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Here we were, excitedly planning our 20th birthday celebration for June 2nd, and in the midst of placing our holiday orders when the mall management contacted us about our request to lease the larger store next door. We needed the space to expand our community service activities. Excited to be finally making forward progress on the spot we had been pursuing for years, we met with American Assets. Instead of receiving the lease offer we were expecting, we were informed that we had to be out of our current home of 17+ years in 30 days!
American Assets is planning to lease our spot to someone else.
I never expected this in a million years. It's all part of a disturbing trend of malls across the country to replace the local retailers with national chain stores with the "deep pockets" that their investors like to see in their portfolios. In addition to serving our neighborhood's toy needs, we are a destination store, specifically for our Thomas the Tank Engine Train offering, which draws customers from not only all over the county, but from all across the country. Not only do we add a unique and special flavor attracting new visitors to every mall we've been in, but unlike the national chains, we actively support the schools, organizations, and children's broadcasting in the community around us. Did you know that 45 out of every 100 retail dollars spent at your local independent store stays in the community, versus $13 spent at a national chain? (citation: Study by Civic Economics in Austin, Texas, 2002.)
I find it especially surprising that the founder and owner of American Assets, our landlord, who is predominantly well known in San Diego for his philanthropic activities to support the local community and especially the kids, would cast aside a paying tenant and local independent business with a steady history of contributing to the families and schools in our community, for the sake of having another national name to add to their portfolio for their investors.
We've survived the recession, and weathered the massive vacancies adjacent to us in our mall that would have toppled any other business. When we moved to our present Carmel Mountain Ranch location, we were told we wouldn't survive out of the regional mall. We obviously did and flourished despite the infusion of specialty toys into the mass market, Target, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and all the other category killers.
Our website and Totally Thomas branding is famous worldwide. Totallythomas.com was one of the first couple of toy stores on the Internet back in 1995, and we have since added our new site, totallythomastoys.com, to our portfolio, with more sites under development. We have been voted "Best Children's Store" by San Diego 10 News' A-list, and have the distinction of having been rated "best online" for wooden train sets by the Wall Street Journal! We are the recognized authority on Thomas the Tank Engine and toy trains, and have been quoted time and again by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and a number of other famous publications. We are highly respected within the toy manufacturing community and have been consulted by such fine companies as Gullaine/Hit Entertainment, Learning Curve International and Mattel/Fisher Price for new product development advice. And, we're long time members of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.
So, despite an impressive track record within our community and elsewhere, we're on the hunt for a new home. We have several prospects to consider already, and with the short time line we are facing, we are also reaching out to our community to help us find a new home. As we share our search with our community, we also encourage our community to contribute your thoughts and suggestions through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TotallyThomas or via twitter @ThomasToyDepot.
Throughout the process of closing the store and opening a new one, we will be continuing our online operations at www.totallythomas.com and www.totallythomastoys.com.
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