I'm not sure how long The Toy Shop was at this spot in Whitehall Crescent, but I do have a photo of it there in the 1940's and the above picture was taken in 1982, so it had been on the go for around 4 decades at least.The decade that was of interest to me though as a primary school kid, was the 60's, the age of Scalectrix, Lego, Action Man and a whole heap of other classics. Having said that, because we usually got our major toys at Christmas, my only visit to The Toy Shop, apart from window shopping, would be to get small items like a Corgi car or suchlike. I do remember getting a Gyroscope from there. Once you got one of them spinning, you could get it to balance on anything. It was like having magic powers!!
Photo by DC Thomson.
I used to go to The Toy Shop for my models in the late 60's and 70's and for my model railway stuff. Downstairs was an absolute aladdins cave for me.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-neice-in-law used to work in there in the latter years the shop was open.
Remember reading in a book one time that some of the royal family visited there when the Queen Mother was in residence at Glamis so was possibly around before the 1940's.
An advertisement for A. Webster, 'The Toy Shop', 22 Whitehall Crescent, appeared in the Morgan Academy Magazine in December 1932, so it was obviously in existence then. The Dundee Street Directories (available in the Local Studies Library) would tell when it was trading at this address.
ReplyDeleteIt was very far-sighted of the founders of Gilfillan Church to include shop units in the design (in addition to the two either side of the main door, there is another at the back of the building, on Dock Street), providing long term income from rents.
I used to work there as my Saturday job from 1966 to early 1968. A complete treasure trove.
ReplyDeleteMy Gran worked there used to love going in to visit her and getting to play with all the toys
ReplyDeleteHi my name is lorna and I worked in the toy shop for 5 years since 1980 to 1985 i think I might have worked with your gran, Mrs emslie from Huntly place,her daughter was christine and her son was Bruce,x
DeleteThere is a story about the shop provided by a member of the family at this link https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-courier-advertiser-fife-edition/20190105/282316796171565
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