Could a warehouse like this have housed posters and even “Super Rare” figures?
The 28-Pack Poster Offer looked into the minutia of the poster-offer. Syosset, New York was one of the main topics of interest. John Delin, from A Syosset Scrapbook, attempted to help research further into the Syosset-M.U.S.C.L.E. connection.
He contacted Tom Montalbano, a local historian, who as able to add this interesting anecdote:
“While I was growing up on the north side of town in the late 1970’s, there was a warehouse on Underhill Blvd that was packed with toys, including mini cars and trucks by Matchbox and Aurora. They may have stored other toys there, as well. I know about it primarily because, at some point, the warehouse was abandoned and a large trailer was left outside, packed with hundreds or thousands of Matchbox and Aurora cars…There’s a possibility that this warehouse was used by a Mattel distributor. Many of the buildings along that road have remained a mystery over the years.”
Google Maps - Underhill Blvd.
It does not appear that Matchbox was fully sold to Mattel until the late 1990’s. However, this does not mean that old stock did not end up at the facility. Nor does it mean that the location wasn’t used by several toy companies to defray costs – specifically for items that had been produced outside of the United States.
#1 by Soups on November 17, 2009 - 10:06 pm
Awesome work, Chad. How interesting!
+10 for using the word “defray.” 🙂
#2 by Chad Perry on November 18, 2009 - 3:07 pm
For me, this makes me wonder about the actual distribution process and locations for Mattel toys in the mid-1980’s – everything in the process from leaving the Bandai factories to retailers’ distribution. In a perfect world, there would be enough information to create a Flash animation showing the distribution process, similar to a virus spreading graphic that you often see on TV and in movies.