Arthur’s Toys still a favorite Fresno memory, years after beloved store closed
Want a shot of nostalgia that will bring a smile to almost any longtime Fresnan’s face?
Say the words Arthur’s Toys.
The now defunct local toy shop was around for about six decades, with multiple locations across the city. Memories exist in the brains of so many Fresnans – of testing out a bike in the huge stores or saving pennies to buy that one longed-for toy.
It opened its first location in 1944 somewhere around what is now the third baseline at Chukchansi Park. The store would live on in some form until its closure in the early 2000s.
“There was no Toys “R” Us. There was no KB Toys store. Arthur’s was it. It was a big deal,” said Ray Ortiz, 50, executive director of the Rotary Club of Fresno.
Ortiz’ brother Victor managed several of the stores and Ray, 18 years younger, grew up tagging along in the 1980s, helping pick up trash and bringing home Star Wars action figures, Transformers and more.
“I think everybody that is my age or maybe a little bit older has some sort of memory in there,” he said. “Getting a Tonka truck to play in the dirt out in the backyard, I actually buried Chewbacca in the backyard and he’s still somewhere on my parent’s property. ... There’s a story everybody can tie to Arthur’s Toys in Fresno.”
More than just a toy store
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The store would have more than half a dozen locations in its lifetime. See the timeline included for exact locations and the video for what those spots look like now.
Arthur A. Arthur created the store back in the days when Fresno’s most famous Armenian writer, William Saroyan, would ride his bike around town. The pair would exchange hellos when Arthur was out sweeping his sidewalk, Arthur’s granddaughter, Monica Prinzing remembers him saying.
Prinzing now lives in Southern California, but the family has roots in Fresno. She called her grandfather — along with her grandmother Grace who was by his side every step of the way — a visionary.
“Just starting a toy store during the war years, not many people would probably try something like that,” Prinzing said.
The original location, at 915 Broadway St., had a 60-foot glass storefront with electric trains behind it that would run 24/7, and a sign in the shape of a fire engine. It’s long gone, of course, but some of the former Arthur’s buildings are still around.
The 30,000-square-foot Whitie’s Pets building near Blackstone and Barstow avenues was originally built for Arthur’s Toys,. It had a large clown face on the side (which Ortiz still blames for his fear of clowns today).
Opened in 1972, it was hailed as the largest independent toy store in the Valley, “probably the state.” The store had a ramp built along the back wall where customers could test out remote-controlled cars.
And many remember the store on Blackstone and Simpson avenues that Arthur opened in 1955. At the time, it was the edge of town and was close to empty.
“People thought, ‘Why are you going way out there?’” his granddaughter said. “He thought the city would develop that.”
Tony Imperatrice, a lifelong Fresnan, train enthusiast and musician, was a kid at the time.
“That was only a few blocks from my house, so as soon as I had a bike and could cross the street, I was either there or at Tom’s Trains,” which was another remnant of local retail history.
When he was old enough to ride the bus, Imperatrice, now 62, would go to Arthur’s near Blackstone and Barstow avenues, which sold Lionel electric toy trains.
“There was a track with all these beautiful trains running around,” he said. “As a kid, I could sit in there for hours.”
Children playing or just staring at displays was something Grace Arthur said she and her husband didn’t mind, her granddaughter recalled.
”It was also a place where youth could dream and play for hours,” Prinzing said. “Parents would drop off their kids.”
There were other places to buy toys at the time, such as Sears and Montgomery Ward. But if you were looking for a toy store, Arthur’s was it, Imperatrice said.
“It was kinda like Toys “R” Us in that it had everything under the sun. Unlike Toys “R” Us, it wasn’t a chain,” he said. “It was a staple of Fresno.”
A peek at history through a toy store
Arthur’s advertised several times a week in The Bee for decades. The ads and stories in its archives are not only a record of the business, but toy fads over the years and history itself.
In the 1940s, ads were full of Madam Alexander dolls and rollerskates that strapped onto kids’ shoes. View-Masters were heavily advertised in the 1950s, showing children images of faraway places such as the Taj Mahal or recounting Bible stories.
Sales of toy firearms plummeted after the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy by gunfire in 1968, though toy cap pistols started to make a comeback in 1970, a toy distributor told a Fresno Bee reporter at the time.
Just a year after the moon landing, sales of space toys — such as moon rockets and landing modules — were already waning, he said.
“Space toys are dead, but the hot wheel toys are very much alive,” he said. “So are guns, and cowboy and Indian things are bouncing back.”
After Bobby Fischer became the world chess champion in the “Match of the Century” in 1972, sales of chess sets at Arthur’s skyrocketed.
In 1973, Arthur’s advertised a “sensational” new game called Watergate. “Cheat! But don’t get caught,” the ad said.
In 1975, Arthur’s jumped on the resurging popularity of skateboarding, selling loads of them.
Star Wars action figures, Pac-Man games and Cabbage Patch dolls would follow.
Over the years, Arthur’s would take some unexpected turns to stay afloat. It added a sporting goods department to help ride out the summer months, when toys sales were slow.
It did family portraits and sold water skis, skin-diving air tanks, camping gear and fishing poles — along with firearms.
One ad in 1950 read “Shoot straight to Arthur’s” for shotguns, high-powered rifles, pistols, ammunition and hunting licenses.
The second owner, C. Ray Holmstrom, built a pool supply store across the street from the Blackstone and Simpson location. It burned down and shortly after, Arthur’s starting selling pools. By the 1970s, the store had a whole department, selling Doughboy above-ground pools, hot tubs and pool chemicals.
The store at Chestnut and Tulare, where the Asia Supermarket is now, was where all the outdoor merchandise was displayed, Ortiz recalled, including swing sets and pools.
“They’d pull out the swimming pools and they’d actually fill them up,” he said.
Arthur’s Toys faced many of the same challenges others businesses do. There was conflict with the city’s planning department over its 50-foot sign being too high. A burglar rappeled down through a skylight in 1946, getting away with $7. In 1957, Arthur’s lost a lawsuit after woman was injured by a 3-pound Snowflake saucer sled was accidentally dropped on her head by an employee. She was awarded $2,500.
Competition hit Arthur’s hard when Toys “R” Us and KB Toys came onto the scene, followed by big players such as Walmart and Amazon.
It limped along at the end, a shell of its former self with last-gasp locations near Ashlan and Cedar and First Street and McKinley Avenue before closing for good in the early 2000s.
Today, even the big Toys “R” Us stores are gone. The closest thing to an Arthur’s in Fresno is the locally owned Professor Toy in Villaggio at Nees and Blackstone avenues.
Imperatrice, the kid who used to ride his bike to stare at trains, said he understands the need to save 5 or 10 bucks by buying a toy on Amazon. But he can’t help but think of how things could be different.
“I wish that as a society we had more emphasis on local businesses and weren’t so hungry to get the cheapest possible deal on everything. ... I think our economy would benefit from shopping at a local business, and if we did that, maybe places like Arthur’s Toys would still be around.”
Timeline
1944 Arthur’s Toys is founded in 1944 at 915 Broadway St., on what is now somewhere along the third baseline of Chukchansi Park.
1950 The store expands with a 60-foot storefront, complete with trains running inside its glass front and a fire engine sign.
1955 A new Arthur’s Toys is opened at the corner of Blackstone and Simpson avenues, south of Shields Avenue. It’s now The Arthur affordable apartments.
1960 Now on its third owners, the company files for bankruptcy and the downtown store is closed. The second owner of the company buys back the assets and reopens the Blackstone store.
1970 A newly constructed 30,000-square-foot Arthur’s Toys opens at 5215 N. Blackstone Ave. in what is now Whitie’s Pets, joining an existing Kmart and Safeway in the shopping center. The store at Blackstone and Simpson avenues spot closes.
1972 Arthur’s owner Al Ormsbee buys Cameron’s Toy Store at 1254 Fulton Mall and changes the name to Arthur’s Toys.
1979 The Chestnut and Tulare store opens in a former Safeway supermarket. It’s now Asia Supermarket.
1982 Woody Bryant, who once starred in his own children’s TV show and owned three Woody’s Toy Circus stores, buys Arthur’s Toys.
1986 The Fulton Mall store announces it will close, citing weak foot traffic on the north end of the mall.
1990 Arthur’s Toys survives an involuntary bankruptcy petition forced on the company by creditors Fisher Price, Hasbro and Parker Bros. Woody’s Toy Circus stores in Bakersfield, Santa Maria and Palmdale liquidate as part of the settlement.
1991 The store near Blackstone and Barstow avenues closes.
1995 Arthur’s new owners, New West Toys of Newport, closes the Tulare and Chestnut store and move it to the 4125 E. Shields Ave. at Cedar Avenue, at what is now the AMVETS Thrift Store. The manager cites crime and the northward movement of its customers.
Early 2000s What remained of Arthur’s, including the name Arthur’s Toys & Pools, is briefly located at Cedar and Ashlan avenues, and then later at the Mayfair shopping center at First Street and McKinley Avenue.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
