The Spirit of Toys opens in Sanford building

PHOTO ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Left to right, Jim Hastings and Glen Stewart Island native Jim Hastings and his partner Glen Stewart opened The Spirit of Toys last Friday in the Sanford building on Pleasant Street and on Monday, they were already reordering items that were an instant hit with kids and parents.

"It's a vision that we've had for years," said Hastings, former manager at Island Pharmacy. "We knew there was a need for a store devoted solely to toys."

The store will be adding lines later in the year, but has Lincoln Logs, beach and backyard toys and games, dolls, stuffed animals, kits for making puzzles as well as crafts and art projects, board games, motorized race cars, pedal-powered tricycles, Radio Flyer wagons and the "Groovy Girls" line of dolls and accessories. The Spirit of Toys carries the wooden Plan Toys, from the award-winning "green" company that uses recycled rubberwood and other materials, soy and water-based inks and utilizes a preservativefree process.

"A lot of manufacturers are getting back to the wooden toys," said Hastings, noting that the store's grand opening is Saturday, June 21.

The hot seller on Friday was the PlasmaCar, a rideon toy that only requires a child to turn the steering wheel to make the car go. It has no batteries, gears or pedals and can travel an exhilarating, but child-safe three feet per second at top speed.

Video games, with consoles and accessories, are coming very soon, and in the fall, the store will begin carrying Lego and Playmobile toys.

Each month Stewart and Hastings will feature artists and their products, with Maddie Bradshaw coming for the grand opening to discuss her "m3" line of magnetic bottle- cap jewelry. Hastings and Stewart also are launching a toy club whereby grandparents, aunts and uncles, for example, who do not frequently see their young relatives, can arrange for a toy to be sent on a regular schedule that they deter-mine.

"I've been thinking about this for 20 years, but never had the opportunity to do it before," said Stewart. "We were looking to do something unique and different here on the island."

Stewart has been coming to Nantucket for 30 years and spends four months of the year living here, eight months in Dallas, Texas and travels to China once a month where his Spirit International, USA-based companies manufacture store displays and packaging, fashion jewelry, golf training aids and children's furniture. He has seven-year-old twins and a 10 and 24-year-old he calls "the best market research product testers and product suggesters."

The Spirit of Toys will be open year-round. "We'll keep getting in new toys - the most interesting toys," he said. "We will keep growing." I