Before there was a “Bounty Hunter Toys”, There was just “Mike”.
I used to actively buy and sell comics & toys with friends in the local area as a teenager, and in my early 20’s, entered the “work force”. On the side, I started BHT, and continued to dabble in the toy market, predominantly buying and selling vintage Star Wars and G.I. Joe toys. As the years progressed, my interests expanded from just those toy lines, into the entire culture of action figure collecting. I started researching the history of Star Wars toys, and expanded my knowledge into the various many other toy lines and the history of them. How the concept was invented, where they were made, how they were made. Real toy nerd stuff!
I knew a store was eventually in my future, so in October of 2000, my wife and I opened Bounty Hunter Toys as a retail store. I quickly started setting up direct accounts with major distributors such as Hasbro, Playmates Toys, Jakks Pacific, Diamond Comics, etc. In 2001, our business had grown to the point where we went from small-time toy dealer, to full time retailer, and “e-store”. We have since served hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, many of them repeat customers as well! I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with people from all 50 states, every province in Canada, and virtually every free country in the world. We’ve had various famous actors, musicians and a well known politician order from us. We even gained a bunch of “Best Toy Store” nominations along the way, locally.
In 2006, we had to shut the store down briefly for personal reasons, but a few years later, we started (kinda) from scratch again, and did the local toy show circuit before re-opening in the well known tourist district on Ottawa Street North in Hamilton, Ontario. After being open only a year, we were once again nominated as the Best Toy Store by the readers of the Hamilton Spectator. As a bonus, we were also nominated Best Collectible Store! Our longtime online presence and great communication with our clients is why Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have now become such a huge part of our day to day business. If you’re a member of those social media platforms, please give us a follow and be among the first to see what we get in next! Not a fan of Social Media? No problem. We leave everything “open” so non-members can read updates as well.
In November of 2013, in an effort to expand my knowledge of the hobby that I enjoy so much, I completed the Canadian Personal Property Appraisal course and became the 1st certified person in Ontario to specialize in appraising Action Figures and collections of this nature. I also earned the distinction of being the 2nd person in all of Canada to have this title as well. It’s something that I value as it confirms to new collectors, or those looking to sell to us, that I’m not some flash in the pan, looking to rip you off. I believe in always being honest and upfront with you about your items. Both the good, and the bad. I’ll let you know if you have that rare item in your stuff, and I’ll actually give you a fair amount of money for them!
October of 2014 saw us win the Platinum Award for Best Collectible Store in the city. (That’s #2 for those of you unaware – TRU was number one) and a Gold Award (3rd) for Comic Books. The nominations and awards haven’t stopped, and we’re extremely grateful for each and every one of them. THANK YOU!
Our goal since day one of opening, way back in October of 2000, was to provide you with fair prices, great stock, and even better service. The repeat customers over the decades, and the appreciation and awards we’ve received from people during that time has me convinced that we’re on the right path.
In 2020, during the rise of Covid. We decided to re-opened our online store (we shut it down a few years earlier due to our store being too busy). We run the site a little different now, preferring to offer our items to fellow Canadians, offering items in our physical store, and across the country from coast to coast. However, in my opinion, nothing beats physically seeing that toy you’ve been searching for in person, so we’d love to invite you to stop in the store sometime! Besides, we don’t list everything we have online! We have far too many items to do that! So if you’re ever in the Hamilton, Ontario area, or just passing through, you should make it a mission to stop in! We’re just off the QEW; turn onto Nikola Tesla Blvd, and then turn left onto Kenilworth Ave. North. We’re further up the road on the left, just before Cannon St.
In 2022, we moved once again to Kenilworth Ave North, only a few blocks away from our previous location. We went from a 1480 sq ft store, to a 3600 sq ft location, which now allows us to process collections faster, ship items quicker, store extra product, display much more items in the store, and my personal fav, eat lunch at a table and not a showcase!
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to use the Contact form on this site, or shoot us a message via the social media platforms.
Thank you for very much visiting.