Episode 2: The Toy Store World

Your Destination Toy Store – The Foothill Mercantile.

Foothill Mercantile is the ultimate toy store in Nevada County. If you are looking for a magical place to wander through and really relish in the local atmosphere then this is the place to go. Established in 1976, Foothill Mercantile has proudly served the community day in and day out. Voted best toy store ever since 2009, this historic place has so many things to offer!

Kellen: Hello everyone and welcome to the second episode of Striking Gold in the Local World. I'm your host, Kellen Lake, and today I'm joined with Ellen Davis, a manager at Foothill Mercantile; a toy store right here in downtown Grass Valley. Ellen thanks for doing this with us.

Ellen: Thank you for having us.

Kellen: So tell us a little bit about Foothill Mercantile.

Ellen: Well my family has owned it since 1976 and it's been a hardware store and then it became a toy store and a Mercantile and a little bit of everything. It’s a place that I've grown up with and it really means a lot to me.

Kellen: That's great. So why did your family choose to open up in Nevada County?

Ellen: Well my family has always enjoyed the area and in the mid 60s my grandfather purchased the Miner’s Foundry. He was a steel manufacturer. And when he retired in the mid 70s — my grandfather doesn't retire he just needed another project — so he purchased this and wanted my aunt to manage it — so she did.

Kellen: That's awesome, really cool. This area of California is known to be where the Gold Rush started; What is something that you really treasure in taking care of the local community here?

Ellen: Well we've had some really long time customers that have been coming into the store since they were kids. They would come in and they'd want the same Rio stuff and stuffed animals… now then they came in with their children and in a few cases even their grandchildren! So it's been a multi-generational thing.

Kellen: Well that's awesome. Ellen thank you so much for doing this with us we really appreciate it. Foothill Mercantile is an awesome store. I've been coming here for such a long time and it’s a great toy store, it has so many things to offer here and so we really appreciate that in your family’s business.

Ellen: Thank you so very much we appreciate you and we really appreciate this community and the support that we've been able to get from it.

Kellen: That's great! As always check out my YouTube channel “My Real Estate World.” Thank you everybody we'll see you next time.