Schwinn Authorized Mechanics School Graduate Year 1966 

Thornbury's was fortunate enough to have two of the best, top of class. Brian Cunningham & Larry Rogers. 

 Santa Shopped The Doll Department at Thornbury's Toys

Besides a full line of collectable baby dolls Thonbury's also carried a huge selection of cute huggable everyday dolls.

Another Very Unique Team-Up Promotion

Thornbury's teamed up with Oscar Ewing in a summer ad offering a Thorny Buck on the side of a drink carton. Simply cut out the Thorny Buck to spend at Thornbury's Toys. Oh, don't forget to first finish the carton of juice.

Thornbury's Toys Had All the Fun Toys in the 1960s

Here's a page from a mid-1960s Thornbury's Toys catalog. Shown are Tonka, Nylint, Tru-Scale, Hubley, Structo, and other toy truck brands. Bulldozers, pickers, loaders, bailers, dump trucks, tractors, cement mixers, car carriers, and more; all that was needed for hours and hours of fun was a sandbox or dirt pile. The highest priced one among the group is the Nylint Michigan Shovel at $9.71 - "Steel construction, bucket trips automatically, positive stop winch to raise and lower boom. Cab pivots. Adjustable screw jacks slide out." Below is recent photo of one (or one very similar) plus the original box (from www.liveauctioneer.com):

For more photos of vintage toys, check out the Thornbury's Toys tumblr page too.

Thornbury's Toys Sponsored Little League Football and Baseball Teams

Look at this young sport getting ready for the big baseball game!  He proudly wears his new uniform sponsored by Thornbury's Toys. I'll bet the games were played at the St. Matthews Community Center behind Ten Pin Bowling Lanes. This picture appears to be taken in the late 50's.

A "Thorny Toy" is a Worth the Money Toy

From 1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book  

Thornbury's Toys was a customer-oriented store.  They strived to make everyone happy with their shopping experience and they stood behind the toys that they sold.  It was very important that they brought in quality toys that would provide many hours of safe play for the kids.  A "Thorny Toy" was a toy that Uncle Jim and staff had decided was a good play value toy and worth what the customer paid for it.  If you were ever not happy with the items that you purchased, the employees of Thornbury's were instructed to return the purchase price of the toy with a smile on their face. 

The Secret Sign-"T" Stands for Thornbury's and Thornbury's Stands for Toys!

Looks like Uncle Jim is holding a booklet about the very popular "Guess Who" children's program while some of the kids are ready to get a prize by showing that they know the secret sign.

The "secret sign" was another of Uncle Jim's promotional ideas.  He and his employees would carry around some trinket toys and if the youngsters would make the "T" sign with their fingers, they would receive a small reward. The "T" sign would mean that they knew that "T" stands for Thornbury's and Thornbury's stands for toys.  Uncle Jim must have stayed up many nights trying to figure out what his next promotion was going to be!

Thorny's Whereabouts "Uncovered"

The video above is an edition of Louisville Uncovered by Cyndy Tandy.  It aired on WAVE3 in February 2015.  In the video, the first picture of Thornbury's Toys was actually at 117 Breckenridge Lane and it opened in 1954. Then, in 1960, they moved to a new, much larger store on Shelbyville Road, which is also in the video.  One more little note: Thorny was last spotted on top of Brundage Jewelers on Chenoweth Lane in the weeks before Christmas 2014 (see photo below, from here). Thanks WAVE3 and Cyndy for featuring Thorny and getting us motivated to tell the Thornbury's Toys story and sharing it with lots of people who have such fond memories of the toy store.

Three's a Crowd WAVE-TV Mid 60's

Look! I found this great photo of the set of Three's a Crowd.  See the blog below for more details of the show.

What's In Your Wallet? It Better Be Thorny Bucks

When you started collecting Thorny Bucks, you had to have this particular wallet to keep them in. The more toys that were purchased, the more Thorny Bucks were accumulated.  It was a thrill to come into the store and open your wallet to buy your very own toy. This picture shows the front and the back of the Thorny Bucks wallet.

Memories Found Online, Part 2: "One Saturday Afternoon"

The image above and narrative below were posted here in October 2014. The program "Three's A Crowd" aired on WAVE-TV in the mid 1960s as this ticket shows. Three people claimed to have the same occupation, such as fireman or lawyer and the kids would have to guess which one was for real and which ones were impostors. Of course, the prizes were toys from Thornbury's!

One Saturday afternoon 

Our teacher received a stack of these tickets with a general invitation to her class to attend a local TV kid game show called Three's A Crowd. The half hour program aired Saturdays at noon on the local NBC affiliate. The format of the program was modeled directly on the CBS network's To Tell The Truth.

My dad and I drove downtown for the show. Once we were all settled in the studio, a random drawing was held to select 8 kids from the audience to serve as on-air panelists for the show's two games. This was shortly before air time. Classmates Gail, Bruce, Sharon and I were picked for the first half of the show. I don't think any of us had time to think about becoming nervous.

Sharon swept that day's first game, correctly identifying the real-life fireman after about ten minutes of interrogation by the four of us. Her prize was a ton of Thorny Bucks, funny money redeemable only at Thornbury's Toys. (This Baby Boomer currency must be very rare by now.)

Thornbury's Toys was owned by Jim Thornbury, a frequent, instantly recognizable guest on local kid TV during the '60s, who was known as Uncle Jim. Thornbury's closed in the early '90s.

In 2001, a Thornbury nephew opened a local, specialized toy store, dealing in high quality and educational toys. [end]
Other posts by the author of above, 'Smiley Derleth', can be viewed here. Included among his many posts are interesting photos, ads, and commentary about vintage toys and children's books.  Derleth, in related correspondence about this post, wrote further that "Thornbury's has a place in the heart of those of us who remember that we will carry with us all our lives." Thanks for sharing those lovely sentiments and your rare "Three's A Crowd" ephemera!

Schwinn Bicycles Were a Win for Thornbury's Toys

In 1956, Thornbury's made the move to Schwinn bicycles as more and more customers were requesting them.  This ad, circa 1968, features Trigger Tom as the salesperson and Uncle Jim's daughter and grandson showing off the new bike.

Thornbury's Toys Didn't Just Sell Bikes, They Repaired Them Too

That's a lot of bicycles to repair!  But Larry Rogers led a great team of service employees to always get the job done right and on time.  Larry ran the service department at Thornbury's Toys for many years. They assembled bicycles, repaired bicycles and wheel goods and also delivered them to your door, if requested.

Memories Found Online, Part 1: "My Thorny"

Found online here is a blog post written by a woman reminiscing about Thornbury's, including a Thorny stuffed animal, an appearance by Thorny at her birthday party, and more. Some excerpts:

Thorny was given to me before I turned a year old. Today my children play with him. Thorny is a monkey that brings back many memories when I look at him. When I was younger my Uncle ran a Toy Store known as Thornbury's Toys...My mom worked a couple of days a week in the office when I was between the ages of 2 and 9 years old. I can remember going there as a child and walking up and down the aisles of toys. I remember going to work with my mom some days...My sister worked at the store and she had a name badge made up for me. I would walk around with my name badge on and pretend that I worked in the store too. I would straighten up shelves and wait for some customer to ask me for help...I always thought it was so funny when we would drive past the store and the Thorny on his bike would be missing from the sign. People would steal him all of the time...It even got attention in the Courier Journal when he was taken. Usually he would turn up... Sure enough he would go right back up on that sign riding his bike...Today Thorny wears my old size 2T toy store shirt and jeans. His ears are starting to fall of and he is pretty ragged....but he is my Thorny. He is many fond and happy memories, and he reminds me to be thankful for the wonderful family that I have.

Another Uncle Jim Promotion-1964 Thorny Club

Cover of 1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book

You know all the characters on the Thorny Bucks pictured here, don't you?  On the bottom left, you have the one and only, Uncle Jim.  His $10.00 Thornybuck was worth a nickel.  Fireman Bill is on the $1.00 buck, Trigger Tom is on the $3.00 buck and Amy, the charming Queen of Toys out did them all on the $50.00 buck.

Thanks to Many Long Serving Employees, Thornbury's Toys Expanded

Here are some of the early employees of Thornbury's pictured at the Shelbyville Rd. store.  The young man on the right is Bill Muthler, then Helen Bowling, Trigger Tom Struck (center), Waneta Graven and Bob Larger.  Many of Thornbury's employees were family and Waneta was Uncle Jim's sister in law.  A good number of the fine sales people at Thornbury's remained with the company for many, many years.

Louisville Times Newspaper Article 1976 Featuring Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary

Below is a condensed version of a 1,300-word feature article that was published in The Louisville Times on December 20, 1976. The photo above accompanied the article.

Toys Make Millions for Thornbury Family…and That Isn’t Play Money

In the early 1950s, James G. Thornbury was a road-weary salesman, driving from town to town, trying to sell spices and extract to food stores...

Two sons and two daughters were growing up, taking part in various school activities, including sports. [On the road for days at a time,] Thornbury was seeing none of it. He was fed up.

In 1954, at age 38, he grabbed for something different -- and better. Partly by accident, he caught the brass ring.

Thornbury's Toys, Inc., this year expects sales of $4.2 million. Just as important, Thornbury was with his wife and children all those years, and still is.

The business is family owned and operated, one of the few independent toy retailers to survive in a fiercely competitive field dominated by chain stores.

The Thornbury business and family both have grown. There are 12 grandchildren, with another expected early next year. There are six stores, with another expected in the spring.

There are three stores in Louisville (two in St. Matthews and one on Dixie Highway) and three stores in Lexington, Ky. Another is to open in Pensacola, Fla., about Easter.

Longer-range plans call for a store in late 1978 in the planned Jefferson Mall at Preston Highway and Outer Loop, and still another in Nashville, Tenn., in 1979...

[At first] what [the Thornburys were] trying to operate was a small bicycle store...They set up shop at 117 Breckinridge Lane. The store had a 40-foot front. To make it appear well-stocked, Thornbury built a false wall halfway back, crowding the merchandise up front.

Thornbury showed from early records that sales some days were as low as $4. "If we sold a tricycle,” Mary said, "that made our day. We would really be excited."

Before long, shoppers began asking if Thornbury's also sold toys.

"We got lots of calls wanting the Betsy Wetsy doll," he recalled. As a former salesman, he soon realized he should have some Betsy Wetsy dolls.

Toy suppliers extended him limited credit. Thornbury moved the false wall back and put in toys.

Betsy Wetsy sold well. Then the hula hoop came along. Thornbury's false wall was all the way to the back, and he realized he needed a bigger store.

He moved to 4101 Shelbyville Road, in the heart of the city and visible to heavy traffic. That's still the main store. Sales there run as high as $30,000 a day, according to Thornbury...

While toys and hobbies now make up the bulk of sales, bicycles remain a prominent part of the business. Thornbury's, Inc. ranks in the top 10 in the nation in Schwinn bicycle sales and has been as high as fourth...

Thornbury said bikes have been good, but Mrs. Thornbury preferred to talk of the toys. She likes nothing better than the Barbie Doll. The Barbie Doll, along with accessories, has been the best-selling toy over the years, she said...Nothing fooled [Jim] Thornbury more. "It was the first doll with a bosom," he recalled. "I just didn't think the mothers would buy it."...

Stuff animals also continue to sell well, although a $900 elephant seems to have found a permanent home at the Shelbyville Road store. Marching Mickey, a Mickey Mouse that walks, is also big, along with Easy Bake Ovens and Rock'em Sock’em robots. Monopoly and backgammon continue to be popular games...

[After Christmas,] birthday shopping helps sustain the business throughout the year. Thornbury, a promoter at heart, has his stores send out 40,000 cards, each with a key to a birthday box containing a free gift.

Thornbury's also advertises, often claiming it has more toys than anyone except Santa. A monkey on a bicycle is the corporate symbol.

There are 150 employees in the stores now. Most know Thornbury as Uncle Jim...

Some customers complain his prices are higher than at other stores, but Thornbury insists his prices are competitive. He got into business in the pre-discount days, when toy prices were standard. Profit margins are much less. Thornbury readily admits that if he hadn't started when he did, he couldn't have made it. High volume is essential now.

Mom and Pop retain 51 per cent of the business. While it's a multimillion-dollar operation, they contend their lifestyle has changed very little...The Thornburys travel and both like to play golf, although neither claims to be adept at the game. They play at the Wildwood Country Club, where they are members. Both continue to work every day.

The remaining 49 per cent of the business is owned by five family members: two sons, Thom and Jerry; two sons-in-law, Tom R. Struck and C. Gary Campbell, and Thornbury's brother-in-law, Robert L. Noe. Each of the sons and Campbell has a store to manage. Struck is corporate general manager. A key figure, however, is Noe, who buys all the toys.

He goes to New York in February and buys toys largely on the basis of what he believes his eight children might like.

Another family member, Waneta Graven, a sister-in-law, is manager of the store in Oxmoor Center.

"We're one big happy family," said the head man. Thanks for his decision to give up selling spices and extract for bicycles and toys, it is also one big prosperous family. [END]

Uncle Jim - Always Smiling

  Uncle Jim proudly show off one of his hundreds of toys.

                                       

Uncle Ed Kallay Helped With the Guess Who? Show

Uncle Ed Kallay, a Louisville celebrity, works with the puppets on one of the Guess Who sets.

   

Thornbury's Toys Birthday Chest Excitement

This dapper looking birthday boy just opened the Birthday Chest with the key that he received in his birthday card from Thornbury's.  Trigger Tom chooses just the right gift for him.

Advertising and Promotions Were Uncle Jim's Specialty

Looks like this young lady just won a new Schwinn Bicycle in one of Thornbury's Toys give-ways.

Thornbury's Toys 4101 Shelbyville Rd. Louisville, KY, Late 1960s

The main store at 4101 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY, ca. 1969  

When Thornbury's Toys outgrew their original location at 117 Breckenridge Lane in St. Matthews, they moved to a brand new shopping area just a mile or so away at the busy corner of Shelbyville Road and Browns Lane. Toy sales quickly increased in the new store and so did the number of employees. There's Thorny the Monkey, Thornbury's famous mascot.

Image source: Royal Photo Company Collection, 1982.03, Photographic Archives, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Malls Eclipsed Freestanding Stores in Shopping Convenience

When Thornbury's was founded in 1954, there were no enclosed, climate-controlled shopping malls; the first one opened two years later in Minnesota. Between 1956 and 2005, "about 1,500 malls were built," though many have since faded away or are in the process of doing so. At various times, Thornbury's owned and operated stores located in Oxmoor Center (Louisville, KY), Turfland Mall and Fayette Mall (Lexington, KY), Jefferson Mall (Louisville), Bashford Manor Mall (Louisville), University Mall (Pensacola, FL), Bel Air Mall (Mobile, Al.), Edgewater Mall (Biloxi, MS), Beechmont Mall (Cincinnati, OH), and elsewhere.

Above is a photo of one of the Thornbury's mall stores, circa 1980. It's from PlaidStallions.com in the "Vintage Toy Store Pictures" section ("shot[s] of long lost toy and hobby retailers"). Its caption includes "A picture of a Thornberry's store in 1980 shows some toy classics from the 1970's sitting on the shelves, most noticeable the Shogun Warriors, Gabriel Lone Ranger and Mego World's Greatest Superheroes..."

Sales Personnel at Thornbury's Toys Knew Their Business

From "1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book containing Home-viewers Games on Guess Who! and Toys Sold by Thornbury's Toys"

The Guess Who? Show Advertisement from 1962

"Toy Sales SOAR" thanks to the Guess Who? Show.

This is the next part of the flyer advertising the Guess Who? show on WAVE-TV every Saturday morning.

And the last page that touts Thornbury's Toys sales increases in part to the popular TV show.

Color "Skateboarding Thorny" and Win a Toy

Thorny hanging ten!

Skateboarding was very popular back in the mid 1970s, not unlike today. Skateboards and skateboard accessories and gear were popular selling items and Thornbury's was the leading local skateboard retailer. We believe the image above was for a coloring contest, another one of Uncle Jim's promotional ideas.

Thornbury's participated in a variety of skateboard-related promotions and activities, including competitions and demonstrations. At least once a professional skateboarder from California, who appeared frequently in popular skateboarding magazines of the day, traveled to Kentucky on behalf of Thornbury's for various store appearances and performances. Competitions held in mall parking lots, like the one shown in the video here, were common too. The video depicts those scenes well but it's not one of the Thornbury's stores or malls. If you have any Thornbury's-skateboarding-related photos, videos, or merchandise (we recall a t-shirt with a color version of the above image), contact us as we'd like to publish it here. Keep on truckin'.

Thornbury's Toys and Liberty National Bank Worked Together

Liberty National Bank print ad, 1981

Thornbury's Toys grew very slowly in their first location at 117 Breckinridge Lane.  But the St. Matthews parents soon began to ask for more toys in addition to the bikes and wheel goods.  Mr. T. was listening to the requests and answered the need for the most  popular toys. In 1960, the store had turned enough profit to move into one of the most modern shopping centers in the Louisville area.  The shopping center, located at the intersection of Shelbyville Road and Browns Lane, included a Top Value Redemption Store, Riney's Bedding, Liberty National Bank and Thornbury's Toys.  Liberty National Bank and Thornbury's Toys developed a very strong working relationship that lasted for many, many years to come.  The new store with nearly 6000 sq. ft. of floor space increased sales dramatically and more successes were soon to follow.  Thank you Liberty National Bank for believing in us!

The above full-page ad for Liberty Bank appeared in a December 29, 1981, UK basketball program "Wildcat Tipoff: Kentucky vs. Notre Dame." The ad copy reads:

Fun & Games.
And the bank with an open mind.
One of Liberty's best success stories in commercial lending was a man who went into business for the fun of it - Jim Thornbury, president of Thornbury Toys.
Twenty-five years ago, Jim began with a small bicycle shop on Breckinridge Lane. Today, Thornbury's operates ten toy stores in five states.  And Jim will be the first to tell you - it happened because of hard work and one bank that said "yes." Liberty.
Keeping an open mind to businessmen like Jim Thornbury is one of the reason's we're so well known for commercial banking.
Liberty National Bank - We'll go along with you.

According to the Encyclopedia of Louisville by John E. Kleber, Liberty National Bank became Bank One Kentucky, NA, Louisville's oldest continuous financial institution, in 1995 after Bank One Corp. purchased Liberty National Bancorp in 1994.

Image source: University of Kentucky

The Key That Opened The Birthday Chest!

Look! It is the key that was mailed to thousands of kids on their birthday.  When the key was put in the lock on the Birthday Chest at Thornbury's Toys (below), it would open and the birthday boys and girls would get a little gift just for them.

Don't you wish you had the key?

Fireman Bill in Thornbury's Toys Blazer

Fireman Bill was really a fireman with the St. Matthews Fire Department.  He was a very talented artist and was one of Thornbury's long-standing and devoted employees. 

Fireman Bill Presents Three Great Toys

Fireman Bill is shown in this excerpt from "1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book containing Home-viewers Games on Guess Who! and Toys Sold by Thornbury's Toys". Note in the lower right-hand corner the "Fireman Bill Drawing Set - Play "Guess Who?" at home. Everything you need to draw and trace while your friends "Guess Who?""

The Guess Who Show Was a Local Favorite

This was the set up for the Guess Who show, which aired on WAVE-TV. The young contestants would watch Fireman Bill draw a cartoon character and as soon as they could identify the character, the child would  press the buzzer on their bike and the light would  go on.  They would then identify the character and accumulate points to win the prizes shown behind them.

A real person dressed up as Thorny the Monkey would pop out of the Thornbury's version of a "jack in the box". That's Fireman Bill with Uncle Ed Kallay who helped emcee the Guess Who show.

Uncle Jim is getting the contestants ready.

Popular Toys at Thornbury's

By the time Thornbury's Toys opened in 1954, Lionel trains had been around for 54 years, Tinker Toys for 40 years, Raggedy Ann for 39, Lincoln Logs for 38, Fisher-Price toys for 24, Monopoly for 21, View-Master for 15, Slinky for nine, Tonka vehicles for seven, Scrabble for six, Clue and Legos for five, and Matchbox cars and Mr. Potato Head for 2 years. Of course, all of these toys and games were still popular when Thornbury's opened its doors and they remained so for many years.

What were some of the most popular toys and games to follow? New arrivals on Thornbury's shelves included Play-Doh in 1955, Yahtzee in 1956, Hula Hoops in 1958, Barbie in 1959, Etch A Sketch in 1960, G.I. Joe in 1964, Twister in 1966, Hot Wheels in 1968, Nerf balls in 1969, Pong in 1974, Star Wars action figures in 1977, and Simon, one of the first electronic games, in 1978. The most popular toys and games Thornbury's stocked thereafter included Pac-Man, Rubik's Cube, Strawberry Shortcake, Masters of the Universe, Trivial Pursuit, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Game Boys.

Source: Kovels' American Collectibles 1900-2000 (2007)

Image sources: Lego, Barbie, Hot Wheels

Queen of Toys

Here is the Queen of Toys!  She is one of many characters that appear on Thorny Bucks. Do you remember them? If you spent $1.00 at Thornbury's Toys, you would receive 2 Thorny Bucks.  You could save them up and then buy a toy of your choice.  The store also would feature "Thorny Buck Specials" so your Thorny dollar would buy more.

Trigger Tom's Favorite Thorny Toys

Trigger Tom is shown in this excerpt from "1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book containing Home-viewers Games on Guess Who! and Toys Sold by Thornbury's Toys"

Rare Video of Thorny

Above is a short --and rare-- video of Thorny. It was uploaded in 2009 to Youtube by "snackcake68" and titled "Thorny the Chimp 1970" and captioned "Birthday party for Thorny the Chimp at the Louisville Zoo, 1970. Thorny was the mascot for Thornberry's Toy Store." Some of the comments posted thus far on Youtube in response to the video are below:

Loney John Hutchins 4 years ago

Hi..... I've been trying to find ANY pictures or video of any mall that had a Thornberriys. So many early childhood memories. A photo of a Barrel of Fun would be amazing as well.

Campbell Evans 3 years ago in reply to Loney John Hutchins

Absolutely. Most of my childhood toys came from Thornberry's in the Turfland Mall, Lexington, KY. You know there must be lots of photos taken of places like that but they haven't been sorted on the internet yet. I wonder if they ever will.

mrsniallhoran628 2 years ago

My great grandpa is actually the owner and founder of Thornburys Toys, we have lots of pictures.

coldbowlofchili 2 years agoin reply to mrsniallhoran628

WOW! I have a friend, Don Noe, who tells us the stories where he dressed up as thorny! could you possibly send some photos of him to me! that would be GREAT! His Uncle owned the store???

coldbowlofchili 2 years ago

WOW! Don Noe our friend used to dress up as thorny! begging for photos or video!

Thornbury's Toys Begins Selling Schwinn Bicycles in 1956

Jerry Thornbury, son of Uncle Jim Thornbury proudly displays a new Schwinn Bicycle.

According to the Schwinn Reporter, January 1958, Thornbury's sold 499 Schwinn bicycles (their first year of selling Schwinn bikes) and substantially more the next year.

Looking For A Model Kit?

Jack Handel as the hobby expert back in the day.

High Fashion

Uncle Jim models the" Thornbury's Toys Tot Tested"  high fashion blazer. (early 60's)

Do You Know The Secret Sign?

T stands for Thornbury's and Thornbury's stands for toys

Looks like that young man knows the secret sign.

Uncle Jim Talking With The Little Ones

Murray bicycles got Thornbury's started

Surprises for everyone on their birthday at Thornbury's Birthday Chest but you had to have a key!  Do you believe that over 10,000 children a year would receive a birthday card from Thornbury's?