Being a good child in Glasgow nowadays might mean your parents taking you to the pictures or for a McDonalds or a cone out somewhere like Loop & Scoop.
But back in the day, there was another place that reigned supreme for the little ones - The Jolly Giant.
The big warehouse was filled to the brim with every toy you could imagine, and siphoned cash out a Glasgow parent's wallet or purse in a time before Geoffrey the Giraffe (the Toys 'R' Us mascot) was knee-high to a grasshopper.
With stores in Rutherglen and Jordanhill, if your folks were travelling along Glasgow Road or through the Clyde Tunnel and up Crow Road after you'd been a good nipper, then it was likely you were headed for a date with the big bearded fellow.
The Jolly Giant really was Glasgow's toy mecca, opening back in 1980 and trading until the company collapsed around two decades later.
Featuring a cartoon giant for a mascot that resembled Treguard from children's adventure show Knightmare, the toy store advertised itself on billboards and on TV - with ads that saw the giant wield a big club and 'smash' pounds off toy prices.
The same mascot stood at the entrances to the stores in Rutherglen and Jordanhill, terrorising half of Glasgow's wee ones who had to be dragged screaming past the huge fibreglass figure. After all, he looked like he'd come alive and swallow them up - not least when he leaned forward and said "ho ho ho!"
The list of toys the former young team may have got their hands on (courtesy of mum or dad) is endless, from Buzz Lightyear and Woody figures to Tellytubbies, Transformers, Thundercats, Tamagotchis ... we all had our preferences.
Then there was the OG Monopoly, before they started creating editions for every cul-de-sac, those radio controlled cars, Zipper Cat from The Get Along Gang, Subbuteo ... let's face it, we all have memories of some classic toys.
Yes The Jolly Giant had everything, and was so popular that it wasn't altogether weird to see customers in sleeping bags outside the front door - having spent the night there, keen as they were to get their hands on the latest toy craze.
True, inside it might have had an appearance similar to that of the warehouse in Indiana Jones where they store the Ark of the Covenant.
But this gone-but-not-forgotten shop earned itself a place in the hearts and minds of the Glasgow public, young and old, as its success saw the family-owned Scottish company expand across the UK .
Who didn't receive Christmas gift vouchers for the Jolly Giant from some member of their family?
Unfortunately, when Toys 'R' Us arrived from the USA to these shores it swallowed up the competition and signalled the death knell for the toy warehouse.
Still, the place lives on - and not just in our collective memories. Apparently the gas meter for the wholesaler that took over the Rutherglen warehouse is still listed as The Jolly Giant - so the giant lives on!
Article first published on July 5, 2020
