and Long Island.But the subway doesnt get to all those areas.

 

Do these stores sell Transformers?

There is also Image Anime!

 

Not NEARLY the selection in the Bay Area that there used to be. SF is pretty much useless since most of the stores there only have toys that can be found elsewhere MUCH cheaper. I do recomend that you head across the bay to KIMONO MY HOUSE in Emmeryville (62nd street) LOTS of vintage stuff and a bizzare location taht discourages all but the most determined to get there (it's on top of a plain looking warehouse...only a sawhorse with the name points to the door that leads upstairs!). I'd also recomend a trip to San Jose for Time Tunnel Toys and Space Cat (they are a couple doors down from each other.)

 

Headed up to Sacramento in a couple weeks. I'll have to check those places out.

tilallareone08, check my Sales thread in the sales forum. I'm about an hour north of L.A.

 

If you're looking for vintage G1 figures in package, I've got a MIB Inferno from 85. PM me if interested. As far as New York and California, I've never been to either place. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.

 

Yeah well some of them do, but you can get better prices off ebay.

 

Toy Safari in Alameda (a man-made island located across the Bay from San Francisco) has a fair number of vintage toys. They have Transformers, Masters of the Universe, etc. They tend to be loose, incomplete, and probably a little overpriced.... but you never know, sometimes they have something interesting and unexpected (for example, I once saw a loose Drillhorn there).

Anyway, it's probably not worth a trip JUST to go there, as you'd likely get better deals on eBay. But if you happen to be in Alameda anyway (which is a cool little 50's-esque mini-town in its own right) it's worth a stop.

 

In some cases your right but not all.I have bought a few Binetech figures in the $40 to $50 bucks range when they were first released from Village Comics.

And I only spent $50 on Fire Convoy from Midtown comics.

 

Went to Midtown Comics in Times Square a few weeks ago, no transformer toys, just comics

 

I was there 4 month's ago and they had some TF movie figures and some Robot heroes on the 2nd floor.

 

Funny, I live 4 blocks from Toy Safari and never really think about it   The selection and prices tend to be a bit flaky...if you are into old video games there's also Alameda Game Exchange that has games all the way back to teh old Atari 2600!

 

Does this place have the recent Knock offs? (eg Mirage/Dinobots etc in the
G1 style packaging?)

Or does anyone know a store where I can purchase the knock off G1 items? Chinatown seems like a good bet, but I'd love a store name to narrow down the time spent! Thanks!!!

 

Image Anime used to be a good store for Japanese reissues, but they never re-stock and they are terribly overpriced. They were selling TFC's at one point for about $10 -$20 above what other online stores were selling them for. I assume this is because of the high rent in Manhattan.

The store itself is pretty cool though as they have a display up of all toys from Japan including an entire case for Transformers. Looks awesome.

 

I know Maybang's Collectibles http://www.maybang.com/ is the one who sells all the KO Prime boxes on ebay and they have a physical location.

 

Not this store but theres about 3 stores on Mott st. that does sell KO's not to mention the stores on other streats in China town.

I cant tell you that they'll have the newer ko's because I didnt hit China town on my last trip.

 

Go Alameda! And white mocha, you've summed Toy Safari up pretty good, but Alameda isn't entirely man-made. Just half of it. And you're right, they do have some special things there, bought a Sam's Club RID prime there for $20, and an MIB G1 Hound there for $20, to be fair though, he was pretty messed up. I feel obligated to say something related to the thread, you might wanna check out boss robot hobby in Berkely, it's near Rick and Annes restaraunt. Also, If you want to go to toy Safari, Best to check it out a couple times a month, because people sell things there and they restock fairly often. Later.

 

Ah, that's who bought the RID Prime (I almost did just to customize into Defensor   )