Best of the Best Spotlight: Stevenson's Toys & Games

Dan’s Best of the Best multi-platinum Best Toy Store winner, Stevenson’s Toys & Games, is proving the right kind of mom-and-pop shop can thrive during a time when big box stores and digital competitors are hurting lesser retailers.

Beloved for their wide range of toys and games since 2001, Southampton-based Stevenson’s (69 Jobs Lane) opened a second store in East Hampton (66 Newtown Lane) in 2017, not only expanding their reach, but also the unique offerings kids and parents have come to love. Unlike adults shopping for what they need online, children still relish in the fun of visiting a toy store and browsing the wonders within.

“We try to surprise people by having new stuff they haven’t seen before,” Roy Stevenson, who owns the store with his wife Polly Stevenson, explains, noting how they combine these unique finds with educational toys, the newest and most popular items, hard-to-find international lines, and classic toys parents might remember from their own childhoods. “Kids love to come in here and poke around and see if they can find something.”

Stevenson says the store has so many fun and exciting things, youngsters regularly take too long marveling in astonishment, and parents have to cut their stay short. The store has everything a kid could want: the latest LEGO sets, plastic models, board games, action figures, dolls and dollhouses, gadgets, books, sporting goods, Nerf guns, Playmobil, Bruder trucks, remote-controlled cars, costumes, trains, plastic animals and dinosaurs, puzzles, collectible card games, lava lamps, beach toys, electric-powered vehicles and so much more.

They even have some unusual adult collectibles, such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders action figures. And Stevenson’s will happily install their ping-pong tables, trampolines, air hockey, foosball and other large games in customers’ homes and backyards.

They have the complete line of Brio wooden railway toys, and were chosen among all US dealers to take a trip to see the Brio company headquarters in Sweden last year. Armed with knowledge from their trip, and all the Brio toys, Stevenson’s now fulfills orders for anyone seeking the company’s rare or specialized products.

Stevenson’s earned the highest Dan’s Best of the Best honor—the coveted Platinum award—for Best Toy Store in all but one of the last five years, and they won Gold in 2016. “It’s a huge validation and it means you’re doing something right, and that people appreciate you,” Stevenson says. The store’s recent 2018 Platinum award was especially gratifying, he points out, because he and Polly didn’t ask customers to vote, and the win happened organically.

“It’s a great honor,” Stevenson adds, noting their awards have even helped land picky vendors who only allow a handful of dealers to represent them. “Not every vendor just sells to everybody.”

Call 631-283-2111 or visit stevensonstoys.com.

Find more of the East End’s best businesses and personalities at DansBOTB.com, and don’t forget to check out all our 2018 Dan’s Best of the Best winners.

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