That's a Wrapp

That’s a Wrapp

BUBBLE WRAPP TOYS POPS OFF IN WESTPORT WITH COLLECTIBLE FIGURINES AND MERCHANDISE

By Sofia Mongillo

On the corner of Westport Road and Main Street sits Bubble Wrapp Toys, filled to the brim with more toys than any kid you know.

Business owners, seasoned toy collectors, and life partners Kitty and Nate opened their physical shop in Oct. 2022 after a year of official Bubble Wrapp sales online.

Now, the Westport hotspot serves as a haven for collectors, knick-knack lovers, and those seeking something a little different.

After an unexpected medical emergency at 29, Kitty was bound to the confinement of their Salem, Massachusets home. With differing backgrounds but a common love for collector toys, the couple took to eBay in hopes of making some extra bucks.

“We’ve been collectors ourselves since about 2007, which is when we had our first introduction to art toys,” says Kitty. “We started googling, found Kid Robot, and then started diving deeper into the lowbrow art world, which a lot of those artists also do toys. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we had a shop one day? But it was never like a lifelong dream of mine.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic approached, they collected their desired merchandise and readied for resale. Luckily for them, the online toy collector community was only growing.

“Instead of doing something nice like going to dinner or a concert or getting plane tickets, people were buying things online, and certain people had already been collecting,” says Nate.

Uniquely, Bubble Wrapp offers a special service available to overseas shoppers, allowing them to fill a “box” with items on hold for up to a year. This way, the customer pays for shipping all at once rather than with each purchase.

According to Kitty, roughly 80% of sales made through their site are from collectors living in either Asia or Europe. Their sales were through the roof, and as the world slowly prepared to come out of social isolation, the two decided to expand their horizons.

“We thought, why don’t we turn this into a legitimate thing?” says Kitty. “Nate did a crash course on how to set up an official website, we got a business license, and started really talking shop.”

While searching for Bubble Wrapp’s forever home location, the two set their sights on destinations they call “toy deserts”—Kansas City being one of them.

“Basically, it means you can’t really drive anywhere close and find a store that sells such products,” says Nate. “And that’s a lot of the U.S. because the majority of stores like ours are on the coasts, like California, New York, or Florida. The closest one in the Midwest, other than us, is Chicago.”

With Nate having been previously stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas, it meant they were somewhat familiar with the KC area after a few weekend trips.

They took a peek at the Westport storefront and signed the lease in a matter of no time.

Six months later, their shelves were heavy with the likes of Smiski, Sanrio, and Sonny Angel, along with various designer exclusives.

“Kansas City is perfect in the sense that it’s accommodating, easy to navigate, and has all the things you’re looking for like Boston, Chicago, or LA, but you can actually afford to do that on a Wednesday night and not have to stay in for a month to be able to afford to do it,” says Nate.

Upon opening, clusters of couples, groups, and individuals from out of town have told the store owners that Bubble Wrapp was on their bucket list of things to do in KC, according to Nate. In fact, some will even take trips to stop on by for products unavailable elsewhere.

“There are certain places now that are selling the blind boxes, but we have people continue to tell us when they come in that they don’t want to go to the mall; they’d rather support small businesses,” says Kitty. “To be transparent, something might be the same price here as it is at Hot Topic. They can offer sales that we don’t because we don’t like to mark down on merchandise. Everything you see here is created by an artist, and we don’t like to devalue their work.”

Being located where they are, Nate says, has been essential in the development of the toy mecca, with Kansas City Art Institute students being one of the leading customers.

“The students have absolutely been the best and biggest factor for us in terms of growth and word of mouth,” says Nate. “When they come in, I feel like there’s a certain extent of understanding to where that money goes. Sure, it helps put money in our pockets, but most of it goes back to our employees. We spent the better part of seven months, just the two of us.”

In turn, several of the team members at Bubble Wrapp are KCAI students— all of varied skill sets and interests in the world of collector toys.

“Without every single person who has ever bought something from us at any point, whether it was a $3 sticker sheet or a $300 custom piece, we would not be here without them,” says Nate. “We are so extremely grateful to everyone who comes in and supports us.”