After ten years of cutting, peeling, and grilling, Sarados Matzouranis, former owner of the diner Chien Chaud, was reeled into the toy business by a plastic fishing rod.
When a friend’s child had-to-have this specific toy in 2006, Matzouranis soon discovered that the fishing rod was a hot commodity; “I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I tried to find it on EBay, but prices were really high. I figured I’d call the company and ask them where I could get it and they said Walmart. So I bought a couple at Walmart gave one to the kid, then I just started putting them online and they started selling like crazy.”
The fishing rod experiment was a success and Matzouranis was hooked. He started buying toys at Walmart and selling them online. A water gun and Lego set were next. Confident in his selling ability, Matzouranis began to contact suppliers. He got two accounts, then went to a toy fair and began selling a variety of toys online.
Sales went from $1,000 to $3,000 a month and kept increasing from there. “I was going home at night and making more money online than in the restaurant,” said Matzouranis. The back of his restaurant and his condo became filled with boxes of toys; “I was sleeping next to the Halloween masks a couple years ago. I’d wake up and see Slipknot masks.”
September last year, Matzouranis sold Chien Chaud and opened Funky Toys on Donnegani St. in Valois, Pointe-Claire. With major retailers as competition, he has created a niche by selling discontinued items. Mixing hard to find toys with the latest crazes has proven to be a sound strategy. Using multiple sales channels is also an important part of Matzouranis’ business. He sells in store, on EBay, Amazon and his own website brickrepublic.com.
The BrickRepublic website is dedicated to Lego weapons called Brick Arms, of which Funky Toys has exclusive rights in Canada. Brick Arms are so popular that fans have been dedicating YouTube videos to the toys. There are numerous videos on YouTube of kids opening their packages from BrickRepublic. YouTube user Legomaster1378 yells “oh sweet!” as he opens his package, which he states is from “BrickRepublic because I live in Canada”. The charming little weapons, range from AK assault rifles to chainsaws and retail for $1.00.
In store, Funky Toys has some hard to get items like Kid Robot. Customers are already waiting for the new Zombie Simpson collection. Collector or not, it’s hard to leave the store without taking a home a new toy, whether it’s a kickass Lego weapon or a pretty purple My Little Pony.
Matzouranis plans on expanding Funky Toys online in the future. He wants to create a Funky Toys website that is not connected to EBay. He currently employs two people, but wants “to have the manpower to sell and list on more channels online”. Whether he expands or not Matzouranis thinks that the “toy business is way better than the hotdog business.”
The first thing he hears when customers walk in is “oh cool!”, which is infinitely better than “give me a burger and fries”.
After ten years of cutting, peeling, and grilling, Sarados Matzouranis, former owner of the diner Chien Chaud, was reeled into the toy business by a plastic fishing rod.
When a friend’s child had-to-have this specific toy in 2006, Matzouranis soon discovered that the fishing rod was a hot commodity; “I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I tried to find it on EBay, but prices were really high. I figured I’d call the company and ask them where I could get it and they said Walmart. So I bought a couple at Walmart gave one to the kid, then I just started putting them online and they started selling like crazy.”
The fishing rod experiment was a success and Matzouranis was hooked. He started buying toys at Walmart and selling them online. A water gun and Lego set were next. Confident in his selling ability, Matzouranis began to contact suppliers. He got two accounts, then went to a toy fair and began selling a variety of toys online.
Sales went from $1,000 to $3,000 a month and kept increasing from there. “I was going home at night and making more money online than in the restaurant,” said Matzouranis. The back of his restaurant and his condo became filled with boxes of toys; “I was sleeping next to the Halloween masks a couple years ago. I’d wake up and see Slipknot masks.”
September last year, Matzouranis sold Chien Chaud and opened Funky Toys on Donnegani St. in Valois, Pointe-Claire. With major retailers as competition, he has created a niche by selling discontinued items. Mixing hard to find toys with the latest crazes has proven to be a sound strategy. Using multiple sales channels is also an important part of Matzouranis’ business. He sells in store, on EBay, Amazon and his own website brickrepublic.com.
The BrickRepublic website is dedicated to Lego weapons called Brick Arms, of which Funky Toys has exclusive rights in Canada. Brick Arms are so popular that fans have been dedicating YouTube videos to the toys. There are numerous videos on YouTube of kids opening their packages from BrickRepublic. YouTube user Legomaster1378 yells “oh sweet!” as he opens his package, which he states is from “BrickRepublic because I live in Canada”. The charming little weapons, range from AK assault rifles to chainsaws and retail for $1.00.
In store, Funky Toys has some hard to get items like Kid Robot. Customers are already waiting for the new Zombie Simpson collection. Collector or not, it’s hard to leave the store without taking a home a new toy, whether it’s a kickass Lego weapon or a pretty purple My Little Pony.
Matzouranis plans on expanding Funky Toys online in the future. He wants to create a Funky Toys website that is not connected to EBay. He currently employs two people, but wants “to have the manpower to sell and list on more channels online”. Whether he expands or not Matzouranis thinks that the “toy business is way better than the hotdog business.”
The first thing he hears when customers walk in is “oh cool!”, which is infinitely better than “give me a burger and fries”.
