We recently connected with Sara Broussard and have shared our conversation below.

Sara, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

One way that we differ from a typical museum is that we’re privately owned and operated. When most people think of a museum they’re picturing the huge history or art museums they have visited. These museums are usually run by a non-profit and have a board and wealthy donors, etc. While we love those museums, and we sometimes wish we had the same resources they have to create these incredible displays and facilities, it’s important to us that we are the ones making the decisions. So what you get from us is more of a DIY, “Mom and Pop” feel. But there is something comforting about it and it makes for the perfect environment to rediscover the things you loved as a child.

Sara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My husband Matt and I got married in 2010 and since then we have each fostered a love of object history. We were frequenting antique stores and estate sales before it was trendy and we filled our home with items that brought us joy that just so happened to be from previous decades. Matt was the first of us to consider himself a “collector”, as he began to search for all the toys he had growing up. His hobby quickly grew into collecting toys he had only wished for as a kid, and eventually toys that were created before he was even born. At the time, his collection was housed in our garage apartment. He would give tours to family and friends and every time, without fail, someone would point at something and call out joyfully, “Oh wow, I had that! I forgot it existed!” It was being able to share this nostalgia with people that sparked something in Matt. He expressed that he wished he could somehow make a living from this and I told him about a small toy museum I’d been to in Branson, Missouri, as a teenager. From there, a dream was born. We daydreamed about the idea of owning a toy museum of our own for probably a decade. We had babies, we changed careers, and we moved houses.

Finally, in 2021, we got serious, and we got to work! Fast forward to 2025 and being a small business owner is not for the weak, but we have never felt more fulfilled. We faced challenges, we made decisions we wish we could go back and change, but it’s really cool to be able to sit here now and say that we did it. We’re doing it! On a personal note, I have learned so much about myself and what I am capable of creatively. I’ve gained skills in writing and design, and I’ve been able to flex my creative muscles in a way I never had.

Our museum isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea and some people want us to know that, but that’s okay, because it’s ours. We aren’t insulted when someone calls it small, because it is. And when someone says, “Who would want to look at a bunch of old toys they could find at a garage sale”, it says more about them than it does about what we have created. It’s easy to let these comments go because for every negative opinion, there’s 50 people thanking us for preserving history and providing a way for them to reconnect with their inner child!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Admittedly, in the beginning we had easy social media growth. We signed our lease on a busy street with a lot of foot traffic almost an entire year before we opened. For 9 months, while contractors did our build out, we had a huge “Coming Soon” graphic on the front window, with a QR code that linked to our Instagram. This really helped to garner some attention and helped us to have a pretty large following by the time we finally opened our doors. When we did open, I reached out to local influencers and content creators and invited them to a private sneak preview before the general public. There was probably a time that some business owners rolled their eyes at the idea of a social media influencer getting something for free in exchange for creating content, but I’ve learned that these are some of the most valuable relationships you can foster in certain industries! These super driven creators are coming in and using their own skills to make something that we created somehow look even better. Not only that, but they have cultivated their own following, who are now made aware that there’s a toy museum in town! It’s a no brainer. Once we opened, I spent a lot of time creating content and seeing what worked and what didn’t, but I was also handling the administrative side of the business, and juggling a million other things on top of that. After a year, we hired someone to create content for us, and I’m really thankful we made that decision. She has her finger on the pulse of what’s happening on social media and what’s getting people’s attention, and that’s not always an easy thing to capture.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

We are really fortunate to be on a street with a lot of foot traffic and to be part of a merchants association that actively plans events that bring people out. Most of our gift shop sales come from people stopping in while browsing other shops on the street. They don’t always choose to go into the museum that same day, but they usually make it a point to come back now that they know we’re there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.houstontoymuseum.com
• Instagram: @houstontoymuseum
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstontoymuseum
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/houston-toy-museum-houston?uid=FQH2a6dkBBDfX4rN5YG8RQ&utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Image Credits

Anthony Rathbun
Sarah Miller
Sara Murphy