HOUSTON – From Cabbage Patch Kids to Transformers, if you or your children saved any of your old toys, you may be sitting on a small fortune. The owner of a Houston vintage toy store says business is booming during the pandemic, with customers trading in their childhood treasures for cash every day.
Which toys are in demand?
“Anything, I would say, from 2000 to now,” answered Daniel Blackbird, owner of Misfit Toys in Montrose, the Heights and West Houston. “Those toys are becoming very popular again.”
He lists these five brands as the “holy grail” of toys:
- Transformers
- Thundercats
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Star Wars
- GI Joe
How much can you make from your old toys?
It depends on the popularity of the toy, how many are still around and what shape it’s in. You can find out in just a few minutes but taking it in for an evaluation. You could walk out with cash in hand or a store credit. Blackbird says he typically pays about half what he thinks he can sell your items for. For example, a Cabbage Patch Kid still in the box will sell for about $100. He would pay you about $50 and sell it for $100.
He determines the value of your item while you wait by looking it up on eBay, Amazon and toy collector sites. You can do all of that too before you take toys in so you know how much you should get.
Blackbird has been in the toy business for 25 years. He says the most valuable vintage toys are still in the box, in excellent condition, but most of the collectibles he buys are good quality without the box.
What: Misfit Toys
Where: Heights Location
1802 Yale
Houston, TX 77008
(346) 290-0026
Montrose Location
2402 Montrose Blvd
Houston, TX 77006
The Antique Marketplace (Inside)
10910 Katy Fwy
Houston, TX 77043