FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Inside Fairfield's Diplomat Village Shopping Center, you'll open the door to a treasure trove of nostalgia.
The Toy Department is a one-stop shop for all things vintage toys and memorabilia. With seven aisles and 21 display cases in a 3,000-square-foot shop, you can call it a collector's playground.
"99% of inventory is secondhand," said store manager Kenneth Koepnick.
The store moved from its current location after first opening its doors in 2018 inside a smaller spot in the same plaza. Koepnick said he and his friends realized the area lacked a good toy store, despite Cincinnati's rich toy-making history.
"We wanted to embrace the Kenner connection because they made so many toy lines that we love, whether it was Star Wars or Super Powers or M.A.S.K or SilverHawks, Strawberry Shortcake," Koepnick said.
When deciding a name, Koepnick said they wanted one that would remind customers of their fondest childhood memories.
"The idea was to bring back the nostalgia and the love for the experience that we had as kids and going to the toy department at your favorite toy store," he said.
Step inside this one-stop shop for all things vintage toys and memorabilia, and you’ll be hit with a treasure trove of nostalgia. Tonight at 6 on @WCPO, how sticking to its brick and mortar roots is helping Fairfield’s The Toy Department get an upgrade for the record books. pic.twitter.com/8uXpc2GsTW
— Valerie Lyons (@VLyonsTV) May 12, 2023
The shop supplies thousands of items from everyday modern finds to the rarest of vintage prototypes and in just five years it's quickly grown in scale, upping the finds and the eager eyes.
"Every time I come in there's something different," Julius Meckley said.
Koepnick said they pride themselves on having the best collections and prices around, and because of that, they're exclusively brick-and-mortar. While The Toy Department advertises and displays online, anyone looking to buy, sell or trade must do so in person.
"That's actually one of my favorite things," Meckley said. "That's actually why I think all of us like coming here just because you can put your hands on it, you can see it in person, walk into the store and admire it before it's yours."
The store doesn't ship product out, so the collectors ship in, making it a travel destination, Koepnick said.
"We've had YouTubers from Germany fly in for local toy shows," he said.
The store's been featured on WWE Network, scores of YouTube channels from celebrities to local toy hunters and is in the filming stages of being featured on "A Toy Store Near You" on Amazon Prime.
But Koepnick said the store has outgrown itself again, with boxes stacking up to the ceiling and items stored sideways on the shelves.
He said they need more space, so they're about to get a one-of-a-kind upgrade, moving over to the former Harley Davidson a mile up the road on Dixie Highway.
"The irony of us moving into a what has been, for 30 years, a motorcycle store is not lost on us because it was a collectible store or a toy store for another branch of the economy as it were," he said. "We loved the idea of the heritage behind that — of a small business moving in where a small business started and that it still has the feel of collectability for adults."
The Toy Department is planning to reopen in the new 20,000-square-foot location by the summer. It won't just be a bigger space, but one of the biggest you can find.
"Definitely in the Midwest, probably in the country," said Koepnick. "We'll be in the running towards the top of the list at that point."
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