Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Playfull Toyshop
Even among the varied array of shops on Gloucester Road, Playfull Toyshop stands out with its fun green exterior and wooden sign with rainbow lettering. Inside, the shop is just as bright and colourful in a reflection of the kids’ toys, games and craft kits they sell.
Nigel and Kerstin Price opened the shop in 2004. Prior to that they sold cloth dolls made by Kerstin and wooden toys imported from Sweden, starting at school summer fairs before moving to an upstairs room at the toy shop they now own in 2002.
“My idea was to say, ‘Well, why don’t we give it ago as a nice, more European-style toyshop’,” Nigel says about the origins and ethos behind the shop.
is needed now More than ever
Wooden cars are typical of the simple wooden toys sold in the shop
The focus on wood toys in the shop is deliberate. “We both always much preferred wooden toys to plastic stuff, when our children were young and small, so we’d always go for them anyway,” Nigel continues.
“And then once you start buying them, you realise that actually, for me anyway, the look and feel of them is just much nicer as well.
“The toy culture in Europe is much more for wooden items like stacking towers and cars. If you go over to Germany for example, their toyshops are very different to your average British toyshop because there’s a lot more wooden stuff there. I think it’s just part of their culture.
“We do get quite a lot of people who were brought up in France and Germany coming here: it is definitely more what you’d call a European-style toyshop.”
Toy bows and arrows on display in the shop
While there is a huge range of toys to choose from, when pressed Nigel is able to choose a favourite: the handmade wooden bows and arrows that made just outside Warminster. They nestle in a wicker basket, each set tied with string.
“We’ve always had them, ever since we visited Nottingham Castle once and they were selling them up there,” Nigel recalls.
As well as stocking toys the shop sells children’s books and cards, often from local writers and artists.
The shop has a selection of books written by local authors
Gloucester Road is known for its independent shops, but as time goes on the couple have seen the surrounding shops close and change hands around them. And as toy retailers, their daily battle is against the big online retailers who can keep their overheads down by not having physical shops.
“This is the big worry for most high street shops: will people still keep coming to the high street?” Nigel says.
“It seems to be that nowadays you don’t need to any more. We are relying on people actually wanting to come to the high street, and we are very lucky that we’re on a thriving one here. Gloucester Road is a really good high street, one of the few ones left, and everyone’s trying to keep it going as much as possible.”
Nigel also says the relationship between the shops is symbiotic: “One of the good things about Gloucester Road for people who want to buy toys is that there’s not just our shop; there’s also Totally Toys just a few doors down who sell more of the branded toys.
“We complement each other more than we compete. I think our shop would struggle if Totally Toys wasn’t there.”
In terms of the future, Nigel and Kerstin are content to run their shop for a bit longer. “We’re both in our 60s now so we’re thinking maybe continue for another ten years and see how the land lies then,” Nigel says.
“If there’s someone who’d like to take it on that would be great. In a way it would be a shame if it did stop.”
Playfull Toyshop, 87 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8AS
0117 944 6767
All photos by Minnie Leaver
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
