More than 40 independent toy stores will be featured in A Toy Store Near You, the new docuseries from The Nacelle Company.
Launching in mid-April, the series from producer Brian Volk-Weiss and the team behind Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us and The Movies That Made Us will put the spotlight on stores in America and other locations around the world as they evolve to deal with the effects of the coronavirus and the spread of COVID-19 on their businesses. Toymaker Super7 — which also operates storefronts in San Francisco and San Diego — has joined the production as a promotional sponsor for the series.
A Toy Store Near You will debut one or two episodes each week across Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Vimeo, with each delving into the history, selection, and the people that make each store unique. The majority of the proceeds from the series will directly benefit each store that is featured, most of which have been forced to close completely or are operating under modified circumstances due to mandatory stay-at-home orders that stifle all but essential retail.
“At Super7’s core, we are collectors making the kinds of toys we always wanted. In that spirit, when we opened the first Super7 store in 2003, it was about building the kind of toys tore we wanted to shop at,” says Brian Flynn, founder of Super7. “Over the years, anytime we travel to a new town, one of the first destinations is always the local toy store, to not only look for toys, but to meet the collectors and people running the actual stores. To have a docuseries focusing on these amazing personalities and places in this time of uncertainty for many of these shops is an amazing gift from the people of Nacelle. We could not be more excited to help support this effort in every way possible.”
“All of us at Nacelle have collected toys (if not dozens of them) from Super7 over the years and we’re ecstatic that they’ve come on board to join our exciting new project,” says Brian Volk-Weiss, CEO of The Nacelle Company.
Toy stores featured in the first season include:
- 1313 Mocking Bird LN | Lawrence, KS
- Andy’s Toys | St. Louis
- Billy Galaxy Vintage Toys | Portland, Oregon
- Black Cat Comics and Toys | Burbank, California
- Bric-A-Brac Records and Collectibles | Chicago
- Chicaca 2.0 | Taipei, Taiwan
- Cherry Bomb Toys | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (Behind-the-Scenes)
- Dr. Tongue’s I Had That Shoppe | Portland, Oregon
- Empire Toys | Keller, Texas
- Eternia Dreams | Taneytown, Maryland
- The Fan Fortress | Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Farpoint Toys and Collectibles | Mays Landing, New Jersey
- House of Plastik | Cincinnati
- I&S Vintage | Los Angeles
- Imperial Castle Toy Shop | Pawling, New York
- Jayden’s Toys | Lewisville, Texas
- Kelly’s Toy Stop | Huntington Beach, California
- Kokomo Toys and Collectibles | Kokomo, Indiana (Behind-the-Scenes)
- Paul’s Toy Room | Parlin, New Jersey
- RetroTV Toys | Las Vegas
- Robot Robot | Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan
- Rogue Toys | Las Vegas
- Smash Toys | Chicago
- South Louisville Toy Mall | Louisville, Kentucky
- Spiral Toys | Shibuya City, Tokyo, Japan
- Super7 | San Francisco (pictured top via Instagram)
- Super Happy Incredible Toys | Houston
- The Batcave Comics and Toys | Santa Rosa, California
- The Gnarly Toy Box | Lakewood, Colorado
- The Toy Box | Glendale, Arizona
- Time Capsule Toys | Girard, Ohio
- Toy and Comic Heaven | Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
- The Toyboys | Haarlem, Netherlands
- The Toy Drop | Indianapolis
- Toy de Jour | Chicago
- Toy Fusion | Sacramento, California
- Toy Stable | Tacoma, Washington
- Toys From The Past | Lincoln, Nebraska
- We Can Be Heroes | Chatsworth, California
A Toy Store Near You will debut with an episode focused on Billy Galaxy, a vintage toy store that has been open in Portland, Oregon since 1995. Volk-Weiss says that the series will expand its distribution to additional platforms following its premiere.
For more on Volk-Weiss’ passion for toys, check out Making The Toys That Made Us from our sister publication, the Pop Insider.
