Anyone recall the shopping spree contests?

[SubaruBrat]

I have no idea why this popped in my head, but does anyone else remember the shopping spree contests, usually done by toy stores, in the late 70's to early 80's? The idea was whoever won a contest got a certain time period to grab whatever they could in a cart and get to the finish line. I know I entered a few, and of course never won. Can you imagine hitting the video game aisle and cleaning house back then?

[indieseoul]

I used to day dream back in the day of raiding the Toys R US Shelves of all their video games. Oh yeah I remember these shows from TV. Like this one: Supermarket Sweep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_CpMeFT0Gk&feature=related

Great topic Scott!

[Nurmix]

I have no idea why this popped in my head, but does anyone else remember the shopping spree contests, usually done by toy stores, in the late 70's to early 80's?

Oh yeah, I remember those as well - not the specifics... but I do remember seeing some of the contestants / winners bumble around like they had no idea what to get, or they're asking for help from the audience to tell them what they'd like. The things I could've gotten in a Toys R Us back then...

[Leathco]

I think Nickelodeon did this in Toys R Us once a year if I remember correctly. I always wondered why the people acted confused as to what to put in the cart. When I was a kid I knew right where I was going: The electronics area to stock up on NES games as well as to get systems I had heard about but never got the chance to try and some games for those as well.

I also remember the contest on Nickelodeon you had to dial a number and answer a question or something, but every time I tried the number was always busy. I think the night of the contest I had spent the night at my grandmothers and I tried for 3 hours straight to get through with no luck

[SubaruBrat]

I think that is the big one I was thinking of, there was also the one run by the Captain Crunch company where they gave away 10k in toys, here is the vid 5 min in; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYl4GH4iJKU

[Nurmix]

I think that is the big one I was thinking of, there was also the one run by the Captain Crunch company where they gave away 10k in toys, here is the vid 5 min in; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYl4GH4iJKU

@ 6:40 mins in...

Geez... "976" toll calls advertised to kids? Tales of frickin' pirates? Really!? I don't remember seeing those... I guess I had moved on from cartoons by that time. I can see Dad now... "son, do you know why the phone bill is $650... and do you know who called a fucking "pirate story line" 56 times last month?! WTF!?!