Vintage Ads

Toys & Wheels was a chain of Canadian toy stores that thrived for many decades until 1995. Canada's retail landscape changed with the arrival of Wal-Mart and big box stores. I'll always remember Toys & Wheels as a boutique toy store as a child :-D If I had to rank toy stores, it would be Toys & Wheels, Tops N Toys, then department store toy aisles--Woolco, The Bay, Eatons and Sears :-D

It was a cozy little store with a wide range of toys and prices--from little nickel farm animals to Breyer horses and Barbies! I loved the window displays :-) I found this ad for a local history group where someone was trying to determine was store was near the Toys & Wheels in Edmonton Centre--which is probably a vintage ads post for another day!

FWIW, Toys R Us didn't arrive in Edmonton until 1984, and then it was a destination--you needed a parent to drive you!

Londonderry Mall was our "mall of choice" mostly because Mom worked in one of the department stores! It boasted a Woolco, Eaton's, and The Bay.

Mall commercials always tend to have low production values, so this one was rather intriguing--and possibly the eightiest 80s commercial that every eighted :-D

I tried to find a version on YouTube, but a Facebook embed will have to suffice.

Dreamwidth doesn't like the Facebook embed code, so there is the link instead: https://www.facebook.com/oldcanada/videos/a-londonderry-mall-commercial-in-the-1980s/2116760189178934/

Grand Champions were a line of toy horses which sadly rode off into the sunset many years ago! They were produced from about 1988 to 2008.

The horses were about the same size as a Breyer Traditional size horse. They were definitely more on the "toy" side of things, but they were so wonderful in their toyness. They had rooted manes and tails for you to brush and braid and loads of accessories. Unlike many toy horses, the Grand Champions and their accessories were on the realistic side of things as opposed to being pink, so they were for any horse-loving kid! Amongst model horse collectors, these horses are still loved by their fans :-)

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Watching these ads, I feel a little confused as to who the target market was :-D

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Horse girls represent!!!

Trailer for Black Beauty, 1994

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Now boringly known as the CTV Sci-Fi Channel, Space was (is?) a Canadian sci-fiction channel which first began airing in the 1990s. This low-key ad tells a surprising little story. The actress is Gillian Dobb, who 80s TV fans may remember from Magnum PI.

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Many people are familiar with Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese, which served up pizza and fun, but there was a third contender with pizza and an animatronic stage show--Bullwinkle's! Based on the world's only moose and squirrel cartoon team, the restaurants were like a mini indoor theme park for kids with the arcade, restaurant, stage show, and rustic decor. Bullwinkle's was a popular place for birthday parties and for many years Edmonton kids received a coupon for a free pizza with their final report card, much to my dad's consternation.

I don't know if the footage below is from the Edmonton or Calgary location or perhaps another location--those two are long closed. Technically three Bullwinkle's restaurants remain although the original decor has been long retired.

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A Facebook post reminded me of something I hadn't heard since I was a kid back in the day--"What a Scheib job!" and had no idea it had basis in reality. It was especially funny having grown up in Canada where there were no local Earl Scheibs. Earl Scheib was famous for his inexpensive car painting and automobile repairs as well as his eponymous print, radio and TV ads. The company, which began in 1937, no longer exists as it once was.

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TBT! Today I remember the silly car commercials of City Ford starring a caricature of Edmonton's Ukrainian population, Nicky Fordinski.

The ads usually paired Nicky with spokeswoman Shannon where they pitched great deals and ended with a corny joke, sometimes about Nicky's wife Nellie.

In actuality Nicky was Raymond Johnston who passed away in 2019. I used to think the commercials were funny as a kid; nowadays they're a little cringey. But the character was popular enough to last years and years!

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