As part of our 'Better than Ever' promotion, focusing on the retro trends sweeping pop culture (see 'Retailers--Better than Ever'), we solicited retailer stories on the retro trend in their stores.  Thanks to trends in its collectibles business, the folks at the Bookery Fantasy shop anticipated the current retro trend by at least 18 months, and is currently capitalizing on it with a variety of special displays.

Bookery Fantasy has been riding the 'retro' wave for some time, as a comics AND collectibles shop.  Of course, we've done well selling older Star Trek and Star Wars action figures, both loose and complete-in-package.  But one of my department managers took the initiative about a year-and-a-half ago, well before the re-launch of GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, and Micronauts, and started buying up toys and ephemera from the 1980's.  Inspired by the trend in radio ('All Eighties All the Time') to ply the waters of nostalgia, he created a display he dubbed 'It Came from the Eighties!'  Not limited to just the more popular figures, Kevin (Adkins) dedicated a display case to the toys of his and a good many customers' childhoods.  Ghostbusters fought Rocklords; Smurfs hung out with the Dukes of Hazard; and the Lone Ranger rode with Blackstar.

By promoting these and other toys, more and more of a similar nature were offered, and soon Kevin's display outgrew its 'home' in that case.  Today, we devote a showcase, a 5' x 5' section of slat wall, and 4' x 4' x 5' box window.  And we still don't have room to display everything!  Tucked in nooks and crannies throughout the shop are remnants of the eighties, and with the renewed interest, created by GI Joe, Transformers, and the rest, business is booming.

Happy Days are here again?  You bet--including MEGO's Fonzie dolls wearing little 'leather' jackets!