The Brutal Reality of Owning a Toy Store

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Toy Federation is an 1,100-square-foot toy store in South Carolina. Ryan, the owner, has spent the last 20 years building it, and now people regularly travel from across the country just to shop there. Ryan has agreed to give me an inside look at how he runs this business and let me ask him my spiciest business questions. And believe me, I'm not pulling any punches. This is just a transformer room. What's the difference between optimism and delusion? Nobody needs what I have. We didn't have enough money. I'm writing IOUs to customers. How much are you guys selling on eBay in the average week? I need to go to where the money's at. Oh, I just can't even believe it. All right, so folks, welcome to Toy Federation. This is Ryan, the owner, just walked in the door, and he is mid-trade. This literally in the first few moments that the shop opened, just walked through the door. [00:00:45] Ryan: Yeah, you just walked in, and here we go. [00:00:47] Speaker 1: Talk to me about what you're looking at here, what's going through your head. It's a hodgepodge. It's just a little bit of everything. I'm seeing Lego, Star Wars, Transformers. [00:00:56] Ryan: I mean, this is a Happy Meal Transformer. There's Gremlins. There's Ghostbusters. [00:01:02] Speaker 1: Of the stuff that walks through your door... [00:01:04] Ryan: Silverhawks, that's cool. [00:01:05] Speaker 1: How much of it can you actually make an offer on? What percentage of the deals that come in do you actually end up shaking hands on? [00:01:12] Ryan: Like 99% of them. [00:01:13] Speaker 1: Really? So you don't like letting people walk out with stuff if you can help it? Do you always process trades on the floor like this? [00:01:19] Ryan: I do. [00:01:20] Speaker 1: Why? [00:01:21] Ryan: I don't know. It's just... And then maybe it's part of my internal mechanism where I'm like a kid again, and I'm on the ground, and I'm playing with my toys, and I'm sorting my toys. [00:01:31] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:01:31] Ryan: So it just... I don't know. [00:01:33] Speaker 1: It's just what my brain tells me to do. Well, and it's obvious that in a space like this, you've used the space so well. Space is obviously paramount, so I can tell you're thinking about it a lot. [00:01:42] Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, if you're... You know, I bought this building, but when I was renting, and even that I own it, you're paying for the space that you occupy, so why not fill it? I don't have any empty walls, because that's the space to sell. [00:01:55] Speaker 1: Sure. Well, is it cool if we watch and see if you can come to a deal on it? [00:01:58] Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to determine what that price will be, but I'm going to see what I can do here. Did you have a number in mind, or I asked you that already, didn't I? No, I just... You can make a deal. So it don't matter? So I could just say like $5? No, I'm just kidding. No, for everything you have there, I would give you $100 in trade. So, Ryan, the deal closed? Yeah, yeah. [00:02:24] Speaker 1: He was happy with the offer? [00:02:25] Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, he did trade, he wanted wrestlers. He's been coming a long time. Yeah. You just never know what you're going to get. [00:02:34] Speaker 1: So one thing that I always love to ask collectibles business owners is like, this is a business that is often really easy to romanticize. People look at their nostalgic childhood all around you, and they think this must literally be a dream job. What can you tell me about the day-to-day reality? Of running a toy store? [00:02:53] Ryan: Oh, it's a lot of work. Okay. Yeah, it's... I mean, I wouldn't do anything else, so it's not like it is a dream job. But I mean, I've seen countless people come in here who get so excited by this, and then they want to pick my brain, and then they want to open a store. And then they open a store, and a year later, they're out of business. And I'm like, it takes a lot of staying power, willpower, knowledge, inventory. I mean, if somebody comes in your shop, and it's the same inventory they saw the last time they were there, and then the next time they come in, it's still pretty much the same, then I just might not frequent that shop as often, or at all. [00:03:27] Speaker 1: Well, I'm fascinated to ask you more about what separates this store from a lot of the other ones that have failed over the years. What makes you so successful? But as we do that, do you mind showing me around this space? Sure, yeah, yeah. Kind of talking about what sets this store apart? Because I'm looking around, and I'm just kind of in awe. It's hard to know where to start. [00:03:45] Ryan: Yeah, I mean, you make do with what you have. Yeah. At least with me. You know, I've seen people open up shops and go gangbusters and spend all their capital remodeling, and then, well, that didn't help you grow the business. I mean, yeah, your floors are shinier, your walls look better, but put that money in inventory. And then the inventory turns into more money. So, I mean, when I opened the old store across the street, I could only afford, like, four glass cases. So, my glass cases didn't extend to the length of the store. [00:04:16] Speaker 1: Right. So, you only had, like, four of the small ones. This was a big change for you, right? Because last time I was here, just a couple of years ago, all of these huge, I'm sure, very expensive shelves were not here. [00:04:27] Ryan: Nope. [00:04:28] Speaker 1: Nope. [00:04:28] Ryan: Like, these are days old. Oh, wow. And then, again, it's just a little thing, because I'm smart with my money. Right. At least I try to be. Yeah. I don't mind spending, you know, $10,000 on toys, but I'm not going to spend $10,000 on shoes or a watch or, like, it's, because that's not making me money. And it's not that I'm all about money, but... You mean even in your personal life, you're... Oh, yeah, yeah. I drive a Sprinter van, you know. I would like a fancy car, but for what? I'm just driving to work. You know, maybe at some point, but I don't have to rent a trailer anymore. I can get two booths in my van, put it in the business name, get the deduction. [00:05:10] Speaker 1: Do you think that's served you as also a competitive advantage, right? Like, would other store owners, when they start to see some level of success, maybe start to make more of those personal splurges and... [00:05:21] Ryan: Yeah, well, like, if I bought these cases, you know, because my mind goes in a million directions, it's like, the light kit was $150. Jeez. I'm like, well, I just ordered 12 cases and spent, like, $8,000, so now I'm going to spend another $900 or whatever. Oh, it's $150 per case. Per case. Or, yeah, so $150 times 12. It's like, I'm not. That's stupid. I was like, I'm buying all these cases. You can't do any better on the light kit or throw the light kit in, and they're like, no. So it's like, well, then I'm just not buying the light kit. And then I just sourced lights, and I got all these for $60. [00:05:53] Speaker 1: Whoa. So you DIY'd it? Yeah, yeah. Talk to me about how you decide what goes where in a store with this much stuff. [00:06:01] Ryan: In the beginning, it was, all right, well, because we're coming from the old store, remember, so we're going to have four times more space. This is just going to be so much easier to do. So I was like, all right, this is going to be Joe, and this is going to be Star Wars, and this will be DC, but now none of this is enough. So every section, like Star Wars maybe only went to here, and they're like, ah, you know what, let's give it another two-foot grid. And then up, let's give it another two-foot. And then let's, and that's like, but then I was like, I could do this whole area with modern Star Wars, what I call 90s on up, non-vintage. The problem now is I have so much backstock and so much inventory, which we'll ultimately see. And then I always say to all my guys, you can't sell if it isn't out. Right. It's not making me any money back there. [00:06:43] Speaker 1: One thing that I've actually heard you talk about in the past that's the same as in the video game world is the perils of buying brand new product. Oh, yeah. I'm selling that rather than what is most of what I see on the shelves here, which is either vintage or stuff that is, you know, out of production. Exactly. Can you talk to me about the difference there? [00:07:02] Ryan: If I solely sold new product, whether it was from Mattel, Hasbro, wherever. [00:07:08] Speaker 1: The stuff that's coming out now. [00:07:09] Ryan: I don't think I'd be in business anymore. Wow. Because there's no margin. They hit all the big box stores and I don't have their buying power or their, their numbers. So out of the gate, I can't compete with them. [00:07:22] Speaker 1: They're getting the same product in 2024 at a significant discount. A significant discount. Okay. [00:07:29] Ryan: But then they also get it before me or like with certain Marvel Legends waves, Target had a 60 day window before I could even get my shipment. Wow. Like they'd be there. So now, and for example, like with NECA product, NECA is in Target now, but NECA also doesn't allow you to sell on eBay because they sell on eBay. The manufacturers never sold to the public. And now they sell in every avenue and venue that you would sell to the public. [00:07:52] Speaker 1: Oh, so they're cutting out the retail middleman. [00:07:54] Ryan: So like if you go to a Target and you wonder why it's like there's three pegs for Marvel Legends or there's like two pegs for Star Wars Black Series. And you're like, why? Because you can just go to Hasbro and buy it. Or you can go to their eBay. The Hasbro's on eBay. Hasbro's on Amazon. Hasbro's on Hasbro. And then they have a, you know, premium membership and you get free shipping. How much does Target really want to invest in a company that's already selling to their customer base? [00:08:18] Speaker 1: So your decision to carry vintage or out of production stuff primarily is mostly a competitive decision. [00:08:26] Ryan: Well, it gives you a leg up. Yeah. Like I don't, I don't care what Walmart or Target does. [00:08:29] Speaker 1: Because you're not really competing with them. You're selling a different. [00:08:33] Ryan: Now, for example, I will have the latest Marvel Legends wave or I'll have the newest, you know, like some of these Black Series figures just came in. But will you have to sell that at a higher price? I'm still going to be more than Target or Walmart. Okay. But people don't mind? I have it. They don't. But I'm not paying their price and I'm not going to. [00:08:51] Speaker 1: So you have a better selection than Walmart or Target does. Oh, yeah, yeah. So the like hardcore collectors, they might still come to you and pay more just for the convenience. [00:08:58] Ryan: Yeah, like I think the retail in this one's $25. Sure. I think I'm $25. Sometimes I might be $30. But I have it. It's here. You can inspect the box. [00:09:05] Speaker 1: How much of what you sell is this, which is called on card, right? Like with the cardboard original packaging versus like loose figures that we were kind of seeing in those cases over there. [00:09:14] Ryan: So this became the loose figure wall. Like loose wrestlers, loose Star Wars, loose indie, loose Robocop, Avatar, Game of Thrones, Westworld, Spawn. This was just like a hodgepodge. This is where we put them. They would kind of be in order. Like these are Luke's and then these are, you know, Kenobi's. [00:09:32] Speaker 1: And then I don't see a lot of stores that have these things in what almost looks like a toothbrush box or something like that. [00:09:37] Ryan: Yeah, they're just little plastic clamshells. I know a lot of stores do bags. I just think you could thumb better and you could see where the bags all kind of just blend in the angle with the lighting and they get hazy. [00:09:51] Speaker 1: Well, you've been hinting a little bit this whole time at the back stock. Because what we're seeing right now is a fraction of everything that you have. Do you mind if we take a peek back there? Yeah, let's go. All right. So where we're heading right now, none of this is for sale. Is that right? [00:10:07] Ryan: Well, a lot of what's here is where we'll restock. So we do have new product. I'd say, you know, less than 10% is new. [00:10:17] Speaker 1: And by new, you mean stuff that came out this year, not that's like new on the card. [00:10:20] Ryan: Right. But like literally brand new release product. Sometimes we'll actually get it before Target or Walmart. But this is all, everything here is product I ordered new that, all right, we sold so-and-so. Let's go restock it. Because I don't put multiples out. That's a whole, that's a thing that shops do. Oh, interesting. [00:10:38] Speaker 1: So nothing, are you telling me there's no duplicates on that floor at all? [00:10:42] Ryan: No. [00:10:43] Speaker 1: That's crazy. So all the duplicates are back here. [00:10:45] Ryan: Right. If you see 30 of the same guy, what's, is there any sense of urgency to purchase it? [00:10:50] Speaker 1: No. Definitely not. [00:10:52] Ryan: Yeah, I'll just come back and get it later. It's like he's got enough where, you know, you got one, oh, gotta get it. So to me, that's just psychology. But like these are, like, this is a McFarlane thing they just started where they're, you know, they're comic packs. You get two little figures and two comics and it's kind of cool. There's legends here. Yeah, I don't know if you could see. That's crazy. There's transformers here. So he's like, oh, we sold a 107. So let's grab it. And just, there's more legends. And there's more legends. Maybe I went a little overboard on some of this stuff because, you know, it's slow movers. So, you know, this is, every one of these might be 15, 16, $17 money tied up. [00:11:29] Speaker 1: This is only the start of the back stock. Am I right? Oh yeah, this is, yeah, this is just, this is just more immediate. [00:11:35] Ryan: Okay. Like where we would replenish, but then we can go back and then replenish this. Okay. This is just so we don't have to walk two buildings over. [00:11:42] Speaker 1: Gotcha. All right. So where are we heading from here? [00:11:45] Ryan: So this is the room that will become part of the expansion. [00:11:52] Speaker 1: Okay. So that wall right there is going to get knocked down. [00:11:55] Ryan: Right. [00:11:56] Speaker 1: And then this will all be shoppable. [00:11:58] Ryan: Yeah. [00:11:58] Speaker 1: So we have some cases already back here. And did you say it's going to be almost all loose figures back here? [00:12:04] Ryan: Well, I think everything will increase. But see, some of the loose stuff that's on that wall, I'm going to put in cases. Because instead of having a big loose figure wall, how cool would it be if they were all in a glass case? [00:12:18] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:12:19] Ryan: Like the wind and poses and maybe do a ring per level. But these are collections that just came in that I haven't even processed because we've been busy. So this is all, these are all Japanese transformers. Guy was in the Marines stationed in Japan. Mm-hmm. So all of these, all of these are Japanese packaging. [00:12:38] Speaker 1: Wow, he brought them all the way from Japan, huh? [00:12:41] Ryan: Yeah. See, these are all Japanese boxes. [00:12:44] Speaker 1: We do. Talk to me about how do you decide what goes where? [00:12:46] Ryan: Okay. So the extent to our online is eBay. Now I'm getting pulled hard to try to do a dot com. I did that. Like that was a different chapter in my life. I ran toyfederation.com. Okay. And, you know, had a Dell account and had computers and had my servers at Rackspace. And then the economy dove in a way. The housing market crashed. Right. Either I have to get a real job, because not everybody considers selling toys a real job, especially when it was back then. Sure. I'm getting pressure from a lot of family members and stuff. [00:13:18] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:13:18] Ryan: And I'm like, it's just very difficult to, see, now I look at all this wonderful stuff and now I just lost my train of thought. I know. [00:13:28] Speaker 1: I can't believe that this is the third room of backstock that you guys have. [00:13:33] Ryan: But I just had to start going to shows. Let's put it that way. You have to adapt. So I sold, the online me was a lot of military collectibles. Die cast tanks, airplanes, 12-inch army guys. [00:13:45] Speaker 1: Okay. And were you, at that point, only online? It wasn't in-store and website? I was only online. Okay. [00:13:50] Ryan: I had a warehouse in South Florida and pallet racking. And we were, you know, UPS truck would back up every morning. And we were crushing it and we were growing, growing, growing, growing, growing to the point that when Todd McFarlane did a military figure line, he reached out to me to carry it. [00:14:05] Speaker 1: I'm just, I mean, I mean, is this just an entire DC Batman figures bin? Yep. Loose? [00:14:12] Ryan: Yeah. [00:14:13] Speaker 1: I'm getting distracted too. This is crazy. We're right there. DC figures. This is all DC. DC. Oh my gosh. [00:14:19] Ryan: And then Marvel will be over here. That is crazy. [00:14:21] Speaker 1: So, okay. So online store. [00:14:23] Ryan: So, so I, so then the economy dove. People were buying less. What I sell is expendable income. Nobody needs what I have. You don't need this to survive. You need food. You need a roof over your head, transportation. And so people couldn't get the orders, the things that I committed to pre-orders. So I was like, I'm not doing this pre-order stuff because then people will stick you or enough time goes on and the credit cards expire. Then you got to track them down. And then I was just like, well, I need to do something. And what can I do? And I don't want to get a, I don't want to get a real job. I want, that's a good one. We need an arm though and a wing. That's feng feng feng. So this, so this is a funny thing that you grabbed this because this came out when the housing market busted in 2008. No way. So this wave is very valuable because nobody bought it because people didn't have money. People were struggling. So this had a low production run and people just skipped it. There's some order to this and this keeps getting refined. Like these are just tauntauns. [00:15:21] Speaker 1: I love that you've got a whole bin for tauntauns and dewbacks from the Star Wars line. [00:15:27] Ryan: Yeah. Or just snowspeeders. But here's the funny thing. Out of this many snowspeeders, there's none complete. [00:15:33] Speaker 1: Or else would they be on the floor? [00:15:35] Ryan: Yeah, I'd put one out. [00:15:36] Speaker 1: So you, and this is another thing that you've talked about. You don't put anything on the floor that's not complete. Is that right? Right. What would you say to someone who would look at all this and say, it's unstrategic to have so much value in inventory unavailable for anybody to even buy? Like why not list things for parts online? Or why not have people be able to dig through part bins and just generate more sales that way? [00:16:01] Ryan: It's a good point. Doing it the way I've done it has served me well and gotten me to where I'm at. [00:16:06] Speaker 1: 20 years later. [00:16:07] Ryan: By setting a standard to where if you come here and you buy a dewback, the reins aren't going to be broke, which they're always broke. Or it's not going to be heavily discolored. Like you're going to buy something that you'd be proud to put on your shelf. Now, if somebody came in here and said, look, do you have a dewback or a tauntaun that's beat up? I don't care. It's for my kid. Or I'm going to, I have a project in mind or I'm going to customize it. Then I'll run back here and grab it. And the fact that it's organized, it's easy to just run back here and get it. See, this is all new. Like this is in the last year. This, this stuff was all in that room, but just, you know, we're always improving, but you're doing it in between the shop being busy. And as, as, as the shop grows, you get more busy, which means then you need another employee or two. So we recently hired two people just to run eBay. Okay. [00:16:57] Speaker 1: So then I guess I, I think I asked before, how do you decide what they prioritize to list? [00:17:04] Ryan: They have free reign over there. [00:17:06] Speaker 1: Okay. Now they can come in here and just pick anything. Oh, none of this is for eBay. Okay. That's a whole nother area. Oh, geez. Are we about to head there? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. What is that? [00:17:16] Ryan: Back room number four. But, but the, but the finish before I forget. I'm distracting you. Yeah, no, you're fine. But to finish, I need to go to where the money's at. [00:17:25] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. [00:17:26] Ryan: I'm assuming if you're going to a comic con, you have to have some money in your pocket or what are you going for? Right. So then I went to where the buyers were and then stopped doing the online. And then I was doing 20 to 30 shows a year. Like in my peak, I think I got to like 27 shows. And so now I'm a traveling road show, but now I'm gone all the time. [00:17:44] Speaker 1: That's a grind too. [00:17:45] Ryan: And then, and doing grid wall by yourself and, and then you meet a vendor and you're like, Hey, do you want to, and he's alone. He's doing what you're doing. He's struggling. And you're like, well, you want a room together? Cause now we can, and then you got somebody to have dinner with. And then he's like, Hey, can you watch the booth while I go to the bathroom? And then it was relationships, meeting more people. You're, you're out there in the field, learning what's moving. You're seeing other vendors with stuff. You might be wheeling and dealing, or he might need what you have. And you're swapping out, you're rotating inventory. [00:18:11] Speaker 1: Well, and that also goes back to the sort of grimy frugality that you were talking about earlier, scrappiness, right? Oh yeah. You're just looking to save a buck wherever you can. [00:18:19] Ryan: I, I would get back and I was like, maybe I got rents due and I got another 200 bucks. And I was like, I can buy four more pieces of grid wall. Love it. So then I was like, and so then when I opened the store, I had a buddy in Indiana, he opened a shop and he was killing it. He's like, Ryan, all this stuff's coming in. And I was like, this guy didn't have a 10th of my inventory. And I was like, if he can do it, I can do it. And it wasn't downing on him. It's just, I was way ahead of the game compared to him. And so then I opened the store, but I didn't, I had no employees. I didn't know how I was paying rent because I was still struggling. I was worrying about paying my mortgage. Yeah. And then I signed a three-year lease. And I was like, I don't know how smart that is, but now. [00:18:58] Speaker 1: But you saw the model was proven with what he was doing. [00:19:01] Ryan: Well, I had, I felt, I had enough confidence that if he can do it, I can do it. Oh yeah, I know. Everybody asks. This guy's cool. [00:19:08] Speaker 1: Everybody asks about these. This is going to get. Street sharks, the street sharks bin. And are these not complete? Is that why they're not for sale? Right. But now. Because if you put this bin out, you could probably sell it all in how long? A day. A day? [00:19:21] Ryan: If I posted this bin fanned out, it'll all be gone. [00:19:24] Speaker 1: I mean, this guy, Stegosaurus, man. I don't, I remember, I have this childhood memory of going to a yard sale and I saw one of these and I really wanted it. I thought it looked so cool, but my mom wouldn't let me get it. Oh my gosh. That's so cool. We have his missiles somewhere. I never even saw street sharks, but I was so struck by the design. I was like, I want that. [00:19:44] Ryan: And Mattel's bringing them back. [00:19:45] Speaker 1: Are they really? Yeah. [00:19:46] Ryan: I have them on order. So more stuff. Like there's just a bunch of gray skulls down here. See, this needs to get more efficient, but as we go further, you'll see. I mean, if you kind of just look up there, these are all just snake mountains. And what is that? He-Man? So, right. So that's a Skeletor's castle. Okay. But it just goes all the way down there. There's two here. And there's He-Man's castle, the Castle Gray Skulls. But see, this was supposed to be a table that we could just do stuff on. [00:20:13] Speaker 1: Uh-huh. Doesn't look like a lot of stuff is getting done on this table right now. [00:20:18] Ryan: Yeah. It's just with a lot of the things happening now. Now it's like, I just got back from a show and I ordered the cases. Why? Yeah. Like I'm not even unpacked. But then, you know, we got eight of them built already. And then this will get better. [00:20:30] Speaker 1: So you saw the success of your friend's store. Yeah. And you knew that you could, or you had a good feeling that you could emulate it yourself. Was it a success from the start? [00:20:39] Ryan: No. I remember my first month, there's just nobody coming in. And the only people we'd get is there was a Chinese restaurant two doors down. Uh-huh. And they'd come kill time waiting for their takeout order. Oh, wow. And then I'm like, man, what do we do? And so then I'm just grinding social media posts. But when nobody follows you, then nobody sees what you're saying. And I wasn't on a main street. I'm not on a main street now. So to say that you need to be on a main street or you can't make it work. Yeah. I'm on a cut street. [00:21:06] Speaker 1: It's become a destination. [00:21:07] Ryan: Yeah, yeah. But the toy people, I think they find you. Yeah. Or in enough groups or I don't know. But so now we're just in the back of Unit A. Okay. And then there's, so this is, again, new inventory that's restockable. Some of this is probably already over there. And then this is new inventory. But, you know, like Hasbro had the right idea to make a horrible Snake Eyes movie. Uh-huh. So nobody buys these. Nobody buys these. Wow. So this is just dead stock. [00:21:34] Speaker 1: How long do you think you'll be stuck with that? [00:21:36] Ryan: I was at a show and there was a vendor selling these for $3 a piece. Whoa. And retail is like $25. [00:21:41] Speaker 1: He's clearing out. [00:21:43] Ryan: He just was cutting his losses. But I was like, well, geez, I could. But, you know, I've been doing this long enough that eventually everything will turn around. Some more Star Wars and Dragon Ball and Mecha Turtles. And those are Kenner Bat Caves right there. And now you come, we're still in A. [00:22:00] Speaker 1: And then there's just more inventory. So how did you know in the beginning when you were in those tough days of starting the store and just having people who were waiting on Chinese food coming in, trickling in the door? [00:22:11] Ryan: It was very worrisome. So I had a friend who I met at a show and he's like, I'll help you. And I was like, well, all right. And then I think for four months, I didn't pay him a dime. Like I didn't have any money. [00:22:23] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:22:24] Ryan: And then, yeah. So he would come in and help. But then say a trade comes in. I was like, well, this is good and we need inventory. So then the money you pay this guy, but you're still not paying him. But it's like, if I don't buy this, like this will lead to more money, which will help me pay you. Right. So he understood and gave it the time. But I mean, there was, you know, then the wife's like, well, is this guy going to pay you? Like, what are you doing here? This is like, he's like, no, he'll get me. He'll get me. And we don't. So then it's, and it's, you know, finding those people that believe in you to know you're going to. And buying collections with money at the time you don't have. I'm writing IOUs to customers. Wow. Like $2,000, here's $300, come back next week and I'll give you another $200. [00:23:08] Speaker 1: How do you know, like, when you're in those hard times of starting a business, like, how do you know what's the difference between optimism and delusion? [00:23:17] Ryan: I just, I always, no matter what it is you want to do, if you don't give up, you didn't fail, right? You know, when the economy dove is when I quit my day job to do that full time. We didn't have enough money, but then the economy dove. So it was like a double whammy. So what got us to South Carolina was if I could move the basement into my house. Right. I mean, move the warehouse into my house, which meant I needed a basement, then I'm saving the warehouse rent. Because the company could afford that. It just had no money to pay me. Yeah, that's going to, so again, more new inventory that we restocked from. Okay. It just keeps going. This is insane. There's more new inventory. This is all to restock from. Whether it's, I mean, some of these are just sealed. Masters of the Universe Origins figures. The problem is they got dumped and clearanced. So it's like, I'm just not even opening these. Because so much was coming in from people selling to us. [00:24:06] Speaker 1: And this is another hazard of buying things brand new. Because you don't know, like with the old product, it's had 20, 30 years for the price to stabilize. Yeah. But this stuff, if they produce way too much, it can vomit. [00:24:19] Ryan: I think coming off COVID, everybody had that extra money, which isn't really, or free money, which wasn't free. Yeah. Because we're paying for it. But the hobby just skyrocketed. It happened with sports cards, Pokemon cards. And then I was seeing the sports people get into the toy business. Because it was almost like, they maxed out that market, they got out. And now they got to take those earnings. And there was other people, I think, left holding the bag. It was almost like a pump and dump type thing. Then they, I had sports guys coming into my store saying, like, what are the heaters? What's the hot stuff? And I was like, with what? And they're like, they're like, well, I don't invest. Yeah. But they didn't know anything in the, they know nothing. It's like, what should I put my money in? [00:24:57] Speaker 1: So have we finally reached the end of the back stock here? [00:25:00] Ryan: Oh, no, no, no. So now we're going to go. No way. Yeah. You haven't even, so now this is eBay. Oh, okay. [00:25:09] Speaker 1: Wow. Hey, I recognize those. Oh, you're playing me? You're podcasting in the background there. [00:25:13] Ryan: Oh yeah, cool. So, you know, we do, you know, everything's about branding. So if you look at all our listings, you know, I want you to recognize my listing, even though it's small. So, you know, you got the ruler, we buy toys. It'll be in every shot. Because I've seen other sellers, you're like, oh, there's this He-Man seller. It's Rye guy. Guy kills it. Gets good money for his items. [00:25:32] Speaker 1: So this is in the photo. [00:25:34] Ryan: Of every one of our eBay listings. [00:25:35] Speaker 1: For every eBay list. That's really smart. [00:25:37] Ryan: Plus it gives you, you know, it helps you with referencing scale. How big is this? Right. So then this is all eBay and then, you know, in the item listing, it tells us, you know, where to go. If it's W1 or W2 or, see, and this is some of the old remnants of me, you know, model tanks, military guys, diecast tanks. [00:25:57] Speaker 1: How much are you guys selling on eBay in the average week? [00:25:59] Ryan: I think are now, see, they're, they're recently here. I had one part-time guy doing eBay, maybe average 16 hours a week. [00:26:08] Speaker 1: Okay. A friend. So you just recently hired a couple dedicated eBay people. [00:26:11] Ryan: So I have two full-time people. So we went from six or 700 listings to maybe 2,300 listings. Oh, wow. They took it maybe from six to, oh yeah, that's cool. They took it from like six to, I think it's 24,000. They always give you a 90 day average though. Okay. On eBay. And that's just off stuff to me, not worthy of the store. [00:26:32] Speaker 1: Okay. Like, so it's, so if something is like, for whatever reason, you're never going to put it in the store. See, this is too kiddy. Okay. It's like a, you don't do like Fisher pricey kids, kids stuff. [00:26:44] Ryan: It's it's okay. It doesn't mean I won't buy it. And see, this is a, that's a German Stormgeschutz. Okay. This is a, oh no, sorry. That's a Sherman. Yeah. This was the old me. [00:26:54] Speaker 1: So this is just little diecast miniature tanks. Do you not do Lego in the store very much? I think you said that earlier, right? [00:26:59] Ryan: I mean, I have a Lego section, but you know, it's a good question. Cause see, a lot of stuff would have been in here before this got more efficient. Okay. And see, it's still, it's still not there. If you went to a month ago, this, this whole middle was a mountain of boxes. Oh, wow. This was not here. [00:27:17] Speaker 1: So it's all a work in progress. [00:27:19] Ryan: It keeps going. You have to do it in between everything else. Right. So this is part of the He-Man display, which is hard to see, but see, there's part of masters of the universe. [00:27:27] Speaker 1: Wow. So how do they, do they just have like a huge pile of unlisted stuff that they're working on all the time? And are you the one like seeing that pile? [00:27:35] Ryan: Right. But then I feel bad. So I, I try to not and see, I save good cardboard. Okay. Like these are good boxes, but they drive me nuts. They, they get mad at me because I save. Cause it's like, then you got to buy it. But then there's that frugality again. You're, you're reusing the nicest cardboard boxes. You want a box like this. This is a perfect box. Cause it's, it's long and, and, and these are, you know, so whenever you get boxes like this, you save them. But everything, anything over here isn't listed. Anything in this pile isn't listed. A lot of this isn't listed because there's no numbering yet. [00:28:09] Speaker 1: So they've got plenty of work to do is what you're saying. Oh, it's, yeah. I'm curious. Cause one thing that we haven't talked about yet is just in the last year or so, you started a YouTube channel, the toy Federation channel. Yeah. Which has blown up like crazy. I mean, you're getting tens of thousands of views already on every video. And it's basically like, like a, the pond stars, but for a toy, toy channel. [00:28:32] Ryan: Yeah. That's like probably the best analogy is it's pond stars with toys. [00:28:36] Speaker 1: Yeah. So how has that affected the store? I know that you already had people that were traveling from across the country. This has been a destination store for a while, but I imagine with now tens of thousands of subscribers watching what you're doing all the time. [00:28:50] Ryan: It's, it's, it's overwhelming. It's, it's humbling. It's amazing. It's worrisome in a way, in a positive way, because I struggle to keep up and it's been even busier and busier. [00:29:04] Speaker 1: I imagine it would be tough for cashflow. Like the more stuff people are selling you. [00:29:09] Ryan: That that's where it's getting difficult. Cause I think they almost think I have an endless source of income, right? And then they don't realize I'm finagling. It's just, you know, my dad runs a similar business, but he deals in electrical components, sells to the government military. Yeah. And so he always jokes, he has the same problems I do. He just, he has more zeros behind them. Yeah. You know, if I have a $5,000 bill, he's got a $15,000 bill. Jeez. So, but I've gotten everything about business from him because he's always the one who says, load the cart, load the wagon, load the cart, figure out how you're going to pull it later. [00:29:42] Speaker 1: Hmm. So what does that mean to you in a toy business? [00:29:45] Ryan: Well, I'd rather. [00:29:46] Speaker 1: I had these as a kid, by the way. That's why I'm so stoked about it. Yeah. I had these exact ones. We had, dude, Star Wars, the tactics were crazy in my house. [00:29:54] Ryan: But see, in the store, that'll never sell. [00:29:56] Speaker 1: Interesting. [00:29:57] Ryan: But I'll cut this light on over here and then I can. Oh my gosh, it keeps going. So now we're in another, we're in another area. Oh, I just can't even believe it. Wow. But here, here's the amazing thing. Me doing what I'm doing and I got two more lights. This all happened because of me opening a toy store. [00:30:17] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:30:17] Ryan: And being fair. Because, you know, it's like, oh, he's ripping them off or, you know, because, you know, it's YouTube, you get some of these comments. Mm-hmm. But I mean, the overwhelming support and the phone calls and the people coming in and the shirts selling every day. And I mean, and all, all the, it's just so much positive support. But then, you know, you're going to get the guys like, oh, you're, you're. [00:30:35] Speaker 1: No, most people, I mean, as someone who's in an adjacent business, I can tell you, like, I think the average person can see that you're very fair. Like, well, one thing I really like about you is you'll be up front. When you're running a retail store, there's no hiding, like, what you're going to sell something for because people could come in and see the price tag. [00:30:51] Ryan: Yeah, it's like, oh, you got to hide it because he's going to, if he's coming back in the shop and you don't want him to see because you robbed him maybe. But I mean, I'm as honest as I could be. And I think that's why I'm where I'm at. People are selling me their inventory from other states that I know there's shops in those states. And so why are you, what could I offer more? [00:31:08] Speaker 1: Right. [00:31:08] Ryan: But then that creates an over, now that it's exposed, this is all Transformers. [00:31:13] Speaker 1: This is just a Transformer room? Yeah, this is where David will sit. Oh my gosh. And he'll sort them. So is he like your Transformer guy or an inventory guy? [00:31:24] Ryan: Yeah. Just for Transformers and he's done it for Jurassic Park. Oh my gosh. Modern and vintage. And he labels everything. So you go look. [00:31:32] Speaker 1: And is that ready to go out into the store, like complete clean? These are ready to go out. And you just don't, you just don't have the space. Not yet. Is that why they're not? [00:31:40] Ryan: Not yet. So this is Transformers animated, Prime movie, classics, Titanium, Revenge of the Fallen, War for Cybertron Kingdom, War for Cybertron Trilogy, Netflix, Armada. [00:31:50] Speaker 1: For as much stuff as you have, I mean, the organization is really impressive. [00:31:53] Ryan: And seeing that's us, again, refining, that's a good piece. That's a Jurassic Park, the mobile command. But yeah, so he does this. Oh, and then he's got, he's doing Godzilla. He know, him and his son, they know everything about Godzilla and Transformers. Godzilla. [00:32:08] Speaker 1: This is like, this is like Godzilla, Godzilla mutant ninja turtles here. [00:32:13] Ryan: Yeah. [00:32:13] Speaker 1: Yeah. So he, he, he'll get all this figured out. So here's my, like my business brain. I'm just wondering, like, okay, if, if cashflow as customer base grows, cashflow starts to, to tighten up a little bit, but you've got literally rooms full of such valuable stuff is the question you're asking yourself. Just obviously with the expansion, how to move more quicker. [00:32:36] Ryan: Well, I, I, yeah, I keep, I keep wrestling with all these, because, and because then I'm one guy, there's all these things going on. And I was like, in this line of business, I just can't hire a kid because I get asked to work here all the time because you're spending my money. And if you don't know what you're looking at, then how can you evaluate it? Or value it or know if it's real or bootleg or reproduction. Right. So it's almost like, or I could just open up a second store or a third store. I clearly have the inventory to do it, but then I would need to be there to run it, at least in the beginning to train everybody. It's more of a drain on your time. But then I make this short, this store shorthanded. Oh, and then, so yeah, here's more. I bought out all the Mad Balls and Barnyard Commandos because there was an opportunity. Okay. These are Terminator statues. This company went out of business. I just bought them all. [00:33:25] Speaker 1: So people like companies, when they've got excess of stuff, they'll hit you up and be like, do you want? [00:33:31] Ryan: See, I'm not afraid to buy. [00:33:32] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:33:33] Ryan: Even if I don't have the money, I'll get it. I'll figure it out. [00:33:36] Speaker 1: Like if the deal's right. [00:33:38] Ryan: Yeah. [00:33:38] Speaker 1: But, uh, Biker Mice from Mars. That's cool. [00:33:41] Ryan: Yeah. [00:33:41] Speaker 1: That's how old is this? Is this modern? [00:33:43] Ryan: I'm guessing within the last two to three years. Okay. Biker Mice is pretty new. So this wasn't like a fancy deal. I just have a wholesale account with them. These are, these are the displays or at least parts of the bases that held the figures for the masters of the universe display for the movie. [00:33:59] Speaker 1: Would it be fair to say that the current constraint of your business is almost like a personnel issue of not having the right people to sell? [00:34:07] Ryan: I need more, but yeah, I need more venues to sell. It's hard to, hard for me to figure this out because I hired two quality people to help grow the eBay. That's a huge solution. [00:34:20] Speaker 1: And it's been working. [00:34:21] Ryan: Right. It's, it's drastically got up. They got the inventory up. So that, so that's a good solution. [00:34:26] Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, we did start the whatnot. Oh, okay. In addition to eBay. And I imagine that's crushing it for you. [00:34:33] Ryan: We killed it. Like we had a thousand followers in four days. Like I didn't even know what's going on, but we gave them like a show. [00:34:39] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:34:39] Ryan: So you're not, here's the phone and here's the item. And you just see my hand the whole time. The camera's on us and we're making an entertaining. You're hosting it. And you're getting three hours of us just having fun and talking and did, and you're, so it's kind of like you're getting almost a live version of the YouTube episodes. Right. So it's been hilarious. It's been a blast. A, the, the, the new additions to eBay, the starting of the whatnot. I think if I could pick up shows, see that. So this is all new inventory. This is just money tied up. All these. [00:35:11] Speaker 1: Right. Wow. That's not moving. Would this ever be something for whatnot? Would that do well on there? [00:35:16] Ryan: But now I, again, doing this long enough, I've had dud transformer waves. A year and a half later, they're $50. You couldn't get 20 for them. Oh wow. So whenever I questioned myself about buying something and then a year goes by and then I was like, man, those things got really good. And then I was like, see, it made sense that I bought them. Right. So then I almost like, I'm glad I did now because how would we keep restocking that shelf if we didn't have this inventory to keep going back to, you know, then you're struggling for inventory. [00:35:47] Speaker 1: Yeah. So let me ask you this because I've been rubbernecking this whole time, just mind blown by the amount of stuff that's in here. I lost count of how many extra rooms there are in this building. [00:35:59] Ryan: It's endless, right? [00:36:00] Speaker 1: 10 plus probably. Yeah. But what did you have to sacrifice to get here? [00:36:06] Ryan: Oh, yeah, no, everything. Anything that mattered in my, that I had when I had a nice day job and could afford to start the online and not need any money from it, any key grail items I had at all, original art when the artist was a nobody and then he was somebody, I had to sell all of it because I was just buying more time from getting what everybody would tell me is a real job. I mean, it got bad to where like, you know, people were like, you know, Italian. It's Italian family. Man's supposed to take care. And, and then you just hear some stuff. Like if it even got to the point to where my last holdout was my mom, she would still believe in me, but I'm dragging this out way longer. Like anybody else would have given up. And then, and then I remember she's like, Ryan, maybe, maybe it's time. So I was like, even then, so even she was like, maybe it's time to get a real job. You know, like this is not a, you know, a way to take care of your family. And then, but I didn't, you know, I didn't. And then. [00:37:21] Speaker 1: So take me back to that head space. Cause I imagine like, if I've got my own family suggesting that like, I might not be doing right by my family. Yeah. I feel like I'd be wrecked by that. [00:37:31] Ryan: Oh no, it was horrible. Like you lose sleep and that's where I kind of got used to having so much, almost burden, but it's not a burden. Like some people can get stressed out over a little thing or they can't handle owing money or cause I always remember one of my employees, he would tell me, he's like, I just, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with everything that you have to worry about. And I was like, I sleep like a baby. Like I just doesn't like it. Cause I'm going to, I'm going to figure it out. [00:38:00] Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear from you in the meantime, like how much of business do you think comes down to just the people who are willing to stick it out the longest, who are willing to sacrifice the most, take the most pain and even push back. [00:38:14] Ryan: I've always had these couple of mottos. I don't know where I saw it, but it's almost like those goofy motivational posters that you would see. [00:38:22] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:38:22] Ryan: And some, I don't know, office somewhere. And it was like, there was a ship and it was leaving the shore. Like it was like going out to sea and it was like, how are you willing to discover new land if you're not willing to leave the comfort of the shore? So that always stuck with me. Wow. So if, if, if you just stay right so I can always see the land and I want to stay, I don't want to go too far out cause it gets a little scary or worrisome, then ain't going to do anything. You're just going to stay right here next to this little piece of land. And then, you know, so think of these explorers that went out and doesn't know what, what's over there, sea monsters in the old maps or whatever. And it's just like, yeah, we're just going to keep going until we find something. And then the other line was the world belongs to those who dare and do. And those two things always stick in my mind. So the world belongs to those who dare and do. But then, you know, then my dad will say, you know, even a blind squirrel gets an acorn every now and then, you know, if you just stick with something, you know, or what is it broken clocks right twice a day? Right. But you know, for every success guy, there's, you know, a thousand guys who didn't make it. And then sometimes you could do everything right. Because I had a buddy's on his second shop. The first shop didn't work. And I think it was location. You have to do whatever it takes. [00:39:41] Speaker 1: Yeah. [00:39:41] Ryan: If you want it bad enough and if, and you ain't going to go anywhere if you don't risk. Yeah. It's got to be something to do with your personality or how you treat people or the relationships you made in life to, because I mean, you just can't repetitively over and over and over again, keep landing, you know, on your feet. Right. But I mean. But you have. Yeah. Yeah, but there's been long times where it was really hard, but maybe they only see the, that he always gets through, but they weren't laying in bed wondering what am I going to sell or how am I going to get through this or, or what can I throw on eBay? [00:40:22] Speaker 1: So I'm losing track. I mean, you've started eBay. You've started the store, obviously you've started the channel, you started whatnot, you've started a convention podcast, podcast. So I guess the biggest question that I still have left for you. Yeah. It's like, what's your end game with all of this? You've taken it so far already. You've been in the game for decades. What's next or what, what are you hoping for eventually? Do you have a grand vision or are you there already? [00:40:52] Ryan: No, because I can't be there because then it would be done and then not satisfy my brain. So I have to, I don't know what it'll be like. I want to do a book, what it'll be about. I don't know, improve the store, make it bigger, do more in-store events. Yeah. Make my own toy line. Maybe do something goofy, cheesy. Yeah. Bootleggy, knockoffy looking, but manufactured. [00:41:13] Speaker 1: And then after that, I don't know. When people come to you and they say, Ryan, what is your honest opinion? I'm thinking about opening a store. This is my passion. I love this stuff. I see your store is successful. Do you honestly recommend this business in 2024? What do you tell them? [00:41:32] Ryan: I'd say if it's, it would be tough to start now. I mean, if you truly believe in it, I mean, I did it when the economy was utter garbage. I just found a way to shift. I mean, cons and shows still happen all the time. Yeah. So then you might have to be a traveling roadshow like I was and then just get some Walmart shelves, get the table they give you and fan some stuff out and maybe sell 600, 400, 500, but that might help pay your electric. But I, I, I would never tell anybody not to pursue their, their dream. But if you're opening a toy store, make sure you have enough inventory a lot. Otherwise, when people come in, you don't want bare looking shelves and the same things. And don't try to open a toy store and all your stock is from Ollie's or Ross or Big Lots because I've seen that. [00:42:23] Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I can't say how much I appreciate your honesty. I'm in awe of what you have built here and getting to talk to people like you is the highlight of my career. So thank you so much. I appreciate it. And folks, now that you know the secrets behind running one of the world's largest toy stores, if you want to see the same thing, but with the world's largest sports card shop, I'm going to link that video right down here. I think you're absolutely going to love it.