Rich Frog Children's Toy Store

You know I haven’t seen a true toy store on Church Avenue since the days of Lee’s and Kenny’s. And let me tell you, that was a VERY long time ago. Lee’s probably closed in the late 70’s while Kenny’s may have shut down in the mid 80’s. They were both real nice neighborhood toy stores and were on par with anything in Park Slope. Except the prices were a lot less and Lee wore gold chains, polyester shirts and too much colonge. And his wife had a beehive dew that dwarfed anything Amy Winehouse can manage. It was also extremely flammable, and smelled like an automotive body shop. That being her hair by the way.

And the Kenny’s, well that’s a story for another day, you can just look in my archive and find that one.

So today I started to read about this new children’s toy store called “Rich Frog” on the KWT site. It just opened on Church Avenue between East 3rd and East 2nd on the North side of the street.
A toy store on Church Avenue? why not another nail salon or cellular phone store? Why change a bad thing I ask you.

So on the way to Golden Farms this afternoon to see the latest Polaroid’s taped to the cash register, I decided to take a slight detour and check out this place. There must have been some kind of explosion in Park Slope or Bay Ride, because a store just landed on Church Avenue that certainly must have come from somewhere with a much better BID (Business Improvement District) than us.
I mean this place is so nice and cute looking I thought I was dead and in Lee’s across the street in "Brooklyn Heaven".

You have to check this place out I tell you, it’s just nothing like I have seen on Church Avenue since I was a little kid.

And for everyone who has been asking for something “nice” on Church Avenue. Well, this may just be the start of the great “downfall” of schlock that has invaded the boulevard of my youth in the past 30 years. And don’t get me wrong; I’m not looking for a “Little Things” or a 7th Avenue “transplant”. But Church Avenue was actually a really wonderful strip back when I was a kid, and no one ever “goofed” on it either like they do today.

So let’s all try to support this place and give it a whirl, before the next tornado picks it up and drops it back in Park Slope or Bay Ridge. Where it’s just “another” store on a nicer avenue than ours.

And just maybe with our help it can be the "Lee's" or "Kenny's" that your kids can someday remember when they are 50 years old.

Ron Lopez


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