June 14, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
Toy store is a portal to our youth
Back in the Saddle
Some kids dream of owning a candy store.
Me, I always wanted my own toy store.
Back when I could count my age in single digits, my uncle Stu had a job one Christmas time in the toy department of a large Sears store in Fort Wayne. There were electric trains running constantly. I thought it must be the coolest position anyone could ever aspire to.
Stu probably felt differently. He moved on from that job pretty quickly.
But I kept finding myself attracted to the toy department.
On Fort Wayne excursions to Wolf and Dessauer, my mother would take my sisters shopping and let me roam unsupervised in the toy section. I was in heaven.
The same held true if we were in Chicago and I found myself in Marshall Field’s or in Indianapolis in L.S. Ayres.
Closer to home, I could browse for hours in the Art Craft store in Portland and make the circuit around the toy display at G.C. Murphy endlessly with my 25 cents allowance burning a hole in my pocket.
So I am sad to say that I must pass along the news that Veach’s, the most amazing toy store in Indiana, will be closing its doors in Richmond sometime this summer.
My first visit to the store probably came in conjunction with a family gathering. I remember being astounded by the variety and quality of its HO gauge train offerings. I wanted everything I saw, and I didn’t have enough in my pocket to buy anything. That happens often when you’re a kid.
Other visits followed over the years.
But with adulthood and parenthood, my relationship with Veach’s changed again.
It was no longer just a treasure trove for electric train enthusiasts, it was the place to find anything a parent needed to bring a smile to a kid’s face.
Shopping at Veach’s for our daughters was fun on so many levels it’s difficult to count. The store made you feel as if you were simultaneously a parent and a child. You could find things that made you feel younger and brought joy to your heart to give to your own children.
One of its attractions was the birthday castle.
Kids visiting the store for the first time were asked for their birthday information. A postcard followed a few weeks before the big event, inviting the birthday honoree to visit the birthday castle and select a free gift. Parents were not allowed. The birthday castle was built to kid-scale.
It didn’t matter that the grab-bag presents weren’t much to brag about. It was the experience that mattered, and it was the Veach’s experience that drew you back to the store over generations.
More recently, we’ve shopped there for our grandchildren. But now even that is coming to an end.
The owners did just about everything possible right. The shelves were stocked with things you had trouble finding elsewhere. The prices were competitive. The gift-wrapping was free. They established a website — http://www.veachstoystation.com — and a few years back the store was selected for a Main Street Makeover by The Today Show.
In spite of all that, the store will close this summer. Founded in 1938, it won’t make it to 2018.
And so it came to pass that last Saturday, my wife and I figured it was time for a Veach’s excursion. We’d heard things were 25 percent off, and though some of the shelves were picked over there was plenty of merchandise available to grandparents who were thinking in terms of birthdays and Christmases.
The store did not disappoint.
We started slowly, but at some point realized we needed a shopping cart.
And things started piling up. Toys for the summer beach. Toys for birthday celebrations. Toys for Christmas mornings.
And a couple of squirt guns for the grandparents. We figure we’ll use them to chase the neighborhood cats out of our backyard.
A great toy store brings out the kid in all of us.
••••••••••
Editor’s note: Veach’s is located at 715 E. Main St., Richmond. If you are heading south from Jay County, stick with U.S. 27 until just after Main Street in downtown, then take a right into a parking garage. Parking is free on the weekends. Veach’s backdoor is right across the alley from the parking garage.
Me, I always wanted my own toy store.
Back when I could count my age in single digits, my uncle Stu had a job one Christmas time in the toy department of a large Sears store in Fort Wayne. There were electric trains running constantly. I thought it must be the coolest position anyone could ever aspire to.
Stu probably felt differently. He moved on from that job pretty quickly.
But I kept finding myself attracted to the toy department.
On Fort Wayne excursions to Wolf and Dessauer, my mother would take my sisters shopping and let me roam unsupervised in the toy section. I was in heaven.
The same held true if we were in Chicago and I found myself in Marshall Field’s or in Indianapolis in L.S. Ayres.
Closer to home, I could browse for hours in the Art Craft store in Portland and make the circuit around the toy display at G.C. Murphy endlessly with my 25 cents allowance burning a hole in my pocket.
So I am sad to say that I must pass along the news that Veach’s, the most amazing toy store in Indiana, will be closing its doors in Richmond sometime this summer.
My first visit to the store probably came in conjunction with a family gathering. I remember being astounded by the variety and quality of its HO gauge train offerings. I wanted everything I saw, and I didn’t have enough in my pocket to buy anything. That happens often when you’re a kid.
Other visits followed over the years.
But with adulthood and parenthood, my relationship with Veach’s changed again.
It was no longer just a treasure trove for electric train enthusiasts, it was the place to find anything a parent needed to bring a smile to a kid’s face.
Shopping at Veach’s for our daughters was fun on so many levels it’s difficult to count. The store made you feel as if you were simultaneously a parent and a child. You could find things that made you feel younger and brought joy to your heart to give to your own children.
One of its attractions was the birthday castle.
Kids visiting the store for the first time were asked for their birthday information. A postcard followed a few weeks before the big event, inviting the birthday honoree to visit the birthday castle and select a free gift. Parents were not allowed. The birthday castle was built to kid-scale.
It didn’t matter that the grab-bag presents weren’t much to brag about. It was the experience that mattered, and it was the Veach’s experience that drew you back to the store over generations.
More recently, we’ve shopped there for our grandchildren. But now even that is coming to an end.
The owners did just about everything possible right. The shelves were stocked with things you had trouble finding elsewhere. The prices were competitive. The gift-wrapping was free. They established a website — http://www.veachstoystation.com — and a few years back the store was selected for a Main Street Makeover by The Today Show.
In spite of all that, the store will close this summer. Founded in 1938, it won’t make it to 2018.
And so it came to pass that last Saturday, my wife and I figured it was time for a Veach’s excursion. We’d heard things were 25 percent off, and though some of the shelves were picked over there was plenty of merchandise available to grandparents who were thinking in terms of birthdays and Christmases.
The store did not disappoint.
We started slowly, but at some point realized we needed a shopping cart.
And things started piling up. Toys for the summer beach. Toys for birthday celebrations. Toys for Christmas mornings.
And a couple of squirt guns for the grandparents. We figure we’ll use them to chase the neighborhood cats out of our backyard.
A great toy store brings out the kid in all of us.
••••••••••
Editor’s note: Veach’s is located at 715 E. Main St., Richmond. If you are heading south from Jay County, stick with U.S. 27 until just after Main Street in downtown, then take a right into a parking garage. Parking is free on the weekends. Veach’s backdoor is right across the alley from the parking garage.
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