Adults embracing toys boost sales, but with tariffs Minnesota stores worry if trend will last

Managing rising costs from on-again, off-again tariffs has become part of the daily routine for Tami Staker, owner of Whimzy Toy Store in Lakeville.

Some distributors are increasing prices, others are adding surcharges. And some are doing both.

“Everybody’s doing it differently and I understand they have to, but you can’t keep track of what all of them are doing. You really have to study everything,” Staker said.

For owners of toy retailers large and small, President Donald Trump’s tariffs, especially the 55% levy on Chinese goods, has caused another round of pain. The blow comes just when they were starting to recover after a year without growth as inflation spiked before gradually returning to normal.

Another round of tariffs, including a 15% duty on most European imports, takes effect on Friday, Trump has said. That includes toys from major manufacturers in Belgium and France.

Most toys come from China, so stores — especially small ones without the clout of megaretailers such as Target and Walmart — are trying to navigate higher costs.

It’s often a balancing act of absorbing the price hikes when they can and increasing prices when they can’t.

“We have a lot of ‘kidults’,” Staker said. “That’s the word they’re calling it now. A lot of the kits are aging up, and a lot of the adults are losing that thing they’ve got going on in their heads that says, ‘I can’t do that, it’s for kids.’”

Yet she and other toy store owners worry the economic uncertainty caused by tariffs will result in customers tightening budgets again.

“After awhile, people start feeling afraid for their jobs, all of the craziness that’s going on, that they just hold back, so we have a lot more lookers,” Staker said.

Minnesota chain Legacy Toys filed for bankruptcy protection in June after a series of financial hits. While tariffs didn’t cause the bankruptcy, owner and president Brad Ruoho said at the time they “were the final straw” leading up to it.

So far, Staker hasn’t received much negative feedback from price increases. But she worries that won’t last.

“We don’t have much choice but to pass it on. And it’s a terrible feeling because I know I shouldn’t have to,” Staker said, the sentiment highlighted by her shirt bearing the phrase “grow through what you go through.”

In St. Paul, Dan Marshall, co-owner of Mischief Toy Store, said in June he bought as much inventory as possible during the 90-day pause to protect against future price hikes.

“It’s so unpredictable,” Marshall said at the time. “And I think most of our manufacturers are still hedging their bets.”

Still, Marshall said June was a strong month, with sales rising 60% compared with the same period last year. He also credits the surge in part to adult shoppers.

“We were open [July 4] and hardly had any kids in that day, ‘cause they were doing like kid 4th of July things. But we had a lot of adults coming in,” Marshall said. “They bring a lot of energy to the store and allow us to be a toy store for everyone and not limited to just preschoolers.”

U.S. toy sales rose 6% between January and April, after coming in flat last year and decreasing 8% in 2023, according to market research and technology company Circana.

That growth has been fueled in large part by adults who turned to toys, like plushies, trading cards, collectibles and building sets, for “comfort, distraction, nostalgia and joy” in a “stressful environment,” said Juli Lennett, toy industry adviser at Circana.

The toy industry also was the fastest-growing in early 2025 across sectors tracked by the market research firm.

About three hours north of Minneapolis in Perham, Minn., sits a toy store for kids and “kids-at-heart.” Goose Gang first opened in 2013, seeking to bring more joy, curiosity and hands-on play to the community — “something that went beyond screen time and big-box shelves,” said Laura Bjerke, president of Goose Group Inc.

Goose Group also operates Lucky Duck, a toy store in New London that claims to serve “ages 0-99.”

But whether that wave of enthusiasm from older teens and adults can outlast another round of price hikes remains to be seen. The worst part for Staker is the unpredictability.

“You just don’t know, so you can’t make any commitments to your customers about the products coming in,” Staker said.

Whimzy starts building up its Christmas inventory in early June at the annual American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) convention. ASTRA also creates Christmas catalogs for its members. Only 10-15% of the previously selected toys will be part of the catalog because vendors couldn’t guarantee they would have the product, Staker said.