S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes
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Company type | Toy store |
---|---|
Industry | Retail sales |
Founded | March 1, 1970Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh) | in
Founder | Jack Cohen[1] |
Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Number of locations | 3 |
Area served | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Products | Toys, Hobbies |
Owner | Jack Cohen |
Number of employees | (25 (2019)) |
Website | swrandalltoys |
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".[A] 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]
History
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Mural_of_Andy_Warhol_and_Andrew_Carnegie_in_Pittsburgh_%288482587541%29.jpg/220px-Mural_of_Andy_Warhol_and_Andrew_Carnegie_in_Pittsburgh_%288482587541%29.jpg)
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][B] There were seven stores at the apogee of the company's growth.[C] 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.[D]
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "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]
- ^ "... 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]
- ^ 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]
- ^ "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
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Sykes 2010.
- ^ a b c Margittai 2008, p. 143.
- ^ a b c Batz, Bob Jr. (31 October 2019). "#EssentiallyPittsburgh: S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2020.(subscription required)
- ^ a b Schooley, Tim (19 October 2009). "SW Randall Toyes & Giftes finds success by listening to customers". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ King 2018, p. 154: "Pittsburgh's oldest and largest specialty toy store"
- ^ Directory of Discount and General Merchandise Stores. CSG Information Services. 1996. p. 1654. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ JACK COHEN, Speaker (13 May 2014). "History of Randall's Toyes and Giftes" (Video). Squirrel Hill Historical Society. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ "You can always shop Downtown: S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes". The Incline. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ Joseph 2014, pp. 32-33.
- ^ Squirrel Hill Historical Society 2017, p. 103.
- ^ King 2018, pp. 185–186.
- ^ Eldridge 2014, pp. 248–249.
- ^ Phillips, Oberlin & Pattak 2005, p. 193.
- ^ Gannon, Joyce (10 December 2005). "His stores' shelves are packed with classics". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 4 March 2020.(subscription required)
- ^ "Pittsburgh's top 3 toy stores, ranked". Hoodline. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "ASTRA membership directory 2017". Fahy-Williams Publishing Co. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ 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."
- ^ Lauer, Hallie (27 October 2016). "Spooked in the city with Haunted Downtown tours". The Duquesne Duke. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
Bibliography
[edit]- Eldridge, Dan (2014). Pittsburgh. Berkeley, California: Avalon Travel. p. 248-249. ISBN 9781612387710.
- Joseph, Audra (Spring 2014). Kate Dillon (ed.). "Toy Story: Why Jack Cohen Ditched the Rat Race". Off the Bluff Magazine (Squirrel Hill ed.). Duquesne University. pp. 32-33.
- King, Emily (31 July 2018). Moon Pittsburgh (4 ed.). Place of publication not identified: Moon Travel. ISBN 9781631215568.
- Margittai, Michele (17 July 2008). Insiders' Guide® to Pittsburgh (4 ed.). Guilford, Connecticut, Hove: Rowman & Littlefield, Globe Pequot Press. Roundhouse distributor. p. 143. ISBN 9781461746867.
- Phillips, Jenn; Oberlin, Loriann Hoff; Pattak, Evan M. (2005). Insiders' Guide to Pittsburgh. Insiders' Guide Series (3rd ed.). Guilford, Connecticut, Hove: Globe Pequot Press. Roundhouse distributor. pp. 193. ISBN 0762735074.
- Squirrel Hill Historical Society (19 June 2017). Squirrel Hill: A Neighborhood History. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9781439661277.
- Sykes, Claire (May 2010). "Your Store: It Hasn't Lost Its Luster". edplay. Fahy-Williams Publishing. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Nick Tomarello and Cole D'Alicandro (October 27, 2018) S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes, interview of Jack Cohen Video via YouTube
- Price-Williams, Beth (18 December 2018). "Pittsburgh's Oldest Toy Store Will Make You Feel Like A Kid Again". OnlyInYourState.