Toy store urges shoppers to buy local

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) - If you want to steer clear of those long lines, consider shopping locally this holiday season. This weekend, smaller stores throughout Central Texas are pushing customers to come spend with them.

"Yeah, we're Santa's little helper for sure,” said Rob Sides, owner of Toy Time in Pflugerville.

In a few days, Sides – a true kid at heart – will pass the one-year bench mark for his shop. He said keeping a business open in Pflugerville can be tough. As vice president of the Downtown Association, he has seen them come and go.

"Any small town that's up and coming should probably have a toy shop in it, so we decided to open up business,” said Sides. "We're in an old downtown area that has a history of revolving businesses."

Smaller than Austin, it might not be not the most obvious place to shop for the holidays. But with 2,000 toys, the selection is quite different and customer service is pleasantly one-on-one.

"If the kids want to come in, if they want to tear something open, we'll tear it open and let them play with it,” he said.

"You're not overwhelmed by rows and rows of different toys,” said shopper Kiera Ingles.

"Obviously, it's not as crazy as it is at Wal-Mart right now,” said Jeri Stringer, another shopper.

Sides’ first Christmas brought the most sales of the year. Since then, his challenge has been attracting new customers away from the big-box competition. But the locals already love him and the way this shop's survival is helping keep the town's economy alive.

"(Santa) is a big shopper with us,” he laughed.

As Black Friday wraps up for the bigger stores, places like this should give you some great ideas for “Shop Local Saturday.”