There’s something funny about how toy stores have changed. Remember when they were these magical little places? You’d press your face to the window, walk inside, and the smell alone — wood, paper, maybe a faint trace of candy — would just about knock you over with excitement.
Now it’s mostly giant chains, shelves stacked to the ceiling, the whir of a thousand battery-powered gadgets, or worse, just you on your couch scrolling Amazon. But every once in a while, you walk into a shop that feels like it was built for wonder, not just sales. Here are four I can’t stop thinking about.
Si Tu Veux (Paris)
This place is hidden. It’s in Galerie Vivienne, a 19th-century arcade in Paris where the floors are tiled mosaics, the ceiling is glass, and the shops look like they’ve been there forever — not in a dusty, sad way, but in a “this is how the world should be” way.
Si Tu Veux glows under little fairy lights, wedged between antique stores and a champagne bar (yes, really). Inside, it’s not big, but every shelf feels like it’s been curated by someone who really cares. Wooden toys you want to hold, delicate paper crafts, old-school board games that feel almost too pretty to play. You wander out afterward, blinking in the Paris light, half-tempted to go buy a notebook and jot down all the ideas buzzing in your head.
Hamleys (London)
Hamleys is the opposite of subtle — but that’s part of its charm. It’s huge, loud, and joyful chaos. Seven floors on Regent Street, people everywhere, staff launching toy helicopters over your head, bubbles drifting down the staircase (which, by the way, is a beautiful old wood thing that feels like it belongs in a museum).
It’s been around since the 1700s, which is wild to think about — but what hits you most when you’re inside is the noise, the excitement, the sheer volume of stuff. One minute you’re watching a magic trick demo, the next you’re poking at a retro toy that sends you straight back to age eight.
You think you’ll stop in “just to look,” and next thing you know, two hours are gone and you’re still there, trying to decide if you need a giant stuffed sloth or a toy you definitely don’t have space for.
LARK Toys (Kellogg, Minnesota)
Out in rural Minnesota, LARK Toys is the kind of place you almost don’t believe still exists. It’s enormous — 20,000 square feet — but it doesn’t feel corporate or cold. It feels homemade.
Right inside, there’s a carousel, but not the usual kind: this one’s hand-carved wood, with giraffes and dragons and rabbits, all slightly odd, all completely wonderful. You wander past handmade wooden puzzles, old-fashioned games, and quirky puppets. There’s a room with a giant model train setup, the kind you can stare at for way too long, and outside, a mini golf course you probably weren’t expecting but are now definitely playing. Also, the candy shop smells incredible — just saying.
The Mouse Mansion (Amsterdam)
This one is tiny and magical. The Mouse Mansion is a shop built around the Dutch book series, where tiny mouse characters live in absurdly detailed miniature rooms.
When you walk in, you slow down. You peer into little bakeries, libraries, hot air balloons, and notice things like the teeny-tiny loaf of bread on the shelf or the lamp no bigger than a thimble. It’s hard to explain how much care has gone into it — the textures, the colors, the fact that you want to shrink yourself down and live there.
Upstairs, you can see how the sets are made or buy little kits to try yourself. Fair warning: if you’re someone who gets sucked into crafts, this will send you down a rabbit hole (mouse hole?).
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