Local Toy Store Plans Closure After 40 Years of Business

The shelves of the oldest toy store in Chapel Hill are lined with colorful stuffed animals, die-cast model cars and classic games that have captivated the imaginations of children for generations.

Jeanette Pfaff, the owner of The Children’s Store, has curated this museum of nostalgic wonder for the past 40 years, but her work is coming to an end after a lifetime of selling smiles and joy.

“The main reason is that — 40 years — I’m ready to retire,” she offered.

Pfaff started her business in 1977 to address an absence of children’s clothing outlets in Chapel Hill, but local residents reacted with delight when she began offering toys for purchase.

“To a surprising extent, we still sell the kinds of toys that my children played with, and, indeed, that I played with,” she reminisced. “They’re puzzles and blocks and dolls and stuffed animals and books.”

By pairing timelessly entertaining products with a personable level of service that is not always provided by larger retailers, Pfaff cultivated an experience that kept her customers enthralled.

“Some of my customers just have a feeling of loyalty,” she noted. “I have people come in who shopped in the store when they were little children and now they bring their little children in, so there’s certainly some ties of sentiment as well as practicality involved.”

Those sentimental ties enabled Pfaff to pass the gift of make-believe onto children whose parents remember the simple pleasures of summer afternoons spent outside with childhood friends.

“Both parents and children are realizing that the games and the pursuits that involve your imagination or your creativity or your motor skills or, indeed, your physical activity skills are something that you don’t want to see go away,” she explained.

While contemplating operational loose ends that must be tied over the next several months, Pfaff spoke fondly of the many customers and employees that helped to keep her dream alive over the years.

“I thank you all,” she beamed. “I have to thank my staff, too — I’ve had wonderful staff, lots of college students, some older people; I’ve had unbelievable loyalty from the people who have helped me.”

A markdown of 20 percent on all merchandise is currently in effect at The Children’s Store, with additional discounts planned for later months as the eleventh hour for the business approaches.

Photo by Bruce Rosenbloom/WCHL.