08/19/2026
In the midst of the Great Recession in 2008, husband-and-wife team Rob and Cherry Pickering made a gamble. Fueled by their love of toy stores, they opened their own retail business. They connected with a local toy store owner who was retiring, bought his fixtures and set up shop in Kenmore, WA.
Their first year turned out to be profitable despite the economic slump, and the couple steadily expanded their reach with eight locations across the Seattle area.
“Somehow toys are pretty resilient,” Rob said. “When the economy is bad, people still want to spend on their children. They often go to things like board games and presents, and that’s really been good for us.”
Snapdoodle’s leadership team includes Rob, Cherry, their son Ethan and General Manager Roland. Rob handles purchasing, store layout, looks at market trends and what direction to take the stores. Cherry, who was a corporate controller for Sur La Table and a vice president at a big tech company, handles the finances. “She’s an expert in financial information and keeps me in line when it comes to figuring out what we can afford,” Rob said. “I happen to be a bit more on the creative/dreamer side, and she’s on the more practical side.”
Ethan has a hand in operations, having graduated with a business degree from the University of Washington. Rob plans to hand over Snapdoodle one day to Ethan and Roland.
The eight stores are supplied by a central warehouse which also acts as office headquarters. A van makes regular deliveries to the retail locations Monday through Friday. The whole business is staffed by more than 100 employees; about 40 are full-time while the rest are part-time workers including college students, retirees and stay-at-home moms.
“It’s become a fairly big production,” Rob observed. “It went from being a whimsical venture of ‘Let’s open a store and just have fun,’ to now where we have about 135 employees.”
Come for the Trends, Stay for the Fun
Snapdoodle’s stores vary in size and customer base, but they provide the same products and fun atmosphere. The biggest location is in Seattle with 9,000 square feet. The Kirkland store is the smallest, with 1,100 square feet in a shopping mall.
The product selection — both in selection and quantity — is about the same across the different sites. Snapdoodle’s inventory consists of about 15,000 SKUs. Rob explained he has narrowed the volume in the past few years. Now instead of having an abundance, Snapdoodle features a “best of” selection. This decision has not only made inventory more manageable, but has also allowed more space on the sales floor for play and accessibility.
“There’s that temptation to go too wide. We worked with Management One and other consultants to reduce skew counts. It’s a little easier to buy, and you go a little deeper in what you do have and love,” Rob said. “I don’t know what’s right or wrong on SKUs. I used to feel like the coolest thing you could do would be to have everything for all customers. Now I think that’s a mistake. You can’t do everything for everybody. You can do your best.”
Rob works with 400 to 500 vendors to curate inventory. Snapdoodle covers categories including infant and toddler items and novelties to pretend play, outdoor play and STEM. Games are the largest department. Top-selling brands are Ravensburger, LEGO and Douglas. “Douglas now carries amazing, new, whimsical things,” Rob said. “Everybody asks for Jellycat, but a lot of people leave with Douglas.”
Although Snapdoodle’s main target demographic is ages 10 and under, there are a few products that attract all ages. Popular items include Sonny Angel and Smiski figurines, NeeDoh, Jellycat plush and Pokémon trading cards. Business has been “absolutely booming” thanks to viral trends, Rob said.
“At the Astra meeting at Marketplace & Academy, someone asked, ‘Are you happy or sad that NeeDoh has taken over our lives?’ he recalled. “Someone else replied that it brings in people that maybe haven’t been in their store in a few years. I thought they were right, and I believe that the NeeDoh tide is raising all boats.”
The Snapdoodle team relies on Astra, The Good Toy Group membership and edplay for inventory ideas. They have also attended Spielwarenmesse to get a jumpstart on upcoming trends while Astra Marketplace & Academy, Toy Fest, Toy Fair and Seattle Mart offer great insight on current fads.
A couple particular trends Rob has noticed is the rise of American mahjong and hacky sacks; he sold 1,300 hacky sacks in May alone. “Skill toys are really popular right now,” Rob said.
A Place to Play
In Snapdoodle’s early days, Rob visited about 20 toy stores to see what constitutes a good toy store experience. Special features have come and gone through the years (the Kenmore location once had an espresso cart that served hot drinks), but the stores have found their rhythm.
“In Seattle, it rains and is dark a lot,” Rob said. “A safe indoor space is really important.”
All locations have enough space for wheelchairs and strollers to maneuver among the merchandise. There are tables and chairs for people to try their hand at games, interact with toys and simply relax. Plush and books are located to the right of the entrances as “a soft landing space.” All customers are treated with kindness and provided with a positive experience.
Snapdoodle merchandises games by age up to 8 years, then they are sorted by theme. “Like a good bookstore, we try to use shelf talkers,” Rob explained, adding that they help explaining the games. “They’re like silent salespeople. They say, ‘If you love Uno, you’ll really enjoy this game,’ employee favorites or denote something new and exciting.”
The Kenmore and Seattle locations even have a unique feature: an in-store hair salon. With every haircut, customers receive a 20 percent discount to the store.
“The very first customer who came into the Seattle location knew the stylist, had three boys and they got three haircuts. Then they went and got three Bruder trucks,” Rob said. “We realized this is really symbiotic.”
Various store activities continue to draw in regulars and newcomers. Snapdoodle offers weekly Pokémon classes, speed puzzling events every other month and occasional Sonny Angel and Smiski trading events. Promotional emails are sent about once a month offering discounts; with nearly 2,000 emails delivered each week, digital newsletters have become a primary way of reaching customers, according to Rob.
Loyal patrons can enroll in the store rewards program. For every $200 spent, they receive 10 percent off their whole purchase. Snapdoodle also offers free gift wrapping and asks sales reps to train staff members on products.
Rob sees Snapdoodle as a service to families and prides himself on his team providing a quality experience. He acknowledged that with independent stores closing and people relying more on Amazon for quick delivery, the past couple years have been a challenge to keep customers’ attention.
“If something’s broken, we really do not ask questions,” Rob stated. “We take it back and give them store credit or we just hand them a new product. Retaining customers in the age of Amazon is bending over backwards, showing that you’ll do anything for them.”
Nearly 20 years after opening, Rob is still enjoying his time at Snapdoodle. He has seen families grow over the years and relishes working with fellow toy store owners.
“Going around, being with people, talking to customers, looking for cool new toys, it’s never the same day twice,” Rob said. “It’s such a positive business in the world. My son can take it over, and now we’re a legacy.”
