New play spot for Kids on Franklin Avenue!

There are 3-4 GameStops within a couple of miles. Target at Atlantic Center sells toys, there are a bunch of 99cent and discount stores on Nostrand, Frankin, and Utica Avenue, as well as along Fulton Street. Not to mention the pop-up Toys R Us that appeared during the Christmas season.

Cornering the market doesn't matter if you aren't selling what the people want.

I have to agree with homeowner and xliz, the kids in my family and my cousin's got our books & toys second hand, yard (stoop) sales, pass me downs, discount stores, and then big retail stores like Barns and Nobel. Small, expensive, boutique kids stores just were not in our budget.

Nevertheless, sad that they didn't make it.

OSJ.

Homeowner, I agree with you, and my short response was made because essentially, at an earlier point on this thread I intimated pretty much what you said and saw no need to say any further. Mamacita, the irony for me here is that you agree with Homeowner, so I don't see the need to take you on about what I think and why I disagree with Whynot_31.

I think that the store's 'failing' if one wants to construe it that way says something about the values of the people in the neighborhood. I AM making a moral call here. Many of the kids in this neighborhood want 'things' that vibrate and jingle and glow; they want to be entertained and they don't want to use analytical skills to figure things out. I relayed my experiences about purchasing things in the store and GIVING them to kids in this neighborhood, and I equated it to having lived near Prospect Park and kids not wanting to go across the street to the park.

Whynot_31, do you live in proximity to this store? Have you ever gone in the store? Have you an understanding of this neighborhood and what people who live around here say about this store? I do, I do, and I do. I think the store's lack of success is not because people can go in to a 99 cent store and get approximately the same good or service -- they couldn't. What was offered was totally new and novel and instrumental to fostering cognitive growth, but what I encountered were people more taken with giving their kids flickering sneakers and pop guns instead of books and learning toys. There was nothing 'fu-fu about this place, and quite frankly, quite baldly, a number of the parents in this neighborhood associated those who patronized this place with 'whitneness' -- yeah such was the perspective about it. So my disappointment (and yes, anger and judgment) had to do with how many people in this neighborhood construe how a child is to be developed. I think the store's 'failing' -- if you want to call it that -- was due to many in the neighborhood not possessing the requisite VALUES necessary to nurture cognitive development in the minds of their children. I know this is controversial to say, but it is what I believe.

I thought the price point was more than reasonable, but yet, most parents with their kids would walk right by, and not even go in to check it out. I have bought books and given them to kids in this neighborhood, and believe me, I am sure many of them went unread. That is troubling to me. I think that the store 'failed' for the same reasons nearby library branches 'fail': It says something about how literacy is viewed. This is likely not applicable to the folks reading this thread, as it's my assumption that if you are reading this then it's likely that you are quite literate, as are your kids. At the risk of being branded an elitist (and I have no problem with that) many of the parents who didn't patronize the store are not reading the Brooklynian thread, believe me; they are not reading period. And that's the problem.

Guy from Nams is opening Sushi place here...

Dude, you were wrong then, and you are still wrong,

ntfool wrote: But, as sad as I think it is, Knapsack didn't make it. Whether it was from high price points, lack of neighborhood interest or what have you, it just didn't work out.

Which means that there's some kernel of truth to whynot's sentiment.

Hindsight is always 20/20. It's my favorite way to place bets.

There are at least 6 grocery stores on the 3 blocks of the northward side Franklin Avenue away from Eastern Parkway selling the same things. There are at least three barbershops, and 5 hair dressers. Whynot fails to extrapolate on neighborhood demand to evince what the neighborhood thinks. He attributes everything to economics, and not seeing the bigger picture. There IS truth to his perspective, but it's not a truth that takes into consideration the human consideration, which is this: salty, sweet and fattening things will always take precedence over everything. That's NOT rocket science.

Nairobi's Knapsack attracted mothers and children who played in a safe environment. Not enough of the neighborhood's mothers value that.They pierce the ears of their children and buy baubles for the tiny holes, they dress them up in expensive clothes of which the children have no concept, but they didn't think to invest in a book for 7 bucks. That's not the lack of demand, that's the skewing of priorities. My point is that the neighborhood is dearth for values. The hipsters will have their organic bread and greens, but Nairobi's backpack offered nutrients for the young mind, and many chose not to invest in that. Including Whynot_31 apparently, who never set foot in the place...

I get it, MHA. I used to complain to my bodega guys that they should offer more fruit, and put it in a prominent spot in the store (like, where the pound cake and cookies are). They laughed. I also asked them to get the NY Times. Fat chance.

MHA wrote:

Nairobi's Knapsack attracted mothers and children who played in a safe environment. Not enough of the neighborhood's mothers value that.They pierce the ears of their children and buy baubles for the tiny holes, they dress them up in expensive clothes of which the children have no concept, but they didn't think to invest in a book for 7 bucks. That's not the lack of demand, that's the skewing of priorities.

why do you only hold mothers responsible for that?

true enough, but it was fathers i was thinking of, in your discussion of priorities vis-a-vis childraising.

MHA wrote: Nairobi's Knapsack attracted mothers and children who played in a safe environment. Not enough of the neighborhood's mothers value that.They pierce the ears of their children and buy baubles for the tiny holes, they dress them up in expensive clothes of which the children have no concept, but they didn't think to invest in a book for 7 bucks. That's not the lack of demand, that's the skewing of priorities. My point is that the neighborhood is dearth for values. The hipsters will have their organic bread and greens, but Nairobi's backpack offered nutrients for the young mind, and many chose not to invest in that. Including Whynot_31 apparently, who never set foot in the place...

While I cannot state what Nairobi's offered since I never patronized them, you paint a broad picture of judging children and families by what those kids wear. I am a book-a-holic and have tried to instill in my son the love of reading. Personally I cannot afford to buy my son many books but he get a lot of use of out his library card and the library is also a safe environment. Elementary schools require students to read 20 minutes a day and my son was sent home each week with a bag of books that were recommended by his teachers and the same in Junior High. The books that are in our home are special purchases, gifts from others or hand-me-downs from older friends and cousins. I also find it very judgmental of people to complain when others ask for an "organic" type product. Who are we to judge how parents/people keep their children/family healthy. Because a parent does not frequent an over-priced store does not make them bad parents.

The books were about the same price as those in the museum. The museum, of course, has a far better location.....

lots of folks looking for educational stuff for their kids.

I'd agree that not everyone puts the same value on education. ....the store should have picked a better location.

A store keeper should simply focus on giving the 'hood what it wants.

...others (like MHA and whynot) should unsuccessfully attempt to tell people what they should want.

One has to locate their business in a place where ther is already demand. Creating it is very hard

I went in a few times. We bought something once. I teach in East Flatbush and deal with kids and parents all the time.

The books WERE more expensive than through a) the Scholastic Book Clubs school kids get to order books from (and through which they also get free books for their classrooms too), b) Amazon, c) libraries, d) big book stores that offer discounts (like % off as a member at Borders, etc.)

The store was not super inviting for kids. It looked like the kind of place an adult goes in to to buy a gift for someone else's kid. There were no tables for kids to look at books, stuff low near the ground, etc... KIDS were not picking out these books. The high shelves, the book ledges at 4 feet high, etc. were certainly not kid-friendly.

The staff was nice -- and I loved the idea of the play space and whatnot - but it seemed really empty. Why not have free/cheap events for parents and kids together. get some bodies in the building, as it were.

I hate to see any business go when a) it leads to an empty store and b) the owner was trying to be a positive place in the community.

But as an EDUCATOR, I would not have shopped there for my kids. Too expensive, low selection, very small age range for materials (lots for kids 2-4 and little for older than that), not inviting for my own kids.

And I can say all of that with authority too.

How many people really buy books in a store anymore? I purchase a fair number o books, and occasionally get books for children of family members, but I always buy them online.