Spencer Gifts: 71 Years Of Novelties & Gags | Retail Archaeology

[@RetailArchaeology]

Do you have any memories of Spencer Gifts? I'd love to hear about them. Also, just a quick reminder that Retail Archaeology and Rotting Acres Mall apparel and merchandise is now available: teespring.com/stores/retail-archaeology Lastly for more info on this episode's music visit: bodyendtag.bandcamp.com

[@RickSFfan]

In the 70s, the stores were darker and the adult section much smaller. They had board games and puzzles. It was considered a stoner's store more than an adult toy store.

[@pika23]

Yes the one at seaview mall had these rubber boobs... I said to my grandma when I was 9, maybe at Christmas they'll have Santa hats on them, and they did!

[@pika23]

Justzizguy my mom called it a head shop. That's what east meets west ended up being. That might've been a NJ chain though. It reeked of patchouli and sold dead head shirts and sand candles

[@bryanzambrano6859]

I think I went to the 2nd location around the year 2010 when I lived back in Arizona. I believe that was the first time I've ever been to a Spencer's store before.

[@sanichuuu]

I bought a voltron shot glass at Spencer’s! It has been my go to shot glass for conventions!

[@TheOneFreeMan77]

I feel like Spencer's is where the hot topic kids moved to after reaching puberty. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, except it's a greasy emo kid turning into a greaser emo teenager.

[@coydog7902]

Or some extreme masterbater

[@AKayfabe]

really? because I shopped at Hot Topic well into my 30s. Until all the metal stuff changed into crappy new bands items. And Torrid owned by Hot Tppic, is their plus size store and not as punk but defiantely stylish and I dont care that I am 42, I buy most of my clothing there because it all fits all the time, if I buy a size 2 itll fit, if a shirt is size 3 I know it will always be nice and flowy and big on me like I like my shirts. In other stores sizing sucks especially plus size stuff, its never the same size, never cut right. Torrid fits and I can shop in store or online and sizing across the board will fit me. at Hot Topic every damn thing is made for anorexic girls. The person who owns the Minneapolis/Bloomington Hot Topic is a larger women who probably weighs 300 pounds and stands almost 5'10 and she could not wear a thing from her own store and that is quite telling actually. No one is thin anymore or if you are you are in the minority nowdays. If these clothing shops all started selling and catering to larger women, taller people and very short people like I am who still have large curves and larger chest sizes and NOT petite sized, these places could make it. In every small town folks complain theres no plus size stores that are stylish, its all cheap crap.Also novelty shops like spencers are popular in smaller towns, they are just in the incorrect location. For example in Hibbing MN, a town of around 17k people, theres a store called the T Shirt Factory and used to be a shop called the ODD shop, and both had a lot of business but neither were in the mall location. The Spencers never even opened at that mall because people did not buy at the mall that kind of item. There was a store called Treasure House or something too in the late 90s that sold similar to Spencers items and it failed because it was in the mall, while other novelty places stayed active that were never at the mall but rather stand alone places downtown.

[@maricampari3970]

More like hot topic stole half of Spencer's potential customers.

[@maricampari3970]

@@AKayfabe you're a fat cow. Sincerely, from a fattie that hated hot topic because she was too fat. Torrid is cool but don't try to get comfortable. You're fat. They use fat people as a way to make extra money. If they don't have your size they don't want you in the store. Sad trend but true. I remember HT the men's clothes turning to cuckboi soy sizes and I couldn't wear anything in HT after the emo skinny jeans trend surged. I would get fat pants, Tripp and JNCO when they were there.

[@ahhwe-any7434]

Um no. I remember getting a korn shirt from hot topic in hs. I was small & I had to be 110 at my heaviest, 5'1, & still chesty. Teen yrs are awkward. They said I stuffed my bra, so I went through a phase of wearing baggy things. But I was going to a korn concert, & I really wanted the shirt. It's not like it didn't fit, it was just small. Put it in the dryer later, & it was pretty much a belly shirt, at that point. Like I said, I was already small to begin with. That shit became even smaller, even for me. Maybe, just maybe it was the quality. Stop being so damn rude & unnecessary. Although, I've never really bothered to look at any super plus sizes tbh. It's just don't say sh to the consumer if your merch isnt at its highest quality. What a cop out.

[@Jordi_Plays]

Thats a brightly lit spencers! The one in my local mall is dimly lit and the walls are all black.

[@AKayfabe]

the Sepncers at Mall of America is that way too. Dark, very crowded space where you can hardly navigate through the merch without knocking into displays and others. The stuff is packed into a tiny retail spot, sandwiched between a Mirror Maze place and the food area. And there no room in there. It has dark walls on top of not much lighting, and maybe they are trying to be trendy doing it, but instead it makes it harder to see everything. IN recent years the Hot Topic has lightened things up with better lighting, but Spencers has stayed rather dark inside.

[@JAS0N_M00RE]

Same for the one close to me

[@Truly_Rania]

Ikr also the one in south Florida sawgrass mall

[@c-dogg9188]

Spencer's outlived Toys R Us!

[@LouisSubearth]

c-dogg91 Toys R'Us is still open in Canada and some Asian countries.

[@BoratWanksta]

Sigh to think about Toys R Us. If it wasn't for a private equity company buying out TRU and ruining that company via loading them up with debt, I suspect they'd still be open now and not had recently finished liquidating as of June. :(

[@Fingerling2012]

@@BoratWanksta toys r us was way better in the 80s and 90s

[@VanessaHilton]

We can Thank the Vibrators in the back of Spencer's for that😘

[@jeepguy95]

We have a Spencer in our mall, but unfortunately it's gone to the new look with the "Graffiti" garage door and brick storefront.

[@Retardbelial]

Vincent D it’s fucking terrible

[@aprilhdunmoyer]

Vincent D same here

[@RhettyforHistory]

I had no idea Spencer's was so old. I sure spent a lot of time in there drooling over the posters in the far back.

[@tentavamp]

You know... a lot of us have our differences, but if there's one thing we all share, it's memories of going into Spencers as kids and laughing at the dicks until the staff chased us out.

[@Hb2N]

lucarionme facts

[@trentrock3210]

Me and two friends were around sixteen back in 1977 or 78 and were laughing at the sex joke stuff and got fussed at and kicked out by a college girl cashier.

[@METALMAN4Wii]

Its Hot Topic for people that aren't Goth Basically and with some sex toys.

[@PixelatedH2O]

Hot Topic seems more hipster/millenial than goth to me these days. Back in the early 2000s though it was very goth.

[@sexhaie]

it's Hot Topic for rebellious Boomers/Gen-X-er's that want to look and stay "cool and hip and edgy like today's kids" or want to "stick it to today's youth of sensitive SJW's and soyboys and tumblr feminist!" you know, a store for retards and basic bitch old people.

[@yviscariello5755]

Can’t say I agree since Hot Topic is a clothing store and Spencer’s isn’t.

[@oxyrisin]

Hot Topic is a clothing store. Spencer’s sells novelties gifts. Like, they’re not even in the same product market.

[@ResidentEvilBiohazard]

Hot Topic is pop culture now. Hasn't been goth since about 2005.

[@annabbott1963]

Got a hot pink lava lamp from Spencer's in '93. It still works!

[@AlfredHawthornBennyHill]

I worked for Spencers in the same mall twice both in 1999 and again in 2009. It wasn't a bad job, but it got old quick. The worst part about it was kids trying to steal key chains of all things, snobby, yappy, hyper teenie boppers who always have to mess up the clothes and the super annoying people who have to constanly play with the new extremely annoying toy and think it's OH SO FUNNY. There was one that was a set of womens breats the moved up and down to the song "thank god for titties and beer." I wanted to smash it and the hands of the next person that touched it. I hated that damn thing.

[@firefighters540]

So will you be working for Spencers again next year?

[@AlfredHawthornBennyHill]

No way. I don't work anymore.

[@firefighters540]

Dang, the only reason I said that was because you worked in 1999 and 2009 there, so it would only carry out a tradition of working there on the last year of the decade,

[@AlfredHawthornBennyHill]

It was just a coincidence that those years happened.

[@ShiniAme]

God I'll tell ya. I've worked at a Spencers for the last 3 and a half years and it always bewilders me that we're still so busy. You're in a core store, you can tell by the shelving! They're the smaller stores at low volume! I work in a huge D1 store at one of the busiest malls in the state and it's fucking insane. Sex toys and lingerie are a huge part of our business (and they're all decent quality toys for the prices) but its definitely a novelty to most people. We leave it out cuz it draws people in lmao

[@wh4teley]

High school class of 2002 here.My friends and I were the weird outcast kids who listened to Marilyn Manson and Rammstein so Spencer's and Hot Topic were practically a religious site for us.

[@TheEddieJ1984]

Class of 2002 here too! I liked metallica and such, but always would go to Spencers and Hot Topic. the few times I am in a mall now, I still pop in them for old times lol.

[@marcosorduno9203]

Like south park

[@texasborn2720]

I remember as a kid back in the 70's and as a young 80's teen. I swore when I was grown up. I would make my room like the back of Spencer's. I LOVED it ! Neon everything, black walls, Lava lamp the whole bit. Now I am almost 50. None of that ever happened. lol

[@mangopod01]

I remember I was 12 and I went into Spencer’s with my dad. I walked towards the back and one of the workers there stopped me from going back there lol.

[@HANSIHANZEN]

I would love to share a memory! Back in the mid 80's, during the summer, my Gram would take me to the mall for something to do that was air conditioned (florida summers-hot!!) I was probably around 7 or so, but anyways, I had a fascination with those mylar baloons that seemed to last for weeks. I loved them! So every time we walked by the Spencer's, they had a big shiny mylar balloon boquet that caught my eye at their enterence. I never asked for much as a kid, but I had to have one of those balloons. Gram kinda ignored me on this particular day when i finally asked if i could get one. I wasn't leaving without one of those balloons. So i remember throwing a tantrum on the mall floor, crying for just one balloon-in this case-it was a Pac man balloon. She finally gave in, and we went into the store. Now i think i know why she tried to ignore me. She was embarrased to have to go into the store, #1, and #2-she didnt want me to see what else they were selling inside!!!! I loved those summer mall trips-great memories! Spencer's was so much fun, into my tween years. I never laughed so much inside a store. I'm sure we were kinda annoying as kids, but the prank joke section of the store was great! I remember buying the fake poo and the fake ice cubes with the flies in them, and then tormenting parents and grandparents. Haha!

[@clangston3]

I bought my wife (I think she was my gf at the time) a green 10" vibrating "back massager" at Spencers. That was well over 14 years ago but I can still remember the look of utter shock on that cashier's face when he looked at her and then looked down and realized what he was ringing up. I tried so hard to keep a straight face while she turned 7 shades of red. On another note, one of the malls you covered awhile back, the Foothills Mall in Tucson, has a new owner. He says he wants to make changes to revitalize that mall back to where it was 5 or 6 years ago.

[@KaedeSmithOfTheKiller7]

I used to work at Spencer Gifts in the late 2000s. The one I worked for had the same sort of layout and displays as the second Spencer Gifts at 9:14. It seems like they're still selling all of the same things that they sold when I worked there. I'm surprised that all the locations haven't been changed over yet, the one that I used to work for changed in 2013.

[@joeybuddy6]

Spencer's was my first job! I worked there from 2004-2008. My sister worked there in the late 90s-early 2000s. To my knowledge, we only had one DAPY store in the metro Detroit area around that time st Somerset mall, and they sold WAY higher end product than you'd find in a Spencer's, but still niche stuff. Like a $500 Corvette couch. I also worked in a store that transitioned from the style at the beginning of the video to "Design1" concept on the 05 website. Our store picked up over 100,000 in the first year we remodeled and moved locations in the mall. It was wild

[@GooberFace32]

20-30 years ago if there was no adult bookstore in your neck of the woods, Spencer's was the only place to go to find such things.

[@JNoMooreNumbers]

In the 80s, remember more black lights, lava lamps, disco balls and lights. Less shirts, more games, edible underwear, whoopie cushions, bongs, pretty much the same. Also bought a fake leg and put in my bosses desk and pranked others with it.🤣

[@emo_panda]

The Spencers here at my local mall still hast the old "Spencer's Gifts" logo, and in the back near the lighting section it has the black galaxy wall print with the neon lights up on the wall. It looks just like it did when I was a little kid and it always makes me feel nostalgic.

[@williammckinley1035]

Every Spencers I've gone in was always crowded, but strangely enough, I never really saw anyone buy anything. I think everyone went in there just to laugh n giggle and just be amazed at the unusual things that they carry.

[@AdvisoryCookie]

This is just my opinion but, Spencer's in the early 2002s to 2013 was way better, the party light section was much better, with more stuff then just a few things, and over 30 plus lava lamps, just my opinion though.

[@andrewr7982]

what happen in 2014?

[@jimmymelendez1836]

*2000's

[@Fingerling2012]

You're right, Spencer's back in the day was way better, the novelties they used to have either you cant find at all anymore or are rare and expensive as fuck

[@jackrabbitslim114]

They used to be owned by universal. They switched owners around that time I believe.

[@Lurker1979]

Spencers is what I remember back then. Just makes me feel old!

[@aprilhdunmoyer]

Lurker1979 √

[@StinkyBlack1]

spencers used to be more adult. not just adult themed but they had higher end stuff, fancy fantasy sculptures etc. now its cheap lava lamps and hot topic style kids clutter.

[@oblongfan1]

Ivan The Dude what are you talking about. It’s gotten way more adult than it used to be. They have condoms sellling right where the cash registers are. I work there currently

[@DoctaCaffeine]

i remember being embarrased looking around there with my family when i was like 14. i got a cool pair of jaws shark themed socks tho

[@toospooked4594]

I got beetlejuice themed socks!!!

[@jensenbell]

Shout out to Spencer Gifts in the Glendale (CA) Galleria Mall in the late 70s & 80s... that led infinity mirror... the stoner stuff... and mom not letting me go in.

[@marisam9803]

I love the old 70s-80s era Spencers Gifts signage. When they changed it in the 90s, it was lame.

[@904czv4]

Lol, I’m surprised KZbin didn’t ding you for showing ‘pleasure’ items! 😆

[@panth753]

That was my first thought. The youtube ai is not kind.

[@cmdraftbrn]

give it a day

[@slymancollector4157]

I miss the wall of masks they used to have in the late 90s and early 00s around Halloween.

[@seanc.9859]

Love this! Im in AZ and grew up going to the same malls around the valley and even worked in a lot of them too! Spencers is the dinosaur of every mall and always seems to be the last hold-out when a mall is dying. Malls and brands go through big changes but they stay stuck in a 90's time capsule!

[@Rockamolie]

When I was younger me and my friends went to Spencer's thinking it was like hot topic and our emo friend was like don't go to the back but one of us actually did cuz she didn't hear her well she got the shock of her life Lol.

[@Slam_Tazmanian]

I remember I used to love to go to Spencer's when they used to sell horror action figures like the movie maniacs and neca's cinema of fear line

[@stephiiiless]

That Spencer's has light!?! What!? Every Spencer's I've been into has been pitch black with a few crazy lights. I love going into Spencer's for tee shirts lol.

[@SOCIALMEDIAFAMOUS2025]

I remember always going into Spencer’s but never buying anything. We always got a good laugh looking at the Birthday cards. Great video keep up the good work!

[@zyber9]

Spencer's is the only store that can keep a dead mall alive!

[@c-dogg9188]

zyber9 GNC would like a word with you :)

[@zyber9]

I stand corrected.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Looks like the old adage of Sex, and Drugs still works lol!

[@klbittick]

My mother says she remembers seeing bongs and stuff in there in the 70s. She said it used to be a total head shop back before the war on drugs.

[@dracyoola875]

Whaaaat all these years of going to Cherry Hill Mall, since I was a kid, and I never knew THAT Spencer's was the first retail location? Consider my mind BLOWN. XD

[@nicholasc.3928]

There's one in Racine Wisconsin that I absolutely love that has the even older 80s style logo!

[@toonman361]

I worked at a Spencer Gifts in Alexandria, LA in 1979. The adult themed merchandise wasn't as "in your face" as the bongs and drug stuff. For instance, I remember the vibrators were labeled as "muscle massagers." Back then, the best selling poster was Farrah Fawcett in a skimpy bathing suit (with nips) and lots of black light posters. The employees were directed to only approach a customer if they stopped to look at a particular item. The idea not to direct the customer but tell them more about the items they were already looking at in hopes of a sale. A unique feature of the store was the back corner which was in the dark. Every once in a while, an employee would sit in a booth that overlooked the drug paraphernalia/black light area watching for shoplifters. The store music played on a Pioneer 8-track player. After about a year, my hours were severely reduced and I quit. The store manager was eventually busted for stealing. Glad I was outta there!

[@ThatLoudCockatoo]

My only experience with Spencers is when my friend wanted to buy a vibrator from one but was too scares to do it herself because she wasn't 18 yet. So she made me come with her to buy it for her because she was so paranoid they'd ID her. She picked it out, and I took it to the counter with the money she'd given me outside the store. She was red as a beet and I was completely emotionless-- they didn't even card me (do they ever even card people there?). The one and only time I've been in a Spencers.

[@aprilhdunmoyer]

Ara Fenrir lmao

[@kaiserpuppydog7174]

Was it everything she hoped it would be?

[@ThatLoudCockatoo]

Kaiser Puppydog I think it broke after like a week or two. It was also loud af.

[@patrickneary8446]

You are a good friend.

[@Squatta]

I went to buy a vibrator with a friend at a Spencers and they carded both of us. Not sure when you went, but this was like, almost 10 years ago for me lol

[@jeremyshek4977]

man theyve had retail locations since the late 60s and you could only bother to pull up one photos from the 2000's, i did half a minute of googling and found a photo of a spencers from the 70s. this was more you walking around a spencers yapping then a deep dive.

[@nicksullivan4994]

I saw a Spencer’s Gifts store in an episode of The Goldbergs on Nick at Nite!

[@zinstone7286]

my dad would love going into spensers when i was a kid, however he never let me go to the back of the store. still avoid it out of conditioning without even realizing it.

[@MartinKronstrom]

My autistic side flares up in a store like this. It's a total chaos of colors, shapes, sounds, strong perfumes, shiny texture trying to catch your attention. Merchandise blocking the way in non-standard shelves.

[@aaronnelson7702]

I remember going in on a school trip around, 93-94, and they sold commercially made hits of extasy. Had a cool package that made the tab look like it was floating in air. A bunch of schoolmates and I saw them, had no idea what it was... We thought it was just really expensive candy, $39.99.. We were at the counter, gonna buy them, but our teacher came in and freaked out. We had to leave.

[@ahhwe-any7434]

I remember a time when ppl actually had to use their imagination. Now, all you hafta do I search the web. So yeah, I'd rather handle things on my own... K thx

[@ASnuggleBuggy]

I worked for Spencer's in late 90s. I remember some young squids getting reprimanded outside my store for wearing the uniforms inside our store. I remember one super slow day we had a vibrator race. Was a long time ago. Omg the Kiss dolls if anyone remembers those.. holy smokes were the Kiss fans high maintenance... *shutter* Also poor Metro Center Mall .. home of Bill and Ted. Poor thing died so slowly.

[@kaiserpuppydog7174]

My favorite gift from Spencer's was a little sweater knitted in the shape of my twig & berries to keep them warm during those cold midwest winters...

[@bikecards52]

My best friend and I would hang out at Spencer's at Fiesta Mall (RIP) back in the early 90s.. my friend loved that store so much he actually wrote a series in high school about us buying an expired love potion from the back of Spencer's that went horribly wrong... great times!

[@NekoCielRyuzaki]

currently working at spencer's. crazy to see some of the same shirts/items still being sold till this day. hell, even the signage is the same! best damned job i've ever had. (':

[@theclawless1225]

I’ve never been inside a Spencer’s except for once when I was 7 y/o my FREAKING mother went in to see if they had Pokémon shirts. I told her I didn’t wanna go in. I was five and even then I knew what was up but she still dragged my ass in there. WTF mom? So now, even though I’m old enough to buy whatever, I can’t go I’m because I’ll just cringe.

[@beebfajeejy]

the funny thing is now they do have pokemon shirts

[@bootlegfoodreview]

Dapy was their higher end brand that carried a lot of the same stuff but also carried expensive items like large neon signs / artwork, statues, autographed memorabilia etc. I remember there being one on Universal City Walk. “Glow” was another concept store that launched in the late 90’s at the height of the black light / glow in the dark fad. Very few of them existed. Upon entry you would be greeted by a darkened store that was lit with blacklights that featured an expanded product assortment that was basically all the products from the “glow wall” in standard Spencer stores multiplied 10x over.Its amazing that the locations in your area have maintained that late 90’s look. I remember when that store design was being rolled out back in 97-99 right around the time of the Vivendi-Universal acquisition. Before that “fresh” look the store still had the classic neon “grid” signage and was Modeled closer to a head shop than a Hot Topic. In regards to adult items, the laws varied county by county. Our store was not allowed to sell vibrators but could sell everything else. Other stores weren’t allowed to sell much of anything else due to local ordinances. It was my first ever job and while the pay was absolute crap, I had the funnest time of my life working there.

[@fightrudyfight5799]

You got me into the group thank you! I’ve always loved Vaporwave/ Synthwave and loved the group.

[@scottonasch8819]

Ah, this was fun. I haven't been to a Spencer's in years and would have to look and see where there even is one, but growing up they were in pretty much every mall and no trip was complete without it. My "heyday" was in the 70s and 80s, and I always liked looking through the poster displays on those flippy things and all the unusual stuff. The so-called adult stuff was usually in a section toward the back of the store. Blacklights and those flickery lights and things were big back then, and it's kind of fun to see a little of that still around. Now I want to find one! LOL

[@night_owl_sadness]

Once about 10 years ago or so I went into a Spencers, and they had a box of brownies that said just add herb, and it was $10.00 for a box of brownies. I was like, why can't I just buy a box of Betty Crocker's and make my own weed brownies.

[@ToeTag9899]

Great video! I remember getting a Pantera and White Zombie T-shirt at Spencer's in the late 90's.

[@jameslebeau7078]

My fondest memories of Spencer's involve me and my friends going there after school to shoplift.

[@shayrynclark5218]

My niece literally reminds me of me she goes into that store anytime she goes to the mall and I still do that I love Spencer's 😂😂😂

[@hawktalon7890]

Never been inside one of these. Surprised to find out that it's basically a Hot Topic without the faux-goth theming.

[@jimmyquick7115]

Worked at Spencers as a manager in Miami,Florida for 3 years, left cause I was battling cancer, but honestly, the funnest job I have ever had still to this day, loved working there, every bit of upper management couldn't be any nicer and cooler,miss that job, 2011- 2014

[@marksmadhousemetaphysicalm2938]

I got my college dorm posters from them in the early 90s...😂😂😂😂😂

[@qckndrty1]

Haha the banner says Santa's back and now he's nasty. The shirtless santa says screw milk and cookies lol

[@ebayerr]

I remember going to Spencers in the 70's and 80's and they used to have black light posters and black lights and lots of artwork from Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo

[@random_emo_kid3227]

As a kid my dad would go In There and my mom be like you can’t go in their and now I completely understand

[@robheckman3773]

I remember the Spencer's in the Concord Mall in North Wilmington, De. In the the 70's and 80's the store was very dark inside mostly lit with blacklights. I brought one of my favorite all-time t-shirts there. The big yellow smiley face with a bullet hole in the forhead and blood coming out of it. Good times.

[@PsychKyle]

I'm a Spencer's (sadly not Spencer Gift's, although its the same thing) worker and I was not aware that case where local authorities raided their local Spencer Gifts, had the company end up winning the case. I had only heard of it occurring, not the aftermath. This video is very intriguing, thank you.

[@crazy8skml]

I have plenty of memories of Spencer Gifts, I used to work there in 95-96. The “adult” products were not sold at my location until many years later. Having to clean up “love lotions” off the floor was the worst! These stores are definitely different from when I worked there, at least my old work location.

[@MrBrett1963]

Used to love taking my daughter to this store back when she was in high school - and even sneaking in an action figure for myself every now and again. Great memories.

[@s0nnyburnett]

Bought most of my Resident Evil action figures from spencers. Still have the box and receipt, is it too late to bring them back?

[@FigburyWitchASMR]

Your videos rock!! I always learn something new from them.

[@ohmyboo97]

I work at Hot Topic, and something that honestly surprised me is how often people get us and Spencer's mixed up. Sure, there's some stuff that's similar, but the stores don't even look the same. and I feel that HT at least is for all ages. One lady shopping with her kids pulled me aside and asked if we sell "anything sexual?" like no, there's literal children in here, we're not Spencer's. SHE HAD HER OWN CHILDREN WITH HER TOO XD LIKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

[@magneto44]

haha, people are weird

[@ahhwe-any7434]

It's the band tees. Also, it's a good place to open up awkward topics :/. I mean, did you get a life manual? Bc I sure as hell didn't. Come to think of it, would I be cringe if I sent my kid the cartoon of the you know what things doing you know what 🤔 My kid got her nose pierced at her gmas at 12. Her friend dyes her hair different colors by herself. No one's complaining...

[@eoz182]

They had Spencers here in the UK for a brief time in the mid 2000s, there was one where I live in Liverpool. I specifically remember it had a Chucky doll in the window 😅

[@discountedalmonds]

When you said "Prescott Gateway Mall in Prescott, Arizona", I had to hear it again for I live very near the mall. Crazy.

[@donaldlosel9769]

I grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo NY during the '80s and '90s. There was a mall called the Boulevard Mall right on Niagara Falls Blvd., on the border between 2 suburbs (Amherst & Town of Tonawanda). I had been going to that mall since the late '80s, & when I started high school in '92, I would often walk to the mall after school since the mall was easy walking distance. 1 store I loved there (amongst others) was Spencer Gifts, mostly because of the posters, decorative lighting, and other oddball stuff that they sold. I ended up buying several posters, a black light bar, an electric storm globe, a florescent multicolored candle shaped like 3 mushrooms (had that under the black light), a palm sized skull made of clay & pained rock gray, & some sort of do rag with velcro on it. I spent many hours in tat store and the mall as a whole (loved Waldenbooks, Babbages, K*B Toys, Radioshack, the music store [I forget the name now], and a few others)

[@watercolourferns]

I adored Spencer's whenever I went to the US... Spender's and Hot Topic. I miss them so much... I mean I'm 33, but there's a lot of things in there that fit my aesthetics. XD

[@GeekFilter]

I think the company I worked for did some of that first Spencer's site!

[@NexusGas]

Sometimes when I see certain imagery in these videos my brain feels like it's literally being tugged, back to many years ago, it's such an odd disoreintating feeling, yet pleasant at the same time.

Whoa! The horrific memories of actually working for Spencer Gifts/Spirit. Sure, there's cool scag accompanied with cheap costumes and gag gifts, but the workers who stock and replenish those stores are worked like mules. Because Halloween is Spencer's Christmas, I feel for those guys and gals slumming away in the warehouses, filling store orders under the threat of termination; 90% are temps. I burned me out so bad, I can't shop there anymore.

[@chef-mumbles1970]

I am from the UK 🇬🇧 and only know Spencer gifts from the TV show the goldbergs happy to know it a real shop and still going

[@corstiger8704]

The store in Sikes Senter Mall in Wichita Falls is similar to the first store you filmed. Last visit I made I bought a sweet novelty Mighty Morphin Power Rangers blanket and that was only a few weeks ago.

[@courtnelee_]

Also I remember when I was younger, I was always told you had to be 18 or older to enter. Also! I went in one when I was about 12/13 & got kicked out because I was too young.

[@AriKona]

I remember going to Spencer's in the early 1970's in Southdale Mall, located in a suburb of Minneapolis: Edina, MN. I like the back of the store, where the more risque stuff was. And then, when I moved to Phoenix in 1977, there were several here in malls that have been abandoned/destroyed (Thomas, Los Arcos, TriCity) or are meeting their demise (Fiesta, Superstition Springs) as I write this.

[@marcap9757]

I loved going to Spencers when I was little back in 2001-2003 (4-6 yrs old). I loved looking at the plasma balls, disco balls, lava lamps, and I remember a neon Marilyn Monroe wall lamp in the back that I would always look at when I was there. I would get nervous looking at the sex merch. When Spencers closed, Hot Topic was my new fave place. Also, my Spencers still had the sign from the 70's/80's then.

[@willwalker7207]

The friend eating the edible panties part still gets me every time 😂

[@nole8923]

I think the Barefoot Mailman in Dadeland mall in Miami might have been a copycat of Spencer’s, but it was actually better than Spencer’s and had a cooler name.

[@weatheronthe8s895]

I’m pretty sure mine still has that logo. I think mine is darker on the inside but I hardly ever go in there so I am not 100% sure. I had no idea that there existed Spencer's stores with a different logo. I remember getting a black light from there one time.

[@jcp012000]

I have to say I am really getting hooked to this channel. I was kind of ambivalent at the beginning but you are thorough in your footage and its cool to see the different malls and retail spaces. All I can say now is keep it up!

[@WalkingRoscoe]

Great intro and duration music. Goes along perfectly with your documentary.

[@Idelia412]

When a class at a military school had a graduation, several people along with myself bought gag gifts for everyone. We had a one guy that was a newly wed. I picked out a flavored lube gift for him. His wife came to the party and cracked up by the gift. He turned three shades of red and was uncomfortable but got over it finally with a laugh! LOL

[@reeses_unicorn]

I've been going to Spencer's, since I was about eight years old (2003). There were these bunny pillows I really wanted and I'd point them out to my mom and dad. I don't remember them saying anything, though. Years later, I found out they were Playboy pillows. xD For reference, I knew nothing about sexual stuff, at the time. I just thought they were really cute.

[@windsonma8209]

Wow that's insane as I've always been under the impression that Spencer's only started in the the 90's More Specifically 95? Turns Out Spencer's is a lot older than I though. But Anyways the Two Spencer's that you've shown in this video looked a lot more lit then the only one that have access to. But anyways again the Spencer that I have access to seems to sell or at least used to since I haven't been in there in years. Mostly due to a lack of Desire for some reason seemed to sell a little more than Novelties as I've seen them selling a Certain Kind of Poll there. As you could imagine my reaction walking in to that place for the first time? As I didn't think they are allowed to sell that sort of stuff in Malls but yet Spencer does. And for the first couple of trips I just went on there for Laughs then I Bought a Great Leather Corset in there again just for Laughs at first. But it seems and feels that the last time that I went in there which was back in 2012/2013 ish they don't have that kinds of stuff for sale anymore. Which was the last time that I was in a Spencer.

[@ReapersRapture]

I live an hour from Prescott. That mall makes me sad. So much has closed. Even the anchor stores are failing. The rest of town and even Prescott Valley are growing.

[@SilverGemini]

The second Spencers store front you showed I immediately knew it was the one at Metrocenter. I was a mall rat in that mall in the early 2000’s and frequented that shop very often. It’s sad to know that’s all gone now. Also i believe that Spencer’s location was there since the mall opened, if not then at least from the 80’s.

[@cyberi4a]

The Spencers in our mall is really dark inside and is a maze of merchandise. We used to get their catalog when I was growing up and my mother ordered from them. They had nice stuff in the 60s. I still have one item I know came from their catalog from the 60s.

[@sski]

I worked behind the scenes at Spencer Gifts in the mid to late 1980s. I worked 12 hour shifts printing 'personalized' catalog covers on huge IBM tape-driven printers in a facility down the road from the headquarters in Pleasantville, NJ. They started to phase out mail order division for some reason as the 90's approached. I ended up working shipping receiving, then picker/packer at the main mail order facility Atlantic City, then ended up driving trucks between various facilities in the South Jersey area until I was laid off. As the Internet came in I thought for sure they would either be dead or adapt, going back to a cleaner mail order type thing. But then there's Amazon...

[@josepherhardt164]

One gift that I remember, ca. 1990's or so, was a little guy in an office cubicle. He was standing on his chair, and if you pressed one button, he would say something snarky and business-related. If you pressed and held the other button, he would twirl on his chair, fire his machine gun and yell, "Control-alt-delete-delete-delete!" SOMEWHERE there has to be video of this on the net, but I haven't found it.

[@roseprevost8081]

I remember taking my Mom into one, and seeing her lose her mind when she saw the "dirty" stuff.

[@hazelbaby8081]

i love how thoughtful how your videos are

[@Megatone230]

Growing up in in Northern MN back in the 80's I remember hearing people at my school talk about going to a Spencer Gifts that was at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth Minnesota which was 3 hours away. The main thing you heard about was the edible underwear for sale and other adult toys. I also heard they sold cool strobe lights and party lights which interested me at the time and still love.

[@kurisu7885]

I remember the SPencer's in Summit Place before it closed. Pink neon sign, mirrored ceiling.... it was awesome. One items in there I always wanted was one of those Super Soakers with the backpack tank.