I would go on a shopping spree at Toys R Us in 1980. When I was a kid I always saw the advertisements for Toys R Us on TV and couldn’t believe that such a place existed. The closest one was far away in North Jersey. How could anyone get there? North Jersey! It might as well have been Oz. It just seemed impossible. Luckily my parents eventually took me in their orange VW fan on a pilgrimage to the holy location of adolescent consumerism a few years later, but it never lived up to my imagination upon first seeing the TV ads. Locally in 2026 I would probably choose the mundane location of Barnes & Noble.
Gene G. McLaughlin 2026
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