Oh man, does that bring back memories! I really miss places like that. At least I was lucky enough to be a kid during a time when there were shops like this.

In the late nineties Chicago had a store called House of Monsters. If you called them on the phone the guy would answer in a growly monster voice: "House! Of! Monsters!"

The only place a shop like this could exist today is Tokyo.

Do you mean because of the specific nature of the stuff being sold? Or the old-timey layout of the store?

To be honest with you, you're right on both counts. There are few—if any—true hobby stores left anymore. And the ones that remain are focused on RC cars, trains and ... ? That's it.

But in all honesty with the rise of small boutiques and urban vinyl toys, there might still be a niche for that.

Most of the stuff in the case in front of the guy looks like chemistry labware. One of the reasons I loved hobby shops as a kid was that I was a chemistry set freak.

Jack @3: "Do you mean because of the specific nature of the stuff being sold? Or the old-timey layout of the store?"

Both. The whole shebang.

o.k, but what is in the box marked "UGH"?

The place was also known as Rich's Hobby Town, or Rich's Hobby Shack - I forgot, but I used to go there in the 1970's - was on the Border of Parsippany and Montville, about 25 min from NYC. It later on became a video game place in the late '80's It was built in an old church, and you had to take a really weird way to get into it. I went there for the model trains and airplane models.

It was called Rich's Hobby Town, as the last poster recalled, but the church was his second location. Originally, he was on east bound Rt. 46, just about were a hotel now sits. In back of the shop was a field where you could fly RC Planes (now underneath Interstate 80, just east of the Interstate 280 intersection). My dad use to pull me away from the Monster Korner to look at the planes and trains.... I was deprived.

Ooh, that place reminds me of a hobby shop I used to frequent in Studio City called Kit Kraft. You can't see it in the handful of pictures on their web site, but the place is huuuge. And they used to have a section of the store that focused on models - monster models, action figures, military miniatures, etcetera etcetera. Aah, I miss that place.

My favorite part is his widow's peak. Perfect casting.

Two places:
Toy Tokyo in New York (www.toytokyo.com just off St. Mark's place, tiny boutique on the second floor of the building right next to the uber-famous belgian fries place.) There's a pretty great shop just downstairs from it too, kind of the same style.

More importantly, Lulu Berlu in Paris, www.lulu-berlu.com I believe on the corner of rue de crussol and rue du grd prieuré. Amazing. Let me repeat that: amazing. Additionally, 5 or 6 shops on blvd Voltaire past this shop towards République - besides the ridiculous amount of video-game boutiques in this area, probably every other shop for a good 500m stretch - all dedicated to modelling/miniature cars/costumes and firecrackers. Also, and god forgive me for not remembering the name of this place, a small jam-packed shop right next to Cluny, in the comic-book district, can't miss it, life-size star wars models in the windows switched every 3 months or so.

Tokyo gets far too much cred. Look around and you'll find plenty more. I'd go so far as guaranteeing you you would find such places as these in every big city 'round the world.

CAZSSIEW, Toy Tokyo is okay. And Love Saves the Day is okay... But honestly seem to have the exact same stock they had in 1985.

What I am personally lamenting is the loss of small mom & pop toy stores that used to be everywhere! Not chains or pseudo chains, but basically drug stores and news stands with large toy sections and true businesses devoted to selling toys. And comic/toy stores like Forbidden Planet in NYC don't exactly count.

For example, in NYC there was a small toy chain called The Last Wound Up that strictly sold wind-up toys. The existed for a decent amount of time in the 1980s. And personally for me there used to be Second Childhood on Bleecker Street that sold old, old, old timey toys as well as Japanese toys back in the 1970s/1980s. They closed recently and it's a bit of a mindblower in todays "fun = youth" culture to talk to the owner of the place (who was in his 80s) about vintage Japanese toys. And to hear him talk proudly of all the pre-Transformers Transformer toys he had.

Just imagine going to a neighborhood coffeeshop that you can hang out in. But instead of coffee and muffins and WiFi... It's just devoted to toys and has a staff that knows what they sell.

On that note, here's a commercial for a classic small U.S. toy store selling cool Japanese toys in the 1980s.

I want to move there.

@#12 Mr. Big's Toyland! They used to play the commercial during Force 5 and Star Blazers on Boston's channel 25. I remember bawling because my Mom wouldn't take me.

I agree that Toy Tokyo is fairly limited and mostly small as hell. If you ever come to Paris, do check out lulu berlu though, it is much much more in the vein of what you're talking about. You won't be disappointed, although I can't say anything about the staff, I'm don't think I'm big enough an afficionado that I could carry a conversation on the subject. The shop itself... I find it strange that the website has basically no picture of the store as far as I can tell, because to me the layout of the place is the main attraction.

@#6 UGH = Ugly Gross Huggable

Love the counter: Monsters, Ghoulish Bits & UGH

CAZSSIEW, nice tips on Paris. The thing to also realize in the U.S. is two things killed small mom & pop toy stores. The big chain stores like Sears and Kmart came in. But more importantly, in the late-1970s there was a craze to "protect the children" from so-called "dangerous" toys. So the end result is getting models, model paints and glue if you were a kid required an adult. And ANY toy that had parts on them that could cause a choking hazard could not be sold to children. So what you have now are tons of "kid safe" toys that just are not as cool. And the idea of "hacking" and playing with toys beyond the specs? Can't happen. Heck, getting small novelty toys at the counter of a store like this used to be a standard thing. Not now... You might choke on it!

I'm happy to have grown up with toy stores that didn't patronize to kids. It's a subtle difference, but to me modern toy stores treat kids like stupid lumps of meat who don't know how to take care of themselves.

Ok, dig that you can also get your mad scientist stuff there, too. I think I can see various chemlab stuff on the bottom of the display, and there is a large sign proclaiming "CHEMICALS."

I'm certain the "HomeLab" marque wasn't strictly about monsters, either, unless you /really/ needed the equipment necessary to scream "It's alive!" during the next big thunderstorm.

I remember speciality corners like this in hobby and camera shops when I was a kid, but they were already on their way out.

"The only place a shop like this could exist today is Tokyo".

Quote of the Year!

I feel sad, and a little angry, when I see pictures of places like this.

Angry, because I live in a place and time that has (largely) turned its back on accessible hands-on fun.

What do kids immerse themselves in today? Computer games. Shabby, shallow, virtual universes.

Thank goodness for MAKE.

My favorite part is the "Please talk quietly" sign. Partly because we should all use our indoor voices and partly because if I were actually at this place I'd be screaming with DELIGHT!

(and yeah, I'm old enough to remember places like this too. Someone please invent time travel, ok? If only for the shopping....)

Ah, the old Aurora model kits...above and behind him on the shelf I see the Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo...others that I do not recognize...used to be 2-3$ each at my local variety back in the 60s....

Should of posted this with my comment:
http://www.majormattmason.net/aurora/

While we all mourn the loss of our magic places, remember that they still come and go, and are found in unlikely places - but only if you get off your ass and look around...
For me it was the magic store at Disneyland back when I was a kid. They used to sell theatrical grade props there, with a knowledgable staff happy to demo to a kid with no money.
But I still find magic places; bicycling is good for that 'cause it slows you down enough to notice the signs.

Cazzsiew (#11) & Jack (#12):

I also immediately thought of Toy Tokyo and Love Saves the Day. Jack, your list of bygone NYC stores brought back some memories, but there is one still extant I can think of that you missed: Jan's Hobby Shop on Lexington in the 90s. It has a real old-time, mom-and-pop feel to it; it's mostly model kits. No chic-niche stuff like TT (Japanese), LSTD (kitsch), or "The Monster Korner" (EC Comics-vibe) but fun to visit nonetheless.

EUSTACE, i also recall a way cool magic store at the old knott's berry farm that had cool props and real magical type stuff! plus, gallons of fake blood! mom hated it.

did someone say "fake blood"?!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Special-FX%3a-Almost-free-Squirting-Blood-Effect/

Thanks. I just experienced the same thrill that went up my leg when I first picked up a copy of the pulpish Fantastic Monsters of the Films (which I much preferred to Ackerman's slicker Famous Monsters of Filmland). I got that first dose of addictive fandom at Jimmy's Newsstand in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida back in July of 1963. BTW, I eventually won my very own Master Monster Maker plaque (just like the one appearing on the Monster Korner wall) with a plastic monster model mashup that you can see at my Flickr site: http://tinyurl.com/5n8xsa

Rich's Hobby Town! Another former customer here. It was such a neat place to visit.

Aurora held many customizing contests back in the 60's.

I won not one, but TWO 'runner up' prizes in an Aurora 'Big Daddy Roth' drawing contest. Each prize was a six-pack of BDR Rat Fink hot rod model kits. Nothing that awesome has happened to me since.

"The only place a shop like this could exist today is Tokyo."

EHHT WRONG!

This shop could exist in a lot of places in the U.S., just not in most major cities where the real estate is too expensive. I'm sure you could have this in Cleveland for instance.

...or New Jersey. In fact, there was a shop like this in the Pennsauken Mart (a legendary indoor flea market in south Jersey) back in the 90s. For all I know, it's still there or has moved to some other hole in the wall location.

Stop giving Tokyo so much credit.

Or Berwyn, Illinois!

I love this place - they truly care:
http://www.horrorbles.com/catalog/index.php

I've never been to Tokyo. Oh well. Someday.

Monster Model Heaven !

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When I was a kid I was actually in this store...My folks would drive us to New Jersey every month or so to visit our cousins, at the time we lived just outside Ottawa Ontario,anyway I was in this hobby shop in Parsippany,N.J., the guy in the picture is none other than Rich Palmer, he was hired by Aurora to organize the Monster Customizing Contest in 1964, Walter Cronkite actually interviewed Mr.Palmer right there in the Monster Corner on the CBS Evening News which brought National attention to the Aurora Monster Models. All this info is on Page 20 of AFM #38 along with this exact photo...Here's the Kicker...These shops were common where I grew up also, corner Smoke Shops and Chemists (Drug Stores) all looked just like this...Monster Models Everywhere...Yeah...We need a Time Machine, man
Mcdee