Nearly 6 months later

The following article was featured on the front page of the business section of the Idaho Statesman today.

Sam's Toy Box in Meridian looks to boost retail results with 'business makeover'
The shuttered store will benefit from experts as part of Meridian Business Day III
BY JOE ESTRELLA - jestrella@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman
Published: 05/22/10
Erick Hull didn't get to enjoy Boise State University's victory in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.
The Meridian businessman was too busy sifting through the rubble at his Sam's Toy Box shop at 750 S. Progress Ave. Earlier that day, a minivan jumped the curb and crashed into the store. The inventory that was not destroyed was rendered useless after being showered with microscopic pieces of glass.
"We're starting over," said Hull, whose shop remains closed almost six months later.
He'll get help next week at Meridian Business Day III. Participants will try to get the shuttered toy store back on its feet by making it the recipient of the first "Extreme Makeover for Business."
Meridian Business Day was launched in May 2009 as a free, daylong gathering that features workshop and networking opportunities to teach area business owners how to survive in today's economic climate. The third in the series of conference will be held Tuesday at Meridian City Hall, 33 E. Broadway Ave.
Conference co-founder Brandon Wright, owner of Ultra Clean Inc., said the first two Meridian Business Day events were so successful that organizers plan to keep having them every six months. The event is sponsored by Ultra Clean and Tribute Media, with help from the Idaho Department of Labor.
Wright said the "Extreme Makeover for Business" plan for Hull's operation is to relocate Sam's Toy Box to a still-undetermined warehouse location, where it will be transformed into an online marketer of toy products. Volunteers will be brought in to advise Hull and his wife, Tami, on ways to improve their business. Financial experts will advise on bookkeeping techniques, for example.
"We will advise on how to be more efficient and more profitable," said Wright, who approached the couple about being the first test case for the makeover program. "They're good people," he said. "They have been active in the community, and we wanted to help them."
Wright said the hope is that the Hulls will be able to reopen their store within six to 12 months.
"That's their dream. To have a retail shop," he said.
Others will help by installing new technology on the store's website.
Kelly Householder, a local IT specialist, said new software will be used to upgrade the store's website, shopsamstoybox.com, improving its appearance and increasing it capabilities for online sales.
Luke Cavener, community liaison for the city and a member of the steering committee organizing Meridian Business Day III, expects attendance at next week's gathering will exceed the previous two conferences.
"The last two averaged about 400 people," Cavener said. "We're expecting to push into the 500 range this time, and hope to build off that momentum."
Joe Estrella
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/22/1202300/sams-toy-box-looks-to-boost-retail.html#ixzz0ohAwi71L

Monday was a crazy day at Sam's Toy Box

Monday was a crazy day at Sam's Toy Box

We will be closed for an unknown number of days as we clean up the
mess that was caused by a minivan crashing through the store Monday
morning (1-4-10) .
*This is a news article written by 670 KBOI: A mini-van crashed
through a toy store*
The clean-up continues at Sam's Toy Box in Meridian after a mini-van
crashed into the store Monday morning. Mike Bollinger was taking down a
sign at the store next door when he saw the van being driven by a
young woman. "she went to pull in a parking spot and she musta hit the
gas pedal instead of the brake but she launched through the store and
it was loud." Police say the woman was taken to a local hospital for
evaluation. No one else was injured.
At this point we are not sure how long it will take to clean up the
mess, but we are hoping to be open again within a week or two. We will
send out another email once we are open again for business. Thank you
so much for your business and your support of our store this last
year. We hope to see you again soon!

We can breath again

We did it!!! We officially survived our first Christmas at the store. You can tell by my lack of posts that we were crazy busy. Some of the highlights were that we were in Christmas parade and then after the parade had the radio station broadcasting at our store. A couple of weeks later Erick was able to go on air at the radio station and talk about our store. We feel that overall our first Christmas was a sucess. Now that we can breath again we will be working to get things online for sale.

Black Friday

Black Friday was a great sucess!!! We woke up at 4am to do a little shopping of our own and then headed to the store to be open by 9am. We had many customers non stop for most of the day. It was fun being on the other side of the shopping rush, especially since it is our own store. We were pretty worn out by the end of the day, but it was a blast. We will be doing a food drive with the radio station all this week and are hoping that it will be a huge sucess. Saturday at the end of the food drive the station will be doing a live broadcast from the store. We will let you know how it goes.

Our ad

Do you like our ad? We met with a salesman from the radio station today. He represents the most listened to station in the valley. He had this ad already worked up for us... smart man!!! We love it!!! We are seriously considering hiring them. What do you think?

Bazaar

We went to a bazaar at one of the high schools last Saturday. It was a fund raiser for the dance team. This was the first bazaar that we have done. We plan to be part of a few more before Christmas to help us get our name out.

The store is finally full

We finished unpacking all of those boxes and our store finally looks full. The only open space left is now the air space. We will have to get creative when we get more toys in. Sam has found his home right in front of the front window. He has this great little message board to greet all of the children when they come into the store. View from the back
View from the front

Calico Critter playtable

Freight

This last week we recieved around 150 boxes of freight. It was more than we have ever recieved yet. It did a great job at filling up the store. This pict was a shipment from UPS that was 86 boxes. We have been busy getting it unpacked and on the shelves.

Meet Sam

Since everyone thinks that Erick is Sam, we decided that we needed a mascot. We found this Giant (almost 7 foot) teddy bear from Gund. He is ginormous!!! It took both Erick and I to lift him out of the box. He will be displayed right outside of the store most of the time to be our own version of a people greeter. He will hold a sign that will have different greeting messages on it.

Our ad

This is a copy of one of the ads that will be going out in November and December Kids Directory. I love how it turned out!!!

We have a sign!!!

Thursday was a very happy day when we saw this truck pull into the parking lot. We are so happy that the sign is finally up.