On Wednesday, the beloved Houston Toy Museum announced on social media that it will be closing the doors at its 19th Street location in The Heights on August 30.
The museum’s owners, Matt and Sara Broussard, wrote, “After a great deal of thought and many sleepless nights, we’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to close our doors at the end of the summer. This is not what we envisioned as the ending to our time on 19th Street and it comes with a lot of sadness.”
The Broussards explained the reason behind the unexpected closure, saying, “Like many small businesses, we’ve faced the reality of rising expenses and a cost of rent that ultimately became unsustainable for us.”
It’s an issue that has been impacting community business owners for months. In April, Community Impact reported on the growing number of restaurants forced to close around Houston due to staggering rent prices and an overall increase in supply costs.
For the Broussards, being able to operate the Houston Toy Museum out of the 19th Street building was a point of pride.
“The truth is, we fell in love with the idea of being in a space that already held so much history and nostalgia for so many,” they wrote. They’re hoping to eventually find another permanent location, but in the meantime are planning “to continue to be an active part of the community through our LEGO events, interactive pop-ups and future collaborations,” according to the announcement.
If you’d like to pay a visit between now and August 30, the Houston Toy Museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets cost $16 per adult and $12 per senior. Children between one to 13 years of age pay their respective age as the cost of admission. Click here for more information.
The Houston Toy Museum first opened in 2022
Matt Broussard knew he wanted to do something special with the thousands of toys he had been collecting over the decades, and thus his dream for the Houston Toy Museum was born.
In September 2022, he spoke with the Houston Chronicle about his vision for the museum and how he wanted to use it as a way of highlighting important issues, such as gender stereotypes and racial disparities.
Broussard told Houston Chronicle reporter Ryan Nickerson, “We’ll show gender stereotype toys, where girls were given toys of motherly roles almost training them to be housewives,and we’ll also dive into how racially insensitive some toys were, where some were blatantly racist.”
In terms of the toys themselves, Broussard added, “Some toys may be in their original packaging to showcase the artist that drew the art on the box. Your imagination didn’t start when you opened the box. It started when you saw the box, and saw the world that the artist created and you knew then that you could create just as complex of a world.”
In the museum’s statement announcing its closure, Matt and his wife, Sara Broussard, expressed gratitude for having been able to pursue their passion for toys and learning in earnest over the last four years.
“We are deeply proud of what we have built and have no regrets. What started as a daydream became a space filled with joy, nostalgia, creativity, connection and community,” they wrote.
That collection features the first Rubber Duck in the world, which debuted in 1977, along with an 1890s teddy bear, among other historical items.
As of writing, the Houston Toy Museum has roughly 10,000 toys on display inside the 5,000-square-foot, two-story space on 19th Street, all of which will find a new home once the Broussards are able to secure something more affordable.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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