As patrons enter the realm of make-believe that is Pixie Toys, they are welcomed by a colorful sea of plush, wood and plastic children’s toys.
A white shelf near the entrance stocked with Star Wars toys and books waits to be discovered by eager children and collectors.
Patrons perusing the aisles can also find green and red Tonka trucks and Children of the World puzzles—items that have the seal of approval of owner Heather Rasmussen’s own children.
The shop specializes in unique toys, items often not found in large retail shops, like cardboard sweets shop dioramas, Spanish educational books on Shakespeare and books that explain the physics of popcorn.
For Rasmussen, children’s toy shops are part of the family legacy.
Rasmussen grew up in her mother’s Hermosa Beach toy store in the 90s, a place that became a daily hangout after school.
“My mom said that I would go around and help customers and help them pick out [toys],” Rasmussen said, noting it is now her 7-year-old daughter who helps customers shop.
“Just to see my daughter sell, it’s so surreal, living how I did,” Rasmussen said. “It’s weird to see her walking around trying to sell things, what my mom tells me I did.”
For Rasmussen, growing up in her mother’s shop kicked off a love for children’s toys that eventually led her to pursue her own shop while in college.
With $1,000 dollars, a dream and no formal business training, Rasmussen set up a few shelves at Banana Berry, a knitting studio on Wardlow Road, around 2007. She invested in the toy brand Alex that carried art toys and other items for kids.
What started off as a few shelves and one product line at a Wardlow store expanded into Rasmussen’s Bixby Knolls shop over ten years ago, now overflowing with whimsical plush animals and toy box sets.
It’s the fidget toys and slime however that have been all the rage among kids lately, Rasmussen said. The shop has a shelf stocked with fresh slime ranging from a soft purple lavender dreams to a brick red cherry bomb.
Rasmussen’s young advisers, her daughter and her 10-year old son, keep her up to date with the latest toys.
“I start to see what they’re interested in and what we play with a lot (during homeschool), so I sample all my stuff on my kids and my neighbors,” Rasmussen said.
The shop’s name, Pixie Toys, is an accidental nod to the toy shop she grew up in, Enchanted Elf. According to Rasmussen, she later found out that a pixie is a baby elf—a fitting name for the mother-daughter toy store legacy.
As a nod to her mother’s shop and to the toys that fascinated her as a child, Rasmussen recently began carrying the Playmobil brand at Pixie Toys. The German brand features an array of toys that children can use on the go like school buses and miniature stores.
It’s toys like these that have attracted patrons to the Bixby shop during the busy Christmas season.
“It’s been a different year because last year most kids weren’t really coming into the toy store [due to the pandemic],” she said, noting that the experience at times has been overwhelming for kids. “There’s even more excitement than ever before because of that.”
Last Christmas, some of the patrons included local restaurant owners that came in and bought gifts for the people they had laid off during the early days of the pandemic, Rasmussen said.
And that sense of community is what Pixie Toys has bred for years. According to Rasmussen, three shop employees used to be children in the community who frequented the store.”
The local community has shown Pixie Toys that same support since the beginning. In 2012, Blair Cohn, executive director for The Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, surprised Rasmussen with a “cash mob” of patrons ready to shop.
The shop buzzed with patrons who were each encouraged to spend $20. In a YouTube video, patrons can be seen walking around with giant plush animals and multiple boxes of puzzles.
“Long Beach is super supportive,” Rasmussen said. “Customers know how important it is to bring back money to their community.”
Rasmussen’s favorite part about having her children’s toy shop is seeing the joy of community children.
“It’s just really fun, especially to see the kids smiling and get so excited,” Rasmussen said. “[It] brings back so much from my own childhood. I love that part.”
Pixie Toys is located at 3914 Atlantic Ave. For more information follow them on Instagram @pixietoyslb.
