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Meet Joe Novak of Kazoo Toys in Atlanta

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Novak.

Joe and Whitney Novak are the owners of Kazoo Toys. In 2009, they moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles and now live in Buckhead with their daughter (the unofficial store mascot).

A member of Buckhead Rotary and volunteer with the North Buckhead Civic Association, Joe has immersed himself in the local community to complement his California roots.

Whitney is a native of Atlanta, who grew up near Chastain Park, and attended both Trinity and Westminster.

Coming from toy, education, and entertainment backgrounds, they aimed to create an environment that brought high quality toys, fun, and smiles to all the children of Buckhead and surrounding neighborhoods…and when the children learn something in the process, all the better.

As the most recent winners of the Buckhead Business Association’s Business of the Year, they feel that they are on the right path.

Has it been a smooth road?
We had our daughter almost at the same time we opened Kazoo so we always joke, we had twins. It has been fun to watch them grow up together, but at the same time, we have definitely lost some sleep over the past 4 + years and experienced our challenges. The first year was a blur of tech issues, shipping issues and an ice storm, but we made it through and hit our projection.

Some of the not expected challenges have included learning all the schools and school schedules in the area, and there are many, being a kid’s business, you can really tell when it is spring or winter break and you have to learn to schedule accordingly. We try to benchmark with other top independent toy stores across the country but learned quickly, the product mix for Atlanta is definitely unique. What sells well in Seattle or Chicago, does not necessarily translate. Our biggest challenge moving forward is really what we can do to improve in the summer when many kids are away and birthday parties go on hiatus.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Kazoo Toys is an award winning, local, family owned, full-service toy store offering a truly enjoyable and whimsical toy shopping experience. Our store in Buckhead provides area parents, teachers, and kids with one of the country’s largest selections of unique and high quality toys, games, puzzles and creative playthings. Our focus is excellent, friendly customer service, and we believe in the trio of children’s fun: IMAGINATION, EDUCATION, and ACTIVITY. We are dedicated to providing the best possible tools for children’s healthy and safe play, all while being an active member of our local community.

We also know families are busy, so we are pleased to offer:

Complimentary gift wrap
Personal shopping
Call-ahead ordering
Gift registries

Know what you need? We’ll wrap it up and have you on your way in no time. Not sure what you need? We’re happy to make suggestions. We aim to make every toy shipping experience easy, and enjoyable.

We try to keep as many toys out as possible and encourage children and caregivers alike, to kick the tires.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is a GREAT city for our business as it is energetic, educated, growing, and family friendly. And with the Mart downtown, I am able to shop almost any time in addition to attending national events such as the Toy Fair in New York. Not that I would want any more toy stores in my neighborhood, but for any child friendly business, Atlanta is an ideal location.

Transportation is both a strength and weakness: Having Delta and Marta make long distance travel very easy with non-stops almost anywhere in the world and the train gets me downtown or to the airport with no fuss. The local traffic though can be a bit exasperating, and this is coming from a long-term Los Angeles commuter. If Atlanta can find a way to clear the traffic it is golden.

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