Supply Chain Challenges for Toy Stores

Toy store retailers were not immune from the challenges of getting merchandise onto store shelves for the last few years.

Amy Saldanha, founder and CEO of Kiddywampus in Hopkins, Minn., said the challenges are “getting better but still not out of the woods; we are staying in the loop with our manufacturers and as always, sourcing new vendors.”

CEO and Founder Brad Ruolo of Legacy Toys in the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn., said, “It’s been tough. We have more than one store so we could move larger quantities of products from one store to another. Prices have gone through the roof; they’re coming down now, but still up quite a bit. We’ve just had to stock more. It’s changed how everything works. A lot of the vendors used to do longer terms— many are less flexible now, so we’ve had to adapt,” he said.

Co-Owner Kate Greene of Gingerbread House Toys in Bloomington, Ill., said, “It’s definitely affected us. The nice thing about having a toy store is we focused on stocking the core products, but we’re more flexible with bringing other things in. If we can’t get one type of product in, we’ll find something else that’s cool. The prices have gone up substantially. It’s understandable, but still rough. We brought in a lot of things last year, which was really helpful. We kept a lot in storage, so that gave us some flexibility to keep bringing in products. We’re also part of a buying group called the Good Toy Group, which was very helpful. The members are so knowledgeable, and really kept us up to date on what was going on …we had weekly calls.” ❖ able to be played with – that of course changed during COVID and we are now starting to put toys and demo tables back out,” she said. “These toys not only make for a better shopping experience because the kids are engaged – it also helps families ‘test’ the toys to make sure they’re developmentally appropriate and fun for the kids.” She is happy to say their in-store events have also returned: “We just completed our largest offering of summer camps ever, and birthday parties are definitely back! We are scheduling more classes and special events than ever. Families want and need them and it’s always been such an important part of our store experience.” Greene said they have gradually brought back their in-store demos, but added, “We still don’t have the same amount that we used to…but it’s nice to see things get back to normal.” Gingerbread House Toys does hold in-store special events and they are also coming back. “Fifty Fest was probably the first big event we did since COVID. It was all outside. It felt like a throwback to how it used to be. I think we’ll start bringing more events back. We would bring in a silhouette artist, and also a group called the Chicago Wax Hands, where they bring in a ‘wax cart’ and kids can dip their hands in the wax and make a form of it. We also had Chris and Christy McFarland, a local husband and wife author/illustrator team, come in and read their book Narwin the Narwhal: A Friend Like Me.” Ruolo said events are returning to Legacy Toys. “We started them back up around the holiday season 2021. We have an annual Teacher Night before the start of school, and arts and crafts nights. Some parents are totally comfortable with being back in the store; oth- ers are not, he explained.

Besides creating a fun and engaging experience in the store, many toy retailers try to bring that same excitement to social media. “We’ve seen the most success on TikTok,” Ruolo said. “One of our store managers at our Mall of America store loves it, and has helped us with that. It’s helped build a lot of our brand for us. Everyone expects us to be like Amazon, but that’s not the reality. We’re trying to deal with expectations versus what we can actually do.” Saldanha pointed out, “Social media is the best way to tell the Kiddywampus story! We target different customers through a variety of social media channels and use videos, images, and live feeds to talk right to our customers about what’s important to them.” Greene said they use social media “to show the fun we’re having. We have an online store now, too, and use it to show the purpose of play.”

Beyond carrying merchandise not typically found in larger chain toy stores, creating a fun atmosphere is essential for giving customers a positive shopping experience. From demos to encourage hands-on play, to attentive staff, to upbeat music piped in the background, it all works together to keep customers coming back. Saldanha said as customers continue to watch their spending, buying from an independent retailer has many benefits: “Inflation is tricky to navigate as our customers are having to be more careful with their purchases. This is an area in which we as specialty toy retailers really shine – our experience is so much better than through other channels. From our educated staff to our curated collection of toys to the special services like giftwrapping – shopping with us has so many valueadded components!” ❖