Randy Hildebrant loves old toys. He loves He-Man toys from the “Masters of the Universe” series, Transformer toys as well as any toy, model car and lunchbox from the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
“I started collecting my youth back,” the 50-year-old Davenport man said with a smile on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 24, during a short break from putting together his new store. That new business – Manchild Toys Antiques and Collectibles – is still a work in progress.
Mr. Hildebrant now is putting in some long hours to get his toy and antique business ready to open at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4. The business is located in the Old Town Mall at 903 E. Kimberly Road, unit 20. (That’s the shopping center that was home to the former Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Davenport. Manchild Toys will be located in the business unit near the Hi Ho Mongolian Grill restaurant.)
If all goes according to schedule, Manchild Toys will open on Oct. 4 with just one employee – Mr. Hildebrant. He expects the business to be open weekday afternoons and part of the weekends. (The Davenport man has to schedule store hours around his other job. He has been doing residential flooring work in the community for about 30 years.)
“It’s a little stressful right now. But, I’m keeping calm,” he said Tuesday as he was getting dozens of big and small jobs done in order to get the store ready for the public. He has had help from some friends in getting his new store set up, but most of the work has fallen on his shoulders.
On Tuesday, for instance, he put in an 11-hour day at Manchild getting toys packaged, shelving and storage units ready for merchandise, the store cleaned up and many other jobs. Some of those shelves are from a former Toys R’ Us store.
But when Manchild Toys opens, it won’t be a smaller version of Toys R’ Us. The new store will feature a lot of vintage and antique items that Mr. Hildebrant has collected and bought over the years.
Some of the merchandise that will be available includes:
- Lots of old lunch boxes. Some of them are decorated with action figures, like Superman. Many of them have themes based on old TV shows, such as “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Space: 1999,” “Knight Rider” and “Masters of the Universe.”
- “Star Wars” comic books from the 1970s. There are also many “Star Wars” models and toys.
- A Geoffrey the Giraffe toy from the former Toy R’ Us stores. The figure has a button next to it. The button reads: “The One Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins!”
- Old vinyl records and DVD movies.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures.
- Hundreds of drinking glasses and cups. During a recent trip to Dubuque, Iowa, he bought 263 glasses.
- And on the wall near the front door is a painting of Wonder Woman that Mr. Hildebrant bought from a local Goodwill Store. (He said the painting is for show and not for sale.)
In fact, many of the items in the Manchild Toys store and other vintage toys that the Davenport man has collected over the years have come from his hunts at thrift stores, yard sales and estate sales.
“There’s a thrill in finding something cheap. … It’s like getting a high when you find something great,” he said.
Mr. Hildebrant gave an example of that thrill. He once went to a yard sale and found two toy race cars called Stompers for sale for $1 each. He immediately bought them because he knew toy cars from the 1980s were valuable. He sold the pair of cars for $180.
In addition to buying vintage toys, the Davenport man has been selling toys for years at different toy shows around the region and even at NorthPark Mall in Davenport.
One of the reasons Mr. Hildebrant decided to open the Manchild Toys store is because of his experience with those many shows around the area. He found the shows can make money, but it’s a hassle and expensive when he has to go on the road to toy show events outside the area. So, having a traditional brick-and-mortar store makes sense.
But long before the new store was in the works, the Davenport man was collecting, buying and selling toys. The motivation for those activities goes back to his childhood.
Mr. Hildebrant said he was the youngest child in a family of 12 kids in Davenport. Even though his parents did get him toys and he had a great childhood, money was always tight. There were some birthdays and Christmas mornings that he didn’t get toys on his wish lists.
“We never got what we wanted. Santa never brought it,” he said with a laugh.
Mr. Hildebrant added that he hopes his new Manchild Toys store will offer other people a chance to remember their childhood days and get favorite toys.
