Neighborhood Toy Store Day is held on the second Saturday of November every year and is designed to kick off the holiday season with special events that introduce consumers to the benefits of shopping local.
Neighborhood Toy Store Day was created by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local toy shopping and creative open ended playtime for children.
Independent toy stores around the country participate by hosting fun, free and family friendly events, such as face painting, craft projects, live performances and more.
Independent toy stores offer multiple advantages to shoppers:
- A carefully curated selection of toys, selected with local families in mind.
- A focus on providing unique selections and the kind of quality not always found at national chains. Local toy stores select from brands both large and small, including little known brands that are not advertised on TV.
- Because they observe kids at play day in and day out, independent toy stores can offer the best advice on the right selection for individual kids.
- Independent toy store owners are toy experts who understand the value of play and what types of toys encourage the best kind of play.
- By offering a personalized approach and additional customer service, local toy stores make holiday shopping easier.
Independent toy stores also provide many benefits to the community as a whole, by:
- Creating jobs and preserving neighborhoods.
- Compared to chain stores, putting a significantly larger share of revenue back into the local economy in the form of taxes, salaries and more.
- Supporting environmental sustainability, by helping to maintain vibrant, walkable town centers, essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss and air and water pollution.
For more information on Neighborhood Toy Store Day and to find a participating retailer near you, visit http://ntsd.astratoy.org.
Content provided by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.