Owners of thrift stores and other businesses where second-hand toys can be found at a fraction of the price are experiencing unprecedented enthusiasm as the holidays approach.
If in recent years, parents turned to purchasing used toys for their Christmas gift list out of environmental concerns, many now do so for economic reasons.
“What I hear is a lot that many have remortgaged the house, the budget has decreased significantly for Christmas and at the same time the prices of new toys in stores have gone crazy,” explains Mélanie Piché, owner of the La Boîte aux Trésors thrift store, in Montreal, where you can find a wide range of used toys of all kinds.
Used toys are very popular at the Saint-Augustin thrift store, which offers used games, toys and books of all kinds.
Photo provided by the Saint-Augustin thrift store.
Hard on the Christmas list
According to several owners of businesses selling used toys, books and games, inflation directly affects family budgets for purchasing Christmas gifts for children.
“We see that it is difficult for families, especially as Christmas approaches […] Toys are like children’s clothes, they lose interest quickly, so there is a lot of very high quality and really inexpensive material,” mentions Marie-Claude Masson, spokesperson for Renaissance boutiques, located in Montreal.
On track to break a record
The story is the same at Réno-Jouets in Quebec, where we expect to break a record for used toy sales, even surpassing that of last year, when more than 23,000 toys were sold , totaling the sum of $150,000.
“It’s going to be very strong this year, even more than last year […] Yes, there is the environment, we want to divert toys from landfill sites, but this year, the economic context has been added, which we did not have that much last year,” explains the founder of the non-profit organization, Annie Asselin.
All toys received as donations at Réno-Jouets are washed and assembled before being put on sale. The founder of the organization, Annie Asselin, admits that the craze for used toys is growing as Christmas approaches.
Elisa Cloutier
The demand is so strong for used toys that Mme Asselin admits to having received more than double the requests for donations from charities compared to last year. “And the requests still come in daily,” she maintains.
Popular trend
Buying used Christmas gifts is becoming a “popular trend,” says Véronique Gagné, of the thrift store Les petits fringueurs, in Charlesbourg.
She notices this in particular with the large number of reservations for each toy that she places on her online sales site. “In a few hours, I sometimes have around ten reservation requests for the same toy. I really didn’t have that before,” she says.
Mme Gagne also argues that buying a used gift for someone else, which was previously “badly frowned upon,” is also now gaining popularity.
An opinion shared by Mme Masson, Renaissance stores. “There is even a sense of pride now for people to say that they have found this or that second-hand toy,” she says.
At least 50% savings
In general, used toys sell for 50% or less of the price of a comparable new toy.
The newspaper actually carried out the test, comparing the prices of used toys popular with toddlers, with those of other similar or identical toys, in new condition.
It is clear that the price differences between a set of small cars, a Fisher-Price farm, a board game or even Barbie brand figurines are staggering.
According to our comparisons, the savings to be made by buying used ranged from 53% to 92%. (See box)
Photos Elisa Cloutier