The modern toy shop at Christmas

W

Westbound

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I was in Smyths in Naas the other day, making my purchases, as is necessary at this time of the year. I accept the rose tinted specs may be on, but I have to say, given it is a toy shop and it is Christmas, some decorations, music, a merry christmas from the staff and Christmas cheer wouldn't go amiss in that shop, there is not a string of tinsel to be seen, nor a carol to be heard, just the sweet ringing of the tills! I dislike these new shops (Smyths, Byrnes etc.)at the best of times, as they are not what I assume a toy shop should be, yes, yes they sell toys, but they are cold places and don't seem to want to entertain the kiddies i.e. sell toys through interesting demos etc. I am thinking of Hamleys in London or the old Leisureworld in Belfast.

They must be raking it in, so surely they could invest in making the places less of warehouse, especially at this time of the year? Must be the child in me that doesn't like these places!
 
I agree. They are cold places.
Every child should be brought to Hamleys, it is a magical place.
 
Having suffered two hours of Smyth's the other evening, I agree that they are awful shops from an aesthetic point of view. I would have thought there would be a market for the Hamley's type of experience in Dublin city centre...
 
Isn't the obvious solution to take your business elsewhere if you don't like the shop?
 
I was in hamley's a couple of weeks ago with the kids. It was full of the same old barbie crap as smiths, just more of it and a few guys demonstrating stuff. Many of the sections has less selection than you get in the better smiths. (very little lego, baby doll stuff and almost no playmobile) I think the smiths in Naas is one of the better ones as it does have some toys that are not tv/movie tie ins. The best toy shops are in Germany, there's an online shop www.jacko-o.de which ships here very cheaply, there's also an english version of shop and catalogue.
 
Isn't the obvious solution to take your business elsewhere if you don't like the shop?
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Not sure what the alternative is in Ireland. It's either Smyths or World of Wonder, or the Toy Dept, in Tesco's or Dunnes, or a small toy store.

Smyths is a warehouse, with atmosphere to match. It's fine if you want to pick something up and you want to be reasonably sure they'll have it.

If you're bringing kids shopping and you expect the actual shopping experience to be in some way magical then you won't get that at Smiths.
Am I right in thinking that you can't even meet Santa at Smyths?
If the Big Red Guy doesn't endorse them then that maybe says something.

Smyths doesn't have a whole lot of competition so it hasn't yet picked up on the way Retail is moving. Anywhere there is competition be it for Clothing, or Electronics, or Toys, you'll notice the stores are trying to create that magical feeling. They realise that consumers will pay more for the goods if the experience of shopping warrants it.

You might pay 50 Euro for a Toy in a Warehouse, but if you can go to a shop where you're kid is constantly amazed by seeing toys being demonstrated, perhaps meeting the Red Suited One himself, perhaps getting a chance to play with some of the toys, you might gladly pay an extra 10 Euro for that experience.

I still get a kick out of seeing the Ferris Wheel inside Toys'r'us Times Square. I haven't actually been on it yet though.

It may be that Dublin can't support a Toy Store like that, so you get stuck with the likes of Smyths. I'd have thought the Brown Thomas New Money types would have been willing to pay for a top class toy store experience, so I'm surprised nobody's done it yet.

If it's only once a year for Christmas and you really wan't to give your kids a magical experience then consider jetting over to London. New York is probably a bit too much of a haul and more costly than the experience warrants.

-Rd
 
Ah Jeez, you don't need to go to London or NY. Head up to Daisy & Toms in Dundrum Centre, which is effectively the local 'kids playground' (and it's a lot dryer and warmer than the one in Marley).

I'd have thought that you're far better off leaving the kids at home when doing the serious shopping.
 
Was in a small shop in carrick on shannon at the weekend, called either "naughty bits" or "nauty bits", is a boat suppliers in summertime (hence the name) but does lovely wooden trad toys for christmas. The owner is german or dutch I would say, and has lovely german and dutch wooden toys. Real bit of nostalgia if anyone is passing there -- its upstairs in a sort of "urban renewal" place (stone building with a large courtyard out front) on a corner of the main street.
 
If you are looking for that magical experience, as RainyDay has said, Daisy and Tom in Dundrum is fab. However, the prices for everything that I checked are 20% more expensive in D&T than Smyths, and in one case 40% more expensive for a known brand popular toy.

You pay your money and you take your choice - give me Smyths any day...
 
Well........ I bring the kids to Daisy and Tom and let them play around with the demo toys and enjoy the athmosphere.....I note which ones I like and then head to Smyths on my own to buy them ;)

Although I usually end up buying some books from Daisy and Tom.....
 
Leisureworld in Belfast was great. Long gone unfortunately. happy memories though
 
They are so shameless, they won't even acknowledge it's christmas, even though I imagine that they depend on this time of the year for the most of their business. As I said, it's the one place I actually like to see it and I accept your point about the rest of the shops starting it all so early!

Yorky said:
Thank Goodness. Perhaps just one shop, even if it was just one, is not treating Christmas as a shamelessly commercial event which starts on November 1st.
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Toys R Us in Time Square New York gets my vote. I went in there on my own (without kids) and I was amazed and excited by what I saw.
I was never a big fan of Xmas but I was completely blown away by that store.
 
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