Hey, all you parents out there with burgeoning boys and girls. Are toy stores the bane of your existence?
You know what I mean. The ones loaded with lots of useless gadgets and gizmos. Even worse, they invariably inspire those whines of the wild (or is it wile) that start with ”I waaaaant.”
Well, the kids` wants can be met and needs need not be neglected, as owner Dottie Jeffries demonstrates in her newly opened Streeterville Toys store. The store, ingeniously situated across from ExpressWays Children`s Museum in North Pier, 435 E. Illinois St., is intelligently stocked with toys that focus on the arts and sciences.
The rummies relate to art, pick-up card games are presidential and plastic pets-like snakes, dinosaurs and marine mammals-are more realistic than such samplings found elsewhere. There`s also a whole slew of other learning toys culled by Jeffries for this high-quality collection.
Considering her credentials, such a slant is not surprising. Jeffries`
stints in marketing, retailing, and consulting for a number of sources-including The Nature Company, the Museums of Science and Industry and Broadcast Communications, Here`s Chicago! and NBC-have contributed to her unique brand of toy buying.
”I got tired of selling my ideas to other people, so now I`m selling them myself,” said Jeffries of her retailing philosophy.
Store hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.
