New toy stores thriving in state amid decline of retail
Nearly five months after their store opened on Greenwich’s main retail thoroughfare, employees at Funky Monkey Toys & Books know they can count on the business of Bea Wolfe.
After several dozen visits to the new establishment at 86 Greenwich Ave., the 8yearold Greenwich Country Day School student knows in which aisles she will find Lego sets, the “cool (switch pitch) balls that change colors,” board games such as Monopoly Jr., and her favorite: a handheld UFO drone toy.
Bea is just one of the many children who have become regulars at Funky Monkey and at the area’s other new toy shops, including Westport’s Awesome Toys & Gifts and Toy Post, Norwalk’s Camp and Wilton’s Town Center Toys.
Those launches have shown that such businesses can thrive in southwestern Connecticut amid the downfall of some of their industry’s heavyweights and the ongoing march of ecommerce, by providing retail experiences that engage kids and gain the confidence of their parents.
“They have a lot of toys and it’s just really fun to get stuff,” Bea said during a recent visit to Funky Monkey. “They have every toy you could ever want.”
Growth of independent stores
U.S. toy sales totaled $21.6 billion last year — down 2 percent from 2017, but about the same as the 2016 total, according to The NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service. NPD estimates that the Retail Tracking Service represents about 78 percent of the U.S. retail market for toys.
During that time period, some large toy retailers have foundered.
In June 2018, Toys R Us closed more than 800 stores nationwide after filing for bankruptcy a few months earlier. The shutdown — which included locations in Milford and Norwalk — ended a 60year run for one of the country’s mostpopular toy sellers.
But the demise of Toys R Us has not deterred independent retailers, which are bullish about the southwestern Connecticut market.
Funky Monkey has run a store in Greenvale, on New York’s Long Island, for the past 15 years. It saw an opportunity to establish a foothold on the other side of Long Island Sound by expanding to Greenwich Avenue, one of the country’s mostprominent
outdoor retail corridors.
“People in Greenwich like to have that local toy store that they can go to,” said Funky Monkey owner Jared Greenman. “Convenience is key. I think there’s enough of a population, at least in Greenwich, to support a healthy business. And being on the (Greenwich) Avenue, foot traffic is something that other destination toy stores don’t have.”
At 429 Post Road E. in Westport, Awesome Toys & Gifts opened in December 2018. Owner Nick Tarzia had already operated an Awesome store for 11 years in Stamford.
“I always liked Westport in general, so it caught my attention,” Tarzia said. “The people are very communityoriented and care deeply about their children. I thought that is where I want to be, so as luck would have it, a spot opened up with a very nice landlord, and we struck up a deal. Since opening, I have been very pleased how the community has embraced our store and we try to give back as much as possible as we do in Stamford.”
December 2018 also brought the opening of The Toy Post, at 180 Post Road E., a few blocks from the Westport Awesome store. Toy Post owner Nathan Shapiro also owns the New Canaan Toy Store, an establishment that dates to the 1920s and that he acquired in August.
“I opened The Toy Post because I wanted to start a small business where parents, grandparents and, of course, kids could have an enjoyable shopping experience, where they could have a great choice of highquality toys and books,” Shapiro said. “Of course it takes time to fully grow a business, and we’ve been very pleased with all the positive feedback from customers.”
In the summer, Town Center Toys opened in Wilton.
Last month, the Camp chain of toy stores debuted its latest location, in the new SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk.
Camp’s South Norwalk manager Shelley Steinberg — who owned the former Greenwich toy store Graham’s — cited the store’s proximity to the Maritime Aquarium and the Stepping Stones Museum for Children.
“We want to be part of that trifecta,” Steinberg said in a recent interview. “This is the first of its kind — the (Camp founders) really did invent the concept. Their thought was, ‘Let’s have an inviting place where families come in and as soon as they leave they can’t wait to come back again.’”
Handson experiences
To make their stores destinations, toy store owners said they strive to accommodate kids and parents when they visit.
“Even though a store can’t possibly have the same number of choices you’d find online, customers can trust a store they know and like to have a curated selection,” Shapiro said. “In other words, we’ve done the job of sorting through and coming up with a selection of the best toys at a variety of price points.”
Awesome built a WiFiconnected coffee bar at its Westport store, so parents can work or read while their children peruse the merchandise.
Tarzia plans to soon open a coffee bar at his Stamford store at 970 High Ridge Road.
“Today’s shopper buys when and where it is most convenient and pleasant,” he said. “As humans, we gravitate towards good experiences and avoid bad ones. At Awesome Toys & Gifts, we try to focus on the best experience a toy store can possibly offer.”
A similar philosophy prevails at Funky Monkey, according to Greenman.
“Everyone has memories of looking around at all the really cool toys around them,” he said, amid the chatter of children trying out toys in his store. “You can’t get that when you’re shopping online.” Parents endorsed that strategy. “You can actually play with things in the store, and they’re not restrictive,” said Ali Wolfe, Bea’s mother. “And they have interesting toys.”
Staying local — and thinking digital
While brickandmortar operations drive local toy retailers’ revenues, they are taking varying approaches to the growing reach of ecommerce.
Shapiro said he was concentrating on growing his stores’ clientele and did not have plans to sell online. Awesome sells on its website. The digital business helps to increase traffic in the store — and vice versa.
“(Customers) come in and shop on their own in the store or online” Tarzia said. “Being local is a huge advantage, and we want everyone to experience how convenient it is.”
Funky Monkey sells entirely through its stores, but it plans to launch online ordering next year, with options such as instore pickups of online orders.
“We can’t compete on prices with the big guys like Amazon and Target,” Greenman said. “But we’re definitely thinking about the strategy for online and how we can stand out in that space, while still offering a great brickandmortar experience.”