A Straight-Up Toy Store in Oregon
by Anya Harris and Tina Manzer
When Linda Hays buys products for her 2,200-square-foot toy store in McMinnville, she has only one rule: “I want what kids are excited about.”
An example is Silly Bandz. Linda was reluctant to sell them because, personally, she didn’t see their value. “Then I saw the way kids responded to them,” she explained. “They are so excited, and they actively reach out to each other to collect and trade them. It gives them a talking point and creates a community for them that I don’t have to understand to support. If they tell me they want something, I will try to have it.”
The owner of hopscotch toys & games since 2003, Linda maintains a purchasing philosophy that’s a little more relaxed than other specialty toy retailers who “don’t do” guns, batteries, plastic and what’s sold at Wal-Mart.
But hopscotch offers more than just “fad toys,” she quickly points out. “I keep an eye on the staples of an experiential childhood that might be missed by today’s ‘as seen on TV’ crowd. We are blatant pushers of magic sets, puppets, yo-yos, juggling toys and any other toy that requires a child to engage an audience.
“Hosting gaming tournaments, having a large candy counter and selling hobbies like rockets and model cars adds to our unique mix.”
At the heart of the community
The pre-Linda hopscotch was more specialty children’s boutique than toy store. The lines it carried were from Europe or specifically made-in-the-USA. “The mix was really beautiful, but a bit pricey for this rural farming community,” she told us. “One of the things I did was to bring in a wider variety of toys based on quality, playability and fun. It makes hopscotch more of a straight-up toy store.”
A hometown girl, Linda’s parents had owned and operated a shoe shop in McMinnville where they made horse tack, and built and repaired shoes. Grown-up life took her to live elsewhere, but she continued to seek out small, local, independent retailers. When Linda and her family moved back home, they shopped at hopscotch, which had opened in 2001.
Just two years later, the owner announced that she was closing to spend more time with her children. Linda took action. “I have always considered specialty toy stores to be at the heart of a community, and I wanted the people in the community I loved to keep theirs.”
With help from the Small Business Association and SCORE, she put together a business plan and bought hopscotch. “There was something like $12,000 of largely un-sellable inventory on the shelves, so taking over was really like starting from scratch,” she told us. “Thankfully, there was a lot of love for the store in the community.”
Her learning curve was pretty steep, she admits, because she had never run her own business. A homeschooling mom of three, Linda’s experience with toys came from being a child, having children herself and spending a lot of time playing with them.
McMinnville is a small town in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a paradise of sorts for foodies and wine enthusiasts, famous for its farm-to-table culture. Hopscotch is located in an old Pacific Northwest-style house with three levels. “The birthday party room is in what used to be the living room, the staff area is in the kitchen and dining room, and my office is in a former bedroom,” she said. “There’s an L-shaped cinderblock addition on the front, and that’s the sales floor.”
It’s a great location with its own parking lot on one of the busiest streets in McMinnville. Hopscotch moved to Southeast Baker Street more than three years ago from the historic shopping district downtown. “The Baker Street building housed a florist for many years, and when it was about to close, the landlord called and said hopscotch would be perfect there,” Linda said. “I really did not want to move, but I thought I should take a look. I did, and realized I had to do it. Visibility-wise, the location’s incredible. We’ve got 30 feet of windows across the front of the store! I can’t imagine anything better.”
The move was scheduled for January 6. Throughout the busy fourth quarter of 2007, Linda and her husband Don divided their time between selling in the old location and renovating the new. It was worth it. Sales in the new store increased 34 percent the following year.
The new location proved particularly appealing to local shoppers, the store’s core market. “Historic downtown is really a boutique shopping district, so locals feel it’s not for them unless they have a lot of money in their pockets,” Linda said. “I wanted a place where families felt they could come regularly and make it out the door for a buck. When the economy gets better again they can spend more, but I don’t want my door to be closed to them while they can’t.”
New lines and great employees
The growth of hopscotch has leveled off to single digits. To maintain it, Linda added hobbies and gaming to her mix, and brought in candy. “It’s a small town, so I have to figure out how to serve different sectors of the population while maintaining cohesiveness in my business statement. I can’t just bring in tanning beds because they’re popular now, for instance.”
Her newest employee Mike manages the Pokemon, YuGiOh! and Magic: The Gathering game nights and in-store tournaments. They give the store an excuse to stay open later, until 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 10 on Friday. Gamers have become regulars. “While I understand hobbies and gaming, a lot of my customers for those lines – mostly guys – like dealing with other guys,” said Linda. “The fact that Mike’s a guy gives him cred I just don’t have. If that helps us sell the stuff, I am good with it.”
Hobby items are limited to the lines that turn, including rockets, model cars and basic electric train sets. Hopscotch does not carry model railroad scenery or service RC vehicles.
Mike is one of the store’s three part-time staffers. One works just six hours a week to cover the shifts of people who take time off. Linda is the only full-timer and in addition to working the sales floor, she does the buying, bookkeeping, and managing the staff. Her husband Don, a partner in the website development company Specialty Toys Network, is in charge of the store’s website.
“I have been really lucky in hiring,” Linda said. “I can’t pay as much as I would like or offer the kind of benefits I want to, so I offer employees a lot of flexibility and a fun, stress-free working environment. They really step up and give back.”
Working hard for the greater good
“Most retailers would say that it’s been nothing but challenges in the last five years,” Linda noted, citing product recalls, burdensome CPSI legislation and an economic meltdown. But she believes in resilience and in being proactive, so in 2008 Linda joined others in the specialty toy industry who petitioned for sensible changes to new toy safety regulations. She has since been elected to the ASTRA board. In addition, she began educating her customers about product safety, quality and the integrity of her toy manufacturers, along with the importance of buying local.
“I helped start the Buy Local program here with four other small business owners,” Linda said. “We love our downtown business association, but it does not service thriving businesses operating outside of the historic district. Buy Local brings us all together.
“It’s a grassroots effort,” she continued. “We decided we wanted to have a logo, and printed window clings and bumper stickers. I advertise quarterly in a coupon book we put together, and one of our members re-branded her catalog ‘Shop Local.’ Occasionally we’ll choose a theme and approach four or five other businesses that fit that theme. We share the cost of mailers and advertising, and hold a joint special event.
“Beyond that, we more or less leave it alone. When we do get together, it’s to get something done. It’s all action based.”
Linda started a closed Facebook page for the group where they discuss issues, post links and stay connected. “I Facebook the heck out of things,” Linda admitted. “People love it. They interact with me online, and stop me on the street to talk about posts I have made. I’m always surprised by who is following what’s being said on Facebook.”
She blogs occasionally, but feels it’s more a creative outlet for her than a way to drive customers to her business. “I’ve pushed it off into the ‘luxury time’ arena,” she told us, “which means it doesn’t get done.”
The store remains a busy place, thanks to the game nights and tournaments, special events like ASTRA’s national Neighborhood Toy Store Day, and birthday parties. In fact, Linda’s future plans include an expansion of the store’s event room so that two activities can be held in the store simultaneously.
Among the hopscotch events is a community favorite – its in-store slumber parties. They cannot be bought or reserved. Linda holds three each year and they are auctioned off as fundraisers for the local school system. The proceeds of one goes to Head Start, the second to the McMinnville Education Foundation, and the third benefits Kids on the Block, an after-school program. “Spending a night at the store is pretty prestigious among the third grade set,” said Linda. “We offer it as a package for a group of up to eight kids. While they’re here we order pizza, play games, paint our toenails, whatever. Then we’ll watch a movie and crash. In the morning, we get them fruit and pastries, and pack them out by 10.”
It sounds like so much fun. It is, said Linda, and it also generates great PR for hopscotch and much-needed monies for local causes. The slumber parties are highly anticipated local events, and support her theory that specialty toy stores are the heart of their communities. “You could say I came to the toy business through my love of community more than my love of toys,” Linda said. |
