So I was recently in the San Jose, CA area on a trip and wanted to see if I could find a vintage toy store. I started doing some Googlefu and came across Time Tunnel Toys. After battling the endless horde of California traffic, I finally made it.
The store was a small, quaint shop in a shopping center. Once inside, the store was filled with shelves and shelves of vintage toys, memorabilia, and fun stuff. All the shelves have a glass door on the front that you have to ask to get unlocked. It reminded me of trying to get a Nintendo game from Walmart. You have to find an employee with the magic key!
I spent a good while going through the store just in awe of the collection. I mean, if left to my own devices and a much much much larger budget, I’m sure this is what my closet would look like. There was awesome stuff EVERYWHERE. I found classic Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Nintendo games, Thundercats, and sooooo much more. I couldn’t figure out an organizational system, but things did seem to be grouped in some spots. I mean most of the GI Joe stuff was together, but you’d find a random vehicle or figure in other cases. I can’t tell if it’s a diabolical way to get you to go through the whole store to find more stuff to buy, or if there is just so much stuff they gave up on the super organization. Or maybe the toys are just like the toys in Toy Story and like go hang out in different spots all the time. Either way I had A LOT of fun looking through the cases.
So naturally while going through everything I found the GI Joe collection. Well most of the GI Joes anyways…. So I found the man with the magic key Cue Zelda key finding music and had him open the case for me. This revealed the one part of the store I did not like, an employee stood over/around me the whole time I was digging through the vintage GI Joes. Now he didn’t bother, try to rush me, or anything, but it was still a bit awkward. I figure they do that to help prevent theft…. It didn't slow down my hunt through the old Joes though! I did buy one to make it worth my time.
Overall I had a lot of fun going through and looking at everything. I took a few pictures of random parts of the store to show to friends. I posted them below so you can see all the fun stuff. I recommend the visit if you like action figures, vintage stuff, or just want to see some original stuff.
