Is there room for brick and mortar toy stores in the digital age?

I have to admit that sometimes I panic and think “what did we just do?!?!?!” in regards to my husband quitting his job and us purchasing The Toy Quest from my parents. I wonder what is our future especially since it is so simple to pop onto Amazon in your PJs and do all of your shopping. Granted, we won’t judge if you pop in here in your PJs – just saying. But honestly, is there room for brick and mortar toy stores in the digital age? Is the Shop Local Movement enough and will it continue?

I stumbled across this article as I was looking for blog fodder that claims that

Toys “R” Us closing was a boon for us since we got a bunch of their shelving. Woohoo, granted it was a lot of work.

The quotes from the other small toy store owners in this article rang very true – either in what we do or what we want to do in the near future. For example, not going with the very trendy toys but have the classics like wooden trains, whoopie cushions, and jacks. We have the silly stuff that you may miss on Amazon like Emoji sticky poo.

A lot of times, we may not be cheaper than online behemoths or box store giants, but we are trying oh so hard to be competitive even if we won’t be able to always have the lower price. However, we offer a lot of things that online and big chain stores don’t provide. You can come in, ask about the product, touch the product, and maybe discover something better/different than what you were thinking of.

We are trying to create a warm and family friendly place where you can relax. In fact, I highly recommend grabbing a cup of coffee from Little Owl next door at the Artisan Courtyard then coming to let your kids play on our play tables while you relax.

We’ve been thinking of events similar to the book signing we had in August.

We offer free gift wrapping that makes getting to birthday parties a breeze, and we will be creating a birthday box registry this spring to make it even breezier!

We aren’t in it to become filthy rich (though that would be awesome). Our goals are to help Fairbanks keep its small-town feel with along with all the other fantastic local businesses, we want kids to have the magical experience and memories of their local toy store, we want to help parents play with their kids and watch as they develop into amazing human beings, and want to have fun doing it. I’m exhausted at just thinking of everything we want to do. And perhaps one day, my anxiety of being a small business owner will subside.