Ann Preidl isn’t Santa Claus. Rebecca Vergara isn’t the Easter Bunny.

But their toy shops – Preidl’s in Fairhope and Vergara’s in Huntsville – are the closest thing to a coronavirus-era child’s wonderland. The kids cannot come inside the toy shops, but the two Alabama women and their employees are dedicated to bringing the toys to them.

Like toy sellers nationwide, both shops are seeing a momentary bump in sales since strict social distancing guidelines went into effect forcing moms and dads to sequester inside their homes to work remotely.

Toy sales in the U.S. are soaring online with jigsaw puzzles leading the way with sales up an astonishing 228% for the week ending on March 21, compared to a year ago, according to the NPD Group. Board games, arts and crafts kits, educational books and building sets are also being gobbled up. NPD Group reports that the entire industry saw 26% growth last month compared to a year ago.

“We had one mom looking for her son – he was 5 or 6 years old – and they were looking for a Lego set that he could spend one hour doing so she could have one hour to work,” said Vergara, owner of Learning Express Toys & Gifts at The Village of Whitesburg Shopping Center in Huntsville. “She bought three to four of them at that time. They are looking for something other than screen time that will keep their (children’s) minds working.”

Preidl, manager of Fantasy Island Toys in downtown Fairhope, said: “We are trying to do as much as we can to get through this and to be there for the families.”

Texting, video chat, social media

The two women are on the opposite sides of the state, and do not know one another. But their business strategies are strikingly similar in how they are reaching out to customers despite keeping their front doors locked and customers away from interaction with sales staff.

Toy stores were not listed among the retail stores considered “non-essential” that were supposed to close through Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s order last week before she issued a stay-at-home order Friday. The previous order did include book, craft and music stores.

Both toy shops are doing curbside and home delivery. Their front window displays are crowded with toys, so customers can stand at a safe distance and browse. They both have online presences and active social media accounts. And they are encouraging customers to reach out through texting on cell phones or via video chat.

Fantasy Island is working the store with three employees, while Learning Express is staffed with five.

“We have it set up where if they can text us if they want help with certain things,” said Vergara. “They give us a budget and we’ll shop for them and send pictures via text. They will say, ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ and it seems to be working for us. We’re not doing huge sales, but it’s bringing in something.”

Preidl is busy working her thumbs on her cell phone, bartering with customers from afar.

“I have filled more orders and helped more people through social media,” she said. “I’ll text someone 30 pictures and they buy $15 worth of something. It’s worth it. We’ve gotten a lot of love and support from everyone from the online sales, too. Moms will share pictures of kids peeking through the windows and things like that.”

Preidl also said that video chats – through apps like FaceTime – are also useful for customers.

“If they have an iPhone, we can do FaceTime and also Instagram and that makes it easy for businesses to video chat with the customers,” she said. “We explain all their options from there.”

Easter is also helping the two independent toy stores with sales. Vergara said her shop hosts a “Bunny Buffet,” in which customers will receive a free Easter bucket with a child’s name on it filled with goodies if their parents spend $25 or more.

“People are looking to get ready for Easter and we’re helping them the best we can,” said Vergara.

At Fantasy Island Toys, an entire window display is dedicated toward Easter.

“Easter is big for us so we are giving people options to give us a price range and the child’s age and what they like,” said Preidl. She said the staff will continue working the parents to find the right purchase.

Puzzles are the hot sellers during the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures. Arizona-based MasterPieces, Inc., is selling University of Alabama puzzles online at https://www.masterpiecesinc.com/. (supplied photo).

‘Terrifying’

But despite the bump in toy sales, and the popularity of Easter, the two stores are struggling to get more customers and are worried about their long-term viability like millions of small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. According to a chilling U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife poll released Friday, close to a quarter of small businesses in the U.S. will close permanently within two months or less due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. [Is this if no action is taken? Or even with the new lending program?]

At Fantasy Island Toys, Preidl said the timing of the social distancing measures occurred ahead of Fairhope’s popular three-day Arts & Crafts Festival, which annually draws around 250,000 people or more, and is a big sales weekend for the city’s small shops that proliferate the city’s scenic downtown.

Fantasy Island Toys was also planning to kick off its 45th anniversary during the festival weekend, but that never occurred.

“The Arts & Crafts Festival, we overbought,” said Preidl. “We always do well for Arts & Crafts, but we have so much inventory right now. It’s terrifying. We are trying to do as much as we can to get through this and to be there for the families.”

Vergara said she’s concerned about a drop off in sales once Easter is over, and the strict social distancing measures slump along through April. Normally, the Huntsville shop is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. The hours have since been cut back to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Vergara said, “We feel that after Easter, we’ll cut back even more.”

She said that she anticipates parents continuing to purchase educational items since Alabama schools are closed for the remainder of the school year.

“I think we’ll see after Easter, parents looking for more arts and crafts and workbooks, and educational things,” said Vergara. “As much as our school system is trying to do their best, I think there will be things parents want for their kids to continue with their learning.”

‘Unprecedented’

The surge in toy sales comes at a peculiar time in the industry when, just two years ago, mega-toy retailer Toys ‘R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed all its U.S. stores.

“Every time someone sees the big player fall down, it’s a sobering moment for that industry,” said Rafay Ishfaq, associate professor of supply chain management at Auburn University. “Certainly Toys ‘R Us didn’t go down due to a lack of of demand for toys. Their (problem) was more on handling the online channel in competing with Amazon and other online retailers. The demand for toys is not going to go away.”

Indeed, that demand seems to be soaring alongside toilet paper and sanitizing cleaners during a pandemic that is keeping Americans home.

Toy sales don’t often surge in March or April. Instead, the growth is highest during the fourth quarter to coincide with the holiday season.

The surge in March, most observers note, was unforeseen even in late February when the toy industry was more worried over a disruption in the supply chain because of factory closures in China.

“This is about the time of the year that there is plenty of stock left over from the holiday season and (toy retailers) are getting ready for the next round of the peak that will come around in the summer months when families are coming together and (outdoor) toys and games have another boom,” Ishfaq said. “This is certainly an unprecedented March and April peak in demand that most retailers were not planning for.”

Ishfaq said “more than 85%” of the toys sold in the U.S. are made in China. He said that now Chinese factories are just starting to crank back up, a backlog of seasonal toys awaits and uncertainty on how they will be delivered to the U.S. looms.

Ishfaq said he is concerned about how the pandemic will disrupt global logistics.

“Ports are closed, trains are shuttered,” he said. “Once that opens up, that transportation capacity will be spoken for and toys will be competing with iPhones and other value products. I don’t think that is something toy retailers can plan for.”

Adrienne Appell, spokeswoman with the Toy Industry Association – which claims 1,000 members including retailers and manufacturers that drive sales annually of around $27 billion – said the recent surge in certain toy sales in March doesn’t predict what might happen in the months to come.

“Right now, toy sales are up but you have to think about as this progresses, what distribution might look like,” said Appell. “I think every industry right now is concerned. There is uncertainty and no one knows what will transpire over the next couple of months. But we know families are seeing value in toys and games.”