The nearest isle was filled with never ending stacked columns of board games which reached up towards the roof. There stood Monopoly and Cluedo, the classic family games which reminded me off Christmas and filled me with an affectionate fuzzy feeling. My hand brushed against the chilly metallic surface of the shelves as I walked along the aisle towards the large Lego plane hovering at the end.
The echoes of children’s voices was all around, their faces enlightened with happiness. The Lego area was a construction yard, hundreds of tiny colourful bricks making up huge wild infrastructures; a vast army of tiny yellow Lego men stood marching at street level, as if they were an army invading the city.
Elsewhere in the store, I could hear the sound of children throwing a tantrum, acting stubbornly and screaming franticly at their parents for not being allowed the toys they wanted. The atmosphere was now completely different, no longer calm and comforting; the reckoning of children’s cries filled the store. The sound of music from the store-speakers seemed distant as I tried to listen past the shouting.
The emotional eyes of the tiny still people trapped in decorated cardboard boxes followed me as I passed by. A little girl scurried past me and grabbed a pink box off the shelf, grasping it tightly within her arms. Her mother soon followed after, pushing a huge trolley filled to the brim with amazing toys. I felt a pang of jealously, and wished I were her. Suddenly a crowd of children surrounding a soaring pile boxes caught my attention. I walked up to them and saw the inviting words ‘NEW LIMITED EDITION OF SPIDERMAN FIGURINE’ stretched out in front of me. My inner child kicked in and I felt the ultimate need to require this innovative toy I had never seen before.
The announcement in the store-speakers informing me that the store was closing soon was quickly followed by the sudden rush of people hurrying to make their way to the checkouts. The checkouts bleeped constantly as the array of magnificent toys passed through quickly from one world to the outside.
