Selling Toys in the Age of Amazon.

I opened Paxton Gate’s Curiosities for Kids in 2008 not quite on a whim but as a
business endeavor, one based in part on a long-held fantasy of mine. For years,
probably as early as my 20’s, I held this image of retiring as a woodworker building
small furniture pieces and wooden toys in my garage or a small shop somewhere.
Clearly this fantasy was before that little shop would have rented for $4k/month!
It’s not something I actively planned but it did cross my mind now and then over
the years. Flash forward a couple decades to around 2006, when out of the blue
my manager at Paxton Gate suggested, “We should open a toy store.” I’m not
sure where she got the idea, but I liked it immediately and somehow it was linked
in mind to making those wooden toys. Putting on my entrepreneur hat, I researched the competition
and found that most kid stores in the area just sold the plastic and battery-operated junk you’d find at a
Toys R Us. But further research found plenty of vendors, artisans and makers who sold nostalgic,
ecofriendly, and wooden toys and games that offered a timeless appeal. A concept that would find a
niche not only for children, but for their parents and grandparents who had enjoyed them when they
too were children. I felt immensely confident we could make it work. We secured an SBA loan and
started looking for a location eventually landing on 766 Valencia, signing a lease just after the
recession/crash of the mid 2000’s, and opened in late 2008.

It’s been an amazing ride in all kinds of ways, but over ten years later, this labor of love has yet to turn a
profit. I still feel it could eventually get there but when I opened the original Paxton Gate at 25 years old,
I was able to wait 15 years to turn a profit. In our current climate, that’s not a feasible option. That said,
while I’m proud to know that Curiosities has provided a service for the community, selling toys in the
age of Amazon is a daunting challenge. I’ve got a great staff who create an experience that can’t be
replicated online. They’re playful and informative and many of them have been here for years. Their
efforts have worked to some degree but it’s just too easy to find nearly everything we sell online for
less, delivered almost immediately. Regrettably after much consternation and soul searching, I’ve
decided to close Curiosities by June of this year.

The move is financial but is also practical and being taken in order to allow more time to focus on my
two other endeavors and frankly to simplify things. Spreading myself between three (or four if you
count our eCommerce site) businesses means that none of them is getting the attention they deserve.
RareField Design/Build is the design and construction firm that evolved out of, and eventually separated
from Paxton Gate. We expanded beyond gardens and into residential interiors and remodels as well as
restaurant and hospitality work. RareField takes a lot of my time but the original Paxton Gate holds a
special place in my heart. The products there are more unique and conducive to a 3D buying experience
than at Curiosities but still not immune to online competition. For the original Paxton Gate to prosper in
this current environment, I want and need to focus my efforts and those of my staff on creating that
singular experience, by finding those wares that can’t be found elsewhere, and those for which the
Internet simply cannot do justice. In short, spending less time jumping from business to business and
putting out fires to more time focused on ensuring the two core businesses succeed, hopefully long into
the future—ideally beyond my time!

Since I hold a lease on the Curiosities space for another eight years, I plan to fill the hole that will be left
by Curiosities closing its doors. The last thing we want is another empty space along the corridor. I had
many grand ideas and had to talk myself out of again taking on a new entrepreneurial pursuit. As a
long-time small business advocate, the president of the VCMA, and a local business owner since 1992, I
aim to sublet the space to a retail business that maintains the unique identity and independent spirit of
the neighborhood. I’d love to find a way to help bring back some of the late 90’s spirit of the corridor
before the current, more polished, façade took hold and I’m pursuing ideas to help support that idea. It
may mean reducing the footprint of the Curiosities space to a smaller, more palatable size for a newer
business and adjusting the rent accordingly. It may mean, taking a percentage of the sublet amount and
donating it to a local charity that supports businesses along the corridor. Perhaps a combination of the
two. Or maybe something else. I’m open to ideas. The idea is, that though one set of doors is closing,
another will open in their place.

Finally, since opening the original Paxton Gate, I’ve operated businesses in San Francisco for over 26
years. I’ve never closed one. So, it’s not an easy decision and has dominated my thoughts for many
months. It will impact not only me but the corridor, our community, and most importantly, several
dedicated employees who’ve toiled studiously aiming to make Curiosities successful for many years.
Plus, I know as a business owner who’s seen businesses come and go over the years that many of my
retail colleagues along the corridor—some struggling some doing great—will likely feel that twinge of
“Could I be next?” While my heart is heavy with this, I feel it’s important to resist feelings of doom and
gloom. I don’t regret opening Curiosities one bit. My now ten-year old daughter was born less than two
months after we opened, so operating a store aimed at kids has been both a personal and an
entrepreneurial journey and is wrapped up with my other endeavors as part of my identity. As my
family, my employees and I head into this next chapter, we hope you join us. You could even say, we’re
counting on it.

— Sean Quigley
Founder, Paxton Gate’s Curiosities for Kids