Rack Toys full circle

One of the things I really wanted to do to promote the book was to recreate a vintage rack toy aisle, complete with the original orange peg board so common in my area. While that wasn't a realistic goal, it's amazing what is right under your nose.

Above is M and S Mini Mart, which I've jokingly called "S'nM" since before I really I even knew what that meant. I first set foot in this store in 1979 looking for Whacky Packages, since then I've likely been there 3,000 times looking for everything from wood glue to cigarettes. It really hasn't changed since 1979, there is stuff in there that I remember from high school.

However, it wasn't until my son showed desire to own some green plastic army men that I realized that M&S still had the original orange pegboard! I've walked by it so many times that I didn't even see it anymore.

It was fortunate for me that the owners are very sweet people and that my potato chip purchases likely put their children through college and graduate school with enough to make a nice house down payment (get it? I like junk food), as they had no problem letting me do an impromptu photo shoot.

The book is actually hard to see in this display.

I can only imagine the collectibles that went through these slots. I vividly remember looking at the Street Hawk and A Team stuff back in the day. In '84 when Transformers were all the rage, this wall was littered with weird knock offs that are now likely highly sought after. I'm so glad that there are still Meccas like this to inspire future toy geeks and it just felt right doing this.

 Rack Toys is available!