World 4 Kids?

Alright, let's test a few memories around here: Who among us remembers the local toy chain World 4 Kids? It was essentially Coles' local answer to the new kid on the block (at the time), Toys R Us. As with retrospect on our sides, we know that it didn't quite go as planned, and the chain was absorbed by K-Mart in the early 2000's.

In fact, for quite some time, you could find 'World 4 Kids' rack toppers in some K-Mart stores. Or at least could, as all of the ones I've seen have since disappeared to be replaced by bland generic racks. Yuck.

So the question of the day is, who can recall seeing/shopping at World 4 Kids? As something of an archivist, I am quite interested in hearing what others have to say, and am myself on the lookout for any surviving evidence of its existence.

Such as a 1993 catalogue, maybe? ;)

Was at that place all the time. Best part was you could lay buy at world 4 kids.

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Originally Posted by Paul Agnew

Such as a 1993 catalogue, maybe? ;)

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Damn, I had one for years! It was a big book catalogue. But I think all that remains of it now is the Transformers page (with the Euro-exclusives). 'Who would ever want it?' I thought. :o

I recall shopping at World 4 Kids stores at Southland, Fountain Gate (where I got the Robotech figures I'm getting rid of) and Clayton (the only place I recall ever seeing the G2 Powermasters).

I can't remember exactly if there was one at Chadstone before Toys R Us (or if that was a Toys R Us store that just moved locations).

I used to go to my local one all the time and then one day it just wasn't there:(. Sort of Like Wonderland for kids which disappeared about the time the world 4 kids started popping up. It's a vicious circle:rolleyes:

i remember getting an action man from world 4 kids when i was a hell of a lot younger haha

I just remember the TV ad.
Nothing more.

I remember lining up at World 4 Kids with my mum early in the morning for a catalogue sale to buy the SNES game Street Racer at the bargain basement price of $15, only to find that adult scalpers had pretty much cleaned the shelves of them by going straight to the front desk and putting all the stock on lay buy. :mad:

I think all the W4K's in Perth became Toys R Us's when they started to show up in WA.

Oh wow world 4 kids was awesome, used to make special trips out to mirrabooka to go there. I remember getting my g2 Megatron from that place. The building actually sat unoccupied for a good 10+ years before some new tenant moved in recently... I think an iceskating joint? Sad really, I still liked driving past the abandonded tomb of W4K.

Now wonderland, that really takes me back too...

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Originally Posted by Lint

I think all the W4K's in Perth became Toys R Us's when they started to show up in WA.

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Mirrabooka stayed vacant for years, as Llama says, it's an Ice skating rink now. I quite liked World 4 kids, I lived near that one in Mirrabooka for a while and thought it was pretty cool. After all it was a MASSIVE warehouse of toys. Although I used to go there scouring the place for Saturn games and stuff. I remember buying EarthWorm Jim and a controller pack for my MD for like $20 back in the day.

Super goodies. I still remember seeing the W4K toppers in Kmart for a while after W4K closed down. Shame that there was never quite the same amount of Mas toy goodness.

Wonderland... that wasn't that place in Perth city was it?

Well, I was in my teens in the 90s and for the life of me cannot remember World4Kids. :confused:
The majority of my late 80s/early 90s Transformers purchases came from Kmart Armadale or Woolies Kelmscott (when they had the variety section).

I think there were only a couple around Perth. I can remember Miirrabooka, and a quick google lists one in Cannington (probably where TRU is now), but That's all I knew of.

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

Wonderland... that wasn't that place in Perth city was it?

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No, Wonderland was like Toyworld but their stores seemed to always be larger than the Toyworld stores. The Wonderland at Mirrabooka was in that small complex where the CES used to be not very far from World 4 Kids but shut down either just before or just after W4K's opened, I think W4K may have even been a larger version of the franchise as they had the same jingle:o

Yeah there was one in Miranda I think:confused: used to go in there all the time. I even kinda remember the song off the ad.

I remember going to one in Bankstown a few times... don't think I ever bought anything from it though.

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I think there were only a couple around Perth. I can remember Miirrabooka, and a quick google lists one in Cannington (probably where TRU is now), but That's all I knew of.

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Yep I'm pretty sure it was just Mirrabooka and Cannington. I got to go to the Mirrabooka one a few times but I only went to Cannington once. They were identical though and I swear about twice as large as a typical TRU. (might be the child factor though)

There was a huge one in Blacktown Westpoint that had whole aisles dedicated to action man, Batman, Thomas the Tank, Barbie and other toy lines. I remember the Street Sharks and Ninja Turtles shared an aisle.

The one in Penrith used to be opposite the main shopping centre and survived longer than most, I could still frequent it in 2000 to buy DBZ figures brand new cheaper than I could buy them second hand from Kings Comics across the street!

Wasn't really into Tf's at the point, so I cannot remember what stock they had, but I did have a catalogue for years that I would continually peruse. Think I got rid of it years ago, when W4K closed down in Blacktown.

I bought my Classic Prime & a few others from them. I even picked up a few things for Jon & Karl Hartman, too. Those were the days, doing everything by mail.

Thanks to member Counterpunch/Jimmy, who collected toy catalogues during the 90s (inspiring me to collect as many as I can since then, as an archive of prices we had here)....

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/blog/a590.jpg

The catalogues are dated from 1993 to 1997, which I think was how long they lasted against ToysRUs, before folding. (as noted above, W4K was part of the ColesMyer Corporation, so the W4K Brand was just used by Kmart for a few years after they folded, for customer familiarity I guess)
These were the stores during 1997...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/blog/a591.jpg

They could have indeed been around until after 2000. I remember the two in Brisbane, on opposite ends of greater Brisbane, so were difficult to get to from where I lived at that time. The one in Aspley was near the ToysRUs, which was convenient if you could get up there (it would take me two buses and about 80 minutes).

I remember visiting the World 4 Kids in Southport just after i turned 18 and getting TM Optimus Primal and Megatron for 19.95 each i think. it was their closing down sale. And the first two Transformers I'd ever bought for myself.

I only ever went to the Greensborough store (well, I was staying in Greensborough with relatives) once. Don't remember buying anything from there, but I did get the Off-Road Patrol from Myer the same day.

The Belmont K-Mart still had the World 4 Kids stuff on their toy rack ends until a few years ago. A few years before that they inherited a Darth Vader and Action man statue as well.

Pretty sure Kmart Mt Druitt still has their World 4 Kids cardboard banners up in the isles. Saw them there not too long ago.

Gouki just mentioned "Zigzag" in the sightings section.... which I'd totally forgotten about, as it was such a short-lived (bad) idea.
I can still remember the jingle - When you shop at Zigzag, the smile's in the bag - but can't remember if it was a new chain or just Toyworld trying to rejuvenate itself against the TRU/W4K surge.
Obviously didn't work, as they disappeared pretty quickly. (as Megatron once said - New packaging, same product... Losers.)

Haha, yes I remember lots of K-marts ended up with giant Darth Vaders and Action Mens after W4K shut down.

The Mirrabooka W4K building still had the different coloured hemispheres around the edge of the building until the new tenant took over. :(

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Originally Posted by 1orion2many

No, Wonderland was like Toyworld but their stores seemed to always be larger than the Toyworld stores. The Wonderland at Mirrabooka was in that small complex where the CES used to be not very far from World 4 Kids but shut down either just before or just after W4K's opened, I think W4K may have even been a larger version of the franchise as they had the same jingle:o

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Yes, Wonderland stores always seemed bigger than Toyworld. I vividly remember the Wonderland at Karrinyup shopping center (it was upstairs near Myers). I got my Classics Streetwise there. I have vague memories of one in... Balcatta? Somewhere on Erindale Rd I think.

I also deeply miss the Innaloo Toyworld, that was consistently the toystore I visited the most as a child. I put Turbomaster Boss on layby there and paid off like $2 a week until he was mine.

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Originally Posted by llamatron

Haha, yes I remember lots of K-marts ended up with giant Darth Vaders and Action Mens after W4K shut down.

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Morley Kmart had a giant Vader sitting on top of their toy rack for ages. Made the toy section really easy to find.

I remember going with a couple of friends to the Aspley grand opening on Thursday night… you could navigate to it by the glow from the searchlights they had running. Could not get a park anywhere near the place and eventually found a spot almost a kilometre away, near where the Carseldine police station now is (yes, in the next suburb!). It was packed. I don’t recall the TFs but I know the modelling isles were crammed with kits (and probably also the aisles most devoid of people). I remember buying a 1/72 Matchbox Lancaster that night… we visited many times over the years before it closed but don't remember any but that first time!

A local store near me sells the W4K battleship game with the store logo on it.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Damn, I had one for years! It was a big book catalogue. But I think all that remains of it now is the Transformers page (with the Euro-exclusives). 'Who would ever want it?' I thought. :o

I recall shopping at World 4 Kids stores at Southland, Fountain Gate (where I got the Robotech figures I'm getting rid of) and Clayton (the only place I recall ever seeing the G2 Powermasters).

I can't remember exactly if there was one at Chadstone before Toys R Us (or if that was a Toys R Us store that just moved locations).

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Do you still have any Robotech figures that you wish to get rid of?

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Originally Posted by markrees

Do you still have any Robotech figures that you wish to get rid of?

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Sorry all gone now.

Loved W4K, I think there was one where big w is at Southland?
I remember sitting at home the night of the grand opening of Clayton wishing I could go.

Haha, the zigzag jingle is stuck in my head now!

.. I miss those days, walking in and seeing the full selection of G.I Joes and tfs..
Going to Singapore and seeing a well stocked Toys R Us took me back to that a little.

I remember World 4 Kids Bankstown quite fondly. Its where I got the bulk of my "early" transformers (having gotten into them in the early 90s when shown on syndication) which were all G1 Classics. Still have my classics Protectobots and Stunticons and Starscream (sans missiles)

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Originally Posted by Trent

Yeah there was one in Miranda I think:confused: used to go in there all the time. I even kinda remember the song off the ad.

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There was definitely one at Miranda. It used to be where the old Ground Level of Myer was which is now the new food court area.

My mother used to have a balloon business and she did all the balloons for the grand opening which was awesome as I was the first kid in the store and I was able to browse all the aisles before it opened (I got yelled at for trying to touch one of the transformers though haha).

Used to stop into W4K Aspley many afternoons on way home from work circa 1998 ,cannot recall the TF's at all but do recall I was buying POTF2 Star Wars from there as well as TRU Aspley @ the time.

I remember getting the Star Wars Micro Machines Fan Club Exclusive Millennium Falcon at World 4 Kids for $1.00! They must have purchased a stack of clearance stock, or had a lot left over after a promotion. They also had boxed Exosquad figures (with e-frame) for $9.99. Great value.

Gee that talk of Zig Zag brings back memories of doing work experience at the one in Parkmore. I came to hate it due to the manager and that I can look at the toys but no play.:(

Found these on youtube

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ASKZlNQCAE

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8dc9cttz2mI

Dad took me and my sister to the opening night of the one in Clayton. I don't remember actually being taken there and getting anything though. I absolutely loved looking at the catalogue though haha. There was an early one which I think had the toys from Aliens in there and some other kind of awesome looking piloted battle suit mech thing.

I used to go to the one in Bankstown shopping centre -- picked up quite a few Beast Wars figures from them when they had sales and closeouts.