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?""