Take A Look Inside One Of New England's Oldest Toy Stores

NEW CANAAN, CT — Nathan Shapiro remembers spending many hours playing with toy trucks, Playmobil and LEGO sets and other toys as a child. Little did he know it would set him up for a future career.

The 29-year-old Ridgefield resident is now the owner of the New Canaan Toy Store, after purchasing it from longtime owner Chris Kilbane in August. The store is currently located at 94 Park Street, however Shapiro said the business' roots loosely trace back to 1928, making it one of New England's oldest toy stores.

"Toy stores didn’t really exist back then as we know them now," Shapiro said as he hung Rubik's Cubes on a display at the store Monday afternoon. "It was something more akin to like a general store or a hobby shop. Over the years, the store's gone through different incarnations to represent the time."

Shapiro, who owns the store along with his parents, was actually in the process of trying to open a toy store in Westport from scratch when he got the call from Kilbane last year. (To sign up for New Canaan breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"[Kilbane] reached out to me and said he had to sell the store, and he asked if I was interested," Shapiro said. "I was very interested. It’s a great store, and a great opportunity."

Shapiro already had some experience with the toy store business, having worked with his sister, who owns four bookstores in New York that have big toy sections. Experience aside, Shapiro found himself drawn to running a the store for a deeper reason.

"I wanted to do something that, day in and day out, would be fun, interesting and meaningful to the community," Shapiro said. "I wanted it to be something that would spark joy in some way, both for me and the customers, and a toy store seemed like the perfect fit."

The store itself does carry a feeling of joviality, something established when the store moved to its current Park Street location in 2010, after previously having set up shop on Elm Street. Some fixtures from the previous location made their way to the new location, giving the store an old-fashioned charm.

Guests are greeted by large hand-painted cutouts of toy soldiers as they enter from either the street or the parking lot. A model train also runs on a track hanging from the ceiling, and many colorful displays of toys, books and games line the walls and aisles.

While Shapiro has not made any huge changes to the interior or exterior since taking over in the summer, he said the store does require a lot of constant love and attention.

"The biggest thing that we’ve done is we’ve brought in a lot more books," Shapiro said. "We now have about 1,500 titles, so we have a much broader children’s books selection. We’ve focused a little more on slight changes to the actual inventory we carry."

While stepping into the shoes of a local staple like Kilbane was intimidating, residents seem to have embraced the store all the same.

"It’s really important to me that we keep the legacy of the store alive," Shapiro said. "Chris told me when I bought the store ‘it’s not really about me.’ The store existed long before he was ever around, and he was really just carrying it on from the last owner. It’s more about the store itself than anybody who happens to own it at any given time."

That legacy is already being carried into new territories. In December, Shapiro opened a second store in Westport, and he hopes to serve customers there much in the same way the New Canaan store has served its unique community for decades.

"New Canaan is such a great community," Shapiro said. "There’s something very unusual about the town; about how it has such a local, small town feel without being that small. The kids on Friday afternoons have the free run of the town. It’s just so friendly and so warm. Even if you don’t know someone here you kind of feel like you already do know them. That’s what is really important about a local toy store is that there is this feeling of warmth and community that’s sort of ever-present."

He also is not worried about competition from bigger stores with toy departments and online retailers, such as Amazon.

"I would say online is our biggest competition, but I don’t think of that as a bad thing. It just means we have to show why we are a viable alternative," Shapiro said. "There’s a real advantage to actually being able to see a toy, especially if you don’t know the toy you want because it can be a little overwhelming. Being able to see it, touch it, talk to our friendly and knowledgeable staff about it; it really is something you can’t do online or even at a larger store."

This was particularly evident during the holidays, as shoppers flocked to the store to find their child the perfect toy for Christmas.

"Running a toy store in December is just a completely different experience than really any other time of year," Shapiro said, "but it’s also very joyous. Everybody is in a great mood, and it’s just a lot of fun."

The most satisfying part for the new owner, however, was knowing a toy from his store could make a child happy Christmas morning.

"That was something I hadn’t even thought about until I was wrapping a gift for somebody and realized someone was going to be unwrapping it on Christmas," Shapiro said. "To be a part of that, even if someone doesn’t really think about where the gift came from, it’s cool knowing you can have a part in that."

Check the New Canaan Toy Store website for further information on the iconic store.

Photo credits: RJ Scofield