In Ellijay, the mountain community an hour and a half north of Atlanta, there’s a tiny jewel box toy shop nestled under tall trees on River Street, the town’s main drag.
Larry Alonso, 62, and his wife, Laura Lea Alonso, 55, took over ownership of the Gumdrop Fun Shop four months ago. Larry calls the small, two-room store’s low-tech offerings — puzzles, magnetic building tiles, old-fashioned candies — “the antidote for the digital takeover.”
He relates stories of patrons coming in to look around and ending their visits engaged in interactive games or toy demos and uproarious laughter with one or more members of the large Alonso family. The couple has six children, five of whom are adopted.
“At the core of who we are as a family is hospitality,” Larry told the AJC. “And that’s a different approach than many stores these days. We really are committed to creating an environment that’s very analog, that’s brick-and-mortar-based.”
There are no plans for online sales; customers have to walk in to experience the shelves and tables full of toys and the gem mining setup out back. And the Alonsos facilitate experience: It’s not a big deal for patrons to pick toys up and try them out.
“There’s no admonition for that. There’s encouragement to do it,” Larry said. “Along with that is a resignation that things get broken.”
Credit: Photos contributed by the Gumdrop Fun Shop
Credit: Photos contributed by the Gumdrop Fun Shop
The shop changes hands
A career with the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps stretched nearly 25 years and saw Larry attached to the Surgeon General and deployed around the world delivering care in a maximum security Federal penitentiary, the 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina aftermaths, and to Ebola patients in Liberia. In the latter location, he saw death and devastation — “row upon row of crosses, but the crosses bore the names ‘unknown man, unknown infant, unknown woman’ because when Ebola entered a village, there was no one left to identify the bodies,” he said. “That was hard and definitely stuck with me more than I knew at the time.”
In contrast, Larry calls the shop experience “a balm.”
The store actually began three years ago and changed hands when its former owners, Ian and Kara Conrey, left for the church mission field. They’d had buyer offers and thought at one point that it might turn into a furniture store. They knew the Alonsos through the local home schooling community, though, and felt the family would be fit to carry the toy legacy forward, Larry said.
And so, on Nov. 1, 2024, after much prayer, the Alonsos decided to move forward.
“I thought of 1,000 reasons why it wasn’t the right time, but it’s like, ‘No, this is under the mantle of husband, father, protector, provider. servant, leader — those kind of pillars of biblical manhood,” Larry said. “Laura Lea was like, ‘Yeah, I get it.’”
Curated offerings
The couple curates the shop’s offerings with the intent to differentiate themselves from big box stores.
“Inventory purchase is a very individual thing. I just came back from a toy convention,” Larry said. “When you come away from there, you are going to have your individuality come through … you’ll see plushy bigfoots and different kinds of plushies that you won’t see in other stores because that is an individual expression.”
Credit: Photos contributed by the Gumdrop Fun Shop
Credit: Photos contributed by the Gumdrop Fun Shop
Before the Gumdrop Fun Shop opened, children’s activities downtown were few. The Alonsos plan to build on the kid-centric experiences the shop already provides. Their son, Lorenzo Alonso, slated to graduate from Auburn University soon, plans to use his history education to give tours of the area with the shop as a home base. The couple is looking to partner with a nearby salon where their daughter works to provide a dress-up, hair-and-makeup princess package, and they’re working with the local bike shop to arrange for a bicycling experience they can tie in with the shop. Another partnership in the works will allow shop patrons to purchase wooden boats to sail on a creek at nearby Gingershack Farms.
A unique position
Having six children has uniquely positioned the Alonsos to provide for the youth who visit.
“I feel like I’ve been in training to own a toy store all my life,” Larry said.
He intends, on some levels, to make the establishment a continuation of the philosophies that have drawn his own family close.
“We’re a distillation of the places we’ve been, the books we’ve read together — the experiences that we have had together,” he said. “How does that all meld with the Gumdrop Fun Shop? It’s a continuation. Now, we have a brick-and-mortar context to engage the community.”
Connection, he said, will continue to be the major factor the shop strives to foster.
“The transformation that comes over people — it’s just like the olives are stuck in the jar until playful engagement enters into the picture. And now, there’s smiles and there’s humanity,” he said. “And there’s relationship.”
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