It’s been a while since Part One, so if you need a refresher, here’s my post. When we last met, I had signed a lease and was ready to get busy building. We had about a decade of experience with toys, but with what did we want to fill our store? Because we didn’t have the space and we weren’t a destination for toys – though one Christmas a five-year-old boy asked for a Red Barn Mercantile gift certificate because it was his toy store – we had to narrowly focus on what people wanted to pick up as a gift for a baby, a toy on which allowance can be spent, or a little something while on vacation.  Now, with Pippin Toy Co. we could go all in. But what does that look like? What do we carry? What is important to a child’s development? How do we want to show up for families?

The first decision we made was an easy one. No licensed merchandise. You won’t find Bluey, Disney Princesses, or Marvel merch at Pippin Toy Co. You can get that at Target or online. We aren’t here to compete with either of those outlets. We are here to complement them because we know there is no beating them. Kids love what they love, and we want to be a resource for something other than the character du jour. Now, while that is a hard and fast rule, there’s always an exception to the rule. References to Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, Star Wars, and other pop culture and literary favorites do make it if they are well done and not easily found in mainstream toy stores. Again, a complement.

Representation matters. It was important to us that children feel represented. They can see themselves in the toys and books on our shelves. Little girls coding, boys cooking, children with learning differences in our books, and dolls of every shade. It’s tragically hard to find well designed toys that represent the spectrum of children, but it’s our mission to bring you the best. I feel like we’ve made a good start, but there is still work to be done.

Not just STEM, but STEAM. Art and science go hand in hand. Creativity, exploration, and imagination can be found in both. If we pigeonhole our kids into categories – he loves science, she loves art – then they miss out on opportunities to expand their horizons. It was important to us to have art supplies for all ages as well as science experiments and engineering toys for exploration and creative problem solving.

Open-ended play. Play is essential to learning. Forget the flash cards and give your kid a set of blocks. With blocks they are learning engineering and architecture, language skills, fine motor skills, and so much more. Having something that you can make anything with is an incredible way to build confidence and creativity. I knew we wanted to add more open-ended play toys than we had at Red Barn Mercantile. Blocks (of course) and dress up clothes, dolls and pretend kitchens, bits and bobs that can be anything a child can imagine were on the menu.  

When we were building the selection, we knew we wanted to show up for our community by giving parents the tools their children needed to become healthy, thriving, contributing adults. Parenting is hard. We need resources. Our hope for Pippin Toy Co. was to make a parent’s job easier and their kid’s job more fun. Evolution is one of our core values. That means we are always looking to grow and improve. If there is something that you don’t see in our selection, then we want to hear from you! Feel free to email us or stop in, we are open to suggestions!!

In Part Three, I’ll talk about how the space came alive.  Stay tuned…

See Also: Introducing Stone Soup Summer Camp – Bringing a Dose of Camp to Old Town