Business & Tech

Local Store Stands the Test of Time

Imagination Toys has been serving customers of Ladue and surrounding areas for 26 years.

Funny how a midlife crisis can have such a profound effect on an individual. Back in the mid 1980s, Marge Versprille, 68 ,was experiencing one of those life challenges.  “I was having a lot of stress in both my personal and professional life,” she said.

Versprille had a master’s degree in deaf education* and was employed at the Central Institute for the Deaf and later St. Louis’ Special School District.

She took a battery of tests to find out her personal and professional goals for the future. She was trying to get a direction for her life.  “The tests results  showed I had an aptitude for business,” she said.

She decided she wanted to buy some kind of business with potential growth, and her first step was finding a business partner.

She joined up with  Tegner "Teg" Stokes, a scientific researcher and voracious reader, and they opened the Imagination Toys store in Ladue on Sept. 16*, 1985.

“We hired a consultant, and the consultant led us to this location and helped us in what to buy. That was a great time of the year to open this type of store, it was just in time for the all-important holiday shopping season and we took off like a bottle rocket. We first hooked up with a guy from Louisville who was selling toys. We wanted to franchise his products but he wouldn’t let us. He set up a toy sales here at an event and sold everything he brought with him. We knew there was a definite sales market here,” she said.

Other than Spicers 5 and dime in Ladue Crossing and Tinker Toys they didn’t face much regional competition. They are in their same location but expanded  and feature 4,000 square feet of showroom area, they are still a big hit today in the Market Place in Ladue. You will find Imagination Toys along a short row of shops at 9737 Clayton Rd. next to Robert’s Boys Shop. “All the shop owners in the strip had to agree before we could come in,” Versprille said.

What Imagination Toys offers is personal service during and after the sale. For example, buyers will stop by the store en route to birthday parties, purchase a gift and have it gift wrapped for free. The store will ship anywhere. The store offers the highest quality educational, developmental and creative toys that nurture imagination and encourage children to think and have fun.

Some of St. Louis’ most prominent citizens shop the store. Mary Engelbreit designed the logo and is one of the best shoppers. So, too, are the St. Louis Cardinals player Chris Carpenter and his children; Deidra and Albert Pujols, the family of the late Cardinals Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck (Julie Buck and her children), former Ladue Mayor Edith Spinks, weather forecaster Dave Murray and the St. Louis Rams player Todd Steussie.

Children love the store because it is so animated and colorful. The Lego blocks are a hit with the little kids, and moms and dads can still buy Slinkies and Lincoln Logs for their little tikes. The store has miniature shopping carts to tote the merchandise.

Some of the most popular items are frilly outfits for little girls' dress up parties. The store has all kinds of educational books and the old standby board games such as Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land and checkers.

In 2000, Tegner retired and Versprille bought out her partner. Her husband Dave, 70, came out of retirement to run the financial end of the business and help with ordering merchandise. Dave put in a career in the Macy retail operation and ran small outlet businesses at various locations including Union Station, Chesterfield and Crestwood Malls including his Plush Teddy Bear store in the St. Louis Galleria.

Imagination Toys has successfully held its own against the big toy and game sellers, Toys 'R Us, Walmart and others.

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The niche store offer service and convenience. Employees can special order anything of interest, not found on the shelf. Sales associates know the merchandise inside and out. The owners employ area high school students, and the store is a social gathering point for parents, grandparents and kids alike. If you need a parlor game or a U.S. flyer wagon, Imagination Toys has it.

*Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the area in which Marge Versprille has a master's degree and the day on which she and her business partner opened their store. Versprille has a degree in deaf education and the store opened Sept. 16, 1985. This article has been updated to reflect the correct area and date.


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