Retroactive Kids

Kid friendly, Great selections, lots of small inexpensive items too if you happen to have a kid who wants to go in every time you pass the place. Going to a birthday party and need a good last minute gift? This is the place, it’ll be something cool that doesn’t seem last minute, the staff will even wrap it for you.
My kids like to go in frequently and the staff are understanding of «Browsers». I have had nothing but genuine good experiences there.

I’ve been in a couple of times now and the customer service has been consistently poor. That I’m not greeted or otherwise acknowledged is one thing, but when I specifically ask a question about an item, an honest effort to help would be nice. During my last visit, I was interested in the onesies in the window. When I asked the woman at the register if they had other sizes, she barely glanced at me and said, ‘huh’? Repeating the question yielded a similar response. I was the only customer in the store at the time, so I can only conclude she wasn’t interested in making the sale. That, and the fact the onesie was $ 28 (!), had me out the door and this time I won’t be going back.

Love this place. Kid friendly joint that’s ACTUALLY kid friendly ie. No wide eyes when my daughter touches tons of toys. We go weekly to get little cool toys :)

Love this store! I wanted to touch every single thing in here. Super friendly staff, (free simple, butcher paper wrapping, thanks!) and good gifts for a range of ages from baby to older adolescent.
I will return for birthday parties and Christmas goodies. Support your little local treasures!

I have been here several occasions. The space is cramped. Every time I go into the store the owner acts like she can’t be bothered. (i think another customer on here said the same thing) Very unfriendly. Once she acted annoyed that I was browsing with my stroller. I know it’s a small space but there is hardly anyone in there every time I have gone.

Just bought an awesome Sasquatch Books kid book there today — great selection of children’s books that you don’t see everywhere!

We get all of the birthday gifts for friend birthday parties here. I love the service and that it is local.

I came here searching for a Christmas gift for my six month old nephew. Retroactive Kids is a small store but the shelves are packed with stuffed animals, games, puppets, legos, dolls, books, candy, etc. It’s kid paradise!
Since I myself know next to nothing about babies, the folks at Retroactive Kids helped me find some really fun yet age appropriate stuff. To top it all off, they wrapped the presents up in the CUTEST wrapping paper/​ribbons ever. I mean, I would have paid extra for their awesome wrap job, but it was totally free.
They share their space with Columbia City Cuts, so if your little one hates haircuts, you can bribe them by promising to buy them a toy after they’re finished! It’s win win.
Retroactive Kids is one of the many fabulous businesses that help make Columbia City such an awesome place to live. Heartily recommended!

We love this toy store! We bring the kids in all the time after brunch at Geraldine’s or when walking to the farmers market and they love it (even when it’s just for browsing:)
They have really unique and interesting toys and books and seem to only stock environmentally and socially friendly items. They also wrap gifts there which is perfect since we always seem to buy gifts on the way to the party, they just use brown paper and string (or a bag) but we have the kids decorate it with crayons which is fun for them. We recently bought French letter blocks and flash cards for a 1 year old which were very cute (and a little pretentious ;-)

I used to love coming to this store after eating breakfast at Geraldine’s Counter. They typically have cute and creative toys and gift ideas. I’ve decided to stop coming here because of the poor customer service. Every time I go into the store, the owner acts like she can’t be bothered unless she knows your buying something. Often times, she acts annoyed that there are kids in her store. In the past, I’ve set that aside; however, my most recent visit was so frustrating that I’ve decided to stop shopping here.
I hadn’t been to the store in a while so I hadn’t used any of my Chinook book coupons. We had two app versions and one paper version of the 20% off coupon. My sister and I were buying over $ 75 worth of purchases each and wanted to use the coupons to our order. The hassle she gave me for using the two app versions was ridiculous. She didn’t have an issue with using two coupons, she had an issue that we were using two app coupons. I had a baby on my back and another child in the store and had to go back to my car to get my paper chinook book coupon. I understand that applying a 20% off coupon cuts into her margin but if she doesn’t want people to use it, she shouldn’t offer it through the book. Good customer service goes along way. Now she has one less customer and one bad review.

Came in for a last minute birthday gift for a 10yrs old girl… found everything I needed QUICK!
Organized …tons of toy/​gift options for teens, kids, toddlers and infants!
In the perfect location too! My only constructive criticism a more noticable sign hanging outside would help.
Some ppls reviews make it seem like things are 2^nd second here (& there’s absolutely nothing wrong w/​thifting) but this isn’t a thrift shop… just fyi lol

hands down, best toy store I have ever been into (even included dear departed RIP Izilla Toys (for the mix of quality new toys — stilts, Playmobile, great books, and retro/​used stuff like clothes, books, records and old Fisher Price — swoon. Love!

Fun and friendly inside!

I am never disappointed here– from gifts to a little do-​dad for me or my daughter, it’s like they can read my mind and know exactly what I want.
I find the most unique, thoughtful and COOL gifts here for kids and those of us who are still kids at heart.
The owners and every one of the staff are always amazingly helpful and nice, taking time to work with you on ideas for gifts, offering to wrap and/​or just chatting you up about your great taste in selections.
They offer really cool events throughout the year– check them on Halloween!- and overall, this is the kind of store that I love having in my neighborhood!

Vintage, classic & one of a kind toys, clothes, art/​crafts, books & gifts. I always find something awesome, unique and fun either for my 4-​year old daughter, or as a gift for one of her little buddies. Their selection of Playmobil toys and figures is especially extensive. They also have BEAUTIFUL baby dolls, much nicer than anything I’ve ever seen at the Big Box Stores.
SIDE NOTE: Kids haircuts are available in the back of the store at Columbia City Cuts. We really love Dina for my daughter’s haircuts. Hours of operation for the salon are 10am — 5pm Tues — Sat, walk-​ins are often available too, but I’d recommend making an appointment.

Thanks to the new kick ass light rail, we discovered this place on a recent adventure to Columbia City. Turns out that trains do spread commerce… imagine that!
We went the first time to just check it out with our 3 yo son who ended up playing with the display train set for over an hour while my husband and I perused the awesome new and vintage toy selection. I picked up some gifts for an upcoming bday and then we excitedly exited into a full blown heritage parade and raining tootsie rolls. It was a good day.
Only to be topped by the next visit… where we took our son here again to turn in his pacifier AKA «minka» to be sent and recycled to the minka factory. The gal, Beth, who was working the counter, took this so seriously that she packaged it up and addressed it to Binkie, NY and gave my son a sheet of 2 cent stamps to paste on the package. He gave the box to her and picked out a new toy in celebration. I am still crying tears of joy from the experience. Alternating with tears of laughter as my son keeps telling me he can’t sleep because he needs something squishy in his mouth.

Went back this past weekend to buy some stuff for my own baby due in the Spring and it seems the store has shifted focus to toys. The toys were definitely unique, not your average plastic toys r us fare, with a lot of nostaligia ones thrown in.
They still carry a few unique baby items and some homemade clothes. It seems they are trying to not compete with Sweet Peas and some other local consignment stores. However, I will say that I do miss the range of used clothes and the shoes they once carried as the owner has GREAT taste for vintage and European styles. As mentioned the stock on clothing and shoes was really low, and I do hope they bring in more of that kind of stuff… However, I did buy a really unique home-​made wrap top, shorts and booties by a local seamstress and I’d love to see more of that too!
But overall the store has lost none of it’s charm or flair (and great service I might add) and is still a fantastic shop for parents, aunties/​uncles and friends to get something special for the little one in their life!

I love this place sooo much! I love the selection of cool out of the ordinary toys, books and clothing. I love the cool locally designed clothes, well made shoes and vintage baby duds. I love the fun toys that you can usually only find on line. The staff have always been really nice and the store is really kid friendly. They have the cutest kid salon in the back that I have yet to use. Great gifts for kids and baby, imaginative toys and funky clothes, this is my kind of kids store!

It’s official, Retroactive kids is a triple threat! Part store, part hair salon, part art studio — all awesome. This is one of my absolute favorite kids’ stores and a must-​stop in Columbia City. They have such a cool and unique assortment of toys and clothes for the kiddos, and let’s be honest, I want half of it for myself!
Retroactive kids stocks some really great stuff I haven’t seen anywhere else, and there’s a very distincive style to what they have. There’s the retro stuff that gives the store its name (things like really great vintage and vintage-​look toys), some more funky/​mod stuff, plenty of handmade (often local) items, cool books… basically a little of everything, in its coolest version. But wait, there’s more! In the back there’s a little hair salon with a cool race car seat for the little ones (I only wish I could fit in it, too!). Plus, there’s an art studio in back where they host classes and activities.
The staff is always really friendly and helpful. It’s one of those great little local places where you actually get to chat with the owners, which I love –they are really jazzed about their business and happy to show you around and help you find what you’re looking for.

This is a great baby/​kids’ store… they have unique items and support a lot of local businesses. I wish they had more boy clothes so that’s why I took off one star. I always make a stop at this store when I’m in Seattle and it’s a great place for gifts, as well as getting your own ideas for a baby room or making something on your own. And, a fun trip down memory lane with all the «vintage» toys and books.
****UPDATE***
The store is moving to a new location as of March 2007 in Columbia City. Sad!
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