No one needed carts that day. The toys that remained were confined to the front. A few months ago, customers were able to walk these isles. Now left over fixtures and ladders blocked anyone, even employees, from venturing further. 

I was nostalgic and a little shell shocked. The closing of my favorite childhood toy store symbolizes a change in American retail and we knew this trend was coming. Still, as I walked in a weird motion of repetitive circles, I was speechless looking at my surroundings. 

 

While I might have been experiencing the end of an era with an accompanying sadness, I could hear laughter from the employees. With two people on the cash registers, the other employees sat chatting with customers, hanging out with their kids, and laughing over photos on their phone. I walked out the doors one last time and got into my car. I saw the Sears acrossed the street and remembered America when it was filled with malls and department stores and the most important of them all, the people who use to shop there. 

I went home that night and let my mind wander to that Toys "R" Us a few 24 miles away. I thought about the left over toys, if any, sitting in the darkness of that wide open space. I wondered if silence has an echo. Then I thought about my package that was being delivered from Amazon Prime and I fell fast asleep into a slumber.