Toy story: Business owner ditches corporate life to open a toy store

Bill Sartain was walking around a New Jersey mall around Christmas time back in 1985 when he entered a toy store and had an epiphany.

"It was like somebody just hit me on the head and said, 'This is it,'" Sartain said.

Prior to this shopping mall epiphany, Sartain was working as the general manager of North American operations for a division of Sunshine Biscuit Company.

In his corporate career, Sartain oversaw 3,000 employees, a $350 million segment of the business and was on the road three weeks out of the month, traveling to different offices around the U.S. to do general oversight.

Things were going well for him, but he missed his family.

"My children were growing up, I wasn't around for their birthdays, I was missing wedding anniversaries and missing my family most of all," Sartain said. "I decided that that was not going to be the way I wanted to lead my life and I was willing to take a risk to just basically jump out and see where it took me."

Eventually, it took him to a mall in New Jersey.

He and his family had discussed starting a business together for a few years, but they couldn't quite put a finger on what exactly they wanted to do.

That day in 1985, while standing in a toy store, Sartain knew that he'd found what to do:

Open a toy store of their own.

Owner Bill Sartain helps Margo Cook find items at the Tutoring Toy store in Salt Lake on Monday. Bill Sartain’s epiphany in a New Jersey mall sparked the opening of the Tutoring Toy, a Salt Lake toy store that has been a staple for shoppers looking to find the perfect gift for the last 34 years.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

A toy store was perfect, Bill said, because of the skill sets that he and his wife, Diane, could carry over from their previous careers.

"Diane was a practicing intensive care nurse so she had child development experience and I had business experience, so it just seemed to be a good fit," Sartain said.

Sartain's epiphany sparked the 1988 opening of the Tutoring Toy, a Salt Lake City toy store at 1400 Foothill Drive, No. 108, that has been a staple for people looking to find the perfect gift for the last 34 years.

Though the epiphany came to Sartain, he doesn't underscore the importance that his family, especially his wife, played and continues to play in the success of their business.

"We really need to give Diane a lot of credit," Sartain said of his wife, a co-owner of the Tutoring Toy. "When we first started, she was really the pillar of this business. I had a consulting practice to help put bread on the table until we got the toy business off and running. So, for the first few years, Diane carried the load. She's an amazing person."

Sartain said that "without any question at all," he couldn't have opened the Tutoring Toy without his wife.

"We're real in front of our customers and they appreciate that," Sartain said. "But there's no animosity. It's just, you know, let's get the job done together and we just love one another."

Michelle Noel is helped by owner Diane Sartain at the Tutoring Toy store in Salt Lake on Monday.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Through 34 years of being in business together, one could easily assume at least a few arguments taking place between Bill and Diane Sartain.

This, however, isn't the case.

"I can't even remember an argument. We understand one another. We have distinct roles and make no mistake about it, she's the boss," Sartain said. "Because I want her to be."

Additionally, their oldest son, Casey Sartain, came into the fold about 15 years ago and handles most of the buying for the Tutoring Toy.

"If you ever want to meet a toy expert, talk to Casey," Sartain said. "He can tell you more about toys than you ever thought there was to think about. He's an amazing guy (and) he does a wonderful job of buying."

Casey Sartain's toy expertise is reflected in the Tutoring Toy's selection of products.

The store's shelves are stocked with toys from countries all across the world, including France, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, China and Ukraine.

The toys themselves are aimed at sparking children's creativity and imagination.

As a child, Sartain's family wasn't "the richest folks on the street."

This forced him to utilize his imagination to play with some of the things he wanted that his family couldn't afford, Sartain said, reminiscing on his times imagining tree branches as something different than what they were.

"We made our own slingshots, we made our own bows and arrows, so those were the kinds of things that I had as a kid," Sartain said.

Casey Sartain talks to a customer at his parents’ store, the Tutoring Toy, in Salt Lake on Monday.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

"What is different about our store, I think, is the expertise that we try to bring to our customers in terms of child development," Sartain said. "I don't know of any other stores, in the country for that matter, who are strictly organized by developmental age category. We have a specific area you go to for that age group and we can tell you what that toy actually does developmentally."

Sartain's premise for this, he said, is to help children develop left- and right-brain-focused toys (or both) to aid in children's development and learning.

Additionally, the Tutoring Toy's method helps ameliorate the burn of buyer's remorse.

"The toy category is a much more emotionally charged (buying) category than tires or, you know, oatmeal or whatever. You're buying for somebody you deeply love and are concerned about, so you don't want to fail that person," Sartain said.

With the Tutoring Toy's product organization and the expertise of Bill, Diane, Casey and their other employees, shoppers can feel confident that their selection will be enjoyed by whoever receives it and that it will make a meaningful, positive impact on their development.

"We love it when people come back and tell us that our recommendation was solid, that it worked," Sartain said.

Beyond the impressive selection of products within the Tutoring Toy, Sartain said that he hopes to foster a positive and welcoming shopping environment for shoppers.

"We're pretty proud of what we've established. We think it's a highly personalized environment," Sartain said.

It's clear that he, his family and the rest of the Tutoring Toy's employees love to help shoppers and assist them in finding the perfect gift.

"The people are more important than what they spend. They're not a commercial entity to us," Sartain said. "We always tell people, 'Look, you don't have to buy anything, just come on in and let us make your day better.'"

After being in business for 34 years, Sartain knows many of the customers by name and encourages everyone to "have some fun" while shopping around.

Casey Sartain talks with customers at the Tutoring Toy store in Salt Lake on Monday.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

"We have customers coming in with their own children who shopped here when they were children," Sartain said. "So they'll come in and say, 'Do you remember me? My mother used to bring me in here.'" And now they're standing there holding a child in their arms. It's very flattering that they remember us and trust in us."

Part of creating the welcoming environment that has made the Tutoring Toy a Salt Lake favorite is the family aspect of the store and luckily, Sartain said that his son wants to take the store over and continue his parents' legacy when the time comes.

When that time will be, however, is up in the air.

"People ask me when I am going to retire," Sartain said. "Why? I'm having fun, I'm with my family, I'm in a business that brings joy into other people's lives. I mean, give me a reason to retire."