GIRARD — Toys can trigger strong emotions in adults, whether it’s fond memories of He-Man scaling Snake Mountain to foil Skeletor’s evil plans in the fictional world of Eternia or transforming a semitrailer into a fierce fighting robot — or the yearn as a youth of wanting, but never getting that Optimus Prime.

It’s the desire of kids of the late 1970s through the 1990s to reconnect with their childhoods that is making the business of old-school big nowadays.

But there’s also the younger generations of today who discover dad’s or mom’s old toys in the basement bin that sparks an interest in the old toys or remakes as they become popular again.

“We’re seeing a lot of people rebuying their childhood or buying stuff they wanted as a child,” said Rick Fusselman, co-owner of Time Capsule Toys in Girard. “We also have some younger people who are actually just now starting to get into collecting.”

The Toy Association, a nonprofit trade association in the toy industry, reports the retail toy market in 2018 in the U.S. was about $28 billion. Vintage toys certainly hold a place in the market, however, neither the association nor global information company, The NDP Group, track sales in the vintage or collectible segment.

Still, owners of vintage toy stores like Fusselman, who specializes in toys from the 1970s through 1990s, and Brian Orfin, who has Nowhere Toys in Niles, report brisk sales.

The clientele is mostly men between the mid-20s and mid-40s who might now have a few extra bucks of disposable income in their pocket who want to reconnect with their inner child.

“I always tell people it brings you back to a simpler time, when you didn’t have to worry,” said Fusselman. “When you come through these doors, I want everything that goes on outside of those doors kept outside of those doors. When you come in here, I don’t want you talking about politics, I don’t want you talking about gun laws, I don’t want you talking about any of that stuff. I just want you to come in here and everything turns off and you just go back to that simpler time in your life.”

Both men agree the sweet spot now of vintage toys is the late 70s through the mid-1990s. That lines up with toy lines that include Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters, Thundercats, Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

“We like to come home and surround ourselves with something we remember as being pure and innocent … people like to recapture their childhood,” Orfin said.

On a recent Wednesday at Fusselman’s store on West Liberty Street in Girard, business was steady, which he said isn’t typical for the day of the week. Three men, including one who owns a toy store, were there from near Columbus to buy. They left with several boxes.

Two other older men came in later; one left with a bag, and another sold a vintage Greatest American Hero action figure to Fusselman for $100.

Orfin said what has taken shape is toys from the 1920s to the 1950s, which, in theory should become more valuable because of their age, aren’t popular.

“When someone has disposable income they are going to buy the toys they had and the toys they remember,” said Orfin, who deals in those real old toys, toys from the 1970s to 1990’s, sports memorabilia and other items at his Robbins Avenue store.

“Think about grandpa, he isn’t buying anything anymore, he is selling,” Orfin said. “It’s just a matter of time before my generation, Generation X, starts selling as well.”

Greg Bartholomew, whose All American Cards and Comics stores in Boardman and in downtown Warren, deal mostly in comic books, said the same sentiment exists for book collectors. One of his customers comes in weekly to buy the comic books his mother tossed in the garbage when he was young.

“People are becoming more nostalgic,” he said.