Neighborhood toy stores continue to open in Connecticut as industry changes
Lori Hershman has seen about as much as any neighborhood toy store owner in Connecticut, from a visit by Melissa and Doug Bernstein as they went door-to-door peddling toy puzzles that would become the foundation for their Melissa & Doug; to Hershman and her spouse Mick doing home deliveries themselves during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But a car coming through the front of their Jordie’s Toy Shoppe a few Mondays back? That was a new one in store lore. But the Guilford shop quickly reopened and is expecting brisk business for Black Friday and beyond — though matching 2022’s receipts will be a reach.
Over the first nine months of the year, U.S. toy industry sales were off 8 percent from a year earlier according to market research analyst Circana, 9 percent if factoring in the impact of inflation. Circana tracks sales data at the point of purchase, estimating it’s numbers capture more than three quarters of the market.
But the American Specialty Toy Retailer Association is predicting a strong season compared to the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hershman expects that to be the case for the trio of shops she and spouse Mick named for their children in Jordie’s, Evan’s Toy Shoppe in Hamden and Jesse’s
Toys in Orange.
“Everybody during COVID was doing a lot of online shopping,” Lori Hershman said Friday morning. “Stores were starting to close — and I think people in those towns were starting to realize, ‘we don’t want our stores to close, so we better get in there and shop again.’ ”
Five years after Toys R Us shuttered its stores in Connecticut to make Walmart and Target the de facto “big box” toy options, mom-and-pop toy stores continue to pop up in downtown and retail districts. That includes the newest Awesome Toys & Gifts, which held its formal ribbon cutting last weekend at 464 Main St. in Monroe as the third in the chain after locations
in Stamford and Westport. Last summer, Einstein’s Attic debuted in Madison, while Wild Child opened in Wilton to fill a post-pandemic void created by the 2021 closure of Town Center Toys.
“I was just surprised that there wasn’t a toy store here,” Wild Child owner Ariel Friedman said. “It’s been good — we’re still new and there’s people who still don’t know we’re here.”
New Milford saw its beloved Nordica Toys saved this year, after Emily and Brandon Merritt bought the shop from prior owner Marie McCarthy as she reached retirement. But Litchfield could see their local toy shop The Silly Sprout close after the 2023 holidays, though the owners of have posted a solicitation online for any would-be buyers that might yet surface.
Kim Ramsey cites local support and downtown initiatives for helping boost The Toy Room in Bethel which she has run since 2006. Ramsey expects a busy Black Friday with the town’s annual “Winterfest” on tap for the afternoon hours, even more so on “Small Business Saturday.” Other big dates on the calendar include Dec. 9 when the Bethel Police Department holds its annual toy drive, and on the last Saturday before Christmas, which falls on Dec. 23 this year.
But like Hershman, Ramsey is skeptical The Toy Room will match last year’s numbers.
“We’re not off that much which is a good thing for us, but 2022 is going to be one of those years that you may never hit again,” Ramsey said. “I’m not sure why 2022 ended up being such a great year overall. We were definitely well-stocked so that helped, but we were two years out from the pandemic.”
Back in Guilford, Hershman said plenty of people make repeat visits during the holiday shopping season as new stock hits the shelves. She is expecting the Jordie’s, Jesse’s and Evan’s toy shops to be busy right through Christmas Eve.
“That’s when all the uncles come in,” Hershman said with a laugh. “They take whatever’s left — and they go looking like Santa Claus, because we wrap everything for them.”