Sales clerk Mark Nigro, left, and store director Bruce MacKeracher, right, unload some of the 480 Tickle Me Elmo dolls the Toys R Us store on Macleod Trail received on Dec. 23, 1996, when the toy was first released. Photo by Rob Galbraith/Calgary Herald

For decades, Toys “R” Us has carried every toy that a child could imagine.

From Tickle Me Elmo to Transformers and Cabbage Patch Kids, the sprawling stores — which first came to Canada in 1984 — have offered customers a massive inventory with a splash of nostalgia.

The Financial Post Western Bureau scoured the archives of the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, The Province and Saskatoon StarPhoenix for some standout moments in the brand’s history.

The story these clippings tell begins before Toys “R” Us ventured into Can

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