By Yvonne Vávra
Playtime is over at the corner of 84th and Amsterdam. The West Side Kids are not all right. After 44 years in business, the neighborhood toy store is closing for good. According to the owner, the killjoys came in a pair: online competition and a new player, tariffs.
Another local shop is shutting down, another burst of color turning into “Space Available.” Oof. Some of us have memories stored in there, now at risk of fading. And even if we never set foot inside West Side Kids, chances are we still liked walking past it, thinking: how lovely to live in a place where the streets feel alive, with people to watch, windows to peek into, and surprises to stumble on.
Now there’s grief, the ache of losing yet another ingredient that makes our Upper West Side stew so delicious. There’s anxiety, too, because our surroundings seem to change in step with the way we move through the world. Guilt follows. If the culprit is online shopping, then the culprit is us. It feels like we and the neighborhood are a team — evolving, winning and losing together. But do we even know how to play? The first rule is showing up.
West Side Kids opened in 1981. It was the year Ronald Reagan became president, Jerry Seinfeld made his first appearance on The Tonight Show, and — with a final “And that’s the way it is” — Walter Cronkite signed off for good from the CBS Evening News. “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” dominated the summer, Upper West Sider Billie Jean King came out of the closet, Simon & Garfunkel reunited on Central Park’s Great Lawn, and the subway fare rose from 60 to 75 cents.
Yes! That’s how long West Side Kids has been a fixture on the Upper West Side. Whole lifetimes have been lived since then. Cultural revolutions have swept through. So many cents have been added to the subway fare. And through it all, the toy store kept the door open to magic, mischief, and the adventure of becoming, one toy at a time.
The store also held something you can’t get online: a person who knew just how to match us with what we needed. Algorithms are great at predicting what we want, but they can’t compare to a human who steps out from behind the shelf with the one thing that hits the spot. That person might not offer endless options, but they read the moment, responding with instinct. It’s the difference between being calculated and being seen.
It’s a full-body thing. Pencils, for example. I have a thing for them. I like seeing them, holding them, and writing in the air with them. I also enjoy watching others pick them up. No fetish, I swear. (I think.) It’s just that I need the full ritual — the weight test, the balance test, the negotiation between fingers and pencil — before I know which one should be mine.
Online, I’d be hopeless. How would I even know I wanted a pencil if I couldn’t look it in the graphite eye and believe its promise to change my life? If I couldn’t see someone next to me trying out a blue one and thinking… maybe I want blue, too? An algorithm has never made me feel pencil envy, ever.
I’m afraid I can’t quite explain why I need other people around when buying a pencil. I guess you’ll have to go see for yourself. Head to Stationery & Toy on 72nd, West Side Stationers on Broadway at 99th, or anywhere in between and beyond. And if you dare — because, wow, pencils galore! Pencils for advanced penciling! — check out the rather new-to-the-neighborhood Goods for the Study on Broadway at 73rd.
In a world that’s getting more and more disembodied, we’re craving presence in our bodies, our senses, and our feelings. Science says so, and I don’t see why common sense would disagree. What are we gonna do with all these senses we’ve got?
I want to overhear someone’s attempt at flirting, I want to see cheeses living and breathing side by side in the display fridge, I want to touch sweaters, and I definitely want to find out what the idea of a forest smells like when I buy soap.
Luckily, we still have many physical places on the Upper West Side where we can not just shop but wander, not just scroll but sense, not just browse but belong. But let’s not kid ourselves: this version of the neighborhood won’t survive on good vibes alone. Someone’s gotta pay for the amusement.
Yes, this is New York, where nothing ever stays the same. And yes, not everyone can afford to shop small. There’s no easy fix. But maybe, for now, the point isn’t to know exactly what to do but to notice what we have, and choose it when and how we can. When change and loss are New York facts, so are hope and the belief in new beginnings. And if all else fails, we get to bask in nostalgia, which, as studies show, makes us feel better about ourselves, connects us to each other, and eases existential threat.
Is that too heavy an ending? I knew it, should’ve bought the other pencil. The one that promised better ideas.
Yvonne Vávra is a magazine writer and author of the German book 111 Gründe New York zu lieben (111 Reasons to Love New York). Born a Berliner but an aspiring Upper West Sider since the 1990s (thanks, Nora Ephron), she came to New York in 2010 and seven years later made her Upper West Side dreams come true. She’s been obsessively walking the neighborhood ever since.
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How specifically could tariffs have caused a meaningful drop in sales?
Didn’t some public figure recently advise kids that they’d have to be satisfied with about two Barbies instead of thirty or so? His name is on the tip of my tongue….but I’m sure his initials are DJT.
They didn’t, just an excuse that goes over well on the UWS
Prices of everything is now higher. Less people buying.
They didn’t say tariffs caused a drop in sales, just that it was a factor in the store closing. Nonetheless, it’s a good question. Tariffs have to be paid at the time of importing the product (ie before any revenue from the sales has been recognized) so its very damaging to stores’ working capital and worse than a tax from a cash flow perspective.
Possible WSK was looking at the tariff costs required for their next order and decided it didn’t make sense to continue given tariff costs would have to be passed on to customers and sales are already pressured from online shopping.
In a prior article in regard to the same store you stated: “Go woke, go broke. We used to shop for our kids there, and for all their friends’ birthday parties. But we stopped in 2016 after Trump got elected and they became obsessed with promoting a far left agenda instead of being a lovely toy store as they had previously been.”
If your own a business and you bring your political opinions, you will alienate customers. Now employees lose their jobs and the UWS has another empty store front.
Was not me. Must have been one of the other, less prolific, UWS Dads.
In any case, I’m just trying to illustrate how tariffs work. I understand that’s seen as political these days because certain individuals would like to muddy the waters around the basic economics of an import tax.
It was me and I am indeed less prolific.
Tariffs are good if more American workers work menial jobs and if we crash the economy so that Americans are forced to take menial jobs!
I have more claim to the UWS Dad name than anyone here but I don’t know of a good trademark attorney who can help me trademark it now!
We must also restore street parking spaces on Central Park West that were lost with the bike lane in 2020.
My apologies for choosing such a generic screen name!
Why can’t West Side Rag do an interview with all the UWS Dad’s for an article? Maybe we will know who the urbanist UWS Dad is and who the other UWS Dads are
They didn’t yet. This is just more TDS nonsense.
Stop baiting people.
He is a master at it.
Small shops rely on higher margins to cover the expensive overhead in the UWS, but tariffs raise costs and force price hikes. Pushing even more customers to cheaper online options, the economics no longer work.
If one can afford paying a little higher price to help the shop owners stay in business that serve our community, it is worth it for the communities good to keep our shops open to support us!
Possibly due to the need for a meaningful increase in prices to cover the cost of the tariffs.
What a marvelous essay. I have lived on W79 since 1981.
Oh, you’re a new guy on the block!
Welcome to the neighborhood!
Brava.
My pet peeve is when people complain about businesses closing but they haven’t actually shopped there in years. They love the idea of these places but are less enthused by the prices, service or selection. We can be sad about the changes while still recognizing inevitability.
I’m no saint and I want the convenience and value of online shopping too. There are certain places though where I willingly pay a little extra just so that it will,I hope,be there for me the next time.
I have absolutely no need for toys. That doesn’t mean I have no regrets caused by a closing. Our once vibrant neighborhood is becoming a sad, empty place.
Of course, it’s always sad. People have such nostalgia for the way things were that they don’t acknowledge that they either have to commit to shopping local frequently, not just once a year for special occasions or they have to be sad but move on.
Well said. If we want to be surrounded by cute little shops, we need to make a point of regularly patronizing cute little shops. Who pay rent locally and employ people locally. Its also not the fault of the mean landlord. You don’t have to give up all online but make it a point to also shop locally. We get the neighborhood we invest in.
I am an online shopper, like many of my neighbors are,. But I would love to see some “cute little shops” opening W86 Street north into 90s and low 100’s. Sadly none exist that I can think of. Am I missing any?
The Sunshinery!! It’s a small gift store on Columbus next to Plant Shed. I think between 87 & 88? I buy all of my cards there and stop for Christmas/birthday presents pretty regularly too. On the pricier end, but everything is excellent quality and well curated.
I think the issue is that if people ARE shopping online, why would cute new shops open up? NAil sslons and coffee shops are the main places opening ip
Very well written
Ausgezeichnet essay Yvonne, you really are a true UWSider! Thanks for the nostalgia with a dose of truth.
Thanks.
Since Covid our family has focused on shopping at local or independent shops and businesses.
No food delivery.
Little Amazon.
BTW if you can’t find what you need on the West Side, there is a great store on the East Side, Rainbow Hardware-Houseware that carries houseware, hardware, toys, cards, drugstore items etc.
The East side seems to have far more stores and fewer vacancies than the West side. Why is this . . .
More disposable income in the UES so they can afford to shop local more than here
This is wonderfully written. Thanks.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE patronize Gold Leaf Stationers on Amsterdam between 89th and 90th. Marvelous store full of toys, art supplies, puzzles, and every type of stationery supplies. One of the best UWS shops.
All that and they will notarize your documents.
Love this shop. One of the few small shops in the area.
What a great article! Thank you for capturing the beauty and uniqueness of the UWS. And the sadness for what it’s become. I adore West Side Kids. I’ve been shopping there since it opened. I was 11 in 1981. These days, there are some great upgrades, such as safety. The UWS wasn’t so safe in 1981 but, for the most part, the UWS is now filled with super wealthy and entitled people who shop online and keep their heads in their phones and in their own lives. How do we bring back community? I still talk with neighbors and strangers, I always have. These days, people don’t want to engage as much but I’ll keep smiling at people I pass them on the street or in the lobby of my building. I’m saying, “I see you. We’re in this together.”
My wife and I live in a small building in the low 70’s. GenXers who love to patronize small business all over the city. It feels more and more like a losing battle. Our neighbors order in everything, all the way down to paper towels. It is disheartening and I don’t see how it changes, what with each generation born more and more into the digital world.
It seems like the UWS while not uniquely in danger of losing its independent businesses, is faring far worse than many of the downtown neighborhoods and event the UES. Why?
I have loved all of your photos and essays. You are an UWS gem!
One problem with small local stores is pricing. Why should a consumer pay a high price when there are infinite options online, often with promo codes and lower prices in general? Go to the small store to make yourself feel like you’re saving the community? Everyone loves saying “support local, support local” but do those businesses actually invest more in a community than a company who simply employs people here?
Retail has been changing for over 2 decades. Online is a great model for so many types of purchases. Sure, it’s nice to see some items before you buy them, but c’mon pencils?
Owning one small local retail store is not going to be a model that can compete for years to come. Gotta keep evolving. You can’t put all the blame on local consumers who are trying to get the most for their dollar.
Working in advertising spoiled most online shopping for me. The kind of calculated profiles that so many search engines and social media platforms have on you based on your buying history and what you watch/click on is so disturbing. It’s a few dollars cheaper online at first, but then I’m getting bombarded with ads telling me to buy more of the thing, emails asking me if I meant to abandon my cart, and social media content trying to show me how much better my life would be if I just spent more of my money.
I’ll happily pay a premium to not deal with any of the noise and just walk into a store and get my errands done. It might be a few dollars more, but the person at the cash register isn’t going to follow me around all day steering me towards decisions that make them more money.
You are ignoring the fact that small indie retail is thriving in many parts of the city- west and east village, LES, parts of Brooklyn, even the UES. Not to mention cities all around the world. Ever been to Paris?
It comes down to what kind of a city do you want to live in? NYC is often called”the greatest city in the world.” Well guess what? To be that you actually have to have dynamic, unique retail. We used to have it.
Still own home in Kansas, small, rural town, around 11,000 people. We have lost all our shoe stores, have 1 women’s clothing store that is a chain, have 1 grocery store and Walmart. The only locally owned stores are pharmacies. Used to have 4 family owned shoe stores, 3 locally owned women’s clothing stores and 1 men’s clothing stores. All gone. When I am in Kansas it is a 1 hour drive to Wichita. Same thing has happened in Wichita, which has lost all the family owned clothing and shoe stores I used to shop. A regional family owned clothing store did come to Wichita and it’s a good store.
I am a pencil & paper nerd…I loved shopping for special notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. , seeing and feeling the item.
For me, shopping online is not the experience I get from shopping in person. Be careful of what you think is just mundane. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that can bring us joy.
Sad but true. Most people are not going to spend ~30% more for the same items that can be found online. So we will see retail continue to shift towards things that can’t be purchased online like restaurants, health/fitness, ice cream., coffee etc
UWS Dad,
Not everything can be a food place or nail salon.
There are already so many food places ( and with instant gratification food delivery) and they are cannibalizing each other.
That is true, you would think there is a limit of how often people can eat out.
There does continue to be tremendous demand to live in NYC so one possibility to continuing to add housing to the neighborhood to support local businesses.
Adding housing in a neighborhood like Midtown likely will do more to support local business than to force in person work in the office.
Oh please! I’m not such a penny pincher that I would jeopardize a small mom and pop store to save a dollar! These stores are a part of the community. They’re actually the bread and butter of a community. I don’t want to live among factory buildings, or warehouses. These shops breath life in the community. I do my best to shop in them. I always have and I always will.
If a store is owned locally and employs locally, that money stays here, in the community, rather than being siphoned off to shareholders or private equity investors living god-knows-where. Owners and employees with money in their pockets are then able to support the local economy themselves, eating in restaurants, patronizing the local entertainment joints, etc. It’s all a question of whether you want to live in a community with a strong middle class and all the services they want or a handful of rich guys, a horde of serfs, and a howling void in between.
“all the services they want”
That is the issue.
Keep that pencil moving, Yvonne. “It’s the difference between being calculated and being seen.“ In one sentence, there’s the malaise of our world.
There is something profoundly sad when a store or a place closes that’s been a staple since childhood. It’s another tug at the heart when something goes from present & alive into the memory bank.
We miss Greg at Morris Brothers. We miss Peters drug store. And levy Brothers, Schrafts, C & L with their dynamite open hot roast beef sandwiches. Benny’s Stationery and ice cream store at 81st Street and Broadway.
Alas… We can only hope that some new Mom and Pop stores open that become new treasures.
I definitely miss Morris Brothers!!!!
I apologize for typos in my earlier entry! And let’s not foget Honee Shoe Store on Broadway between 84th and 85th, and Mr. Rosand, who took such good care of my feet as I was growing up. There was an Indian Walk a couple of blocks down but my mother always took me to Honee. Choosing what color Keds to get for the summer was so important.
Oh, I still miss Morris Brothers, and Levy’s stationery store on the west side of Broadway between 84th and 83rd I spent so much time there growing up! They even sold Spalding rubber balls which my friends and I tested to fing the ones with the highest bounce. This was in the 1960’s.
And what a treat it was to go to Schraffts with my mother for ice cream!The Tiptoe Inn was nearby and also a treasure. And The Broadway Nut Shop. I miss them all to this day.
And fabled Menash!
By the way, I have some information of great interest to you — and you’ll see it if the Gatekeeper ever gets around to my ~15-hours-old comments in the last Throwback Thursday.
Another brilliantly written piece by Yvonne! Grateful to have you in our neighborhood. I try and go to Stationery & Toy World as much as I can – needed a roll of packing tape the other day, could have easily ordered online, but made the walk to the wonderful family business and was all done with my task in the same day. I will say the current political situation is making it even easier for me mentally to make the effort NOT to order online. However, some shops don;t make it easy- like loved the hardware on 72nd, but they often don’t have what I need and some of the shop people are just not nice. But I will keep trying.
The Brickman’s on Columbus between 89 & 90 is so phenomenal — I’m the most clueless person about most hardware / home improvement / repair type things, and they always are so helpful. And they answer the phone, so you can call and ask ahead if they have something. Highly recommend.
One way to enhance our community is to support the Upper West Side Cinema Center on Broadway and 99th Street. Not only will the Center restore a historical jewel, it will serve as a cultural hub and draw new businesses to our neighborhood. I am a donor and I hope you will visit their website and be one as well. https://uwscinema.org/
We’ve been shopping here the last ten years, I will say the new location has not had the same selection or charm of the old spot. There have been several times I’ve gone in for a gift and left empty handed. Very sad loss though
Once more, and as always, thank you for this.
These are great ideas. People should get out to all the lovely stores we still have- and shop and buy! Stop complaining there are no stores and then shop on Amazon. Enough! It’s our responsibility to support stores- it keeps our streets alive and our city safer. Do your part!
Having a helpful and friendly person helping you in a small shop creates community plus sure beats staring at a computer, ordering, and then having a grumpy Amazon or UPS delivery person drop the deivery box in your lobby or on your doorstep!
For that wonderful stationery store experience of finding just what you were looking for, AND something you didn’t even know you needed, check out Gold Leaf Stationers on Amsterdam near 89th Street. It’s a local small business run by friendly and helpful people.
Beautifully and profoundly observed and written. The West Side Rag has upped its literary game!
In addition to Gold Leaf, I hope people patronize Magpie, the wonderful gift store on Amsterdam between 83rd and 84th. And of course, More and More Antiques, at 78th and Amsterdam–an amazing store, especially when it comes to Christmas decorations.
Your most in t oh ch article in a long time
Yes to Gold Leaf Stationers Amsterdam and 99th. They carry my Charing Cross real leather engagement books from England!
As noted elsewhere, Gold Leaf is near *89th* on Amsterdam, Visit them!
What a beautifully written essay!! Aside from the message transmitted, it conveys the sense of loss that you feel when you lose a cherished “something”.
the same goes for art galleries. “artists” posting online rather than in galleries and then feeling sad when they close. there’s nothing better than seeing a framed artwork on the wall instead of a computer.
If you own a business and you make your political views a major issue and are very in your face with your political opinions be prepared to lose customers. Apparently the owner of the toy store was so over the top she ran UWS Dad. That must have took some serious doing. Hey the world needs ditch diggers too.
Stationery & Toy on 72nd is a wonderful store and has a very helpful and friendly staff. Their inventory selection is amazing and worth stopping in to shop. If you do not see what you need just ask the staff and they will find it for you.
Nice to support our local shops!
Excellent article and lovely photos too. Thank you!
Another insightful and highly appreciated post. Thank you, Yvone. Please keep sharing!
Yvonne, you would have loved Menash — made stationery shopping an exquisite pleasure.
The latest date I know Menash was around was 1994, which may or may not have been its final year. I wish I had the exact date, but at least I still have some notebooks bought there!
Want these stores to stay open? Patronize them. It’s that easy
Thank you for this great article . It really captures so many feelings for me.
I love the UWS so much and the community feeling, especially supporting the smaller neighborhood places. I am sad that West Side Kids is closing, but I have been disappointed with my experience there recently. The old store had a good variety of inventory and while everything was vastly overpriced, I thought nothing of going in and dropping a few hundred dollars on birthday gifts for the kids. A couple weeks ago we went there to buy some birthday gifts for my nephew and a few trinkets for my niece. The newer much smaller store has far less variety of toys than the former store and I had a harder time selecting something appropriate but eventually did. I found the blatant and hysteric anti-Trump displays of items and far left agenda (items and books for sale but also just vibes) off-putting and didn’t feel that we would be back after the most recent shopping trip.
Speaking as a local small business owner, it is our clients that mean EVERYTHING to us. I’ve mentioned this city and state make it so difficult in many ways to stay and do business here. It is our local customers that keep us here and keep the fight going to remain here. We love them and are blessed they love us.
Under socialist economic systems, the concept of a “small business” as we typically understand it, where private individuals own and operate a business, is significantly diminished or non-existent.