The Toy Factory

Spécialités

A wonderful old-​fashioned toy shop, filled with the magic of childhood, and sturdy wooden toys made to last a lifetime !

Children can visit the workshop, and help make a little wooden toy car or magic wand, if it’s not too busy. There’s no charge, and no obligation to keep the toy — we always need more toys for our store — but if they’d like to keep it, the cost is the same as the regular store price. And, if they write their name on it, we can trace it with a wood-​burner, so it’s a unique, personalized souvenir !

We also have awesome, sturdy wooden toy castles, pirate ships and forts, dollhouses and fairy tale play sets… all out, on low tables, so the children can «play-​test» everything.

You’ll also find locally-​made toy shipbuilding kits and lovely goat’s milk soaps… delightful Woodland Fairy figurines and t-​shirts… puzzles and games from around the world… a huge selection of stuffed animals… and we serve ice cream cones too.

It’s fun for kids… and kids-​at-​heart !!

Historique

Fondé en 1972.

The Toy Factory has a wonderful heritage that began in the 1970’s. That’s when a grandfather named «Al» (who looked a lot like Santa) was encouraged by his wife, a life-​long shopkeeper herself, to open a toy store to share the wonderful wooden toys he had been making for his grandchildren.

In 1990, Al’s doctor told him «It’s time for you to retire, again» … and that’s when Al found us !

We’re Dan and Kathy, and we were making wooden toys and kid’s furniture for our own 3 children, and our friends and neighbors, just like Al had started out. It was a perfect match, and we were happy that Al agreed to «stay on» as a toy-​making advisor, as we took over The Toy Factory.

Since then, we’ve designed dozens of new wooden toys in our workshop, and we’ve worked hard to find the very best toys from all over the world for our store.

We believe great toys should have excellent play-​value, inspire children’s creativity, and be sturdy and solidly-​made so they will last a lifetime !

Rencontrer le Manager

Kathy V.

Manager

Kathy enjoys it when visitors come into our workshop, see her at a workbench surrounded by wooden toys… and when they look around and don’t see a man, they say «Oh well, I guess the toy-​maker isn’t here today.» Sometimes she will say, «Excuse Me ?» But mostly she just smiles, and before long the visitors realize they’re watching the chief toy-​maker !

Kathy had very little woodworking experience when she and Dan took over The Toy Factory in 1990. But she’s very creative, and she has a wonderful eye for the things children really enjoy in their creative play, which has helped her design some wonderful new wooden toys over the years.

You see, in the early days, Kathy would get tired of waiting for Dan to stop talking and get to work making toys… so she watched carefully when he did… asked questions, tried things herself… and before long, she became an awesome toy-​maker !

Now, Kathy looks after a staff of 10 every summer… making toys, working in the store… and having fun !