Sentinel - Midtown Santa Cruz toy store expands
SANTA CRUZ >> Dyane Villalobos’s 8-year-old daughter, Nevada, has won the children’s version of the lottery: She’s growing up in a toy store.
Villalobos owns the successful toy store Childish Santa Cruz, which recently expanded to a larger space across from its previous location in midtown. The store will host a celebration Thursday evening at its new store, at 1127 Soquel Ave.
The store has been open in the new space for a month, and Nevada says it’s “much more fun.” Friday, her mother let her unpackage a new scooter and zoom around the showroom with shop with her 4-year-old brother.
“He and I play tag. That’s how much room there is,” said Nevada, a second-grader. “There’s so much more space.”
It’s quadruple the size of the previous store, said Villalobos, now 4,000 square feet. She has added more inventory, such as children’s shoes and clothes, and showcased local vendors such as Bow N Arrows, a handcrafted teepee maker, and Modarri, a toy car designer.
By the year’s end, Villalobos said she also plans to host workshops, such as art and coding, as well as groups for mothers dealing with postpartum depression.
Her goal is to create an engaging, imaginative in-store experience, to compete against online shopping — the foe of brick-and-mortar locally owned enterprises, she said. Since she opened her store in 2010, she’s seen four Santa Cruz toy shops shutter, she said.
“We want people to come in and go, ‘OK, we can buy something, but we can also see little Joey come in and build something awesome,’” said Villalobos, a Los Angeles native.
She moved her family to Santa Cruz after her wife found a job as a lawyer for Santa Cruz County. Villalobos worked as a property manager until she was laid off, and decided to take over the lease of an existing secondhand children’s store in Live Oak.
Childish Santa Cruz is now known for its eco-friendly, thoughtful toys, and the store’s nostalgic feel, said Villalobos. For example, she displays her collection of old maps and vintage toys, including miniature Winnebagos and a 1970s Barbie jacuzzi.
“You walk in and you can see beautiful modern bicycles next to a 1920s metal truck,” she said. “It just has a real nice feel to it.”
The store has expanded three times in six years, and sales have continually increased, 20 percent from 2014 to 2015, said Villalobos. Notably, her February sales are up 38 percent from February 2015, she said, and she credits in part her work with financial advisors at Santa Cruz’s Small Business Development Center.
“I think the renaissance is definitely happening with shopping local,” Villalobos said.
Moving into Childish Santa Cruz’s previous space at 1100 Soquel Ave. is Home/Work, an interior design store specializing in vintage and handcrafted goods, owned by Santa Cruz resident Sonia McMoran.
Home/Work will stay at its current store, at 765 Cedar St., Santa Cruz, until May 22, then re-open on Soquel Avenue on June 8.