It is so sad to see small businesses go. Nothing can replace the personal experience of going to a store and picking something out in person, especially toys for children. This is a magical experience and ordering toys on line cannot replace it. Our retail landscape is changing and sadly Palo Alto just becomes more yuppie everyday. Stanford Shopping Center hardly has anything affordable anymore for leisure shopping; I miss the fun stores that were there in the 80's and 90's. Please try to support local businesses as much as possible to avoid losing any more stores that give our area character!

Suzanne- Thanks for commenting! We will definitely miss taking our kids to these toy stores.

Times have changed. My 6 year old wants an iPhone 11 for her birthday.

Toys are Passé- It is interesting to see what kids are interested in right now

The good news is that with the stores closing, the employees are let go. This helps with dealing wth Palo,altos jobs/housing imbalance.
The city needs to ensure that a new business does not open in its place, unless they completely mitigate their impacts on the city.

I certainly agree with you, Cheryl, about taking advantage of opportunities to spend free afternoons together as a family. Going to toy stores/book stores with kids is fun for both parents and kids. I also completely agree with Suzanne, about supporting our local business that give our area character! I miss Palo Alto Sport and Toy, where we used to shop for many years as my kids were growing up.

So many childhood memories of pure kid happiness came from Talbot's! All my Breyer horses and every single LEGO kit came from that red-and-white-striped shop. Kids wanted to live there.

Mitigate - Thanks for commenting. It will be interesting to see what moves into both places.

Mary - Thanks for commenting. Yes, Palo Alto Sport and Toy was another great store. It was also sad to see it close.

Kyle Adams- Thanks for commenting and sharing your memories of Talbot’s. It was a very fun place to shop.

Come to downtown Los Altos, we still have a lovely mix of shops and lots of great restaurants. Adventure Toys is fabulous!

Adventure Toys- We love checking out Adventure Toys and Linden Tree in Los Altos! The next time we head down I hope to also check out Bumble now that it has been expanded.

As Ambassador Toys goes, so do other restaurants and small shops that disappear from Palo Alto, as greedy landlords fleece the pockets of the small business person. Palo Alto has become even more elitist and has changed dramatically, albeit not for the better, in the last forty years. The small business person is the backbone of this country and struggle mightily to make a livelihood for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, we won't see any change to this situation, as small business owners and restauranteurs will bypass Palo Alto altogether and open their enterprises in adjacent communities, or in more far-flung locales with lower overhead, that will value and support new, locally-owned businesses.

"as greedy landlords fleece the pockets of the small business person."

The "greedy landlord" boogeyman. Alwyas a good excuseto blame for the retail issues in the city.
I assume that all the people that complain about "greedy landlords" plan on selling their house s that they bought for $100K many years ago for $200K ( a nice profit) and not the $2-3 million they good get if they were greedy home owners.

But getting back to the issue- what about blaming the shoppers that buy online or shop in big cities with plenty of retail choices. What about the city of palo alto with their endless process and bureaucracy that makes running a business an issue. And what about the "neighbor hood watchdogs" that endlessly nitpick every project to death (think about the Michelin starred restauarnt on California avenue that almost didnt open because some worthless nobody complained that they were a half a parking spot short and this after they had to spemnd an extra 6-12 months jumping through palo alto hoops).

And landlords need to make money also--they have taxes to pay and upkeep on their buildings.

But it so much easier to get the local's juices flowing with terms like "greedy landlords"