Speaker – Amy Saldanha, CEO of Kiddywampus.
Kiddywampus is an interactive, independently owned toy store n Hopkins, across from Stages Theater.
Amy graduated from Gustavus; grew up on a family farm. She attended Law School and moved to Chicago, spending some time as a Civil Litigator.
She moved on to become the COO of some digital start up companies, focusing on legal and risk management issues.
Met her husband and moved back to the Twin Cities. She has 3 children, 20, 17 and 14 yrs.
She came across the idea for the store while having dinner with a friend and opened the original location in Edina, near 44th and France. They moved the store to St Louis Park, but lost their lease after the building was sold, moving to the newly refurbished Hopkins Main Street, where they purchased the building to have a permanent home.
Kiddywampus business is based on the model that developed on the East and West coasts – interactive, onsite retailing and indoor party and activities themes.
Why are toys important? They are how kids grow and develop. Creates interactive experiences.
Amy works with parents whose children have been diagnosed with learning disorders to find toys and activities that stimulate. Toys are important to future workforce development as they require kids to interact with each other, working in teams and problem solving.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently prescribed more open ended play to offset kids being over-scheduled in organized activities.
Toy industry in MN. Was surprised that Creative Kidstuff closed having developed such a good brand. It’s a difficult marketplace competing with Amazon and other online retailers. Kiddywampus’ success will come from it’s unique brand of human interactive retailing and experience model.
Toy trends. Attended a convention in Germany recently. “Kidult” toys is a fast growing segment – concept of continuous play through all stages of life
Boomers are her biggest client base.
Kiddywampus name comes from a Scottish word depicting crazy new and fun.
Popular classes they offer:
Build a fort summer camp – 3 day camp where kids start with only a 3x3 box and use their imaginations to create their space.
Action Painting Parties – kids just throw paint at a wall as a way to create art.
Kiddywampus is managed in a way that allows for charitable giving. Amy doesn’t take a salary and has created a foundation for community giving using the business profits.
They plan to expand the store by another 2,000 sq ft to grow the business and to hopefully create a greater impact in the community, such as for Make a Wish and Resource West.
Biggest issue now is the tariff situation and access to affordable imports
