S06.E03: Santa’s Toys

[cooksdelight]

Quote

Marcus travels to Santa Claus, Ind., to save Santa's Toys; hardworking owners Mark and Heidi's business practices have landed their business on the naughty list, and they must follow Marcus' protocol to save their business.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wanted to slap the man business owner.     Unorganized, had zero business sense, thought he knew it all, couldn't even fix the sign without adult supervision, and Marcus told him several times to do exactly that.  He even had the sticker for the .com sign, and didn't get off his lazy rear and do it.       His wife getting upset about becoming the principle buyer was irritating too, but I'm wondering if she there was more going on than just a frosty attitude out of her man-baby husband?     I hope I'm seeing something that's not there, but I'm afraid there's more going on.     I'm sure she knew he would whine about it, and act like she betrayed him.     I'm betting he's the type of person who will stew about his wife selecting the toys forever.     I think he's a petty person, and will celebrate every single toy she selects that doesn't sell.   

Look at how the man got a .net, instead of .com, for a very little difference?    That was ridiculous.       His remarks with the advertising and branding people were horrible.    The business was more of a hobby to him, than a real business.    He's very lucky that Marcus made the investment, and gave them so much attention.      I wonder if the couple will keep up with the buying, and internet business and do a good job, or if the man will go back to his passive-aggressive inertia again.     

I'm sure Marcus is hoping to step in and make a bundle after the demise of Toys R Us, but there's a reason that company went, and apparently Amazon and Walmart are filling that market niche very well. 

 If they kept going the way they were, I'm sure the business would soon be gone.     

Edited December 21, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[cooksdelight]

This couple irritated the hell out of me. I felt sorry for their kids, having two hapless parents who didn’t know up from down. The wife clearly had the better buying and choosing skills, but she’s afraid her husband might get pissed if she’s the leader in the business. This is why married couples shouldn’t do this, not if they are not mentally equipped to let the better, smarter one take the lead.

They are in the perfect spot to have a store that looks like Santa’s workshop, but all I could think of when I looked at their building was that they got a really good deal on an old Ace Hardware store. They are not capitalizing on the name of the town at all. They should have someone as Santa in there 24/7, with salespeople dressed like elves.

I was on the phone for the last half hour of the show so if I am mis-stating something or missed something entirely, please feel free to correct me. :)

See? I am not afraid of constructive instructions! LOL

[BusyOctober]

These people were annoying beyond belief.  They had no business being in retail, especially in a biz that is supposed to be synonymous with FUN! JOY! TOYS! SANTA!   Marcus mentioned the husband's "passion" or "heart" or something similar.  I saw zippo passion or heart or energy or drive in that guy.  Just because he cried about his sad childhood doesn't mean he is fit to run a business.

The store before Marcus showed up looked like a busted Dollar Store.  How they made any money is a miracle.  Honestly, it didn't look like a big "WOW!" after Marcus spent his money there.  If I'm going to Santa Claus, IN and the whole town is dedicated to Santa & Christmas all year long, then I'd expect to see an ass-kicking, full throttle toy store.  The meager decorations hanging from the exposed ceiling weren't even as festive as what my local grocery store does for the holidays.  And that "Santa's Workshop" space????  WTF? I assumed it would be some kind of creative space for kids to have hands on experience with featured toys (you know, to encourage SALES?), or to do arts & crafts. Or maybe people dressed as elves "making" toys...or at least cutting out paper snowflakes for goodness sake.  And where the Hell was Santa in all this??  Shouldn't he be walking around "Ho-ho-ho-ing" and taking pictures?  That space looked like a wasted idea.  Better to have used it for storage than a half assed room full of cartoon murals.  It could be monetized - take one free picture with Rudolph or an Elf or Santa with a purchase, then upsell "digital" packages.  Sell an experience where the kids & their parents can make/paint a small wooden train or doll for a couple of bucks.  Get Sweet Pete's Candy in there & sell a candy cane making class, and a candy counter w/ a few "exclusive" Santa Claus Candies for sale.  Good grief...the possibilities are endless if Marcus followed his own mantra of  "People- Process- Product". 

This is cruel to say, but both of the parents looked very "low functioning" (even though the wife showed more business savvy than the husband).  I know their daughter had learning disabilities, and the son seems like he may be on the spectrum as well.  The parents may have wanted a business to do better for their kids.  I think the kids would be served better by having one or both parents more available to them vs. stressing over inventory or video surveillance cameras.  I just don't see this couple being very successful without Marcus' constant attention.  If the husband couldn't muster the brain cells and energy to slap a ".COM" sticker over the old website sign, then I don't see him being the dynamo needed to run a store. Good thing Marcus bought the .com domain so he can still do something when Santa's Toys collapses under mismanagement.

[Amarsir]

Neither of those two are cut out to run anything. There are good qualities to them as well, but leadership doesn't jump out as one. Marcus is going to have a lot of hands-on work with this.

2 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

The store before Marcus showed up looked like a busted Dollar Store.  How they made any money is a miracle.  Honestly, it didn't look like a big "WOW!" after Marcus spent his money there.  If I'm going to Santa Claus, IN and the whole town is dedicated to Santa & Christmas all year long, then I'd expect to see an ass-kicking, full throttle toy store. 

I would say the makeover took them from "embarrassing dump" to "minimum standard for a town called Santa Claus". Not compelling as a destination though. 

 

11 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm sure Marcus is hoping to step in and make a bundle after the demise of Toys R Us, but there's a reason that company went, and apparently Amazon and Walmart are filling that market niche very well. 

If breakage is equal to 20% of their net profits, I'm not surprised the online market is dominating. That's a pretty stiff penalty.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Unless Marcus actually gets the wife to do all of the buying without her husband's input, then he needs to find a toy buyer, and a manager for the online, and physical store.     I agree about the Santa Claus room, it could have been wonderful, but it's nothing special.   

They can forget a link with Sweet Pete's, because there's a Santa's Candy Castle there already.   Here's the Trip Advisor list of the 15 best things to do in the area:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g37506-Activities-Santa_Claus_Indiana.html

I bet one way they had more customers is that some of the other stores close for part of the year, so one trip advisor review said that it wasn't an impressive store, but others were closed so they went to Santa's toys anyway.     I looked at their website, it still doesn't look inviting, or colorful enough.   

Edited December 19, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[cooksdelight]

There are type errors in their address at the top, the period belongs after the N, not the 3, and it needs a comma between the street and the town. So, I didn’t look any further.

https://santastoys.com/

[AuntieDiane6]

Quote

The store before Marcus showed up looked like a busted Dollar Store.  How they made any money is a miracle.  Honestly, it didn't look like a big "WOW!" after Marcus spent his money there.  If I'm going to Santa Claus, IN and the whole town is dedicated to Santa & Christmas all year long, then I'd expect to see an ass-kicking, full throttle toy store.  The meager decorations hanging from the exposed ceiling weren't even as festive as what my local grocery store does for the holidays.  And that "Santa's Workshop" space????  WTF? I assumed it would be some kind of creative space for kids to have hands on experience with featured toys (you know, to encourage SALES?), or to do arts & crafts. Or maybe people dressed as elves "making" toys...or at least cutting out paper snowflakes for goodness sake.  And where the Hell was Santa in all this??  Shouldn't he be walking around "Ho-ho-ho-ing" and taking pictures?  That space looked like a wasted idea.  Better to have used it for storage than a half assed room full of cartoon murals.  It could be monetized - take one free picture with Rudolph or an Elf or Santa with a purchase, then upsell "digital" packages.  Sell an experience where the kids & their parents can make/paint a small wooden train or doll for a couple of bucks.  Get Sweet Pete's Candy in there & sell a candy cane making class, and a candy counter w/ a few "exclusive" Santa Claus Candies for sale. 

I agree 100% with all of your suggestions, ESPECIALLY since there is a Santa Claus Christmas Store right in town!  That store got very positive reviews and when I read them, it seems THAT store follows Marcus' advice:  it has a Santa Claus available for photos and kid visits; it smells of gingerbread; so many unique products that people spend 2 hours there.  I wonder if there is some rivalry with Santa's Toys; otherwise, Marcus could have marched the owners just down the road to see what they're doing right.  

One interesting thing:  one reviewer said they have a lot of toys ideal for special needs children and the staff is very knowledgeable.  For heaven's sake, why isn't that a banner or a category right on the home page?  That alone could be a huge niche in the toy world!  Instead, the categories were dull and the one they called New Arrivals was in desperate need of some categorizing:  it had 45 pages of toys seemingly placed there without any thought.  And no effort to say that the toys got there first or they had them in stock before anyone else.  I also winced at the category called Girls and Dolls.  I would have renamed that in a minute:  Dolls and Home Play?  

Quote

Good grief...the possibilities are endless if Marcus followed his own mantra of  "People- Process- Product". 

I think he recognizes that he will not be able to modernize/update this business with this management.  He will get what he put in and withdraw faster than you can say Santa Claus ... 

[Gregg247]

I liked this couple.  They seemed like a couple of hardworking people from humble backgrounds who decided to go into business to make a better life for their family.  Despite their lack of experience, they'd managed to make a profit in the first 2 years in business.  Good for them!  The toy store business is pretty tough, so opening one in a town devoted to Santa Claus was a smart move on their part.

I don't think Marcus' renovations really extended to the outside, and it should have.  Its not a very inspiring building for a toy store, so some kind of oversized toy(s) out there was needed, especially in the summer, to attract some tourists.  I agree above that a fulltime Santa was also needed.

his won't be one of Marcus' big blockbuster deals, but I'll bet he makes some money from this partnership.

[Ashlyc]

omg alot of the people on this show seem helpless. but i cant with these people. i dont know that i can make it through the whole episode. this husband....

[CrazyInAlabama]

I don't remember if they mentioned if the store was rented, or purchased.      If it's a rental, the owner might have authorized the inside remodel, but maybe not the outside.     Or it could be that they needed approvals to do outside updates to match the Christmas theme, and that had to go through a town authority of some kind, and that may take quite a while.  

Having a cookie or gingerbread aroma would have been easy to do, commercial bakeries and cookie stores do this all of the time.    I'm sure I've seen equipment that does the aroma dispersion for bakeries, and cookie shops, so there is no reason the toy store couldn't do it.  

My guess is that both owners are very passive people, and don't do anything without someone cracking the whip.     I'm more used to Type A personalities, where everyone is competing to do things, and not Type B's like the owners, that just loll around waiting for direction.     I'm really surprised that they even bought the store in the first place.     

Edited December 21, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[Kenz]

This had to be one of the most frustrating Profit shows I've ever seen. The owners were clueless and lifeless. Marcus invested $100,000 as a charity case, because he's never going to get a big return on that investment. Some of his advice was really bad, like investing a lot in customized shipping boxes. You need lots of different sized boxes for shipping, and that would be very expensive.  You could put a nice inexpensive sticker on a box if you wanted to jazz it up. Why not have a big sale for the slow moving items instead of throwing them in a truck where they look like they were probably damaged? The redesigned store looked better, but it was really pretty bland. The website is nothing special and is made on a Shopify platform, which anyone could do. Those low energy store owners didn't even seem grateful for the help they were given. Since I've owned a brick and mortar retail store and presently operate an internet store, this show made me want to screech. I think I'm done with The Profit.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is that the donation of the toys would be at full retail, and be a much bigger deduction from income.    If they sold the toys at a deep discount it would be a loss instead, and probably not as good tax wise, and also great publicity for the donation.  

I bet the reason the man was successful at his previous job is that he only had to show up, and do the technical work.   I'm sure someone at the company did all of his travel arrangements, hotels, and everything else for him.     My guess within a year Marcus will either redo the store even more, get another management team and toy buyer, and the husband and wife will be bought out.    

Edited December 20, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[hoosiermommy]

When the owner was answering Marcus’s answer about why he wanted to own a toy store, Marcus volunteered the “safe place” as if his childhood lacked safety and to me it wounded like the owner was trying to articulate that he wan Ed the store because his childhood lacked joy. Then Marcus made his read a radio spot about Marcus’s interpretation of the owner’s angst...and lonely childhood. 🙄 The line about “can you imagine” was fine but the rest of the text should have been focused on the anticipation of unwrapping that one perfect toy and the joy of Christmas morning.

[cooksdelight]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Having a cookie or gingerbread aroma would have been easy to do, commercial bakeries and cookie stores do this all of the time. 

Yes, like Starbucks does at my local grocery store, Ingles. They have a carpeted entry/atrium where you get your cart and Starbucks is right there when you walk in. I swear they must spray the carpet with pumpkin spice or whatever their flavor of the month is because I smell it before the automatic doors open to let me inside. 

They need to fix the building, cover it with fake snow and have the reindeer on the roof. The husband could play Santa every day, he’s built for it. The salespeople as elves, pipe in some Christmas music, the smell of gingerbread, a place where the kids could try out toys and show them to Santa... “This is what I want, Santa!”

There’s so much they could do themselves, but I don’t see any initiative.

[lu1535]

This is so petty, I'm ashamed to say it but I will anyway, I was horrified by the wife's unwashed hair. And when Marcus hugged her with her dirty hair I almost heaved.

[ae2]

Sorry, there's no way a domain name like santastoys.com was selling for $100. More like 10-50 times that amount.

(Gather up boys and girls, it's lesson time! The cost of "owning" a .com and a .net are both around only $10-$20 / year. But since that's so cheap, people buy up every possible domain name you can imagine and "squat" on them until someone is interested in it. They then sell the ownership for a much higher amount. You pay the yearly fee to the domain registrar whether you purchased a brand new, unused domain or purchased it from someone who previously owned it. I have no doubt a domain like santastoys.com was owned by a squatter and selling for at least a few thousand dollars, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was in the tens of thousands.)

This was an interesting investment for Marcus. He only bought interest in the online store, which was not bringing in any revenue at all. He then basically rebuilt everything that already existed. No revenue, no marketing history, no brand recognition, and no online store. In all respects, it's a brand new business that Marcus created.

Essentially, he gave up $100k and 50% of a company he created to this couple to operate as a fulfillment center to his new online toy store.

That feels like a bad investment to me. I'm shocked he didn't ask for 100% of the online business, or something in the range of 90% so they still have a little incentive with it.

I suppose long-term if he wants to attack the vacated Toys R Us brick & mortar market he has a very slight foothold with this first storefront. Assuming he can get them to sell some of their ownership stake off-camera. But Santa's Toys sounds much more like a seasonal holiday store that pops up for a few months in malls across America than it does a general, all-year toy store. Maybe a few specialty locations could survive all year in tourist heavy locales, but I can't picture one staying open year round in any of the 4 malls near me.

(In fact, there ARE toy shops that open up seasonally in these malls already. They generally move in after the Halloween shops close.)

[LuvMyShows]

On 12/19/2018 at 8:43 AM, BusyOctober said:

And that "Santa's Workshop" space????  WTF? I assumed it would be some kind of creative space for kids to have hands on experience with featured toys (you know, to encourage SALES?), or to do arts & crafts. Or maybe people dressed as elves "making" toys...or at least cutting out paper snowflakes for goodness sake.  And where the Hell was Santa in all this??  Shouldn't he be walking around "Ho-ho-ho-ing" and taking pictures?  That space looked like a wasted idea.  Better to have used it for storage than a half assed room full of cartoon murals.  It could be monetized - take one free picture with Rudolph or an Elf or Santa with a purchase, then upsell "digital" packages.  Sell an experience where the kids & their parents can make/paint a small wooden train or doll for a couple of bucks.  Get Sweet Pete's Candy in there & sell a candy cane making class, and a candy counter w/ a few "exclusive" Santa Claus Candies for sale.  Good grief...the possibilities are endless if Marcus followed his own mantra of  "People- Process- Product". 

1 hour ago, ae2 said:

But Santa's Toys sounds much more like a seasonal holiday store that pops up for a few months in malls across America than it does a general, all-year toy store. Maybe a few specialty locations could survive all year in tourist heavy locales, but I can't picture one staying open year round in any of the 4 malls near me.

Clearly neither the husband nor wife are creative with marketing, and they had already expressed a problem with doing less business in the summer.  So I wanted to see Marcus hook them up with a marketing company that can generate the ideas for them, so that even if they can't generate the ideas themselves, at least they understand the value and concept behind being creative with their store.

On 12/19/2018 at 8:43 AM, BusyOctober said:

This is cruel to say, but both of the parents looked very "low functioning" (even though the wife showed more business savvy than the husband).  

The particular difficulties that the husband had with organization and accomplishing tasks unsupervised led me to believe that he may have ADHD, and I actually fault Marcus for not taking a more proactive mentoring role in helping establish a Process (like he used to).  We know they had no inventory management before, because when they were liquidating, they said that they knew which were big sellers from observation, and no one mentioned data.  The guy had nothing written down for a plan when they went to the huge toy mart (or whatever it was called), yet it doesn't appear that Marcus helped explain why everything he does needs to planned out in writing first, and help show him how to do it.  Marcus also did nothing for helping set up a warehousing process for receiving all the new merchandise.  And he apparently didn't check in on the progress of the store re-opening (or they made it appear that way for drama).

On 12/18/2018 at 11:26 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Look at how the man got a .net, instead of .com, for a very little difference?    That was ridiculous.       

I also fault Marcus for not doing some business teaching to these people who had no retail experience at all.  He needed to take that giant fail with the .net/.com decision, and explain how to analyze business decisions.  The wife's version was not understanding the value of having the place shut down.  And usually Marcus talks with the employees.  Even though they were part-time, I bet they had lots of good observations and ideas, and maybe skill sets that could complement the lack of ones in the owner couple.

[LuvMyShows]

18 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

There are type errors in their address at the top, the period belongs after the N, not the 3, and it needs a comma between the street and the town. So, I didn’t look any further.

https://santastoys.com/

Wait til you look at the Contact Us page.  There is a map taking up over half the page, but it's a super-close-up that shows only a few roads, and the store's road and the store aren't shown on the map!!!!!!!!

[Cotypubby]

15 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

Wait til you look at the Contact Us page.  There is a map taking up over half the page, but it's a super-close-up that shows only a few roads, and the store's road and the store aren't shown on the map!!!!!!!!

OMG that map isn't even the correct state!! That map is some random road in the middle of West Virginia!

[LennieBriscoe]

I'm only 1/4 through,  but I already have had it with this idiot couple.  "Let's move to Santa Claus and have Santa's Toys,  but NO,  NONE,  NADA representation of SANTA." 

Doofus Weepy Cheap Husband acts like the stupidity is unrelated to him and his wife. 

ETA: They seem unintelligent, dull-witted, and that trait imbues not only their business decisions and attitude but also their physical appearance, including facial expressions, and choice of attire (did they not understand the concept of "television"?).

A BLACK CEILING?! WHO DOES THAT?!

Edited December 20, 2018 by LennieBriscoe

[Kenz]

6 hours ago, lu1535 said:

This is so petty, I'm ashamed to say it but I will anyway, I was horrified by the wife's unwashed hair. And when Marcus hugged her with her dirty hair I almost heaved.

I'm with you. She didn't even wash it for the grand opening. I feel kind of sorry for this family because I don't see much success in their future.

[cooksdelight]

3 hours ago, ae2 said:

people buy up every possible domain name you can imagine and "squat" on them until someone is interested in it.

A woman did that here in my small town, our local newspaper had to buy it from her for big bucks. She was smart. Then she got caught dealing drugs, LOL.

[ae2]

2 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

A woman did that here in my small town, our local newspaper had to buy it from her for big bucks. She was smart. Then she got caught dealing drugs, LOL.

For a brief period in the late 90s/early 00s domain squatting was probably more lucrative than drugs!

[Kenz]

4 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

OMG that map isn't even the correct state!! That map is some random road in the middle of West Virginia!

Actually the map is of Colorado. I used to live there and recognized the roads. I think it may be close to NORTHPOLE, Colorado, a park place where kids can visit Santa (it has gift shops too). That's quite a way from Indiana! Why didn't the web and branding experts that Marcus think so highly of catch such a blatant error? Marcus and his so call expertise loses credence on each episode!

Edited December 20, 2018 by Kenz

[CrazyInAlabama]

I bet the owners did their own web site, and the poor execution makes me sure it wasn't someone from a professional shop.    My guess is like a few other episodes, Marcus will go with the online on his own.  

 

It's really sad that people on here have more concrete ideas on how to make the store a success than the sad sack owners do.     I think the ideas posters have come up with are dynamite, and would make a Christmas store a success, and if nothing else I think this group could develop a website that didn't suck the way the current one does.      I looked at their site, and having a few giant categories sucks.   It's as bad as Walmart's for searching, though with their site I Google what I'm looking for, and put Walmart in the search field and find things that way.   I don't want to have to find a work around for a web site to spend money.     

If the owners really wanted to see a first class Christmas town, they should look at Frankenmuth, which is an all year round Christmas town, and from people I know that visited there is a magical and fun place.    I bet a lot of people are disappointed to find out that a lot of the stores in Santa Claus, IN aren't open a lot of the year, and it's not a big town.

https://www.frankenmuth.org/things-to-do/christmas/       https://www.frankenmuth.org/things-to-do/shopping/

Santa Claus toys wouldn't last two minutes in a town like Frankenmuth, and it's not a big town either.  

I hope the store owners have a back up plan, because I'm sure they're going to need it.   

Edited December 20, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, Kenz said:

Why didn't the web and branding experts that Marcus think so highly of catch such a blatant error? Marcus and his so call expertise loses credence on each episode!

Because he has no clue how to hire the right designers and marketing people. He should call The Martin Agency in Richmond and ask for their help. I worked there, I know the caliber of their work. Geico, TCM, just a couple of accounts I did work for.

[Whimsy]

7 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

OMG that map isn't even the correct state!! That map is some random road in the middle of West Virginia!

It shows as the correct state for me. They must’ve fixed it. 

[Cotypubby]

15 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

It shows as the correct state for me. They must’ve fixed it. 

 

3 hours ago, Kenz said:

Actually the map is of Colorado. I used to live there and recognized the roads. I think it may be close to NORTHPOLE, Colorado, a park place where kids can visit Santa (it has gift shops too). That's quite a way from Indiana! Why didn't the web and branding experts that Marcus think so highly of catch such a blatant error? Marcus and his so call expertise loses credence on each episode!

That's weird. It shows as Laurel Run Rd, West Virginia for me:

 

[Whimsy]

That is really weird! 

[Kenz]

12 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

 

That's weird. It shows as Laurel Run Rd, West Virginia for me:

 

 

Very strange. The map still shows Colorado for me, west of Colorado Springs.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Kenz

[sarthaz]

"Can you imagine ... the world's worst pitchman and a random toy store with no connection to Christmas or Santa Claus? A place where an investor sees that SantasToys.com is somehow available and only gets involved because that domain is worth more than the entire business?"

Credit to the owners for not being douchebags. They don't seem to know what they're doing, but at least they're no manipulative scum like many of these episodes. I'm with others that the whole domain thing didn't make sense. These days, .net and .com are more or less the same price and can be had for $10-$15. Maybe 20 years ago, the .net was much cheaper than the .com, but that's not the case anymore. Either the domain wasn't registered, which is shockingly hard to believe (there are bots that gobble up the .coms of .nets), but theoretically possible. Or a squatter was selling it for $10k or something. Either way, it wasn't $100. That's not how it works. And I find it infuriating that we can't go a single episode without being lied to about something.

As for the website meeting, that was a lot of high-level executives for them to basically build a standard-template Shopify site. $35k-40k for something a college student could build in his/her dorm over the weekend? OK

[Moose135]

The map came up correctly for me...really strange that others are getting something different.

[LuvMyShows]

My map shows a road called Falls Creek Road on the left, a Falls Creek in the middle, and a little road called Morning Glory on the right.  I have no idea what city/state it is.

Also, one other big lame-ness from their web site.  You know how when you have multiple tabs open, you see a little logo to help you know which tab is which?  Well, they don't have anything at all in their tab!  When I'm using Google Chrome it is literally a blank tab so it looks like you don't even have a page open.  When I use IE, what shows in the tab is the first letter of the name of the header/section that I've navigated to;  in other words, the Contact Us page shows a C in the tab.

[CrazyInAlabama]

With the original black ceiling, I wonder if the store had been a restaurant, or bar, since they are often darker, with the black ceiling?  

If the store really does specialize in special needs, and certain category toys, then they need to publicize that on their website.     They could also get a booth at special ed. teacher conferences too, or sponsor an ad on special education or specific organization web sites or facebook pages for the needs they carry toys for.   

Edited December 21, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[Jamoche]

On 12/20/2018 at 8:36 AM, Cotypubby said:

OMG that map isn't even the correct state!! That map is some random road in the middle of West Virginia!

I poked at the page source: it's a link to maps.google.com with a search query of "santa's toys", so it's finding the toy store nearest me. I went to google maps and put "santa's toys" in the search field and I *did* see their shop as the #2 hit in the autocomplete popup - and I'd bet it was the #1 result for them - so... someone really doesn't know how to make a google maps URL.

[cooksdelight]

Marcus, I keep telling you, hire me as your team leader/graphic designer and you won’t have these embarassing fuckups! Remember the bearded guy logo? ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

[tobeannounced]

I didn't understand this episode at all. The only way it makes sense to me is if the show has shifted focus and now Marcus just comes in and gives clueless people a boost and the money he puts in is actually put in by the show and doesn't come out of his pocket. 

There was no product, no process or people that were remotely compelling. And Marcus didn't want anything to do with the brick and mortar. He just wanted the online business, for which they didn't even own the domain name and he was able to buy. What?

[Amarsir]

If anyone is curious why there's a town named "Santa Claus, Indiana" there's some history of it on the Defunctland Youtube Channel. (Only the first segment is about that town. The rest is about other places with Santa-themed Theme Parks.)

[CrazyInAlabama]

The wife didn't do very much research if she wanted to move, have a Santa themed toy store, and picked a town with very seasonal tourism.      They should have moved to Frankenmuth, MI instead, but I bet they couldn't afford to buy a place there.   Frankenmuth isn't that much bigger, but I think everything there is open year round, and they are very committed to being a Christmas/Bavarian destination year round.       Moving to a place where the local business owners shut down for months at a time is a rotten idea.    

If Marcus wanted a toy business, he should have bought the web site .com address, hired a good toy buyer, and not thrown good money into remodeling the store, and financing the brick and mortar business that's a losing proposition.      

I was just watching the rerun of this episode, and when Marcus and the man were talking about why he moved there I had to turn it off.    Who upsets their life, and risks their financial future when they have two kids, and suddenly decide to look on the internet to see where they can move to, and risk every penny?       I can easily see Marcus writing this business off in a year or so, and the people going broke, and back to the job the man had before.   However, I hope the man realizes that they've certainly replaced him by now, and even it they have an opening, I'm guessing they won't want someone who is so passive back.   

[CrazyInAlabama]

The rerun of Santa's Toys shows so much more than the first viewing did for me.      I don't think the owner even checked to see if the .com was available, instead of .net, just to save a few bucks.   I don't see how a customer can find out who works there to ask about toys, or locations, even t-shirts with the logo and name, or something festive would be nice, so if you have a question, you can ask someone.      Instead of boxes, maybe a bumpersticker type label with the name, email, and phone number would be better, and could just be slapped on the outside of the shipping box.     The poster on here who pointed out that the various sizes needed would be cost prohibitive, was exactly right.       

Their website wasn't very good when the show aired, and it's still the same.   A note to the web master, Girls & Dolls isn't a good category, dolls aren't just for girls.   They need a ton more categories than six.     The owners aren't even trying, so I guess the husband is in charge of the website.    The colors are terrible on the website too.   

From looking online, the store was closed way more than three weeks for the remodel, and restocking, or maybe that's when they could have the grand reopening.      The fact the owner couldn't get off his lazy butt to put the .com sticker on the sign without Marcus supervising, was ridiculous, and another passive-aggressive move by the do nothing owner.     From what the wife said, she was the one who did the research, and picked where they could move to start this venture.   I bet the wife did the hiring, stocking, set up, and all Mr. Passive Aggressive did was supervise everything from him camera's at home.    I bet he's never at the store at all.       

There are photos on the Trip Advisor site of top things to do in Santa Claus, IN,  and the store looks a little better without the black ceiling.    But there still isn't much atmosphere.    They have photos of a Reindeer Event, I guess at the store, but how smart is it to have an animal with huge, pointy antlers on the other side of a pipe corral, with kid's faces right there?      The store is only open Friday (12-6), Saturday (12-6), and Sunday (12-4) as far as I can figure out.    I think this is their after Christmas schedule, and apparently a lot of other stores and attractions are closed in the winter.       

  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g37506-d11807232-Reviews-Santa_s_TOYS-Santa_Claus_Indiana.html

I think the wife not wanting to become the buyer tells everything about her husband's ego, and how things go at home.     I bet he's exactly the way he was shown on TV, a passive-aggressive jerk who blames everyone else for his failures, when he won't even do the work it takes to succeed.    I think the wife has been propping up his ego for their entire marriage, and I bet she catches hell any time he's upset, or doesn't get to be the star.  

Edited January 22, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[evansmom10]

On 12/19/2018 at 1:34 PM, cooksdelight said:

There are type errors in their address at the top, the period belongs after the N, not the 3, and it needs a comma between the street and the town. So, I didn’t look any further.

https://santastoys.com/

Well if you really want to rip your eyeballs out, go to the "contact us"  page and look at the map. 

[evansmom10]

On 12/21/2018 at 11:22 AM, Moose135 said:

The map came up correctly for me...really strange that others are getting something different.

I think I am getting it now. The map may be closest to wherever the person clicking on the site is b/c I am from CA and it's showing me something in CA with Santa in the name.