CJ Nelson started selling his G.I. Joe figures at just 5 years old to trade in for the latest models.  It was the 1980s and Nelson’s mom was an antique seller at the Salem Collector’s Market. She gave Nelson a small section of the table where he displayed the army figurines for around $1.75 apiece.  Decades later, he is still selling G.I. Joes, this time at Subatomic Vintage Toys, a newly-opened vintage toy store he co-owns with Tom Engen.  CJ Nelson, left, and Tom Engen, right, pose for a photo inside Subatomic Vintage Toys. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) The store, located near downtown Salem, at 1910 Commercial St. S.E., opened Wednesday morning after over a year of work to ready the space. The store was previously an estate sale business. Signs went up on the building around four months ago. Since then, the owners said they’ve had four to five people jiggling the locked door each day, and around the same amount of daily phone calls asking about their plans.  Walking into Subatomic is a throwback, with a three-foot tall Yoda display welcoming visitors inside.  From floor to ceiling, its walls are covered in figurines, toy cars, models, comics and other trinkets, mostly dating from the ‘60s through the ‘90s. Toys span popular collections like Star Wars, Transformers, Battlestar Galactica, Hot Wheels, Barbie, My Little Pony and more.  As shoppers peruse the cases, vintage commercials relating to the items on display are shown on small screens. The murmuring of Jonny Quest can be heard throughout the store, playing continuously from a refurbished coin-operated cartoon box that could’ve been found in grocery stores around the ‘70s. “I constantly wonder how Hadji and Jonny are going to get out of the next mess,” Nelson said. Jonny Quest plays from the Kartoon Movie Korner inside Subatomic Vintage Toys. Co-owner CJ Nelson refurbished the machine to play cartoons continuously. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) When Nelson saw the previous business was leaving the property in early 2024, he knew it would be perfect for a toy store. That’s when he began to nudge Engen to open another vintage toy store in Salem. Engen, originally from New York, ran a vintage toy store on Lancaster Drive called Pop Culture through the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Nelson knew Engen from Pop Culture, which he patronized back in the day. They would also run into each other at the monthly collector’s market. Tom Engen, co-owner of Subatomic Vintage Toys, is pictured inside his old vintage toy store, Pop Culture, in 2002 for an article in the Statesman Journal newspaper. (FRANCHESCA PEREZ photo) “It was me just going ‘Hey,’ so I can come in here and buy stuff,” Nelson said. But Engen didn’t want to open a store on his own again.  “I’m not getting any younger … I can’t do it by myself,” Engen said. They decided to open the store together, securing the space in fall of 2024. The “atomic” in the name came from Nelson, who said he likes stuff from the Atomic Age. Engen came up with a list of a dozen or so options which they narrowed down to Subatomic Vintage Toys. Subatomic Vintage Toys is still locked up on Tuesday, Dec. 2, while the owners prepare to open the store to the public the next day. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) They each pitched in their own collections to stock the store with thousands of pieces of merchandise. Engen estimated the store has roughly 25,000 to 35,000 items.  They buy and sell merchandise, having done six to seven buys before the opening. Nelson has been collecting toys nearly his whole life, selling them at the market and later on eBay to help support the cost of his college classes. He began selling off his entire collection in 2008, which he put towards opening Coin Jam in 2013, the arcade bar in downtown Salem. He also recently opened Coin Jam Jr., an all-ages arcade in Albany. He began rebuilding his collection around 2015. The logo for new Salem vintage toy store, Subatomic Vintage Toys, is displayed on a shelf near the entrance. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) Engen’s collection of vintage toys was also depleted at one point, when his parents sold much of it during a moving sale. He found out years later, and set out on building his collection back up with some of the same items, including Major Matt Mason figures, Hot Wheels and models – all of which can be found on sale at Subatomic today.  Some of Engen’s current collection dates back to the Pop Culture days, with the store name still written on unopened boxes. Another relic from his old store is a large Star Wars Millennium Falcon display now hovering above one of Subatomic’s glass display cases. He got it in the ‘90s from a manager of the Salem Toys R Us, which closed in 2018. Former Toys R Us shelves are fully stocked at Subatomic Vintage Toys for its opening day. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) The store is littered with other Easter eggs from other Salem stores gone by.  Before it was home to an estate sale company, the property was a dry cleaners and before that it was a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Nelson said. In honor of the old restaurant, the store has a 1960s KFC-branded light hanging in a corner Engen calls the “Colonel’s corner.”  Many of Subatomic’s display cases were sourced from the former Salem Macy’s store, which closed its doors earlier this year. Colorful shelves are originally from the Toys R Us section of the store, while some glass display cases were pulled from the former retail giant’s basement storage.  “We hit up Macy’s pretty hard,” Nelson said. A Kentucky Fried Chicken light fixture from the 1960s is on display at Subatomic Vintage Toys. A KFC restaurant originally occupied the property. (HAILEY COOK/Salem Reporter) Since getting the keys, the store has exuded an air of mystery, having covered windows and, more recently, a large “Coming Soon” banner draped outside.   The opening was pushed back in recent months as the owners focused on readying the store’s interior, carefully selecting cases, merchandise and display pieces before finally opening.  “We just want to turn on the open sign and let the people who have been shaking the doorknob come on in,” Nelson said of opening day. Subatomic is open Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. They take buys by appointment or walk in. Have a news tip? Contact reporter Hailey Cook: [email protected] . A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE – If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. 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