This past Thursday, September 20th, I had the pleasure of being invited to the grand opening of GreattoysOnline.com’s newest branch along Annapolis St. in Greenhills. Now, before you ask “What’s a gaming blog doing covering a toy store’s opening?”, well let me remind you that a lot, and I do mean a lot of toys and toy lines released nowadays are based on game licenses. These days, it’s not hard to expect major game releases to come with some sort tie-in merchandise, most especially toys.
For the majority of the event, Malvin Lim, the guy behind this marvelous operation showed attendees around the store, which is housed in a generous 200-something square meter space. It’s hard to find that kind of space nowadays, especially for businesses like this, but in this case, they pulled it off.
Great Toys Online’s Annapolis branch features a wide range of merchandise ranging from licensed stuff to rare imports, all organized in according to company and/or toy line. There’s an entire cavalcade of action figures, statues, models, replica weapons and other trinkets lining the entire store. You’ve got your Revoltech figures, Play Arts Kai stuff, the ever-ubiquitous and generously stocked Gundam section, and more mecha than you can shake a stick at.
The highlight of the night was Malvin’s little show-and-tell featuring his personal collection of genuine animation cells from Voltes V and Daimos. They’re a pretty big deal here in the Philippines, and it could be said that Malvin actually owns parts of the foundations of our collective childhoods. Following his animation cell presentation, he gave a brief history regarding the business and why something like Great Toys Online needs to have actual, meatspace stores as opposed to having just online stores. Long story short, we’re still kind of on the fence regarding online shopping, despite it being a normal thing in other countries.
Wrapping things up, to say that I had a blast at the launch is pretty much an understatement, especially since I got to mess around and try out a lot neat stuff at the store. This new branch is at the second floor of the Intrawest Building, #33 Annapolis St. in Greenhills. It’s hard to miss, I tell you. Of course, you can also find them online, where it all started at GreattoysOnline.com.
For more pictures, check out our gallery below. You can also take a look at my Instagram feed for other shots that aren’t in the gallery.
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