While our usual Retail Therapy features are concerned with shops that sell video games, you'll have to forgive us for straying slightly off the beaten track with this particular piece.
While the store in question – the superb Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop, situated a short drive from Hookshot Media's offices in the United Kingdom's Midlands – does occasionally stock video games (we spotted a Nintendo Game & Watch on our last visit), it is primarily concerned with the playthings and collectables of yesteryear.
That could be anything from Action Man figures to Jurassic Park playsets and everything in between. The shop's floorspace is bursting with nostalgic power, covering everything from Star Wars to Transformers, Silverhawks, Visionaries, Ghostbusters, WWF, Thunderbirds, Gremlins, Lego, He-Man, Corgi cars and almost every other major toy brand you can name from the past 70-odd years – and perhaps even beyond that.
Run by the always friendly and astonishingly knowledgeable Joe, Matt, and Tim, Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop is unfortunately quite easy to miss – in fact, if you don't know the city of Leicester intimately, you might not even be aware it exists at all.
Tucked away down a side street which sits in the shadow of the vast High Cross shopping centre (but sadly, it's located at the back of the complex, where few people seldom venture), the store has nonetheless built up an impressive online following thanks to the fact that its staff regularly pop up on YouTube, touring the world's toy shops. One episode even featured the famous British presenter and talk show host Jonathan Ross, himself a keen collector of toys and games.
If you're looking to reconnect with your childhood or pick up that toy you wished you'd never gotten rid of back in the day, then we'd highly advise that you drop by the shop if you're ever in the area.
We could literally spend the entire day there – as well as insane amounts of money, of course.
