Toytown

The first time Shari Bricks Zeiler visited a toy store was when her father bought Toytown back in the 1980s. “It was a shock to me that there was such a thing as a toy store,” says Shari with a laugh. “I was recruited at a young age, and I learned and loved the business.”

She worked on weekends and after school alongside her father, then began working full-time at the store post-university. Now owner of the Avenue Road-based toy store, she is at home amidst the shelves of games, toys, puzzles, crafts, dolls and books. Toytown’s roots extend far back: it started by the Pollick family in 1952 and it is Toronto’s oldest independent toy store.