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New and improved: World of Toys opens back up in Berlin

(May 11, 2017) The World of Toys just got a whole lot bigger.
Berlin’s signature shop for educational toys, puzzles, games, books, dolls and stuffed animals moved across the street last week, from the narrow confines of 110 North Main Street into a comparatively sprawling 4,800-square-foot space on 115 North Main Street. The new location is about four times larger.
Owner Olga Kozhevnikova said more than 5,000 people viewed a Facebook post announcing the reopening.
The move was intense, she said. She closed the day after Berlin Spring Celebration and worked “for a couple weeks in 12-hour shifts – every day.”
“We had some people helping and we moved the storefront in two days,” Kozhevnikova said. “It was boxes and boxes on top of boxes.”
Kozhevnikova said she loves the new space. It means her displays are not pushed against each other or stacked or cramped or overcrowded. It also means her customers will have much more room.
“I have one girl who is handicapped, who was one of my first customers when I opened my old shop [in 2012] and it was hard for her to come in and move around,” Kozhevnikova said. “She came in the new store and it was free for her to go around every display in a wheelchair. That was my biggest thing.”
She said another customer called and asked if she could bring a stroller.
“You can bring a stroller! You can go rollerblading!” Kozhevnikova said with a laugh. “There’s plenty of room to walk around and it gives you options to display things better.”
That’s not to say the shop is empty, by any stretch.
The back and side walls have long, white shelves filled with board games and puzzles, handmade dolls and figurines, buildable sets, remote-control cars and toy trains. Colorful stuffed animals sit atop many of the racks.
In between are spinning and stationary displays filled with Ty and baby GUND stuffed animals, along with dozens of Playmobil play sets, Melissa & Doug toys and art supplies, Hape wooden toys, EDC Publishing board books and MindWare and Klutz paperbacks, Folkmanis Puppets, and eeboo and Peaceable Kingdom greeting cards.
There are Star Wars and Marvel Universe characters, Ninja Turtles and Muppets and Sesame Street monsters, My Little Pony and Yo Gabba Gabba! and Super Mario and Sponge Bob.
“You can see every product,” Kozhevnikova said. “And we expanded lines. A lot of [the manufacturers] brought new games and more products. I kind of stayed with the same style of the store, but we just bought more varieties of everything.”
Kozhevnikova said the response by customers has been overwhelming.
“Everybody comes in and screams and is happy,” she said. “There have been a lot of hugs.”
Her 6-year-old daughter, Anya, also approves.
“She loves it. She thinks its her business,” Kozhevnikova said. “She has an office in the back and an office on the side of the store. All her friends come in and she shows them around.”
World of Toys opened on May 26, 2012. Kozhevnikova said an official grand opening could be scheduled for that date this year, but that would be up to the town.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/worldoftoys2012 or call 410-641-0601.