Meriwether was in Tsunami, Missoula's new designer toy store just north of the Wilma building downtown. She was holding a package of stationery designed by Kathie Olivas, a pop art painter who recently released her first line of designer toys.
“I'm relatively new to all this,” Meriwether said Friday. “But there's nothing like this in Missoula.”
Bjelland, 35, said what really makes the toys special are the artists.
“These artists are having gallery shows,” she said. “They work in print primarily.”
She said designing toys gives conventional artists a new medium with which to experiment.
Though the toys are meant for “kidults,” Bjelland said that kids of every age come into the store. Especially for younger children, designer toys can be a great way to get children interested in an otherwise boring subject, she said.
“What's a better way to introduce kids to art?” she said.
Her interest in designer toys started about three years ago in Portland, Ore., Bjelland said.
Her son, who Bjelland described as “the kind of kid who has to put a quarter in anything he can find,” was the one who made the discovery.
The Bjelland family used to drive to Portland regularly, and every time they went, she said, they would buy a Dunny at a small record store there.
Dunnys are collectable rabbit-shaped figures that stand about 3 inches tall.
Dunnys and a number of similar designer toys are wrapped in foil and come in “blind boxes.”
“They're kind of like trading cards,” Bjelland said.
A year later, instead of buying one Dunny, they were buying them by the case.
Bjelland and her children became increasingly interested in designer toys after their first encounter in Portland.
“For the past two years, this is all they've gotten for Christmas,” she said.
About a year ago, Bjelland decided that she wanted to start a designer toy store. “It's something that I love and it's something that my family loves,” she said.
In June, she rented the shop's space and covered the windows with paper for privacy while she focused on designing the store.
Bjelland said she made numerous trips to Ikea stores in Portland and Seattle to buy furniture for the shop. The store's cashier counter came from the recently closed Express clothing store in Southgate Mall, and the stainless steel counter tops were part of an Odwalla machine from her husband's business, Le Petit Outre.
“We're really low-browing it,” she said.
Two weeks ago, they took the paper off the windows, and shoppers started trickling in. The store had a “soft opening,” which she said has allowed her to segue into running the business and practice her customer service.
Bjelland said she wasn't sure how her admittedly obscure business would fare in Missoula.
“It's kind of scary, but the feedback I've gotten has been positive,” she said.
The best part of opening the new store was seeing how the toys make people laugh, she said. She knows not everyone who walks in the door will buy something, but said it feels like her store is enriching the community.
“The fact that they laugh and leave with a smile” makes her feel like she has accomplished something important, she said.
Bjelland said her new shop isn't a “sink-or-swim” business - she just wants to see the store pay for itself. She is financing the business out-of-pocket and said it's something she's doing for the love of it - not to make money.
“I am certainly not expecting to make a fortune here,” she said. “I don't have to pay my mortgage with it.”
In light of the recent economic crisis, Bjelland said she may not have been willing to open the store if she hadn't had the capital up front, and wouldn't have taken out a loan to finance the business.
Even so, Bjelland said she is concerned about how the stock market is doing and how it will affect her new endeavor.
“Monday, I was definitely nervous,” she said. “I guess all I can do is open my door each day.”
Since opening her business, she has spent a lot of time explaining to people what designer toys are, she said.
“There's a lot of education that comes with this,” she said. Bjelland also has had to educate herself. The designer toy landscape is changing fast, and she has to keep up.
“I still have a lot to learn,” she said.
As for the store's name, Tsunami, Bjelland said she wanted to pay homage to Japan, where the toys originated.
She joked that friends tease her about the store's name.
“My name is Susan and they think I named the store after me,” she said. “Maybe this vinyl toy craze will hit people like a tsunami.”
Missoulian intern Chris Arneson can be reached at
523-5259, or chris.arneson@missoulian.com.
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