Mastermind puts plan into action
Specialty toy retailer confident of entry into Winnipeg
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2015 (3824 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WARNING: your purchases at Mastermind Toys might cause your children to get smarter.
The Toronto-based specialty retailer, which is preparing to christen its first Winnipeg location near the intersection of Kenaston and McGillivray boulevards, focuses on toys with educational or developmental value.
So, if you’re looking for the latest shoot-’em-up, blow-’em-up video game, move along, please.
“What makes us different is we have a tailored selection of unique products. We carry 6,000 toys and 4,000 books. It’s uncommon for toy stores to focus on both,” said Humphrey Kadaner, Mastermind Toys’ president and chief operating officer.
“Our customers find books important. They may be buying a toy as a gift, and they can augment it with a book to reinforce the importance of reading.”
Mastermind has taken over 3,500 square feet that used to be home to the Business Development Bank of Canada and will employ 20 full- and part-time staff. The plan is to have a soft opening mid-to-late next week.
Mastermind’s shelves are full of toys ranging from arts and crafts to brain puzzles, construction toys, dolls, board games, home-learning products, magic toys, musical instruments and plush animals.
Kadaner said he’s confident the company will be well-received in Winnipeg based on the “healthy” amount of online sales that originate in the Manitoba capital.
“We’ve identified that Winnipeg is underserved from a specialty-toy retail perspective. We know it’s a solid retail market,” he said.
The company was founded in 1984 and grew slowly before its first expansion outside of Ontario in 2013, when it opened stores in Alberta and B.C.
There are already plans for more stores in Winnipeg, he said.
“We believe the market can reasonably sustain three Mastermind stores. We’ve been actively looking (at real estate). If we had the chance to open a second store at the same time as the first one, we would have,” he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca