Toy Village sign shown here touting one of its many sales to bring customers in. Going out of business will be bittersweet for many.Courtesy photo
By Deborah Walker
For over 50 years Toy Village, located at 3105 West Saginaw, Lansing, Michigan has provided quality collectable toys for children and adults of all ages. Selling antique dolls, bears, games, puzzles and a slew of other toys Toy Village has provided its customers access to toys that cannot be found any place else, but that is all due to end. With the economy in a crunch and online retailers stamping out the competition Toy Village can no longer afford to stay in business and is slated to close its doors forever on December 7th or before.
“Being in business for fifty four years was a good run but the internet and the economy has been real hard on people with children… I’ve always thought our toys were better. If it’s for sale at Wal-Mart or Meijer we don’t even sell it here, everything here is different,” says John Slagh who works at Toy Village.
Toy Village has had a strong history in Lansing. Toy Village was started by Slagh’s mother Betty “Toy Lady” Gillison in 1962. Slagh says that it was his mother’s determination and hard work that made the one-of –a-kind store a success.
“There weren’t that many women in business back then…” said Slagh. “She went to the bank and she told them “I think I can sell twenty five dollars worth of toys today to pay back my loan Mr. Banker” and she kept her business more than fifty years.”
Toy Village’s closing sparks a major change for Slagh who grew up in the house and has helped to sell toys most of his life. Slagh says his family lived upstairs in their home while they ran Toy Village located downstairs. Slagh who is fifty nine years old, attended Waverly School District kindergarten through high school.
Slagh says all toys are 40 percent off and hopes that the heavy discounts will help the toys sell in a hurry. Slagh says he does not want to still be in business by Christmas and so those looking to purchase toys from Toy Village must act quickly.
Slagh says that Toy Village’s legacy of family and community has been forgotten. Slagh says that for generations’ parents and grandparents shopped at Toy Village buying the same toys for their children as their parents bought for them, but that legacy no longer matters.
Those who shopped at Toy Village loved its antique toys. When you visited the store it was a look back into the past for many. Slagh says that all the toys at Toy Village were specialty toys that were meant to last through the generations.
“Everybody that comes here loves it because it’s like a museum back to the 70’s or the 50’s. I mean people come here who are fifty nine and they see toys they used to play with,” said Slagh.
Slagh says that saddest part about Toy Village closing is the elimination of jobs for the other employees. Slagh says that Toy Village has provided a living for its employees for over fifty years and now that is gone.
“It’s not like we make a million dollars with our mom and pop store, we’re just trying to keep our little family cared for,” said Slagh.
Slagh says that Toy Village sold between two and four hundred thousand dollars worth of toys each year but that was not enough. Slagh says Toy Village could not keep up with the heavy discounts offered by online retailers and added that the past 10 years has been a struggle.
“Internet gets 60-70 percent of current purchases and it’s cheap, cheap, cheap. They’re a lot of good customers and they’re friends it just wasn’t enough customers and they didn’t come here enough times,” said Slagh.
But Toy Village has not always seen hard times. Slagh says that 20 years ago during the 1990’s Toy Village made over a million dollars a year selling collectable dolls and bears through their catalog mailers. Slagh says that customer ordered dolls through the mailers and once payment was received the toys were shipped out but Slagh says eBay changed all that. Slagh says it was too difficult to compete with the heavy discounts offered through online retailers.
“EBay just broke the collectable market in the economy,” said Slagh.
Slagh says what happened to Toy Village will only continue to happen to other small independently owned business if people continue to shop at large retailers and ignore small businesses. Slagh says that people should beware. Slagh says that toys and other products made overseas and sold in the United States are one of the major reasons small businesses like Toy Village are closing.
“Part of it is people just want too much. They want all the decorations in their house, all the electronics and they want all the clothes until finally everybody wants so much China starts coming in here and they make stuff for everybody. It’s cheaper and everybody can buy more and more and more except finally there’s nothing made in America… someday there won’t be a Kroger or a Meijer,” said Slagh.
Slagh says that his plan is to find another job after Toy Village closes.
This was printed in the December 1, 2013 – December 14, 2013 Edition
