KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October // COMPLETE ad set (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.1 // ..KAY•BEE logo isolated  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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–>> Trivial observation: while it may have been a basic design choice, most K•B ads from back in the day..say 1980s and 1990s that Tokka recalls were illustrated like what we see here in this complete ad set. That may have been a cost saving measure as well. Or maybe it was just a printing choice of many retailers at the time. Countless stores had illustrated newspaper print ads for decades. You’ll still find them on occasion in newspapers and the like today. Most newspaper ads it seems are mostly photographic nowadays however.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.1  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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I recall black & white print ads in newspapers say like in a classified page that were also illustrated for the toy store. I don’t think i have any photographic ads in my archives for K•B ( formerly ‘KAY•BEE’ ), unless they are from the late 1990s or early 2000s.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.1 // ..TMNT toys isolated  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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Not 100% sure, but this may be my only complete circular set for K•B nay for some random and loose pages. I don’t always get to post these COMPLETE ads as there is very time consuming process that takes a bite into my personal work. However, in the long run they are important pieces of TMNT advertising and toy history, if not just Toy history in general. A glimpse into the past of retail toy shopping in a per-internet shopping era.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.2  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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Guessing things like this just really didn’t survive many recycling bins or rubbish collections just short of microfiche or someone saving them or what have you. It’s prolly beneficial to all when i do make the time to post ’em digitally.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.3  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.4  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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Sometimes i am asked of the fate of K•B after the final bankruptcy and demise of the once iconic Mall TOY retailer in 2008.

TOYS ‘R’ US came in a year later to purchase all intellectual properties, names, iconography, logos, licenses, et al. like they had with the operations of the FAO Schwarz brand the same year.

Last seen K•B was used in SOME labeling within some TRU stores to possibly a lesser degree than the FAO Schwarz branded boutique set-ups in the retail stores right now. I’m not sure what products received that labeling or if that continues currently or into the future. Time will tell.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.4 // ..TMNT & BAYOU BILLY games isolated  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.5  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.6  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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The stores became a staple for shopping centers and malls in North America for decades and has burned into countless childhood memories including mine.
I’m sure a portion of the value of that iconography is what lead to the TRU purchase in ’09. That value may resonate into a major return of the K• B brand in some form or fashion some day.

KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.7  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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KAY•BEE TOY STORES :: Christmas in October pg.8  (( OCTOBER,8 1989 ))

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Related notes ::

"HEAD" lamp

 

Comics ::

~ t