About Us - Meyer's Toy World

Fred & Patty Meyer

Meyer’s Toy World has been a successful, steadfast business in Battle Creek for over 60 years. Over the years we have adapted to the changing market demands and competition. We sell products in many categories from Baby Furniture to Toys to Hobbies to Boy Scout uniforms and supplies to Collectibles to Outdoor Play Structures to Motorsports (including Quads and Scooters). Here is an article published in the Battle Creek Enquirer in February of 2004. Meyer family made Christmas affordable by Jim Richmond The 139-year old Victorian-style house, painted white with pink trim, at 72 North Ave. hardly warrants a second glance except for the variety of children's play equipment in the front yard and large exterior signs that herald "USA Baby" and "10,000 Toys." Once a vacant, shabby four-unit apartment, the house now is home for one of Battle Creek's oldest and yet most innovative family-owned businesses. What began 57 years ago as a small downtown Battle Creek shop and is today a diversified toy and furniture store known throughout West Michigan for unique products and customer service? Meyer's Toy World/USA Baby. Ione E. Meyer remembers well when she and husband Elmer moved their small, six-rack greeting card and stationery store from downtown Battle Creek to 72 North Ave. The Meyers had begun selling toys on consignment, and "the business was going very well" in 1955. Elmer wanted a store location with convenient parking, and he settled on the North Avenue house, which "had been vacant and was in total shambles when we bought it," Ione Meyer recalled. The Meyers moved their family into the top floor and opened the business downstairs. Elmer worked the office, and Ione handled customer sales and merchandising. Their children, Fred and Mary, also had their duties. At age 12, Fred started putting new tricycles together for customers. He was paid 45 cents an hour. Mary, then small for her age, dressed as an elf and helped guide the crowds of children and parents who came each Christmas to "talk with Santa," (her father in costume), long before shopping mall-Santas became common at holiday time. "Service has always been important, too. We all worked the floor. 'Take care of the customer,' that was my dad's credo," Fred Meyer said. In the era before charge cards, the Meyer store let customers put $1 down on a $100-plus layaway. People then paid when they could. "Many of today's customers have told us: 'That's how my parents could afford Christmas back then.'" The toy business has changed dramatically over the years, with the advent of superstores such as Toys "R" Us, the mass merchandising of video games and other technology-based products and the influx of low-end toys manufactured overseas, Fred Meyer said. "We've stayed on top and adapted the business, or we wouldn't still be here today. We have been willing to change, and our toy business has evolved to include baby furniture and an e-commerce site where we sell dolls internationally. Our toys last, and many have been handed down for generations," Fred Meyer added. Customers come from a 60-mile radius, drawn by the store's quality toys, baby furniture, classic dolls, trains, hobby items and wood forts. Meyer's Toy World/USA Baby now takes up 8,000 square feet, including 5,000 square feet of sales floor. The variety of outdoor, wood play equipment in the store's front yard is designed and built in-house by Meyer's. Fred graduated from Ferris State University and ,after a five-year career as a police officer in Detroit, returned to Battle Creek. He and wife Patty purchased the business in 1981 when Fred's parents retired. Patty is both co-owner of the business and has been active in the buying group for the 67-store USA Baby franchise. They've been married 22 years, with children Cody, Jennifer and Adrienne and grandson John Paul. Elmer Meyer died in 1998. Ione now lives at North Pointe Woods after 20 years in Florida and loves being back in Battle Creek. Over the years, the store has hired hundreds of high school- and college-age students to work at peak holiday seasons, "including four married couples who met while working here," Patty said. The Meyers are members of St. Philip Catholic Church, where Patty volunteers in a ministry for the bereaved. She co-chairs the local United Way's Hand-in-Hand event and was a board member of the former Kambly School for Retarded Children, which now is Kambly Living Center. Fred takes over this year as board chairman of the Battle Creek Community Foundation and is involved with a host of other local civic organizations. He currently serves on a number of boards including the Downtown Development Authority, USA Baby and North Pointe Woods. Recalling why he moved back to Battle Creek from Detroit, Fred said: "Many people don't really appreciate Battle Creek until they move away. West Michigan has been good to our business and our family. We work hard, play hard and are fortunate enough to be able give back to the community."