So far, customers have not been lining up to buy 30 dolls to give as Christmas gifts at The Learning Tree in Prairie Village. But the mad dash to snag pre-tariff prices may feel like the run-up to the holidays just the same, for owners Brett Goodwin and Alan Tipton.
While the giving season is not yet on the radar for most customers, tariffs — or the threat of them — have forced Goodwin and Tipton to laser focus on lining up merchandise now while vendors still have some toys in their warehouses at pre-tariff prices.
“It’s buy, buy, buy while we can,” Tipton told U.S. Rep Sharice Davids, who was visiting the store Wednesday.
A federal court has blocked Trump’s tariff plan
The owners said the Trump administration’s back-and-forth on tariff amounts and deadlines has prompted them to build up inventory months in advance of the holidays. The president recently delayed a 50% tariff on products from the European Union, and a 145% tariff on Chinese goods was dropped to 30%.
To throw the situation into further chaos, a federal trade court dealt a legal blow this week to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
A three-judge panel at the New York-based Court of International Trade ruled late Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are illegal. The panel determined in its ruling that the president exceeded his authority in his attempt to force concessions from the United States’ trading partners and draw manufacturing jobs back to American shores.
The Trump administration has asked for a pause on the court’s order while it pursues an appeal.
Since the tariffs have been in place, though, prices from the store’s vendors are starting to go up, Tipton said. “Most vendors had stuff in warehouses, so it has been really a mad dash to order what we can that’s already on shore, and they’re starting to run out of that,” he said.
Biggest impact could be plastic toys made in Asia
The tariff on China has been particularly worrisome for toy store owners. Although manufacturers often relocate factories to more advantageous places, the majority of toys — especially those made with plastic — are made in Asia and the majority of Asian-manufactured toys come from China, Goodwin said.
The exceptions are wooden toys and slime, which is easier to mix and ship from within the United States, he said.
The tariffs have changed the rhythm of business for the store, Goodwin said. “We have seen price increases on many of the items that we order at times we wouldn’t expect the price to change,” he said, explaining that price changes usually happen in January and stay relatively stable for the calendar year.
Goodwin and Tipton say they want to avoid passing the costs along to customers, short of becoming a slime-only store. But they face many uncertainties. “We’re doing everything we can not to, but I don’t want to say that we never will” pass on the costs, Goodwin said. “We will do everything we can for a competitive business.”
“Right now, business is good”
Membership with the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association has also helped the Prairie Village toy store. The nonprofit trade group provides information on countries of origin for products or parts of products, which helps The Learning Tree make good business decisions on where to buy them, they said.
The Learning Tree carries toys from about 200 vendors based in many different countries, so tariffs haven’t hit every item the same way or at the same time.
That diversity has helped somewhat. The maker of the plush Jellycat dolls, for example, is “a very important company for us. We try to be a headquarter for this company in Kansas City,” Goodwin said. Jellycat executives have located factories in various countries besides those in Asia, he added.
So far there hasn’t been much change in customers’ habits, Tipton said. “Right now, business is good. People are spending.”
Davids listened to their concerns during a tour of the store. At one point she referenced President Trump’s comments earlier this month about how many toys children should expect to receive. In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said, “They don’t need to have 30 dolls – they can have three.”
“It’s not the kids who already have 30 toys who are going to lose out,” Davids said. “It will be the kids who have two right now and might not get anything new because people are already stretched so thin.”
She continued, “Sure, there are people who have every single one of these Jellycats. They’re into it. But there’s also a kid out there who, that’s the one thing they’re hoping to get for their birthday or Christmas.”
Goodwin said he’d like to see some sort of a tariff exception for toys, or maybe a six-month delay.
Davids said there might be hope for more bipartisanship in Congress about tariffs. “I do think there are a lot of us who, regardless of party, just want to see our small businesses succeed,” she said.
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