Walking around Big Fun Toys, a shop full of playthings on Hoboken’s main drag, it’s like I never left childhood. There’s the Magic Eight Ball, a packet of Sea Monkeys, Hula-Hoops and Fonzie lunch boxes. And though much of the inventory appeals to an adult clientele, the mood here is more shenanigans than sentiment. After all, this is the high season for Big Fun owner Joe Falzarano: April Fools Day is right around the corner.Walking around Big Fun Toys, a shop full of playthings on Hoboken’s main drag, it’s like I never left childhood. There’s the Magic Eight Ball, a packet of Sea Monkeys, Hula-Hoops and Fonzie lunch boxes. And though much of the inventory appeals to an adult clientele, the mood here is more shenanigans than sentiment. After all, this is the high season for Big Fun owner Joe Falzarano: April Fools Day is right around the corner. “The remote control fart machine is our number one seller for April Fools,” notes Falzarano, picking up a remote and activating the device. “These farts are realistic! The R&D guys really did a good job.” Falzarano, who came to the toy business from stints managing the big New York comedy clubs – the Improv and Carolines – clearly enjoys the high jinks that must ensue after a purchase at his store. A prominent front wall is covered with April Fools Gags, and Falzarano is ready and willing to advise would-be jokesters about what works – one reason he’s compiled a “gag bag” full of groan-inducing tchotckes. In addition to the fart machine, there’s the plastic rat’s rear meant to be held in one’s mouth with a tounge operated, tail moving toggle; a pack of gum that turns the chewer’s mouth blue; and a scratch-off lottery ticket that yields a $10,000 winner every time (“valid only in your dreams” reads the fine print.) But it isn’t all about the gag. Big Fun Toys also has stuff for the kid not just at heart, but in size. They carry chessboards, baby toys and train sets, attracting a daytime crowd of the stroller-bound. Falzarano is happy to balance this crowd with the Wall Streeters and students who come in and find the toys they enjoyed as kids too. “We try to appeal to the people who actually buy toys,” said Falzarano. “Hoboken is such a diverse mix of people, grandmas, Stevens students, yuppies, artists, moms and families.” But there are a few things you won’t find at Big Fun. Falzarano doesn’t stock the trendy toys, like Pokemon or Power Rangers. And you’ll never find a video game here. “I would never do that,” said Falzarano, of stocking the latest Nintendo or PlayStation sensation. “This is not about plopping your kid in front of the TV and saying, ‘Have fun.’ We’re really not about trends.” Falzarano doesn’t see his store as capitalizing on a boom economy-fueled nostalgia with his reproductions of toys from the 50s through the 70s (and even some original tin toys). He’d rather see it as providing for the kid in everyone, the kid he obviously doesn’t want to forget in himself. It’s with a true sense of glee that he claps me on my back in parting, leaving behind a ‘kick me’ sign I (thankfully) discover before I’ve ventured too far into the regular adult world. Big Fun toys is located at 602 Washington St. in Hoboken. Owner Joe Falzarano likes it if you call him at 3 a.m.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
