Paying it forward so children can play

A YEAR ago, fashion designer and children’s product specialist Raygen Magiera was faced with the prospect of retrenchment when the retail company she worked for decided to close down. Not one to let grass grow under her feet, she approached a colleague, Simon Miszewski, to join her in establishing what had been in her personal melting pot for some time.

The partnership resulted in Thekidzone.co.za, an online toy shop to cater to this huge shopping segment of the market.

Based in Cape Town, Thekidzone offers all the big brands for children aged between birth and 14 years old.

“There was a huge gap in the market created by the closing down of the largest online company in the country, but I knew that if I was going to succeed, I needed to move fast,” she said. “With Simon’s help, we have created a team of young, enthusiastic people who source high-quality, licensed products which we can offer at a lower price to the shopping public.”

The biggest benefit is that the company offers two types of toy collections. The first are the “rescue toys”, which have slightly defective packaging and are discounted between 20% and 70%, and the “latest releases.” Any discounts offered by suppliers are passed on to the customer.

Everything the company has to offer can be viewed at www.thekidzone.co.za – with a choice of payment options and delivery being made within three working days anywhere in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. An express overnight delivery option is also available, but this cost is charged to the customer.

So far, Thekidzone has delivered almost 3 000 toys to happy customers. “We’re thrilled,” said Magiera. “We’re still very new, but it’s working really well.” True to her philosophy of paying it forward, the support Miszewski gave Magiera a year ago resulted in a R5 000 donation of toys for the Mercury Hibberdene Children’s Holiday Home 2015 Christmas appeal.