Interview with Simone van Nuland - Hak from 2TTOYS in Toys and Hobby

2T-Toys, Den Bosch: Most LEGO buyers are adults

In addition to being in charge of 2T-Toys, Simone is also very socially involved. Simone van Nuland is probably the only woman who runs an online and offline LEGO store in our country. In addition, she is
She is also very socially involved and helps people on the poverty line with advice and assistance. She set up her own foundation for this purpose.

Where does she find the time? She doesn't like to sit still and 'the nights are longer than the days'! But she also receives a lot of help from husband Menno, her children, family, friends and volunteers.

Simone founded 2T-Toys in 2004, as the company is officially called. Her young sons Thygo and Thymen - hence '2T' - wanted a certain LEGO Technic box at that time, which, however, was not sold by the regular toy stores in our country. Simone, not much of a LEGO builder herself, left
was therefore not put off and started shopping across borders. “I started searching in the USA and Germany, among others, and so I almost automatically started importing LEGO sets made by
does not offer or has not offered in the Benelux. That's really the focus.

The store includes LEGO collections from Friends (the TV series), Sesame Street , Winnie the Pooh and a kind of Harry Potter castle that is almost impossible to buy anywhere else.

Products are also purchased by collectors. In that case, as much attention is paid to the condition of the box as the contents. After all, an undamaged box is worth money to a collector! But people also come to the store for the regular Benelux range, or they buy it online.

“It's just a shame that you earn less and less from that regular range. Price pressure is increasing under the influence of Bol.com and Amazon
higher and the margin decreases,” says Simone. “At first it really bothered me, but that is wasted energy that I would rather spend on positive things.”

It is very amicable

The added value of 2T-Toys is not only in the special collection. Everything in the store is very friendly. Simone works with a team of enthusiastic volunteers who help before and behind the scenes. Builders assemble various models at a large table, which are then exhibited.

Wednesdays are dedicated to children's parties and workshops are given. If you cannot find a construction drawing, you will be helped on site.

Simone: “For example, a man wanted to install LED lighting in his LEGO VW bus, but didn't know exactly how to do that. We then connect that customer to someone who knows how to do that. Then they come to the store and solve it together.”

By the way, 2T-Toys not only sells LEGO, Playmobil also gets a lot of space in the store. Not for long: Playmobil's turnover has been declining for some time now
means that Simone has freed up part of the space for two new brands: Cobi and Funko Pop.

My eyes are bigger than the warehouse

The activities we described in the previous paragraph are now gradually being restarted, taking into account any corona restrictions. Fortunately, 2T-Toys has weathered the corona crisis well. Parallel to the outbreak of the corona crisis, LEGO Masters also started at RTL4 and
This resulted in a significant spike in sales both online and offline. Simone: “Due to the corona crisis and LEGO Masters, many adults have rediscovered how fun playing with LEGO is. Because my eyes are sometimes bigger than my warehouse, I had purchased heavily and we were able to continue to deliver well. Fortunately, we also had few delivery problems during the lockdown, from December 15. When we were able to open 'normally' again after April 28, I noticed that we...
received many more new customers. They found us online during the lockdown and came to take a look. I am very positive for the rest of the year. We will definitely have positives both in store and online.

Another tip for LEGO: come up with more sets with multifunctional building blocks that you can also use with other sets. More and more consumers are asking for this. What I do like is that they now also focus more on adults. That was a forgotten but wealthy target group for too long.”

Socially concerned

In addition to being in charge of 2T-Toys, Simone is also very socially involved. Simone: “I have been volunteering for more than 20 years and helping people on the poverty line. That's what I have
also established a foundation. The store is a sales point for clothing, toys, Christmas packages, you name it. We pass this on to families who need it so desperately. I am also involved in administration, curatorships and budget management. Sometimes people have to fill out all kinds of forms that they don't understand. Then I help them with that. That takes me a lot of time and that is why I am so grateful for all the help from volunteers, family and
friends. This social work is very necessary and gives me so much satisfaction! Maybe even more than 2T-Toys.”