Arcade Bazaar was a chain of discount stores based in Massachusetts, with the most famous outlet located at Revere Beach. Hundreds of thousands of people visit Revere Beach each summer, and the Arcade Bazaar had a distinctive candy striped painted building located at 180 Revere Beach Boulevard.
The Arcade Bazaar store at Revere Beach opened on April 10, 1961, and closed due to storm damage after the Blizzard of 1978. Arcade Bazaar was located opposite Hurley's Kiddie Land amusement area, which had a small Ferris Wheel and tea-cup style spinning ride. During the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a go-kart ride situated behind the building that had a very short oval track and wooden planked roadway.
Arcade Bazaar, c.1965
The store at Revere Beach offered a lot of inexpensive toys, mostly imported from Japan or Hong Kong, which produced a lot of mass-market plastic toys during that time period. There were bins full of beach kiddie-toys such as pails and shovels, and sand molds. Beach blankets and T-shirts were offered, and maybe even housewares. Vinyl compilation and oldies LP records were also sold in the store.
The Arcade Bazaar building at Revere Beach had a tall warehouse-style ceiling, with rectangle wooden bins arranged like the old Woolworth's Five and Dime stores. Arcade Bazaar was dimly lit, with parallel fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. This author recalls a wide glass door on the north side of the building, or a large window or skylight, which streaked bright sunshine onto a wooden floor and helped light the interior of the store. The tall ceiling made the building very cool inside, or may have been air-conditioned, so many people would visit the store to cool off as well as shop. The April 10, 1961 Boston Globe describes the store chain and opening day at the Revere Beach outlet:
"To celebrate the opening $2000 worth of free prizes are beingoffered in addition to hundreds of exceptional values. Arcade Bazaar,which started as a specialty toy store store six years ago, has growninto a chain of self-service department stores. The stores offer a wideselections in latest style clothing, shoes, toys, appliances, jewelry,giftware, housewares, hardware and tools, cosmetics and sundries. Thenew Revere Beach store was designed for convenient shopping throughself-service counters and shopping carts with plenty of free parkingspace available."
There was also an Arcade Bazaar store located on Route 1 in Saugus, and at Funland Park on Nantasket Beach. The Arcade Bazaar stores may have been the original inspiration for the later Building 19 discount chain, which specialized in closeout and fire-sale products at steep discounts. A logo of Arcade Bazaar was "Where Mr. Buck Has More Cents", which conveys the marketing strategy and niche of this chain. I remember thinking as a kid, do I buy this very inexpensive pail and shovel for 35 cents, or do I go to Joe & Nemo's and get a burger and soda for the same price, or maybe just play six games of pinball instead?
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