My New Favorite North Shore Chicago Toy Store
Saturday, June 28th, 2008 by KellyI had to come rave on a Saturday morning about my experiences (yes, plural!) with The Children’s Gift Shop in Northfield. After you read this, I expect everyone who hasn’t been to check them out!
Here’s the backstory: Every year, I put together a little goodie bag of stuff for each my kids to celebrate the end of the school year and start of summer. Nothing too much – a pack of baseball cards, a summer workbook to keep the noggin from turning to mush, a new paperback, and usually some interesting new toy.
In the past, I’ve always checked out Becky and Me first – they’re close by, and have a nice selection of cute things, but to be honest, my kids are starting to outgrow their target demographic, which seems to be up to about age 8 or so - so except for the board games and Bionicles, there isn’t much in there that my two oldest go crazy over. (And to be REALLY honest? Every time I go in with my kids, I feel like they are under surveillance - I find myself telling them not to touch stuff. It’s a toy store - that’s just wrong.) So this time, I took the extra 10 minutes to drive to Northfield (watch out for Willow Rd. - UGH!!!). Children’s Gift Shop is a tightly-packed world of oohs and ahhs, full to the brim of way cool stuff for kids of all ages. The area right up by the entrance is where I focused my attention, because it’s loaded with all sorts of fun, outdoor action toys I knew my boys would gravitate toward. I decided to try a baseball that has a digital read out of how fast you threw it - it was $24.99 and more than I would usually spend on a small gift item, but I thought the boys would have a blast with it.
Sure enough, they thought it was way cool. Unfortunately, we’re either wussies or functionally illiterate because the boys and my husband had a hell of a time to get the ball to work. I stupidly had thrown away the receipt. But what the heck - I thought I could at least try the store again to see if they could show me how to use it. When I went back, Markie the owner bent over backwards to help me - I had signed up for the mailing list, so even though I didn’t have a receipt, she was able to tell I had in fact purchased the ball, and together with one of her employees, the three of us tested a number of the baseballs at the store. (Note to self: Make sure your child is paying attention when you throw a ball at him!) She even let me take two different balls home to test with the kids, with the promise I would return one, or both if I wanted a refund. I cannot say enough about the customer service - Markie is awesome!
Children’s Gift Shop is my new favorite place to go - free gift wrapping, awesome selection, and all that goofy fun stuff kids love…(and parents do too! Check out the fun July 4th jewelry!)
Children’s Gift Shop
310 Happ Rd.
Northfield Village Center
Northfield
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 9-5 & Sun-12-5
847-441-5975
