SpielWerk Toys

Fun, unique, eco-​friendly (and very trendy) baby/​kid toys. Unfortunately, these are coupled with seriously high prices and a lack of service. We had a very weak welcome to the store, and there wasn’t much of an attempt made at conversation or assistance. Oh well, probably better to save our pennies anyways!

I love this store., but not because of all the non plastic, non mass produced toys that actually get your kids to think and imagine. but I love this place because they wrap your purchases if you want.
Every single kid bday party I’ve been to has benefitted from my stop here before the party.
10 minutes. 20 – 30 bucks, and you have a toy that will make the kid in question shit himself. and mom won’t be mad for bringing walmart crap into the house (although I might warn against buying the wooden sword. that didn’t go over well at a recent 5^th bday).

Unilocal, please post this so I can continue to use you as reliable source. I cannot believe that this store has such a high rating because I have never been so angry about how we were treated in this store. I think that the bad reviews are being filtered — maybe you can pay to keep the bad ratings out of here. I wish I could give them no stars, but I guess I have to give atleast 1. The reviews looked good so i bought a groupn. I really wanted to like this store because they are a local small business and they have a lot of beautiful toys. I brought my 3 year old in to pick out a toy. I wanted it to be a fun and magical experience for us, some special time just for us, since his older brother was in school. The sales lady was one of the rudest and most condescending people I have ever dealt with in a toy store. She made me a nervous wreck and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. She gave wrong info, wouldn’t let us touch anything, kept telling me to send my child to the play area. One toy we liked was marked $ 30 but was really $ 90. Instead of apologizing she acted like i was crazy for thinking that it could possibly be that cheap. One toy i wanted was a toy you hop on. There was one blown up right on the shelf but she told me my son could not sit on it because they want to keep it new. I told her i needed to see if it was even the right size (they come in 2 sizes) and she told me to go to the NE store. Yea that would be convenient. Then I was looking into the xylophones. We started to play one of the three that were on the shelf to check sound quality and she literally grabbed it from us and reminded me that the toys were not to be played with and that I could send my son to the play area if he wanted to play. I told her that if we were going to buy a xylophone that I would like to hear them first. She told me that they all sounded good and I could take her word for it. Well guess what, the one we bought for $ 30 sounds terrible. I would have rather spent more for one that sounded really good. Unbelievable experience. I could go on but I think I’ve gotten my point across. FYI– my son was not running wild, he was sweet and calm, and very well behaved. We’ve never neen reprimanded anywhere before. We were just trying to find out what he wanted. It was not fun. It was a horrible experience. I will not go back. I was fuming when I left that place.

Spielwerk has beautiful toys. BEAUTIFUL. Many are natural, organic, and/​or hand-​crafted. There are wonderful wooden animals from Germany, fun knit fruits and vegetables, AMAZING dolls with such personality that you don’t see anywhere else (hand-​sewn and filled with wool instead of poly) etc. I bought a doll here from Germany that is the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen. These are the type of toys that feed your child’s imagination and go on to become heirlooms handed down from generation to generation. These toys are well made and will pass the test of time. A bit expensive, but totally worth it if you ask me. And as of now, I don’t know any toy store in Portland that can beat them for this type of stuff. If you are looking for action heroes, guns, and barbie… move on down the road sister. Also worth noting that if you are educating your child in: Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, or Montessori you will find many items here to support your philosophy.
The space here is warm and inviting and the staff friendly and helpful. I chatted with one of the staff as I shopped and she was just lovely. I also love the location, it’s very accessible and surrounded by many other fun shops and restaurants.

Ever since having a baby of my own I’ve been aching to go to Spielwerk. The toys they carry are amazingly simple, robust and old-​time honest looking.
My baby is still very young and so I was a tiny bit disappointed to see that their infant toy selection was not that large. Still, babies grow so fast and there’s plenty of things that will fascinate and occupy her imagination in countless ways once she reaches 1+ years.
As another reviewer said: don’t bring a stroller to this store, you won’t have enough space to maneuver, and you might possibly end up knocking things off the shelves and apologising a lot for running over people’s feet.
Bonus: Try out the home-​made hula-​hoops that sit outside on the pavement. It’s fun for a laugh.

No Lasers
No Weapons of Mass Destruction
No Name Brand Toys
No Guns
No Video Games
SpielWerk makes it difficult to train violent unimaginitive short attention spanned consumerists.
Located in serenely sublime Sellwood, this gem brims with colorful objects designed to engage, to develop, and to thrill. Toys that promote positive brain activity and creativity-​how many office drones do you know that could use some of that?
And speaking of adults, you know the kids and staff here are completely ah-​mazing, but some of the parents… what’s up? Some people just don’t get it. This ain’t Toy R Us or Fred Meyer. These people need to stop getting bent out of shape when they arrive and can’t find Transformers or Xbox. It’s like going to a great Alberta Arts dive and expecting it to be like the Pearl.*
Were I to have a kid (other than my dog Madison), this is where I’d want to buy their gifts. And for those of us who matured from boring adults to somewhat responsible full grown children they even sell board game classics like Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride.
[Important News Flash: Bad things are happening in toyland. Government restrictions meant to protect our youth from toxic toys are putting small toy makers and the shops that support them at risk nationwide. For more details see
]
*props to Petra L for helping with this analogy
Pictures of whimsy and wonder:

A true gem. The only problem I had with it was that its Sellwood location wasn’t exactly on my route. But now, with their second store in the HUB building on N. Williams St., that is no longer an issue.
This shop makes you want to be a kid again (with parents that value and understand the gift of play). Everything is beautiful and precious. For example, we bought a doll there that was hand sewn from organic wool sweaters by women on a commune in New Hampshire. That’s not something you are going to find at Target.
Prices vary — there are tons of options available at all prices. The Werkshops are also great — highly recommended.

Great toy store! We did our holiday shopping here and were very happy with the selection and the prices. We ended up with some pretty unique puzzles for around $ 15 each. Totally manageable when shopping for several tots.
The space is super interesting and cool but you have to go up steps to reach the main part of the store. If you have an infant, don’t bring your stroller, bring your baby pack!
Oh, and they wrapped our gifts for free. Total bonus!

Spielwerk Toystore joins the ranks of the great toystores of Portland. How lucky we are in this city to have great shops that you are assured of picking up the ‘perfect gift’ every time you walk in the door. Sonja & Stacee (owners) have created just sort a toyland for kids (and the adults who buy their toys!) This place is filled with creative, well made playthings for children. None of the TV advertised Toys-​R-​Us yucky stuff. These toys can provide kids with lots of imaginative fun and, based on my ongoing childhood, will be toys they remember years after they outgrown them. They have everything from books, to craft supplies, board games, science projects, dolls, stuffed animals and millions of other things. If you need to buy a toy — check this place out!

Like most other reviewers, I have only fabulous things to say about the SpielWerk Toy store. A magical store filled with simple, beautiful toys, the staff are extremely helpful and have even TALKED ME OUT of buying things on numerous occasions, giving me ideas instead for how to make something from what I have around the house! Who does that? Their motto is basically, ’ buy less, play more.’ I truly feel that they have the best interest of children – their customers, at heart. Moreover, they are constantly arranging fun, creative activities for the community – most for only a small fee and many completely free of charge.
With regard to the negative review of one customer:
Having been in the store on more occasions than I can count, I’ve seen the owners and staff deal with customers (grown-​ups and wee-​ones) in a variety of different situations and they are ALWAYS gracious and kind. A parent myself, I am often frustrated at the lack of consideration that many parents show in attending to their children while in stores. Yes, toys are for playing with – and there is a delightful play area for just that purpose. If my daughter wanders to toys outside of the play area, which she often does, I join her delight in looking at the item that’s captured her attention, but quickly replace the item explaining that we have not purchased it, it’s not ours – but ’ look at all the fun things in the play area!’ It seems that many parents think that there is no need to help their children understand values such as respect for the belongings of other people; that the entire world is not merely their child’s own personal playground. Not to mention the fact that no one wants to pay retail price for merchandise that’s already ‘used.‘
SpielWerk is an enchanted place with a heart focused on play and community service. Businesses like this are a dying breed.

This toy store rocks. You can buy beautiful, non-​toxic toys that promote imaginative play. High quality toys. The staff is very friendly and will take the time to talk and help you out — no snooty behavior here!
They also support local designers. They have unique european toys.
If you need a birthday gift this is a great store to go to!

The toys are Spielwerk are beautiful and cater to kids with huge imaginations. These are the kind sof toys that will still be around for your kids kids to play with. You will pay more for these toys but you can be assured you are not getting any lead paint or broken on the first day toys.

Spielwerks is a self-​proclaimed «community toy store.» This is the place to buy your child wholesome and beautiful toys. Everything in the place was made of gorgeous wood, and if not, it must be hand-​painted and hand-​knit. I swear I didn’t see a speck of plastic in the whole place. Not only are the toys beautifully crafted, but designed to engage, rather than entertain your child. I noticed a vast array of art supplies and dress-​up costumes to stimulate children’s imaginations. The fine materials of the toys are clearly a effort to move away from the plastic mass-​consumerism that marks American chain toy stores, and fittingly, many of the toys appeared to be manufactured in Europe. Spielwerks is worth the higher price if you can afford dishing it out for quality toys. They also offer «Spielwerk Werkshops» for your crafty kid to learn how to make Old-​school Paper Kites or Zines or Brown Bear Sock Dolls. These classes range from $ 10 – 15 dollars, which I find to be very reasonable, especially considering that it includes materials.