Incontra il proprietario del negozio di giocattoli di Wicklow che noleggia giocattoli di legno per aiutare i genitori a evitare il disordine natalizio
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/bray-news/meet-the-wicklow-toy-shop-owner-renting-out-wooden-toys-to-help-parents-avoid-christmas-clutter/a604912082.html
di jklynam
6 commenti
“No Timmy, you can’t keep the wooden giraffe that Santy brought you, it has to be returned.”
Not a conversation I’d want to have.
If you keep the toys beyond the lease date a bunch of masked lads will show up in a NI reg van and “take them back”
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From the article:
The games and toy retailing sector in Ireland ranks 11th in Europe with regard to its 2024 revenue, coming in at a sizeable €565.9m (according to IBIS World data), with some 2,085 members of staff employed across 102 businesses.
But any parent who ever stood barefoot on a piece of Lego on Christmas morning won’t care one jot for that information, blindly contributing to those soaring profits with the aim at Christmas being to spend whatever it takes to get whatever is required to sustain peace. And, on that, when it comes to sustainability…as if.
Most parents, mournful as their kids leave childhood behind them, are still thankful when the day comes when all they want is “cash” and can shove the default €50-€100 in an envelope and not have to bother going anywhere near the tree on Christmas morning. Somewhere in between though, there does exist a space where parents can be more caring and less profligate and actually get to promote a more sustainable toy industry.
Dlululukaloo at The Little Emporium (try telling friends after a few sherries), a toy shop based in Greystones, County Wicklow, opened in 2020 with the aim of helping to save hundreds of euros for parents and stop their kids getting bored by promoting toys for rent, not just to buy and discard. The fact the toys are all wooden means production sits well in the circular economy, and there is the added bonus that you won’t find these toys anywhere else.
Parents can rent any of the toys for a monthly fee, plus a fully refundable security deposit. At the end of the month, they can either return all or some of the items or can hold on to anything that they feel their kids really liked. The rental fee for those items will be refunded to the customer and the monthly rentals range from €20-€35, depending on the items and volume selected.
I have two small kids so while I get the sentiment of wanting to cut down on the mountain of stuff and waste of plastic, I think coming at it from an indirect sell then buy back perspective might win people over more than straight renting.
As a side note, I hope they’re colourful wooden toys bc some pricey ones we’ve been gifted from Little Dutch were too beige and “aesthetic”-y that my toddler wasn’t interested.
Used this service before and it was fab. Was great for stuff like indoor climbing frames, they had a little triangular one we borrowed for a few months and when my son outgrew it we arranged for it to be returned. Likewise some of the Montessori puzzles- once he figured out how to do the shape puzzles and moved onto more complex stuff we sent them back. It was great to not feel the need to hold on to the bigger toys (no doubt I’d still be tripping over them in the house now 5 years later and with no one using them had we bought them outright).
I’ve 3 boys now so have loads of toys in the mix for all ages, so haven’t got anything from them for a while.
Honestly it was great though and they were super to deal with!