I've talked about the extremely short-lived Hanna-Barbera stores that popped up in two malls in the early 1990s, but something I haven't touched on is the Hanna-Barbera Studio Store, which also opened around that time. Like a lot of studio stores, it offered a range of products exclusive to employees, from apparel to art pieces. Here are a few of the items sold at the store that I could find online.
First off is a necktie with one of my favorite HB characters adorning it, Atom Ant! He doesn't get much representation in the world of merchandising, so I found this one to be a pleasant surprise.
The second piece of the day is a T-shirt featuring Mrs. Flintsone. The art on this shirt is not unlike the style Hanna-Barbera used on much of their branding during this time, with a close-up of a character's face inside a rectangle. I cannot say for certain, but I'd be shocked if there weren't more shirts available at the store in this style.
I'm not totally sure if this one was actually sold at the employee store or given through alternative means, but whatever the case, it was made exclusively for employees, so I'm looking at it anyway! It's an animation cel of Bill and Joe in front of the house they built, alongside their bedrock buddies, Fred and Barney. Their designs are also the same as the ones used in their cameo in the 1993 TV movie, I Yabba-Dabba Do! I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing this was commissioned around the same time as that film.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find that many items sold at the studio store, but I'll finish this short exploration with my favorite find, a 1996 jacket showcasing Hanna-Barbera characters, both from their glory years, and their years making original programming for Cartoon Network. Probably the coolest thing about this one is that we get to see Fred, Yogi, and Huckleberry Hound right next to the likes of Johnny Bravo, Dexter, and Cow and Chicken. Don't let modern CN and WB merchandise fool you; those latter characters were Hanna-Barbera first, and Cartoon Network second, a fact I think many overlook these days.
Like I said, this is everything I could find online that was sold at the location, but there's no way this was all. If there happen to be any former HB employees reading this, I'd love it if you left a comment about some of the other products that were sold at the store. And maybe, just maybe, you could send me some. I kid, I kid!
The Warner Bros. Studio Store (or at least the one at my nearby mall) also began selling a sizable selection of H-B merch sometime during the late '90s. I remember purchasing a Hong Kong Phooey plush figure for my younger brother for Christmas one year. Unfortunately, it was shuttered (along with their other retail outlets) back in 2001. I have fond memories of visiting this location, and miss it terribly.
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