Until very recently, this space held Toys Et Cetera, a 50-year-old local toy store that was justly beloved by all in the neighborhood. They had interesting and carefully curated toys and games, across a broad range of ages, interests, and price ranges, and an extremely helpful staff that provided excellent service in helping you pick out gifts, wrap, etc.
Now the owner has retired and the enterprise has been purchased and taken over by *play, a local Chicago toy store chain. The good news is that they have kept the experienced and helpful staff, they still provide excellent service and gift wrapping, and so this remains a great place to pop in on the morning of a birthday party and get a nice little gift selected and wrapped. (With the caveat, which also applied to Toys Et Cetera, that there are only so many gifts to go around, and if 20 Hyde Park families all pop into the same toy store on their way to the same birthday party . . . a certain amount of duplication tends to ensue.)
The bad news is that the selection of toys is much worse, much more limited, and more expensive. There are fewer good games, especially for older kids; there are no Legos; fewer gross motor toys; fewer really cheap things. And overall, if you bring in a kid with a little bit of allowance money odds are he will find nothing in here that is worth spending his cash on, and would vastly prefer to go to a Target instead.
I understand that there are economic features of the toy business that probably lead us here -- (e.g., it is apparently hard for small retail to turn a profit on Legos) -- but whatever the reason, it's a real shame, and my kids will never love this place the way they loved its predecessor. Unless they make some real changes in their stock to try to fit into the neighborhood better. read more