We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsea Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chelsea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

My biggest business owner hero is Lagusta Yearwood, hands down. She owns and operates Lagusta’s Luscious (which make the most delicious vegan chocolate you’ll ever have) and Soft Power Sweets in New Paltz, NY. The way she runs her businesses is inspiring to me – here is a woman who is unabashedly herself with a personal moral code that she upholds in her business decisions. She is incredibly open about the way the business is run via social media posts and newsletters and just tells it how it is. I am constantly learning lessons from her Instagram stories, no matter how small they may be. We are in very different industries but at the end of the day we both have customers to make happy and staff to take care of, and she is proof that you can do both things while living your ideals.

Other heroes include Pee-wee Herman ( I have a Chairry tattoo) and my mom.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Chelsea Smith, and I am the co-owner of Just Kidding Around toy store in Montclair, NJ! I actually started working here way back in 2007 when I was a college student studying Filmmaking at Montclair State University. Needless to say, the work environment was great and I ended up staying way past my graduation. The previous owner was considering closing the store in 2018 which was absolutely devastating to the staff. Very quickly my co-worker/best friend Nissa Murphy hatched up a plan for us to take over ownership and save the toy store. We’ve owned the store since September 2018 and definitely made the right choice.

Just Kidding Around is a children’s toy store that has a little bit of something for everyone. We carry toys for infants all the way up through adults! Everything in the store is hand selected by myself and Nissa and we take that very seriously.

The biggest thing that I pride myself on is being knowledgeable and excited about the toys we carry. If we’re not interested in a toy it’s not going to make it onto our shelves. We play test tons and tons of games, try out arts & crafts kids, and do a lot of research when we’re doing our purchasing. If a customer comes in and wants a toy for a 5 year old, we are ready with tons of suggestions!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I am so lucky, I truly have the greatest staff in the world! I know that seems like hyperbole but I truly, truly do. Everyone who works here is creative, hilarious, and kind. Listen to your staff, get to know them, ask them questions, make them laugh. They are helping to run your business and deserve your respect.

We try to give them the space to be able to figure out problems on their own while still feeling guided. There are a lot of tasks that we run a very tight ship on (learning how to gift wrap is huge!) but I don’t love being micromanaged so I try not to do that.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My wonderful co-owner Nissa was a store manager at Just Kidding Around when I was hired in 2007. However, it took us many, many years to actually get along. We were like oil and water, constantly bickering and pressing each other’s buttons during shifts together. I figured we would never be friends until one day when we finally made each other laugh so hard that we were cracking up. From then on, she’s been my bestie!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jkatoys.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jkamontclair
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jkamontclair

Image Credits

All images taken by Chelsea Smith