New vintage toy store opening in Taneytown, with ambition to be biggest on East Coast

A 32-year-old Baltimore native aims to fill a gap in the struggling toy industry by opening a toy store of his own in Taneytown, Eternia Dreams Toys and Collectibles.

With the 2017 bankruptcy and subsequent closing of Toys 'R' Us stores, plus the earlier closing of KB Toys, toy stores have become increasingly rare, but Allan Semmont hopes to change that for Taneytown, which his family moved to when he was in grade school.

“In all reality, there is almost no toy stores. Toys 'R' Us, KB Toys, all that is gone," he said. “We do have newer toys, more popular toys that are coming out, we don’t mess with it too much... We do more so the collectibles aspect of it.”

According to Semmont, the vintage toys that he’s selling offer people a second chance with toys that they might not have been able to afford back in the day but still hold some nostalgia for now.

Eternia Dreams Toys and Collectibles will hold its grand opening Saturday at 10 a.m. Attendees will have a chance to browse and shop at the toy store while enjoying some refreshments.

The vintage toy store is not limited to just classic toys like G.I. Joe and Star Wars but other collectible items such as comics and old gaming systems, from Ataris to the original PlayStation to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

“We have a lounge, TV and all different gaming systems for people to come in and like play," Semmont said. “Get an idea of how different it was back then.”

According to Semmont, the store functions as a sort of museum of the ’80s.

Semmont, who moved to Littlestown, Pennsylvania, two years ago, has put a lot of work in the past two months getting the shop set up and ready to open.

“I started working on the store about two months ago, I pretty much work 20 hour days while I’m here. It gets pretty intense,” he said. “I work well over 100 hours a week to get the store open on time for August 3.”

Even though he’s mainly been working on his own, Semmont would like to hire employees sometime after his business is up and running.

“You have to be familiar with a lot of things that they don’t make anymore,” Semmont said about potential future employees. “That definitely makes it a little bit difficult.”

Semmont also plans to offer Taneytown a series of events in the future.

“We’re doing something really cool with like report cards, if a kid or someone still in college, high school, whatever brings in a good report card, we’re going to give a discount,” he said. “We have comics, we’re going to have game night, we’ll definitely be doing an outside like projector movie theater once a month for free.”

Eternia Dreams Toys and Collectibles, located at 54 W. Baltimore St., will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday and from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Sunday. Regular hours of the shop are 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

“I want to be the biggest vintage toy shop in the East Coast,” Semmont declared. “I’m bringing the heat.”