Frequently Asked Questions about Toy House and Baby Too
Why don’t you sell online?
Why isn’t your Baby Registry online?
Why do you claim to be the largest toy store?
Why do you only deliver free in Jackson County?
Why do you install car seats for free?
How does your layaway work?
If I want something assembled, what are my options?
Do you sell Gift Cards?
When do you hire for seasonal help?
How old must you be to work here?
Why don’t you sell online?
In today’s technological world, why aren’t we selling online? Simple – manpower. Do you know how much manpower it would take to put the largest selection of toys under one roof online? The big online stores have hundreds of people working for them to manage their inventories. For us to hire hundreds to go online, we would have to put all our focus on the online store instead of delighting you in the store. It would have to be our total focus, because it would have to do tens of millions of dollars just to pay for itself. Instead, we would rather do what we do best, which is run the best brick & mortar toy store we possibly can.
Why isn’t your Baby Registry online?
Here is a challenge to all programmers out there. There are thousands of stores like ours (toy, baby, gift, etc) who would love an off-the-shelf registry program – something we could buy like Office. Or better yet, a plug-in we could download to our site. Unfortunately none exist. Our current options are to either use a third-party website that creates, hosts, and fills a registry with their product (not what you saw in our store), or hire someone to build a custom program (the last person I know who did that needed two years and $180k to make it happen). So for now, we’ll keep the Registry on our computer in the store, email copies to anyone who requests, and handle inquiries by phone as we have done for decades. You’ll still get exactly what you want and need for your nursery.
Why do you claim to be the largest toy store?
First, to be clear, we claim to be the largest independent, family-owned toy store in America. You can measure a toy store by three ways – Total Size, Total Sales, Total Selection. In size there are only a handful of stores larger than us – FAO Schwarz in New York City (now closed) and Toys R Us in Times Square are both bigger (although TRU is closing that store at the end of 2015). Neither of those are independent or family-owned. In sales there may be larger stores, but sales are often market-driven. Our location in a county of only 160,000 people puts a limit on how much we can sell. In selection, this is where we are king. Over 500 vendors. Over 30,000 different items. Even the big stores in NY don’t come close to matching that kind of selection.
Why do you only deliver free in Jackson County?
Delivery is expensive. You need a vehicle and a staff and you have to take a huge liability risk to go into people’s houses. We’re willing to do that for you. Since we can get to almost anywhere in Jackson County in a relatively short time, we can absorb those costs. But going to Ann Arbor, Lansing or Battle Creek adds onto the costs dramatically. Still, we do those deliveries for a modest $75 delivery fee (and we waive that fee for purchases over $1500). We’ll work with you to get those big, bulky items to your door.
Why do you install car seats for free?
Because we can. We have trained car seat installers on the staff to help you make sure your seat is installed correctly. We know how hard it can be to properly install a car seat and we know how important it is for the safety of your child. We don’t care where you got the seat. We only care that your child is safe. (Of course, the safer your child, the longer she lives, and the longer she lives, the more toys you gotta buy.)
How does your layaway work?
Our layaway is customer friendly.
- It only takes a 10% deposit to start a layaway.
- There are no other fees.
- You only have to make a payment once a month (of any amount).
- You get up to 6 months to keep items on layaway (10 months on baby products).
- You can change the items on your layaway at any time.
- The only fee is a cancellation fee of $3.00 if you cancel the entire layaway
- You can pick up Christmas layaways as late as December 24th.
If I want something assembled, what are my options?
We offer assembly on many items including furniture, strollers, wagons and dollhouses. Each item is marked with an assembly fee if there is one. If you wish to have an item assembled by us, you can either take the floor model already assembled or you can pay for the item and pick up a newly assembled item later. Usually we can assemble the same day, but sometimes you may have to wait 24 hours for the item to be assembled.
Do you sell Gift Cards?
Yes!
Well… we actually still use paper gift certificates that we type on an old-fashioned typewriter in the office. You can buy them in any amount you want. You can even call us and make the purchase over the phone. We’ll mail it to whomever you want complete with a brochure and cover letter telling them the gift is from you.
When do you hire for seasonal help?
We hire for the holidays around the end of October or early November each year. You can find out more about what it takes to join our team by clicking here.
How old must you be to work here?
We prefer that you are at least 16 years of age to work here. Because of state laws governing employment of youth, there are too few hours available for younger employees.