Raff and Friends, a nearly 20-year-old toy store at Eastern Hills Mall, has reopened in a new location as the mall readies the property to be overhauled for a town center project. It has signed a contract to remain at the mall for three years. Raff and Friends is located just inside the Duff’s entrance at the mall.
A handful of stores remain in corridors near an exterior entrance, including Jainlee, Integrity Candle and a state Department of Motor Vehicles office. At 6,100 square feet, the new location — inside a former bank — is about half the size of the previous one. “There is no Play Land.
I had to downsize,” said owner Kim Nelson. “It’s sad, and there’s nothing I can do about it, but I have the store, plus and I have a lot coming in.” Playmobile toys have their own room, as do puzzles, Breyer Horses and science merchandise.
There are two art sections, as well as sections devoted to dolls, plush, trains and Calico Critters. “It’s a little bit more compact, but it’s more organized,” Nelson said. The store carries toys and games for everyone from babies to seniors with dementia.
“We try to care for the entire person,” Nelson said. In January, the Eastern Hills Mall cleared out most stores without exterior entrances in preparation for demolition that will make way for a town center project — a walkable mix of residential, retail, restaurant, green space and hotel uses. Raff and Friends had been closed for three and a half months while th.