a peek inside the fishbowl

Did you know that the Carp Fair is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year? How many smiling faces, candy apples, tractor pulls, and giant pumpkins do you think there may have been during the past 150 years? I can’t even begin to figure it out. But I will say this, we couldn’t have chosen a nicer day to check out the Carp Fair. This was our day yesterday:

My family and I were walking past one of those bright Kitchissippi Times newspaper boxes in Westboro last night. I gave it a little tap.

“Hey, it’s my paper!” I exclaimed.
“Are you going to say that EVERY TIME mom?” sighed my youngest.

Yes I am dear. YES I AM.

I am very happy to introduce a new patron to the Fishbowl today, but I have a feeling this place doesn’t really need an introduction. Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s is a family-owned store that has been a member of the Ottawa community since 1977.

The Glebe location was their first, and that’s where I had my first brush with Tiggy’s.

As a university student living away from home for the first time I often found myself walking up Bank Street, poking in all the shops on sunny Saturdays. Somehow I always ended up at that store, where I often bought little toys for myself as well as small fun gifts for friends. Just visiting that store made me happy. In a strange way Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s felt like home. (Does everyone have a special Tiggy memory? I wonder.)

Fast forward a whole bunch of years. Mark and I moved to Westboro in 1997 but there wasn’t a lot of interesting retail at the time. We’d only been living there a few years when we learned that Tiggy’s was opening a Westboro location. I was so thrilled that one of my favourite stores was going to be walking distance from our home.

I’ve written a lot about shopping local here at the Fishbowl, and how important it is to support our local businesses. It comes down to this:

If I want to live in the kind of neighborhood that has a toy store I must support that toy store.

And every time I support that toy store, I contribute to the good health – the energy, the vibrancy, the economy – of our community. If there were no local, independent businesses, our consumer landscape would be a pretty bleak and boring place, don’t you think?

Tiggy’s has been a major source of an awful lot of the fun in our family: board games, Playmobil, stuffies, outdoor toys, and more. We find many of our stocking stuffers there, and I can’t even tell you how much birthday-related stuff I’ve bought at Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s over the years… not just gifts for my family, but gifts for others (THREE CHEERS FOR GIFT WRAPPING SERVICES) as well as loot bag loot.

Tiggy’s has always appealed to kids of all ages, as well as the grownup kind of kids who will always be young at heart. Their selection is so unique. Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s carries toys that are new and interesting as well as trusty old favourites that have stood the test of time. You can check out their website right here. And did you that they offer online shopping too?

Customers new and old will surely appreciate this:

Store-wide sales only happens twice a year, so you don’t want to miss it!

If you’re a fan you’ll want to follow them on Facebook and Twitter as well to get inside scoop about sales, events, and on the latest and greatest toys in their stores.