By JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Toy Depot in Hutchinson is a downtown gem for all ages.
“We are a vintage toy store and there’s only fourteen of us in the world,” Toy Depot owner, Mark Buckley, said. “And we’re the only one that is south or west of Chicago in the Unites States. And what’s also unique, we’re the only (one) in a city under three million that has a vintage toy store.”
According to Buckley, five percent of their toys are sold to Toy Depot every day for resale.
Before they hit the shelves, the toys are inspected to make sure they are not broken or have missing parts, and then cleaned. If needed, they are sent to a specialist for repair.
Toy Depot has toys and games that are close to 100 years old.
“We had a toy that was the oldest we had, it was from 1867,” Buckley said. “We sold it to an antique person and it was a child’s riding horse. It was like a little tricycle, they rode it. It was a very expensive piece, very rare.”
They accept toys, at the earliest, from 10 years back.
Buckley’s expansive knowledge of toys, especially trains, is nothing short of phenomenal.
“Well, what happened was, 40 years ago, I started collecting toys. I already had trains, I collected trains forever,” Buckley explained. “We decided, Geneva Nisly and I, we decided we would sell at flea-markets and garages and that kind of thing. We never dreamed of having a store.”
Then one day, Buckley and Nisly were approached about buying a building.
“We just bought a huge collection, and we had two storage units full of toys,” Buckley said. “I said 'Geneva? What do you think?' So, we went down, we looked at the store, we met with the people that owned it, we shook hands and we bought us a building, and we end up with a vintage toy store. Something we really didn’t plan on doing.”
Buckley said almost everything in the building needed repaired, including the plumbing and wiring.
Buckley and Nisly spent months repairing and renovating the property, including the walls, lighting, heating, and even the metal ceiling of the historic downtown building.
The building that houses Toy Depot was built in 1883.
When walking into Toy Depot, customers will see it is divided into three specific, but all entertaining rooms.
The front room, also known as the toy room, is the first room people see when entering the building.
Situated on shelves upon shelves, are the memories in the forms of various toys from generations of childhoods.
“It’s got cars and trains and dolls and marbles and Fisher Price and Breyer horses and My Little Pony and Ertl tractors, and all those kinds of toys you can think of,” Buckley said. “Then the middle room is big trucks and games and some action figures.”
The back room is the only room where nothing is for sale. It is part of Buckley’s expansive train collection.
“I have over 3,000 pieces in my collection. Part of it is in the store and all of the train cars are under glass, so you can see all the different kinds of train cars there are,” Buckley said. “And in the middle, I have a 'train board' that’s interactive, that has 18 buttons and switches to play with.”
Anyone who comes to the train room of the store is able to flip the switches, press the buttons and watch the miniature town within the glass come to life.
“The youngest person has played with it, is three-days-old,” Buckley said. “The oldest was a lady that was a little over a hundred.”
Toy Depot sees a lot of foot traffic.
“Most of the time it will be three-to-five hundred people will come through on a Third Thursday,” Buckley said. “On a Saturday during Christmas, I’m probably four or five hundred people through in a day. It’s just busy all the time. During a weekday, 50 or 75, it’s casual.”
Toy Depot is always present during downtown Hutchinson’s monthly Third Thursday
Buckley takes great pride in his work, mostly because he has so much fun.
“I love what I do,” Buckley said. “I could retire and sell this and move wherever I want, but two things I love: One, I love Hutchinson, and two, I love toys. This gives me the greatest retirement in the world. You cannot beat this. I got the best of both worlds.”
Buckley’s passion for Toy Depot is matched and rooted in his passion for downtown Hutchinson.
“What makes downtown Hutchinson unique, that we have gone back to the original fronts of buildings,” Buckley said. “This is what architects and designers saw downtown. It’s nice to see that people have gone back and preserved the buildings the way it should have been.”
Along with the rest of the downtown storefronts, when people walk into Toy Depot, Buckley wants to see the joy of people.
“The first thing I want people to do when they walk in the store, is smile,” Buckley said. “If they smile, I’ve won, because they come in and go 'Wow' and you can see it in their eyes. We’re not talking kids, we’re talking adults. I want them to feel how I felt as child when I walked into a toy store.”
Buckley expressed Toy Depot is not just a toy store or a museum of some interesting celebrity memorabilia, but somewhere in the middle.
“We don’t sell just toys; we sell an experience,” Buckley said.
Toy Depot's current holiday hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. After Jan. 1, they will go back to their standard Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More about Toy Depot and their community activities can be found at their website or Facebook page.
Their phone number is (620) 259-8284.
People who want to indulge their children, as well as indulge their own inner child, can visit Toy Depot at 127 S. Main St. in Hutchinson. Ask about their holiday deals.
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