Dancing Bear Toys — Local services in Asheville

We took our kids here to spend gift cards they received as gifts. Our kids are 5 and 9, so going into a toy shop can be pretty chaotic for us, especially considering our young son has sensory processing disorder and all of the excitement a toy store brings can trigger certain moods for him. We show up and grab some items out of the bins near the front door that are roughly a dollar or two and were greeted by an employee. Immediately I noticed, besides us.. there is only one other customer in the store at the time and nearly ten associates so it was a bit hard navigating the isles and departments. Our kids are really into PlayMobile right now, so we went in to the store with the intentions of buying them each one large house from PlayMobile and letting them spend their gift cards on accessories for them. We strolled through the section and my daughter chose the Malibu Mansion house and our son chose the Cruise Ship, both of which were over 100 dollars each. As we kept browsing the store, we found the clearance room they have and we're followed into it, being watched uncomfortably. We didn't feel we could even shop in peace because once we walked out of the clearance room and toward the board games, we were once again trailed by not one, but two associates. I got pretty irritated by this and asked the associate to please hold our toys at the register while we finished shopping, hoping this would deter her from just looming and shadowing our every move, but no. She placed our 450 dollar loot behind the register and once again began tailing us. I'm not sure why we got this treatment from the staff or what the protocol is, but we felt just completely disrespected and if my kids hadn't spent over an hour choosing their toys and weren't bursting at the seams with excitement to get them home, I would've told the manager what sort of experience we were having and why, and left with nothing. But honestly I just wanted to get the toys and get out of there. We refuse to step foot back into this establishment. When we go out somewhere to have a positive and rewarding experience with our kids and it turns into something like this, there's just no excuse. Too bad Toys'R'Us is gone, guess it'll be Amazon for us.

Reply to the owner's response: I'm not sure about the difference of opinion on how many employees, but there were a minimum of 6 at the time of our visit. And my apologies, we got the City Life House for my Daughter and The Adventure Tree House for our son. Along with the small sets of children's room furniture and the furniture from the castle collection. Our visit was this summer. Also the gift cards used were Visa gift cards from a grandmother who lives out of state. Hopefully that helps your...

Such a great experience! Wife and I were in town from Seymour, TN for a short getaway and when I saw the TOYS sign on the hillside, I KNEW we had to stop! I’m so glad we did! There are SOOOO many items! I’m pretty sure I missed at least half of them! lol! Something caught my eye every time I turned around! But my FAVORITE sections were the craft kits (booknooks, mini houses, etc) and the puzzle section! I love that they have games out to demo and the layout is FANTASTIC! Also, let’s just talk about the staff! Both employees we encountered were very kind and helpful, but there was one that was very personable and chatted with us a bit! Brandon had a wonderful personality and we loved their piercings and tattoos! They were fantastic and I hope when we come back (WHICH WE WILL!!) that they are still there! Thank you for having such a wonderful...

“Best Toy Store 2018” is “Worst Toy Store 2021.”

A sanpaku-eyed cultist emerged from its toy-filled temple to turn away my family before we even reached the curb from the parking lot. After one of the kids cried it out and Miss Sanpaku appeared to revel in such a scene, we left to spend our money elsewhere.

Not wanting to support Target, preferring local, I called Curio, a cute downtown toy shoppe, whose lovely workers assured us over the phone we would not be turned away.

We visited to Curio and found great gifts for our children and the child whose birthday party we were about to attend. Overall, a perfect experience at Curio.

I will never buy an item again at Dancing Bear, “Worst Toy Store 2021,” ever again. I will support the local businesses who care about their customers and do not...