S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes

S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes is a toy store which was established in 1970.[2][3] It is a specialty toy and gift shop with headquarters located in downtown Pittsburgh, selling old-fashioned, idiosyncratic, and nostalgic toys, along with modern toys.[2] The store has been a local landmark since 1970,[3] and "is a Pittsburgh tradition".[upper-alpha 1] It is Pittsburgh's largest specialty toy store, and with a half century of service it is the city's oldest surviving toy business.[5][6]

S.W. Randall Toyes & Giftes
TypeToy store
IndustryRetail sales
FoundedMarch 1, 1970 (1970-03-01) in Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh)
FounderJack Cohen[1]
Headquarters
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Number of locations
3
Area served
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
ProductsToys, Hobbies
OwnerJack Cohen
Number of employees
 (25 (2019))
Websiteswrandalltoys.com

History
Downtown location 630 Smithfield St. Pittsburgh, PA

Jack Cohen and his wife[7] founded the original store in 1970 in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, when Jack was 23 years old and working as an ice cream truck driver.[1] They named it after their children Sherry, Stacey, Wendy, and James (middle name Randall). As of 2019, the Cohens still work for the company and it remains a family-run business.[1][8][9] Specializing in quirky products that "nobody else has", the store has earned Jack Cohen the sobriquet of "The Toy Keeper".[10]

The stores have been a Pittsburgh landmark and tourist attraction since 1970,[2][11][12][13][14][3] and it sells classic toys.[8][15]

As of 2019, there are three stores: Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Downtown Pittsburgh which is the flagship location.[16][upper-alpha 2] There were seven stores at the apogee of the company's growth.[upper-alpha 3] The company is privately held but according to a 2009 report, the business stocked 30,000 different items, had revenues of $2.5 million and employed 28 people.[4][17] The company is a member of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.[18]

During the 2011 filming of The Dark Knight Rises in Pittsburgh, the store received a boost in sales of older nostalgia Batman items; customers included Christopher Nolan, the film's director, who said he "loved the store".[19] The downtown shop is often a stop on "Haunted Pittsburgh" tours; the third floor reportedly hosts apparitions.[upper-alpha 4]

References

Notes
  1. "Today, SW Randall Toyes & Giftes has become a Pittsburgh tradition in an industry in which the specialty toy store seems almost as quaint as a cobbler, and in which even major mass market toy retailers are struggling." The large and diverse product line in such small quarters creates a bewildering forest of Stock keeping unit ("SKU") numbers.[4]
  2. "... the original Squirrel Hill store, one in the city's Shadyside neighborhood, and their flagship location on Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh. It fills a five-story building that the Cohens own, and it's just blocks from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center where ASTRA will hold Marketplace & Academy in June. “If ASTRA attendees come in, we'll take them up to the third floor in our antique, 80-year-old elevator that one of us will operate," Cohen said. "It's even got a crystal chandelier. We're old school, you know."[1]
  3. Per Mr. Cohen; "We've had to close some stores that weren't profitable. At one point, S.W. Randall had seven stores. We closed Wild & Woolly, a stuffed animal store in Oxford Centre, Downtown, around 1986 after two years in business. A Station Square store closed in 2007 after 25 years because the shopping center didn't have enough traffic under new ownership. A toy store, Alphabet Soup, and a glass store that opened in PPG Place, Downtown, in the mid-1980s were closed."[1][8]
  4. "Staff members tell of seeing a lady's apparition on the third floor with the dolls," reports The Globe, the student newspaper of Point Park University, "Customers have reported 'cold spots,' feeling a 'presence,' and feeling like their energy is being drained."[1][20]

Citations
  1. Sykes 2010.
  2. Margittai 2008, p. 143.
  3. Batz, Bob, Jr. (31 October 2019). "#EssentiallyPittsburgh: S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)(subscription required)
  4. Schooley, Tim (19 October 2009). "SW Randall Toyes & Giftes finds success by listening to customers". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. King 2018, p. 154: "Pittsburgh's oldest and largest specialty toy store"
  6. Directory of Discount and General Merchandise Stores. CSG Information Services. 1996. p. 1654. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  7. JACK COHEN, Speaker (13 May 2014). "History of Randall's Toyes and Giftes" (Video). Squirrel Hill Historical Society. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  8. Parrish, Tory N. (25 August 2015). "S.W. Randall Toyes & Giftes of Pittsburgh's owner finds joy in toys". Trib Total Media, LLC. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. "You can always shop Downtown: S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes". The Incline. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. Joseph 2014, pp. 32-33.
  11. Squirrel Hill Historical Society 2017, p. 103.
  12. King 2018, pp. 185–186.
  13. Eldridge 2014, pp. 248–249.
  14. Phillips, Oberlin & Pattak 2005, p. 193.
  15. Gannon, Joyce (10 December 2005). "His stores' shelves are packed with classics". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 4 March 2020.(subscription required)
  16. "Pittsburgh's top 3 toy stores, ranked". Hoodline. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  17. Hudson, Kris; Byron, Ellen; Brat, Ilan; Kang, Stephanie (28 November 2005). "First Holiday Shopping Weekend Sets a Blistering Pace". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  18. "ASTRA membership directory 2017". Fahy-Williams Publishing Co. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  19. Dan Majors (20 August 2011). "Pittsburgh businesses get major boost from Batman film". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 8 March 2020. The store's new customers have included Christopher Nolan, the director of the film; his wife (and the film's producer), Emma Thomas; and their children. "He told me he was the director and that they loved the store", Mr. Cohen said. "They were here with four kids. They had to buy something."
  20. Lauer, Hallie (27 October 2016). "Spooked in the city with Haunted Downtown tours". The Duquesne Duke. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

Bibliography
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