MADISON (SPECTRUM NEWS) — The last locally owned toy store in the Madison area has announced it will shutter after more than 30 years in business.  

‘I'm feeling like there will be a void there,” Playthings owner Nancy Nigl said when asked about the closing her one-of-a-kind shop.  

Nigl began Playthings at 23-years-old; she was determined to make a difference for someone special.

“It was really the birth of my son, I couldn’t see anything out there that was good for him and I was frustrated,” Nigl said.  “I just thought, there’s just got to be some great products out there and there were.”

These days, most mainstream toys can be bought online, but Nigl has always made a point to go to toy trade shows and find the unique items for Madison's kids.

“That’s what shopping is all about, you get to see it and touch it and feel it,’ when asked about why customers and their little ones love coming.

Parent of two, Kyle Larson agrees wholeheartedly.  

“This is the store that I went to that was unique.  If was going to get something educational and fun to play with,” she said.

“So it’s just heartbreaking that there is not going to be a place to go to,” Larson added.

Nigl says it was time to leave the industry as times are changing.  She says its been harder to meet expenses and for sometime, has wanted to retire to play more with her granddaughter.

But Nigl says most importantly, she is grateful to her customers who are coming out now to thank her, even sending her cards for all of her years of service.

She says it is a job she has always enjoyed doing.

‘Who couldn’t enjoy working with kids and a toys store?  And that’s it, and I think a lot of it is I can go and look for new products and that I can’t wait to get back and have it there for the kids and that is what I will miss the most.”

While a date hasn’t been set just yet, Playthings is expect to close in the coming weeks.