Dec 5, 2018 3 min read

Phil McEntee may have hundreds of the most popular toys over the last century, but his favorite Christmas gifts to give are memories.

As an antique toy collector, McEntee’s Canonsburg store, Where The Toys Are, is a different type of “Santa’s workshop.” He’s been collecting for more than 30 years, and most of that collection is in his shop.

McEntee says that when people come into his store they’ll see toys they had as a child. “You don’t remember you had it until you see it,” he says. “The light goes on and they say, ‘I remember this – I had this.'”

McEntee has three stories filled with some of the world’s most classic, popular toys, like fire trucks, Barbie dolls, G.I. Joe action figures and Matchbox cars.

“Space toys have always been popular,” he says. “Those are the cowboys of our day – the astronauts. Robots are the best, too.”

He also has some very rare toys, like a Smith Miller Convertible with an attached trailer and detachable roof. It was made after the 1954 movie “The Long, Long Trailer,” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

“It’s a version of a doll house,” McEntee says. “It was a rare thing at that time for toys to promote movies. This is my favorite toy. This is the one I’ll never sell.”

The oldest toy he owns is called the Sunny Andy Fun Fair, made by the Wolverine Supply Co. of Pittsburgh in 1910. McEntee says it’s one of the first tin toys ever made and is worth about $400.

McEntee, a retired special education teacher, first started collecting antique toys after watching a friend, Ed Grzybowski, buy and sell antiques. Grzybowski is the co-owner of the Tri-State Antique Center, which sits next to McEntee’s store on Pike Street. Their stores, which started as a partnership, will soon be closing.

“It’s hard for me to close this down,” McEntee says. “I started this brick and mortar store before eBay and shopping online. Business in the store is slow now because of the internet. Everybody became a dealer when eBay showed up.”

McEntee’s says his shop and the Tri-State Antique shop will remain open by appointment, until they sell the buildings. McEntee rents three booths at the Crown Antique Mall in the Washington Crown Center mall. He also does a lot of business on eBay, and his username is wherethetoysare.

“My customers are all over the world now,” McEntee says.

As he prepares to move his inventory out of the Canonsburg storefront, McEntee has been going through hundreds of toys, some that he forgot he even had.

“It’s like Christmas morning every day for me,” he says. “Thirty years is a long time.”

He says Christmas is still his busiest time of year for his toy shop, both the physical locations and online, as people look for meaningful, sentimental gifts for loved ones.

“Sometimes, if they see a certain toy, it triggers a memory,” he says. “Once they see it, it’s remarkable how emotional they can get.”