Vintage Star Wars Toy Store Photos From 1979-1983

KennerCollector.com Vintage Star Wars Toy Store Photo

Star Wars collector Ron Salvatore has posted some amazing vintage toy store photos over on the Rebelscum.com forums.  He received the photos along with permission to share them from an anonymous friend.  Even if you aren’t a Star Wars collector, just seeing the toys piled up high on display will give you that warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling!  If you look close, you can also see some other Kenner toys represented in the pictures.  I can get lost in these pictures for hours.  Thanks Ron!

Here is what Ron had to say about the images:

A friend of mine passed these along… They’re photos taken in stores, mostly in the mid-west, by Kenner in order to get a sense how the product looked at retail.

SW1 — Modells, April 20th 1979 Lake Success, NY
SW2 — Value City, October 5th 1979, Clarckwell, Indiana,
SW3 — Value City november 2nd, 1979 East Kemper RD Cincinnati, OH
SW4 — Meiers, November 27th 1979, Vancouver, WA
SW5 — Capwells, October 31st, 1979 Oakland, CA
ESB1 — Westford, PA
ESB2 — JC Penny, September 1981, Harrisburg, PA
ESB3 — Kiddie City, November 22, 1981, Coleraine ave, Cincinnati, OH
ESB4 — Glenway, Novmeber 20th, 1981, Cincinnati, OH
ESB5 — unknown
ROTJ — Sears in Oakbrook, IL on october 12th 1983 (though I think this isn’t entirely accurate, as one shot shows K-Mart signage)

The photos are Polaroids taken by regional sales reps and sent back to Kenner.  Oh, I should note that the one marked “swdisplay” is an internal photo showing a prototype display, not an actual store photo.

Star Wars:

Empire Strikes Back:

Return of the Jedi:

To read more about these amazing photos, visit the thread on the Rebelscum.com vintage Star Wars forums!

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4 Responses to Vintage Star Wars Toy Store Photos From 1979-1983

  1. Own oringal action figures both Dark Vader carrying case & larger action figures, books & other iteams looking to sale.

  2. Jose says:

    Hi there, would like to buy some star war products. Can you email what you have on stock would appreciate it. Thank you.

  3. Brett says:

    We’ll never get these days back again….unfortunately.

  4. Anders says:

    I did not understand back in for instance 1982, as I was 9, how awesome it would be in later years if one had taken photos in my favourite store back home similar to these (Sollentuna, Sweden).

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