“I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R US Kid”
Remember that theme playing over and over in your head?
Well, here we are, all grown up and Geoffrey is about to go to Never Land.
Another iconic brand has lost the battle to online shopping, modernization and automation. Why wait in long lines when you can just point and click from your desk or mobile device? Why speak to a sales clerk or cashier when you can simply choose your items and type in your credit info on a screen?
Why spend time touching and feeling the packaging, seeing the product up close, seeing a neighbor shopping or even making a new friend while you talk about the latest toy to hit the shelves?
Why, why, why? Good questions? I think so.
We have become a society bent on attaining instant gratification. In doing so we are losing our personalities and becoming isolated.
We wait for the mail, we return what we don’t like, and countless people lose their jobs.
We walk less, talk less and ultimately become less social. Is this a good thing? Is this progress? Will we one day all become agoraphobic?
Thinking back to 1992 after my wife delivered our first child, I remember how exciting it was to shop at the store in Douglaston or Middle Village.
Michael in his stroller, we’d go up and down each aisle and try to get the perfect gift for all the little ones on our list. No gift certificates, just actual gifts we took the time to select and thought the children would enjoy. Sure, the lines were terrible, but it was also, in a weird way, fun.
Music in the background, kids screaming “Buy me this, Buy me this!”
Salespeople running around, cashiers working as fast as they could, people saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, it was all good. Why did it change? Progress? I think we are all becoming a little lazy and as a result, isolated from one another.
When our friend Geoffrey closes the final store and walks off into the sunset, it will mark the end of an era.
Unlike the sun setting into the ocean, or the stars fading into the daylight, I do not believe Geoffrey will rise again.
For me, I want to say so long pal, thanks for putting countless smiles on so many children’s faces over the years. Thanks for the memories and laughs. Thanks to all the good people that you employed, particularly the ones that went out of their way to always help.
Like an automated phone response when you try to call for service, buying toys will now become more and more automated and artificial. Just another part of our past that is fading away. Sad.
Michael Cascio
New Hyde Park
