Treasure Hunting at Toad Hall

Shopping in Rockford can be so boring. Sure, you can go out to the mall, maybe hit East State Street, then get something nice and neatly tagged and head home happy.

But there's no mystery in it.

The same T-Shirts with the same ironic or kinda funny phrases. The same electronics. The same top 100 CDs featured at the front counter. The same bright lights and neatly ordered aisles.

All the same. Bo-ring.

...

Toad Hall is not boring.

This store on Broadway just east of the Viaduct has been running for years now. There for a while after the death of the funny and smart former owners, the store sat silent. Many still don't realize that Toad Hall has reopened, but driving by today, you'll spot the Open flag flying on the door that opens onto Broadway.

Walking inside, a novice might be overwhelmed by the piles of books and records that Pat and her family are trying to sort, organize, reorder and consolidate.
Some might be intimidated by three floors of dusty relics, rare history books, first editions of popular authors, a huge selection of random movie posters, vintage comic books and trade paperbacks, but the treasure hunter will be right in their element.

And then there are the Records.

New records from artists like Green Day and Fall Out Boy take up a tiny bin alongside classics from rockers from the 50s to the 80s. On the walls are 45s and memorabilia from bands both nationally known and local. Looking for Jazz? Country? Classical? Fusion? It's all there at Toad Hall somewhere. Amid common pressings you'll find rarities and one-of-a-kind records by artists only a very select few might know. Recordings by opera stars of the 30s, Big Band orchestras of the 40s - literally something from every era.

Stop by Toad Hall today for a shop that is unique to Rockford. Then, plan to dust off your old record player and spin that old Beatles record you wanted but never got when you were a kid, or that classic REM record you wanted to add to your collection. You won't know what you're shopping for when you walk into Toad Hall, but it's entirely likely you'll walk out with a tresure.