A Child’s Delight

I love this store. I’ve been buying Legos and sticker books here for years and the staff has always gone above and beyond to help me in my quest for a particular minifigure I may need to complete the latest Lego series, or to find that special something for my niece’s 6^th birthday. Very helpful and patient, they’ve never let me down. They are an extraordinarily dedicated group who love their work.

Great boutique store. I always find good quality toys here for the kids in my life. If you can’t find something at the Northgate one they will speedily help you locate it at the Corte Madera store. Good stuff. I always try here first before going to the big box stores or online, even if the prices are slightly higher (maybe only by a dollar or two). I’d rather see a store like this stay in business than be forced to shop elsewhere and lose my soul at one of the big chain stores.

I bought a gift for my 4 year old, a cool looking gravity marble game with ramps and spinners. But when I got home there were no directions and we struggled to put it together. So, I brought it back the next day and the gentlemen manning the store was very nice, but said they had no return policy, he would have to call the owner. This was fine and he called me back later to say the owner had agreed to give me a store credit. Also fine, no problem.
So I went back in today and an older women was there who turned out to be the owner. She gave me wicked attitude about not being able to assemble it, snottily suggesting I was not as good at «spacial relationships» as she was. I almost asked her if it was customer relationships she sucked at. So I took my store credit and will spend it and then never go back to her store. How do people stay in business with attitudes like this?

The old lady who manages the store was very rude when I wanted to return a defective piece.
I had shopped at this store several times, in fact I bought a lot of toys in March and April of this year because of all the parties we’ve had to attend, so the lady knew that I was a regular customer and had never returned anything before.
But the last time, I was there I bought this set of 50 felt pens for my 5 yr old, we found out on the same day that most of the pens had dried up and didn’t work. So I took them back to the store the very next day. I told the lady, «I need to return this because» and before I could finish, the lady told me in the rudest tone «No No NO, This CANNOT be returned! This box has been opened! Those are our RUles…» And she went on and on without bothering to ask the reason for return. Finally, when she stopped I told her that most of the felt pens weren’t working. She opened the box, tried one pen and said with an attitude, «SEE, it works!» I had to really control my temper by this point, I calmly took a few other pens and showed her that they really weren’t working. She then did let me return it. I have never been treated so badly at a store before. I am NEVER going back there again!
The 2 stars is for the toys sold at that store.

We moved to Terra Linda (San Rafael) seven years ago. This «Lady» has been employed at this store since the day we first stopped in– it did move from Northgate a couple of years ago during the remodel — you can’t say too many stores have had such good employee retention… the owners and employee must be doing something right, right? I can say this, I never go to ToysRus unless we’ve been given a gift-​card for one of our three boys. We have bought $ 1000s of dollars of gifts for our kids and birthday parties at this wonderful location. The customer service has always been excellent! You can say «I’ve got 10 mins to shop for a boys 7 year old party — what do you recommend?» They’ll graciously walk you by the best choices. During one year I was in there, I bought out all their Gobblet board games. It became a running joke when I’d walk in. Did I mention they gift wrap for FREE. Caveat, I usually like to go next door to Ideal Stationers for the cards because I believe in shopping local. Doesn’t everyone? This toy-​store is a great option for locals, it’s friendly, convenient, and has fair priced inventory. To the other reviewer, I’d say grow a thicker skin. This «Lady» you’re talking about does come across as «Motherly» and opinionated — could it be she reminded you of someone YOU have «unresolved» issues to work through with — don’t take it out on her (ha-​ha) — instead, find yourself a good therapist!
BTW, please read the other (Andrea, the wicked) reviewers posted reviews… they’re glowing or ruthless — what a roller-​coaster off the tracks! Running a small business is tough enough without some harpy on the loose bringing her warped sense of expectations. I’ve been to Café Trio (1 Star from Andrea), the owners are a nice couple of guys trying to serve up quality food, I like the Mediterranean plate with chicken for lunch and the breakfast menu is tasty.

The staff are very friendly & genuine… I love that they sense which folks need guidance, and let others like me browse in peace — without seeming like it will be pesky if we do ask questions. Their prices are surprisingly reasonable (or flat-​out «really good») compared to similar stores I’ve visited up in my city.
I’m always amazed at how they’ve managed to include a huge number of items in a small space without it seeming at all cramped. It’s a kind of visual delight of colors & shapes; seeing all of the loose toys (like the scale-​model fantasy creatures) in their bins reminds me of the ‘orderly chaos’ of a happy child’s playroom.
I get the pleasant impression that the employees realize that people of all ages & both genders collect some of their items (like model horses) and that they don’t view it with disdain. I’ve seen those attitudes displayed in a range of little subtle & not-​so-​subtle ways in other stores, and it’s a huge improvement/​relief to know that I don’t have to deal with that!

So personal and friendly. I like the quality and selection of toys here. My kids loved it, too and I didn’t have to worry about them getting lost, haha. The guy was really helpful and didn’t even mind that I clumsily knocked over a few plastic toys. For my son’s birthday I recieved a gift from here, too. I know because there was a sticker on there from the store (they gift wraped it). So obviously it’s a great place to go.

A decent selection of toys, but the older gray haired lady who works there has the worst attitude ever. I vaguely remember her being very curt to me when I was at her store when it was at Northgate, but today she was exceptionally rude to me today. I was asking her about a sandbox/​table and asked if it came with chairs and she practically called me an idiot for asking, saying something like, «oh you obviously don’t know anything about children» with a smirk! I will never ever ever go back there! AND I buy a lot of toys for my daughter! Don’t go there! There are nicer clerks at the Village toy stores in Corte Madera!