FEATURE
TOYS FOR ADULTS Bandai
It’s not all
about the kids Toy shops can appeal to all ages, says John Ryan, as he urges retailers to consider thinking outside the box and targeting some of their older customers when ordering stock
T
“
oy shops are for children, sometimes accompanied and sometimes unaccompanied by an adult. They are places that represent a wonderland filled with objects of desire - if they have the right stock in which to spend time and money on something that has always been wanted, or at least since eyes were clapped on a particular item when browsing. But this definition is a little constrictive. Imagine instead a toy shop for adults. At this point, it is necessary to dispel the leap of imagination that some may have made into repositories of ‘adult toys’. X11 in Shanghai is not about this. Instead, this is a large space of around 2,000sq m, spread across two floors, where the prevailing demographic will already have reached official adulthood. The merchandise on offer (because this is, after all, China), consists to a large degree of superhero models, animé and Manga characters, and the whole thing
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Feature Toys for Adultsnm.indd 1
Toy shops as a proposition for the young are fine, but just because we reach adulthood, it does not mean that we lose track of our capacity for wonder
is contained within a distinctly futuristic environment that looks a little like a comic book brought to life. And given the propensity of this part of the population to record everything on their phones, there’s even a shiny, metallic-looking tunnel on the lower level with cartoon figures positioned in niches along its length, just waiting for an ‘Insta’ moment to be created and captured. Some of you may now have come to the conclusion that this is a one-off oddity, of the kind to be expected in the megalopolis that is the world’s most populous city. Yet there are in fact 11 X11s dotted around China. What this says, perhaps, is that this is a successful enterprise and its proprietors have spotted a gap in the market and are working hard to fill it. All of which is a long and maybe roundabout way of saying that there is more to the toy retailing universe than the very young, and that the imaginations of older folk can as readily be provided with products that will amuse and divert as their junior cohorts. But could something similar be replicated around
5,000 miles away - in our backyard? The answer would seem to be a qualified yes. Walking around the Somerset town of Frome recently, I came across an indie model store. I was immediately transported back to the age of 14 or 15 when making model plane kits kept me quiet/amused for weeks. Little appeared to have changed, other than that the average age of those perusing anything from a build-yourself early 20th century trawler model to a World War II bomber was considerably older than I seemed to remember. The customers in this shop were not iPhone-toting types waiting to take a selfie of themselves next to a life-size Superman model (yes, X11 has these and you can buy them… at a price), but rather those with a little time on their hands and the patience to use it to create something that would be admired. In truth, there is money in age, but seemingly little enthusiasm to cater for this. Toy shops overwhelmingly target children, as they probably should, but an opportunity exists, nonetheless. So what about a hybrid shop?
toysnplaythings.media 01/11/2021 19:42
