Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop

I made the trip up to sunny Leicester on Saturday, to collect something from Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop.

I've been to a few 'vintage' shops over the years, and have generally left a little flat - travelling a decent distance to find a few overpriced vintage items in between lots of modern stuff is never great, but I'm happy to say the trip on Saturday definitely wasn't like this!

After a 2.5 hour drive I was greeted with a cup of tea and a couple of hours (!) of friendly chat and banter. The shop was crammed full of display cases of all things vintage - from Matchbox and Dinky, to He-Man and Ghostbusters, and everything in between. Of course, being located in the Palitoy heartland, there was no shortage of Star Wars, Action Force and Action Man - including some nice MOC pieces.

I went in for some SW, which I bought, but genuinely could have come home with about 5 newly started collections - as well as my main acquisition, I also came home with a loose Lumat, a 70's Matchbox Mini and a 60s? Dinky Bedford Van. The latter 2 will probably end up on my desk at work.

I have no affiliation with the shop, other than being a very happy customer. It's really easy these days to become spoilt and even a bit jaded by the amazing photos of super rare items we can see online every day, but these really don't compare with seeing a massive selection of vintage toy lines in the flesh. The shop is definitely worth a visit, even if it's a bit of a drive.

Some photos (loads more in the shop):














My buys (I didnt buy the Palitoys underneath )



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Great write up Max, glad you made the trip. I've not been in for a while but the welcome is the same every time, hot drink, good chat and an easy transaction.

Awesome! This is a shop that i have been meaning to go to for a long time, but nevergot round to it. Thanks for sharing.

I follow them on Instagram and been meaning to go for a while.
However, Celebration and LFCC last month means my trip will have to wait a bit longer...

Great looking shop

Just out of interest how much was the Meccano Dark Vador ? :?

Wow looks like a cool shop, love the Ghostbusters stuff.

Yeah I was wondering about the Vader to.

Do they have a website?

Rob

I was in there last week myself Max having a chat with Joe, I wondered who bought the Dark Vader, great piece!!, longer trip for me :lol: luckily I have friends & family in Leicester, so I pop in when I am down that way, shop is always rammed, but the star wars side of things can be up & down a lot

Wow awesome shop! Nice size too, looks well worth a visit!

Joe said:

Wow awesome shop! Nice size too, looks well worth a visit!

Click to expand...

Definitely! As Frank said, I think the vintage SW is probably up and down a bit, as I understand Joe mainly gets his stock through people selling directly to the shop, rather than buying online to stock up with - so I suspect it depends what walks in through the door. But for general vintage toy goodness, I havent been anywhere better.

Joe is a great guy and really friendly. It's a super shop and just goes to show that some folk can make a living in a bricks and mortar shop in the UK. I've visited the shop once before but have seen Joe at plenty of fairs and have always thought what a stand up guy he is. If you haven't been to Leicester vintage and you don't live too far away, I'd say pop down there for sure.

Amazing! The ghostbusters certainly got my interest! How much was the vader and other mocs if you dont mind me asking??

I went in over Easter and I was very impressed.

You'll need to call him up or email for prices on the Palitoys - I think they started at about £250 and went up to £750 or so - but don't quote me on that. The Vader was more.

Met the proprietor at a fair earlier this year. Nice bloke & easy to deal with. Photos look great, would love a look around there!

Not been to a bricks & mortar since Comicville closed down in Leeds.

That's well cool, tons of vintage goodies in there. Great photos

Super mate 8) Gutted I couldn't make it :!:

Just so nice to walk into a shop of pure vintage and take a step back in time 8) The only shop that did that for me was the original "Modellers Loft" shop in Croydon that I use to visit in the late 90s.

Awesome

I've watched and followed this shop on social media for ages now, still not got round to actually visiting it yet.
They always seem to get in nice looking stuff.

As you said Max, Joe has a cracking shop.
I nearly turned into there Saturday on the way back from the office as I hadn't been in for a while but carried on instead as I was feeling iffy, wish I hadn't now.
It helps him being in a Palitoy hotspot with people occasionally wondering in with childhood collections and puts a lot of effort in countrywide to secure stuff.
If your this way again Max then give me a shout.

Awesome Dark Vador moc :shock: