
Beloved toy store that survived pandemic and tariffs shutters after 40 years for heartbreaking reason
Store owner Jennifer Bergman shuttered West Side Kids, in Manhattan's Upper West Side, on July 31 after struggling to pay her bills.
The closure came months after the 58-year-old hinted tariffs could lead to her store having to close.
Bergman ran the shop since taking it over from her mother Alice in 2010, and spent thousands of dollars out of pocket to keep it going.
Earlier this year toy companies began marking up products after the US imposed steep tariffs on goods imported from China.
Despite a cut in tariffs in May, it was not enough for the store to recover from its low customer count, or for Bergman to pay her rent.
'May and June are usually really busy, but I didn't have a really busy May or June. June at one point was down 43 percent from last June, and last June wasn't great,' Bergman told The New York Times.
'In the first seven months of 2025, sales totaled $100,000 less than in the same period of 2024.'
West Side Kids described itself as the 'neighborhood toy store for Manhattan's Upper West Side.'
It carried a wide selection of books and toys for children of all ages, and accepted online orders.
Bergman said she was increasingly having more difficulty in getting specific toys for her shop, which was a factor in the business' decline.
'There was merchandise I couldn't get. Baby and preschool toys that I would normally have a lot of, I didn't have,' she said.
Near the end, the longtime store owner said she was short on arts-and-crafts toys as she could no longer afford to order them.
The rise of British-made Jellycat toys was no help, especially since she was not able to get a shipment of the the stuffed animals to the store for a year and a half.
The sought-after toys earned West Side Kids $54,000 in 2023, but after inventory ran low, the store was only able to make $16,000 from Jellycat sales last year.
Bergman said the store never got over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
'The city's never recovered from Covid. We never recovered from Covid,' Bergman told The New York Times.
'That's the reason why we moved around the corner. That was our attempt to make a go of it. I was hoping to survive another five years.'
The original store was on Amsterdam Avenue, but moved to a side street, West 84th, in 2023.
The toy store experienced a business boom in July after word spread that it was closing, but this has not entirely worked in Bergman's favor.
'My volume may seem higher, but my expenses are higher. For a store like mine, it was 5 percent here and 6 percent there. It adds up fast,' she explained.
'It's very easy to get into a position where you don't have the money to pay the bills and you can't order the product and you have empty shelves.'
In an attempt to save the store, Bergman said she prepared to sell it to 'very interested' buyers at the beginning of the year, that is, until tariffs hit.
With the financial damage having been done, West Side Kids became a thing of the past following its store closing party.
The original store was on Amsterdam Avenue, but moved to a side street, West 84th, in 2023
Loyal customers visited the shop to get their final purchases, but were still having a hard time accepting the closure.
'It's bittersweet... There aren't that many local stores anymore. My oldest is turning 50 and that's how long I've been supporting them,' a customer told FOX 5 New York.
'I have a 46-year-old son, and when he was a baby, we lived on the East Side, and I used to come across the park with him in a stroller,' shopper Annie Emanuel told PIX11.
'I used to buy all the toys she had from Italy and Spain, and Britain,' she said, adding that she still owns some of them today.
Several Instagram users were also heartbroken, but wished Bergman nothing but the best.
'So sad to hear. Our daughter is now 19 but you were my go to place during her bday party phase. Lovely selection, gift wrapping and hands on service,' an Instagrammer wrote.
'Thanks for being is such a light for parents and kids in the city. Best of luck.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
9 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ypsomed to move production to Germany, increase output in US, Bloomberg News reports
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Swiss medical technology company Ypsomed (YPSN.S), opens new tab is planning to move some production to Germany and increase its output in the U.S. due to the threat of 39% tariffs on imports from Switzerland, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing its CEO Simon Michel.


Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Canada to help lumber industry cope with US tariffs, says Carney
OTTAWA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Canada will provide up to C$1.2 billion to help softwood lumber producers deal with U.S. countervailing and anti-dumping duties, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday. Carney, speaking to reporters in the Pacific province of British Columbia, said Ottawa would make up to C$700 million available in loan guarantees and also provide C$500 million to help speed product development and market diversification. ((Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Promit Mukherjee)) (Reuters Ottawa editorial; opens new tab)) Keywords: USA TARIFFS/TRUMP CANADA


Reuters
44 minutes ago
- Reuters
US trade gap skids to 2-year low; tariffs exert pressure on service sector
Aug 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June on a sharp drop in consumer goods imports, and the trade gap with China shrank to its lowest in more than 21 years, the latest evidence of the imprint on global commerce President Donald Trump is making with sweeping tariffs on imported goods. Trump's tariffs are leaving their mark on the U.S. economy beyond trade, as a measure of activity in the vast services sector hit stall-speed in July, with businesses saying the swarm of new import taxes is driving up costs and making business planning more difficult. The overall trade gap narrowed 16.0% in June to $60.2 billion, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Tuesday. Days after reporting that the goods trade deficit tumbled 10.8% to its lowest since September 2023, the government said the full deficit including services also was its narrowest since then. Exports of goods and services totaled $277.3 billion, down from more than $278 billion in May, while total imports were $337.5 billion, down from $350.3 billion. Imports of consumer goods and industrial supplies and materials were both the lowest since the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, while exports of capital goods hit a record high. The diminished trade deficit contributed heavily to the rebound in U.S. gross domestic product during the second quarter, reported last week, reversing a drag in the first quarter when imports had surged as consumers and businesses front-loaded purchases to beat the imposition of Trump's tariffs. The economy in the second quarter expanded at a 3.0% annualized rate after contracting at a 0.5% rate in the first three months of the year, but the headline figure masked underlying indications that activity was weakening. Last week Trump, ahead of a self-imposed deadline of August 1, issued a barrage of notices informing scores of trading partners of higher import taxes set to be imposed on their goods exports to the U.S. With tariff rates ranging from 10% to 41% on imports to the U.S. set to kick in on August 7, the Budget Lab at Yale now estimates the average overall U.S. tariff rate has shot up to 18.3%, the highest since 1934, from between 2% and 3% before Trump returned to the White House in January. 'Last week's trade announcement reduced policy uncertainty, but businesses hoping tariffs were just threats must now adjust to the reality they are here to stay,' Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin said in a note. 'We think the negative impact of high tariff rates will outweigh any positives from lower policy uncertainty.' A centerpiece of Tuesday's report was the latest steep drop in the U.S. trade deficit with China, which tumbled by roughly a third to $9.5 billion in June to its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, it has narrowed by $22.2 billion - a 70% reduction. U.S. and China trade negotiators met last week in Sweden in the latest round of engagement over the trade war that has intensified since Trump's return. The U.S. currently imposes a 30% tariff on most Chinese imports, which have fueled a steep drop-off in inbound goods traffic from China. Imports from China dropped to $18.9 billion, the lowest since 2009. The trade negotiators have recommended that Trump extend an August 12 deadline for the current tariff rate to expire and snap back to more than 100%, where it had briefly been earlier this year after a round of tit-for-tat increases by both sides. "We're getting very close to a deal," Trump said Tuesday in an interview on CNBC. "We're getting along with China very well." The deficit with China was not the only one to narrow. Amid a continuing impasse on trade talks with Canada and hefty tariffs imposed on autos, steel and aluminum, the trade gap with the United States' northern neighbor was the smallest in nearly five years at $1.3 billion. The trade deficit with Germany also slid, coming in at $3.8 billion and the lowest in five years. But a pair of key Asian trading partners - Taiwan and Vietnam - both posted record surpluses. The tariff effects showed signs last month of spilling over into the domestic services sector, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of total U.S. economic activity. Business activity unexpectedly flatlined in July with little change in orders and a further weakening in employment even as input costs climbed by the most in nearly three years, underscoring the ongoing drag on businesses from tariff policy uncertainty. The Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index slipped to 50.1 last month from 50.8 in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the services PMI would rise to 51.5. A PMI reading above 50 indicates growth in the services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy. The survey's measure of services employment fell to 46.4, the lowest level since March, from 47.2 in June. It has indicated contraction in four of the last five months, and the reading followed the release last week of the Labor Department's surprisingly soft U.S. employment report. Price pressures, meanwhile, continue to mount. The survey's prices paid index rose to 69.9, the highest level since October 2022, from 67.5 in June. Inflation until now has largely remained moderate because businesses have been selling merchandise accumulated before import duties came into effect, but data last week showed prices in some categories of goods like home furnishings and recreational gear have begun rising briskly. More benign inflation from the services sector has helped keep overall inflation in check, but the ISM data brings into question whether that trend will continue or further fan concerns about the emergence of stagflation. Respondents to the ISM survey frequently mentioned tariffs as a drag. 'Trade uncertainty causing client reevaluation of feasibility for projects in certain sectors, resulting in some delays or cancellations," a respondent from the construction sector said.