If you have been driving on Roan St. lately, you will notice that an old childhood favorite, Toys “R” Us is in the process being demolished. It housed sentimental memories from children everywhere, and one of ETSU’s own will hold onto those cherished memories.
Coordinator for Student Engagement, Caelan Peterson, is excited that he has a little piece of his childhood for him to keep.
“I’m from Johnson City, so I grew up going to that Toys “R” Us location,” Peterson said. “When it went vacant, I told myself it was a sign that I’m gonna go after it.”
Peterson commonly collects signage from gas station signs to old factory signs.
“You name it, I pretty much got it in my collection,” Peterson said. “I don’t just randomly collect Toys “R” Us signs, it is all signs.”
It was not easy for Peterson to obtain part of the sign, in fact, there were many struggles in his journey.
“I had contacted the realtor, landowners, asking if I could get my hands on it,” Peterson said. “I couldn’t get ahold of anyone until they made the decision of tearing it down.”
Peterson then contacted the company that was responsible for the deconstruction.
“The company just told me to show up at the job site,” Peterson said. “It’s embarrassing to say this, but I probably went ten days in a row because nine out of the 10 days there were all guys working on the new 7 Brew Coffee, on the tenth day I get in touch with the guy who is tearing it down.”
Peterson kept in contact while waiting eagerly to see when he could finally get his hands on it.
“He told me that it was an old sign and that it would fall apart as he got it with the claw,” Peterson said. “Then, he shot me text later and woke up to a text saying that he got it off in one piece.”
Peterson has since added the “R” to his collection of signage.
“We have created the own demise to our own childhood,” Peterson said. “We will never take our kids to Toys “R” Us,” Peterson said.
