Cody Jones recently relocated his store Toy Lair to a new space on Broad Street. (Jack Jacobs photos)
A local toy store has found a bigger box to play in.
Toy Lair is now open in its new location at 4005 W. Broad St. near Scott’s Addition, having recently relocated from Carytown.
At nearly 6,000 square feet, Toy Lair’s new shop is four times as large as the storefront on Cary Street. Owner Cody Jones said the move to a larger space gives the shop room for expanded inventory and events.
“I was really limited in what I could do over there, and I really needed a space where I could grow,” Jones said. “It’s a much bigger location for us to expand and do more community events. We do conventions, so more space helps provide more storage.”
Toy Lair’s focus is on collectible and vintage toys, both new and used, aimed at adults with a particular emphasis on Japanese imports. The store also sells comics and board games. Toy Lair recently has started to sell video games and products for tabletop games Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer 40,000.
Toy Lair sells collectible and vintage toys, as well as video games and other products.
Toy Lair plans to set aside a portion of the new space on Broad Street for six or seven tables where people can play tabletop games. Jones said he hoped to make the tables available soon as part of a drive to make Toy Lair a place for people to hang out as well as buy toys.
“I just want to build community here. We have a big space for it, so we might as well. I think it adds an element to the store that wasn’t there before.”
In addition to a desire for more space, Jones said another factor in the move was that his previous space at 3222 W. Cary St. in Carytown lacked the visibility he wanted, even after operating there for several years.
“People couldn’t really see our business. There were people, after three years of being there, who would say, ‘Man, I went by this like 100 times and didn’t know this was here.’”
Toy Lair leases a nearly 6,000-square-foot space at 4005 W. Broad St. near Scott’s Addition.
He’s betting that he can catch more attention on Broad Street, where his pink logo hangs on a black building to which he’s adding murals. While Carytown has the foot traffic, Jones said that wasn’t always as beneficial as he hoped, and that he was facing higher rent if he stayed.
“Foot traffic doesn’t always translate into sales,” he said. “Carytown is a great spot, but it’s not the end-all-be-all.”
Toy Lair opened in the Broad Street space in late October. Reilly Marchant of Thalhimer handled lease negotiations on behalf of the landlord.
The store had opened in its 1,500-square-foot Carytown space in 2021, several years after it launched as an online seller and convention vendor.