Crestview Hills Town Center — Attraction in Crestview Hills

This was my first time visiting a Learning Express Toy Store. My niece was turning 4 years old on my birthday and with several days left I thought I should take advantage of the recommendation of an acquaintance to check this place out so I could get a present for my niece. I already had some suggestions from my sister as to what I could get and I had also gotten recommendations for a 4 year old girl from someone who had intimate knowledge of what this store had in stock so my wife and I took advantage of the nice, sunny weather to drive to Crestview Hills and do my Birthday shopping ☺️!

The store was easy enough to find and upon entry we were greeted by a pleasant young lady wearing a face mask, as I expected due to our current pandemic situation and I let her know that I had called ahead of time so that 2 items could be placed on hold for me. When she retrieved those she asked if she could help us any further and we said we'd just like to look around the store and explore so she let us do just that. I must say I was pleasantly surprised we were not approached every couple of minutes by somebody asking if they can help us find something. That can get annoying in a hurry and thankfully we did not have to deal with anything like that. Sometimes you just have to let people explore on their own, especially in a sensory overload kind of an environment like a toy store! I overheard a mother ask her daughter: " So do you want anything else?" And the poor kid said with frustration "I don't know! EVERYTHING looks Good!!!" which I suppose what every store owner would like to hear their intended customer demographic say and I turned to the lady and commented how I share her daughter's dilemma as I'm trying to pick out stuff for a 4 year old girl 😁!

Everything DID look good and boy, I so could go for some LEGO sets for myself! But, as my wife said: "Hey! Focus!!!" I said yes I trust her suggestion of an accessory item to go with my gift, because, of course, as a girl she knows what girls like, lol, and then we picked a birthday card and decided to take another look around the store to see what else we could find.

The toys are all gathered together and organized based on themes and categories in different shelves or free standing islands throughout the store in a nicely organized and easy to browse areas. For example, all the puzzles are on one side of the store and Dress-up costumes and related accessories on a different part of the store with plush toys or trinkets as a transitional buffer zone between the two with ample space for people to look around. Towards the back of the store there's also a big open area with a play rug of sorts so that kids could actually maybe interact with other kids and play with whatever. I thought it was a nice area NOT to be jam packed with merchandise and it kinda reminded me of NYC's Central Park in a way 🤔! On several racks at the end of the store were some stuff marked as "Clearance" items, though I could not necessarily detect any dingged part of a box or anything.

Satisfied that we had looked at most of the merchandise and considered our options we got in line, 6 feet apart from the folks in front of us to pay and that's when I recognized one of my own clients in the store, waiting in line behind us! I actually remembered her little daughter whom I had seen come to pick her up after her massage session from me by Uncle and Grandpa, both of whom are also my clients! It IS a Small World After All 😆. So while we talked and got caught up, my wife paid for our items and we were ready to go. We excused ourselves and headed out. This sure was a Very Pleasant experience. I had not been to an honest to goodness "Toy Store" in Ages (literally speaking) but I know I'll be back next year to get presents for my niece again as she turns 5 years old. Sure, it would have been easier and cheaper to get whatever we wanted from Amazon but during these trying economic times our support for small businesses should take precedence over...

Great place to walk around, eat, shop, etc. especially at night since it's well lit, flat, and has some music from speakers. But, here's the news flash, they now have a FARMERS MARKET in front of Abuelo's on Saturdays from 10am-2pm from June through October. Ryan Raised Farms is selling their grass-fed beef (and lamb?). I've been getting my grass-fed ground beef from them for years, great quality, value, and checks all of my boxes for clean food. Also, very excited to see a cheese seller AJ Comfort Foods with the best tasting cheese I've ever had...and I'm a foodie! Quaker raised, grass-fed Jersey cows, all non-gmo, then they make the cheese by hand with paddles using unpasturized grass-fed cow's milk, sea salt, cultures and enzymes. The Smoked Spanish Paprika is a must, so smooth and creamy with an outer coating and ribbon of paprika running through it, our favorite. But, the other flavors all took me by surprise with their strength and freshness. The tomato basil tastes like you're eating basil with each bite! The garlic/herb has this smooth bite to it and the Cheddar/Chive is so fresh tasting, all super creamy. In fact, we put a whole new meaning to the words "cheese pairing" because we were loving combining flavors! This market is just in it's infancy and I'm confident will grow to be the best in...

The atmosphere here is extremely stuck up and snooty...this is including most of the customers, but even more so the store and business employees. (with the exception of Kay Jewelers and Cold Stone Creamery, the employees at these places are very nice). If you go there dressed in leggings, a hoodie and a hat you will get looked at like you are going to rob the place. I walked into Loft and NY and Co and not one employee said a word to me, even after looking right at me. But they acknowledged some of the other customers that had walked in. Sadly, I was there to spend money and I had no hard feelings about taking my money elsewhere. Not to mention that parking is a total disaster...even if you wanted to park far away, you can't. Everyone there just acts like they are the only people there. It's just a rude atmosphere all around. My advice would be not to go back unless you have to...I...