How Wonderworks Built A Community-Famous Toy Store w/ Christine Osborne

A toy store doesn’t end up in the Hall of Fame by accident. When Christine Osborne walks into a room, she brings the kind of energy that makes people say yes, show up, and feel like they belong and that same spirit turned Wonderworks Toys into one of Mount Pleasant’s most loved small businesses. Christine joins us to share how she built “magic” with smart retail fundamentals, relentless community care, and relationships that compound over decades.

We get into the real origin story: leaving a career in occupational therapy, pitching a science and nature store idea, and getting turned down until the moment the right banker understood the vision and wrote the check. From there, Christine explains how independent retail grows through vendor partnerships, product testing, and honest feedback loops that help brands improve. She also challenges the usual idea of competition, describing how local shops refer customers to each other because serving people matters more than “winning” a single sale.

Some of the most moving moments are about impact. Christine tells the story of Harper, a young cancer patient who pushed for thousands of toys for the children’s hospital and how a simple social media promise became a massive community-powered delivery. After selling Wonderworks to a dedicated team member who spent 26 years learning the business, Christine keeps paying it forward as entrepreneur in residence at the College of Charleston, mentoring students, promoting boards of advisors, and helping founders learn from mistakes without getting stuck in them.

If you care about entrepreneurship, independent retail, small business marketing, and Charleston community leadership, hit play. Then subscribe, share this with a local business owner, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Episode Sponsor: Viking Mergers & Acquisitions

Expo Podcast Sponsor: ‪Pollen Social‬

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

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Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Podcast Committee | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director 
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | MPCC Marketing & Communications
Benjamin Nesvold | Co-host | MPCC President | Edward Jones

Transcript

Welcome And Sponsor Shout Outs

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Hello and welcome to the Building Business Podcast powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. We are here today in the Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Thank you guys for being such amazing supporters of the chamber. And of course, a huge shout out to our podcast sponsor, Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. The crowd goes wild. Yes, it does go wild. And I'm going to do my promo line because I do it all the time. You're good. Okay. Viking Mergers and Acquisitions navigates the complexities of selling a business in our area. Yes. So if you need or looking to sell your business, please contact Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. And uh Mike and I are back together. We haven't been back together. We haven't been together in a couple months. A couple minutes a couple recordings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah. Just kind of doing life. Oh, yeah, that's it. And then sharing this, sharing the spotlight. You know, you can't just hold on to the spotlight as co-hosts of building business. You have to share it with your other folks. Like how great was Amanda.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Oh, she was fabulous. We had such a great time. Right?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

You got to share the stardom.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

And then uh you and then you and Amanda are together for the last episode, which is awesome too. I wasn't uh wasn't able to make it. I was very upset, but you know, here I am today, so I'm back. We're doing it. All right, so Mike and I are back. I know we do. But before we get to our special guests, I do want to give a shout out to Mike. Um he is the co-founder and co-owner of Rumbo Advertising. Uh is also the current president of the American Marketing Association Charleston Kirk.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

We're probably launching this in June. It's May 21st. I give the reins out to Jake Cosmore uh in July. Oh, in July, all right.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

Wow, so did you have a good year?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

I think so. I think we had a a good spark, didn't we, Amanda? I think um, you know, we've we we added value to some folks. Yeah, that's great. Worked well with the College of Charleston, which I want to talk to you about there. Yeah, we're gonna get to that for sure. Um but yeah, no, thank you for asking. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

And uh before I forget, my name is Kathy Herman. If you uh if you do not recognize my voice by now, I am the marketing director at Town Center. I am a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, and I'm the current chair of the Rise Women and Business Committee. And of course, Mike gets mad at me, so I always say, and of course, your favorite co-host of the podcast. When I introduced myself, I always said now I make sure I add in I am the co-host of the Building Business Podcast. So anyway, I'm really excited about today because I've had the pleasure of meeting her before. Um, and I'm kind of joking, but you know, our guest is like pure magic. And I'm I'm listening I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. It is in her title. It is in her title. It is in her title. She was Wonderworks Toys head magic maker. I really think I need to go back to school to do that for 31 years, and recently sold her Mount Pleasant Toy Store location to an em and I love this, I'm gonna cry, an employee that had been with her for 26 years. I mean, you want to talk about a transition that's amazing. Um, if you have not heard of Wonderworks, you're living under a rock. Um, it has become an integral part of our community and the toy industry, receiving countless national and local awards. I

Meet Christine Osborne And Wonderworks

SPEAKER_03 4:18

want to have to say this. In 2025, our guest was inducted into the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association Hall of Fame. What? I know, I can't wait. Okay. Now she's living her best life with family, five grandkids, apparently loves pickleball, gardening, and art classes. I love it. And she's here with us today. Everybody, please welcome the amazing magic maker, Christine Osborne.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

And we're gonna talk about how everybody can make magic. My magic dragonflies are in the car, and every single five years one. Afterwards, yes, I will go get them. And the in and our sweet little intern sitting over there, she's gonna remind me that everybody gets a it balances on your finger once you see it.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

We got them at the rise, but you're in the Toy Hall of Fame?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Is that insane? Melissa and I, Melissa and Doug. Um, Melissa is a dear friend of mine. And so they called me and and they said, Well, we have one other person that's gonna inducted. And I was like, Well, you tell me, and they said, they said, it was kind of a secret, but she said the same thing. And I said, Well, did you tell her? They said, Yes, we kind of relented. I said, Who is it? And they said Melissa Fernstein from Melissa and Doug. And I'm like, Oh, I got a lot of Melissa. Because the toy industry, and it's like any industry that you go into, magic just ends up happening, and you end up just meeting the neatest people, and they come to like your events. So we'd have events at the store, and literally we'd end up having blocking, like blocking off a road, and there'd be 10,000 people coming, and we had the top 20 toy companies internationally and nationally, and Melissa and Doug always came and they were great, and they were always helping us. Mattel came. So you end up being on their advisory boards, you help them out, you get feedback from the community whenever they came up with new products. They would test stuff at El Stravaganza, the events that we would have.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

And then they would take that back, and then they would develop some other products off of that. And so Charleston was very, very integral, and Charleston's very magical in getting involved and sharing feedback. So I'll be quiet. What's the next question? Oh no!

SPEAKER_03 6:29

We gotta talk about Wonderworks because there might be some people do you know about Wonderworks?

SPEAKER_02 6:33

I don't, I do, because I have 10-year-old boys, of course. Uh so thank you, I guess. Um, but I I I cannot get the vision out of my head of uh you've obviously watched big. So are you like the Tom Hanks female version of that Tom Hanks character?

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Like I end up having a lot of energy. And I ended up You get to test the toys? Yes, you do. You get to test the toys, and you you're a kid. You're still a kid. There's still a kid in you. And that kid comes out, and the store just allowed me to keep doing it. You know, it was fun. You just end up getting to play every day and and talk to customers and and people are happy. And I used to work before I'm an occupational therapist, and I I'd worked with Down syndrome kids when I was for ten summers at Camp Hope in Clemson, South Carolina. My parents are German, so they are like, you will get a job. And I was ten years old. And I ended up working with Downies and they're angels, and it was absolutely wonderful. And then I ended up becoming an occupational therapist, and my first job ended up, um, the governor had frozen it, and it was with downies at Ladsen, and unfortunately the governor froze it, and so uh the only job that was available was in psychiatry at Mague. And I ended up working there for two or three years, and then I started a psych head injury program and did all of that for Southern Pine Psychiatric Hospital and did OT for that. Then they did well, we did well. I helped them with marketing and all sorts, and they said, You're to move, we're selling you, and you're to move to Macon, Georgia. And I'm like And so the administrator and I were good friends, and he had he had hired me way back when when I started at the hospital, and he was out, he was the administrator, and I was marketing, and I'm like, I'm not gonna move to Macon. My husband's from Charleston. Okay. So then we ended up, um, he called and said, I want to do a store, a toy store. And I said, Oh my god, that's awesome. I said, I got I want to do science. He said, I'll I'll do astronomy, and our spouses are like, Y'all are so nerdy. And then I'm like, and so I ended up, we ended up, we added nature, like the nature company was real popular way back when I remember this, I remember that store. Yeah. And so that's how I we ended up. We ended up doing that. But everybody asked as an entrepreneur, where'd you get the funding money? Where'd you get the funding? That's a great question, Chris. Like where do you get the funding? Well, you pull whatever you got a little bit together, and then you go bank hopping. Well, I'm like, oh, this is easy. My husband, Charleston, his fraternity brothers are all, you know, in bankers. Well, at that time they were like, uh it's too nerdy. And that's not a good concept. That's just and finally, and this is how you know, just the universe you put out there what you really want.

From OT To Toy Store Founder

SPEAKER_00 9:23

And you put out this positive attitude, and you know it's going to happen. And so I went to the fifth banker, our last banker, and I walked in. And he looked at me, and his name was Frank Smith. His wife was my sixth grade teacher in Clemson. And he said, Christine Stiepel. And I said, Yes, sir, it's Christine Steeple Osborne. He goes, My wife, she still talks about you. She said, You're gonna do great things with whatever you do. I'm like, what? And he goes, No. He said, What are you doing? Approved. What are you doing? And he literally, I said, Well, here's our business proposal. We're gonna we want to start a science and nature store, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, Ah, and he pulled out his drawer, opened, opened his drawer, pulled out a checkbook, and said, Okay, how much you need? I'm gonna write you a check. And that's how Wonder Works started.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

And it was, and his wife was one of my sixth-grade teachers, and I was German, and in Clemson, I would wear dental kleits and leather shoes and leather backpacks, because my parents are German off the boat. And so you can imagine how that goes over with some friends who don't really know you very well. And she would she would just she was a sweet mentor and friend to me, and would let me do different things and tutor students and do her bulletin boards and all that instead of getting ridiculed and at recess or whatever. She was amazing. And for that to come full circle, and then we ended up starting, and then the business just grew and grew and grew. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

And tell everybody where Wonderworks is.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Wonderworks has um a location in we've been in Mount Pleasant for forever. Like they're going on 36 years now.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Oh wait.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And I'm happy to announce that they are doubling the size of their location. I'm so proud of Schnooks and her crew.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

And Schnooks It's an interesting throw that out there.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Elizabeth Royal Darby, and she has a magical crew. Many have worked there many, many years, and it is just um amazing. But it is in the Bell Hall Shopping Center on Long Point Road. Um, we started off at the base of the bridge, but with the construction, remember when that little tiny bridge was replaced, the Grace was replaced by the Ravenel? That took four years. And at that time it was really tough because our entrances were kind of blocked off, and business was like, and then there's Long Point Road, and Bell Hall was starting up at the time. So we just happened to do a little store there, then we've moved one time, and then now she's expanding that. And um, she'll be that expansion will be completed probably in the fall of this year. And Patrick Russell on the landlords. If you ever have a business, landlords are your best friends. Your accountants are your best friends, your lawyers are your best friends, your bankers are your best friends. I mean, you they you take to heart these folks because they will take care of you. And so sure enough.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

So I I get it.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

And I mean, I give them Christmas presents every year, and I'm like, I don't miss a beat.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

I'm gonna call my company and go tell them to buy Bell Hall now because I want Christmas presents for Christine.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Well, Patrick Russell, he manages it, and they actually have a German count who owns American Asset Corporation, and he has just been so kind to Wonderworks and when Schnooks, she had the vision, she kind of knew about a year ago, and she's been around the business. She started when she was nine. Her mom was um a um employee and she was wonderful, and Schnooks would be dropped off with um the school bus. And uh, my business partner at the time, Dan Morsey, he passed away um gosh, probably 14 years into the business from pancreatic cancer. But Schnooks ended up. She um she would come off the bus and Dan would say, Gotta do your homework, and I'd go, Do you want to straighten San Rio? And you can pick anything off that stand that you want, or safari animals, you you could pick one of those. So she would hide from Dan and her mother, and she would just get that strained up. And she worked with us and she volunteered time. She worked with us all through grammar school, middle school, high school, college, after college. And then when when my business partner passed, she and her best friend Amanda Birch were graduating from College of Charleston. They're like, What are we gonna do? And I'm like, I don't, don't you worry, don't you worry. I got a job here. That's right. I'm like, and so she she literally um the Lord put her in my path and Amanda and Amanda ended up going moving to Atlanta and working at Elf on the Shelf. She worked for those folks, and we helped Elf on the Shelf get started.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And a lot of products, the companies we we help, you know, and that's the goal when you're in an industry. You you have to help. If you don't help, who's gonna help? Right, you know, so if they come up with a good idea and you know in your gut if it's a good idea. So we helped tune with rainbow looms, we helped squish mallows. I found him on a little tiny card table. And I'm like, I looked at his product and I'm like, oh my God, Andre, this is uh the best pillow hug I've ever felt. I'm like, we're gonna blow you up, we're gonna share you with everybody because everybody needs to carry this. And then they end up going later on into Costco and all those, and that's a compliment. That's flattery. I'm sure. Like, and then we're on to the next thing, you know?

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Nitos. So are you behind Nitos?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Oh, we love the shilling people. Nito's are great, and we've carried them for 30 years. Those guys came to El Stran Extravaganza the whole time, Wonderfest the whole time. They are like partners in line with Wonderworks. So when their product that we've had for forever started blowing up, it's like you need to make them in this style, this style, this style. We're we're very open in giving them feedback from Charlestonians and the low country folks. Okay, because y'all are the ones that come in there and give us ideas. And then we just are conduit and pass it on. And we don't keep our mouth shut, and then we pass it on to the other toy stores in the nation. There were 6,000 of us that were small toy stores, like in 1990. There are like

Funding The Dream With Persistence

SPEAKER_00 15:38

probably 1,300 now. Which is really those are mom and pop shops, and they're you know, there it's kind of sad. There's a chain called Learning Express, and Rick Durr is kind of the the matriarch, a patriarch or whatever of that. And he and I talked a lot when I had the store, and we would just share, and we were part of a buying group, the toy, um, toy collection group and all that and stuff, and so the good toy group. But um you do whatever you can do to keep the industry going, to share, and to keep people on a high and keep people kind and sharing, and that's just you know, that's how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Keep talking. This is great business, you know, acumen here. This is great.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

And your competitors, like your competitors are not your competitors. Like it, like one of my very favorite stories is Charlene Daniels from Hollipops in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. She's amazing. She does dolls like nobody else can. And she just has a vision for her store. And she was there before Wonderworks was. And I ended up meeting her, and then when my business partner actually was in the middle of passing, she called me and said, I just heard about this. And it was Christmas. She said, What do you need from me for help? She said, What can I do? I will run your register, I will empty your trash, I will do and you don't forget the office like that. Of course not. You don't. And then I'm like, so whenever they don't have a product, they refer people to Wonderworks. When Wonderworks doesn't have a product, let me tell you, go down the road to Hollipops. Here's here's phone number, call them right now, see if they got it.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

I think that's just good business. It's a good business practice when you start when you start going, you know, about you know, fist to fist.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

It just doesn't really circumvent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

And everybody, your passion is your passion. Charlene's passions are her passions. My passions were science and nature and functional things and all that. And you go into that store and you can see the occupational therapy, you know, trend on it by all the little sections of construction and art and outdoor and developmental.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

And that was my question I had there is what did your occupational therapy decades of work treat you, you know, teach you?

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Oh, so so much. The number one thing is I'm a k I'm a giver. I'm a carer. I love to take care of people and I love to give. And when I there was a little girl who came in the store, and there's so many stories in stores and local local entrepreneurs had the best ones. And there was a little girl named Harper Dr Drolay, and she was named mayor of medical university, the children's hospital, before it was built. And her daddy, Jamie, um, Drolay, and his wonderful wife, and she has two sisters, and she uh Harper had ha rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a tissue cell, skin, tumor cancer. And she was about yay high, which is up to my waist kinda, and she was ten years old and she came and she came and put her hands on her hips and she spent most of her time at medical university. And Mayor Riley dubbed her mayor of uh children's hospital, and she said, What are you doing to get toys? We need toys. And I'm like, I give you like maybe a couple hundred toys. She goes, We need thousands of toys. And at that point, they were developing the Happy Wheels cart. And every week a cart goes around with books. You know about that carton and with toys. Well, I when I worked at medical university, that was my very, very first job. I ended up doing diversional therapy with pediatric oncology patients. And I ended up just don't donating my time and doing it because I was up in psych, but I ended up doing that. And I was like, God, these kids need some diversional therapy, like like functional, really fun stuff. And so um Harper came in there and she ended up, she said, we're I said, Okay, let's do it. Let's do a market plan, let's figure it out. And Pam Harley from Amen of Marketing at that time was there and she's like, you know, there's a new thing, Facebook. So I told Harper, and she goes, Well, let's see. And I said, Okay, for every like you get on Facebook for Wonderworks, and we we interviewed her and she told her story and she said, Please give it, please like us. And Wonderworks is gonna give you one toy for every like. And so I said, Harper, I'll do seven days. You didn't know about Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

No way.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Ten thousand likes later. And then she called me on the day after the they'd say she goes, Where are the toys? Where are the toys? And I said, Okay, so all these vendors that I had worked with and manufacturers, I called them up and I'm like, Shilling, shilling. Okay, you got something that you can send me some toys, like we're talking about one, two, three hundred, you know, can you and they did. They all came through, they sent me toys, and then I remember Ray Greenberg was president of medical university at that time, and he ended up coming through on a flight from Washington, D.C. And he said, um, and he came to see the toys, and we want to take a picture of Harper with the toys and receiving because she couldn't

Growing Locations And Training Leaders

SPEAKER_00 21:08

really go and give him all those toys. And Ray Greenberg's secretary called and said, So um we're gonna just have to cancel today. She said, she said, he's just really tight on time. And I said, Oh, that's really sad. Harper's gonna be sad. And she called back, she goes, Is this Harper Dre? And I said, Yes. Yes, ma'am. She goes, Oh, he's gonna go there. He will be there late, he will be there. He ended up getting off the plane, driving straight to Wonderworks, sat with Harper for three hours and just on the ground, cross-legged, talking to her. Amazing, amazing. And and those are the connections that you always remember, you know. And this child kept that cart going with 10,000 toys for years and years and years, and they still have that cart.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

They do.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

And I'm like, this is how one child can make a difference. One child.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

That's a good story. That's a great story. Personal story, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were up there for a while. Uh one of my kids had uh T cell, he's in remission right now. So every Thursday. Oh, bless you. No, bless you. You made that two years of hell better by that cart. The one little thing, that cart.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Well, I ever we ended up doing a thing where, and also if you come in the store or somebody comes in the store for him, we will tell them, and when he has to undergo his treatments or rehab, we will give you a little card and it says you are allowed to come get a toy after every treatment. Complimentary on Wonderworks. So sweet. And it's like, and that is and but that you see that so going to the doctor turns to be a happy event.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

Exactly. He needs to go, he wants to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

As if we need another reason to like Christine. Yeah. And to go shopping at Wonderworks.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Well, people say, people say, why? And I'm like, if you were in my spot, seriously. Seriously, wouldn't you do that? You know, wouldn't you do that? If you were my spot.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

I would. Yeah. Thank you. I would. That's amazing. I was I didn't wake up this morning and no one was going to hear that story today. Isn't that amazing though? That's a cool story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Four years in now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we have a cousin now, though. She's three months in remission. She just got on. She's 12. 13. She's 13. How old is he? 10. He was six.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

That is tough.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

It is tough. And anything schnooky, she just got a whole neat drop from Schilling. Okay. Speaking of which, loaded them up in the van, and she went and took a huge amount to medical university and just gave it to the kids at the hospital. I mean, because the children's hospital, they need that. They're not going to go get a nido, go wait in line, whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Those needles are so popular. I cannot believe how crazy.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And it's just going to be another. It's hacky sack next.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

I see that. Yeah. Hacky sack.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

I say to college. Let me tell you. We're going to have the hipster jeans and all that next time.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Hacky sacking at the swim meet last night. Yeah. Really? Yeah, and they were good too. I'm like, what is this? The 70s here?

SPEAKER_03 24:15

No, they must have had a parent my age that used to play it all the time. Yeah in college.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Oh, it's making a comeback. Well, all right.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Well, speak well, speaking of toys, I am really curious, like, if you could just share with us a little bit, like, you know, what was your first toy, like your favorite toy that was sold? Or like, I don't know, like, give us a toy story.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

One of one of our very first our very first item was Grow a Frog. Where you sent a frog? Grow a frog, you sent this little tiny box. You sent, it was three rivers amphibian, I'm sure they're still in existence, and you sent off this certificate, and they send you back the frog, and the frogs grow. And you give them like it's like food, and they're pellets, but it's kind of like a turtle pellet or something. Well, we ended up, these things grow so big that they end up clapping their hands, and they were like big that we had to have when Wonderworks we triple the size of it. And we ended up putting it, you know, we were at where Jersey Mike's is by the base of the bridge. And then we moved three doors down. We had a huge tank with three or four of the frogs that had grown so big. And then we donated real frogs? Real frogs. What? Real frogs.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

You're sending people real frogs?

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Well, you you buy the kit and then they send it to you, but it the kit has the container and the food. It's from Three River Sand Baby. I do not know if they still exist. Oh, that's kind of neat.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

Instead of going to a pet store, I guess you get this you order a special.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

It's like the butterfly kit. You know the butterfly kit. You send off and you go see the chrysalysis and everything grow and the butterflies. And then you put sugar water on your arm, and they only live three weeks outside. But you put sugar water on their arms, then they light up on your arms, you take a lot of pictures, and then the child can go outside and they can let the butterflies fly off their arm.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

I want one of those now. What do you got for bunnies?

SPEAKER_00 26:01

They're there, they're there. Bunnies, just you know, you got Douglas, you got Gans, you got all those great jellycat is really huge. Jellycat. Jellycat is a very, very soft, soft thing. But Schnookie, Wonderworks is located in three locations right now. Okay. It is at the city market, and that everything kind of has a story. Because to be in the city market, you ended up, you have to grow up like in downtown Charleston during the Civil War or whatever. It is the number one um tourist destination in the U.S. for retail. What? The city market. It is a and you know it's enclosed and then it's open. Well, the enclosed area has 40 stores. There were 20. They shut it down for a year and ended up pulling up the bluestone, revealing all the windows, and they added 20 more stores. Well, they called my friend, um, it was Lori Thompson from the city, and it's owned by the Land Preservation Trust, and they want to keep it all local. And so Lori called um Marianna Hay at Krogan's. Well, Krogan's is the oldest retail establishment in Charleston, South Carolina.

Helping Toy Brands Break Through

SPEAKER_00 27:13

It was dated back to three or four generations after the Civil War.

unknown 27:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Her great-great-great-grandfather was an engraver. And so they had that tiny jewel box location where he's always been. And they just recently, they're renovating that little spot, but they just recently moved down a little bit to another part of King Street and have a beautiful, beautiful area. Well, the way they that I became good friends with Marianna was back to my Down syndrome days at Camp Hope. Her brother is Down syndrome, Georgie. God bless him. He's passed since then, but he's he was hilarious, wonderful, loving, loving young man. And he was my favorite camper, and he would stay two weeks. And so the family would come at times and drop him off. And I met this girl, Marianna, when I was 10 years old, 11 years old, 12 years old, 13 working at Camp Hope. And Georgie was my favorite camper. So then you never think anything of it. I go to College Charleston from Medical and then Medical University, and then I start my Wonderworks store, and then I get involved with Jamie Haley from Low Country Local First, who said, You're not a mom and pop. And I'm like, explain that to me. And and Warren Buffett had started the Low Country Local First movement in the nation. And there were 15 of them. Charleston was one of them. Jamie was the founder in Charleston. And she said, every dollar you spend in local business makes free for the economy. But however, if it's a local business, it makes six for the economy. And the money stays in the local economy. So I'm like, oh, I understand that now. And then um I ended up, she said, Will you kind of help me with this 10% shift where we're trying to get all three mayors down there and have everybody, you know, shift 10% of their monies locally. I said, Absolutely, because I never say no. You just there's too much opportunity in life to really, if you say no. I mean, why are you gonna do that? So I was like, okay, I'll do it. I've never done it. So she said, she said, Can you get 300 um retailers down there? I'm like, okay, I'll figure it out. And then she said, I can give you one tip. There's a lady named Marianna Hay downtown on King Street at Krogan's at a jewelry store. So I go down there and she opens the door and she said, Christine, what are you doing here? Is another banker moment. And she said, What are you doing here? The last time I saw you, I was dropping Georgie, my brother, off at Camp Hope. I said, Well, I'm here. I got Wonderworks and I'm helping Jamie. She goes, Well, this, I said, What do you hear? She said, This is my family business. It's a jury store. I'm like, and after that, she's like, Yep, I'm getting all my friends. And there were 300 people in that event, that press conference, all the mayors were there. It was absolutely wonderful. But it's like magic happens.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

There we go. Back to magic.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Magic happens when you put yourself out there and you think positive and you do positive.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

And now, and like Marianna David Hay was on the head of the um of the board for the College of Charleston. And I was with a student the other day, and we ended up, and he is um, he was all involved in NASA and all this sort of stuff, but he's now going to Chapel Hill for his master's. I'm so, so proud of him, Tyler Glimph, and he's just great. And I said, before we had I took him before breakfast, and I said, before you leave, you gotta meet this person. And then I went in there, I went to Marianne, I said, This is one of our students from the College of Charleston. I said, I'm so and you got to tell David. And then we walked out. I said, you know, David was the head of the board for College of Charleston. And he's like, Really? He said, and I just met I was like, Yes, everybody knows everybody. And it really doesn't matter what they do, they're just a part of making your your magic happen for you. And he was Summa Com Lottie. And I said, Are your parents and you coming over from my house for lunch? Because I've seen you every quarter or every month for four years. And he said, Yes, I'm so excited. And then he texts me and he goes, My parents are in town today, and the president of of College of Charleston, we have to go to his lunch. I was like, Oh really?

SPEAKER_03 31:16

I was like, Hey, that's not bad, it's not a bad person to be uh for, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:21

She got the invite there. Uh can I come? Uh no, it's what all these stories are just amazing. I know I love them. Um what what Kathy, what do you got over there? Well, I got a lot, but I could just hear Christine talk. Um exactly.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

But I'm I'm always curious about a woman starting a business. Um and I know it was over 31 years ago. So um did you run into any roadblocks or did you feel like anyone You know, it's it's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

I think a woman's perspective. When we ended up when when I started with Low Country Local First, there was a board and there were women and men on it. But the women gravitated and like we would go to Marianna's house on Broad Street and have coffee every month, like every month on a Monday or whatever, and we would plan events and plan things, and it's almost like local businesses, men and women, it's like I I don't want to use the word cult, but it is there's something connective with local businesses in the city. It's like you meet each other, you will do whatever you can to support each other. Yeah, you will host them, you will refer people to them, you will just you just bond. It's that and you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

That's a great way to do business, Christine.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

You yeah, you know what they're going through, and you're going to help them no matter what, even if it's one simple thing. And like the other day, um at at um I got

Harper’s Toy Drive For Children’s Hospital

SPEAKER_00 32:53

a phone call, and I'm indebted to so many folks. I'm indebted to David Wyman at the College of Charleston. He's a he's working with the entrepreneurs and the business school there, and I'm indebted to Medical University for those folks at Allied Health. I'm indebted to Jamie Haley. I mean, they all had a part of my history with all my stores, you know. And um, so I tell, you know, I got a phone call. Oh, I was with my student, and I got a phone call and says, Will you check out this new place called Palmetto Row Collective? And the city of Charleston is doing a um, it's kind of an alleyway with four local entrepreneurs. And it's something that Low Country Local First had always tried to get going. And so we ended up going, um, I ended up, I had finished the breakfast, and then I'm like, Tyler, come on with me. Let's go find this place. And it was literally around the corner beside the Francis Merion garage, and I was at Kudu, which is a local business having coffee. So I went in there and and introduced him to Tyler, and then there was a purse store, an artist store, a sports person, and also a skincare person, all local. Amazing people. And there wasn't traffic going in. And so I just kind of like, and they said, just go do your magic. Kind of like go, and I'm like, okay, I'll volunteer. I just don't pay me. Just I'll volunteer my time. I will help you. So I go down there, and I'm like, well, one, your sign is way up in the air. It's a grand opening. You can't, nobody's going to be walking down King Street and looking all the way up. And then I'm like, okay, so then we ended up, and I and I talked to this woman named Juliet who has these unbelievable purses. Her background's from Ghana. She has these unbelievable leather purses, and it's called House of Jewels. And it's like vibrant colors, and they're like banana leaves and leather. And it's just the price points are unbelievable. And I was like, and her story was just amazing. And she's like, Well, can you just help me with display? And so I gave her tips, and then she said, Well, help my neighbor here and help my neighbor here. So I gave her tips on retail because if you if you have a store that looks pretty, but you can't touch anything, then people are gonna not buy. But if you have something that they can rifle through, walk in, or bump into on the way in, then they're gonna 30% of the people are gonna buy something that they rifle through.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

That's just because you do all this information just because you love people?

SPEAKER_00 35:27

It's the right thing to do. And then I'm saying I go in the back. I go in the back, and I'm like, y'all, there was this barn door, and I'm like, what's behind here? They're like, we have extra things. And they said, Oh, we had a little thing when the city celebrated, whatever. And I'm like, oh, they're just gorgeous. The artist did this thing, this Palmetto Road Collective is a painting. And I says, Palmetto Road. I'm like, this is your sign.

unknown 35:49

Right.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Let's go back in the window, let's redo the windows. Everybody put your stuff. People are gonna look at the purses, look at the sports caps, look at the Charleston stuff, Charleston, whatever it was, and look at the skincare, and then put that picture right there. And then I said, You prop your door open a little bit because 10% of your business increases if you prop your door open. How do I know this? Because I've had a business for 31 years. You just know everybody take notes. Everybody just took notes on that, right? So we ended up putting it there, and people started it flooding into literally. So I saw her the other day, and when you meet celebrities and you meet people like Julian Smith always taught me this, you know, from the Cooper River Bridge Run, Julian, you know, bless him. He's he was wonderful. So he started the Cooper River Bridge Run. So, and he also worked at Medju in finance, and then he worked in giving and so with Harper and all that. So Julian, but I knew him a long time ago with a neighbor who was his best friend. So um he always said, People are people, it doesn't matter who they are. And he always asked people, like Christine said, our our kids run has has like 3,000 people. I just went to your Wonder Fest behind your store in West Ashley, and Schinookie opened, reopened West Ashley behind Santi. So she's got a store there now, which is the cutest thing. So he said, You have 5,000 people here. And Mary Riley came around. I was holding my breath so that I wouldn't get caught on the permits or whatever. And he's like, he goes, How many people you have here? And I had all these children bands, children charities, the manufacturers, we were giving out hot dogs, all this stuff, everything was free. Every child got a free toy, and it was just a great event called Wonderfest. So we ended up, um, Julian combined it with the Cooper River Kids Run. And then we ended up having like 8,000 kids coming. And that was how we ended up doing that. But the other day, when I ended up, and the whole thing with the purse story is everything is so connected. I got a phone call from Valerie, Valerie Bailey, Philip Bailey, Earth Wind and Fire, his wife. I met Philip. I was at the market working the store, and I had Christian Royal Pottery. He's a Down syndrome child. I carried his pottery in the store when I had to let go of telescopes because my business partner died, and he was the only one who knew telescopes, and I had a vacant spot, so I ended up doing local stuff. And a Down syndrome child came to my store with 300 pieces of pottery, and I ended up carrying them. So Philip, I was at the market fast forward five years later, and he comes by. I didn't know who he was, and he had gorgeous dreads, and I'm like, God man, I like your dreads. And he goes, Well, tell me about this nonprofit. And I'm like, and he goes, I got one. I said, Well, you tell me about your nonprofit. And he said, You know, when kids age out like from homes, foster homes, and they turn 18, they're literally asked to leave the home.

unknown 38:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

They're on their own.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

And they're on their own. And he said, So I've developed a place in Pasadena, California. And he said, It's a home. And they come to my home and we teach them uh a trade.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

And he told me that like ten years ago. Well, Valerie called me the other day, and I'd just seen Juliet with the purses and helped all of them. And I ended up, so I went to breakfast with her, and I said, and she shared with me that she has a school bus now. And she and she used to sing Back Up for Shaka Khan. And she has a gorgeous voice, and she has this new song, and it's just it's an it's amazing. And she sang with Celine and Whitney and all those people, you know, and she's but she's so amazing. So she was telling me about her nonprofit. She's telling me Phillips still has his nonprofit, and then she said, So, and she said, You are gonna come hear us tonight. And I said, Okay, and she said, I'll leave a ticket or so, you know. So I went and I and I went and I said, and I told her, I said, I know you kind of like to shop. There's one shop you have to go to. I told her this at breakfast, and she said, What is it? I said, Juliet House of Jewels, the purses are unbelievable. And then the artwork across is unbelievable. So they were shopping. So she said, I said, but they're close, they're closed on Tuesdays, and it was Tuesday. She goes, I went yesterday. She found her. Like she, and so when I went to the concert, and we're at the Performing Arts Center, and I go in there, and there's Julia just sitting there. And I'm like, Oh my gosh. The world is so small, these local folks just like, and I can see like I need to call Darcy Shanklin from Charleston Mag and say, you need to go see these purses. Like, it's like unbelievable. But and the artwork, it's just you know these local folks, you just you love it.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

That's what Charleston's all about.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

But now that kind of wraps into what Mike and I were um wanted to discuss with you about your your post-wonderworks is your work um as as an entrepreneur. Yeah. Entrepreneurial. No, what was it?

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Hold on, it's really cool. Um I'd like this as well. I want to be the just so you are, entrepreneur in residence. Is the official title.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Well, so what

Local First And Women In Business

SPEAKER_00 41:08

he did was David Wyman. Wayne, my husband, my husband, God, I love him to death. He is totally opposite of me. We've been married 46 years. I met him at the College of Charleston. Of course. He was a senior, I was a freshman. We have two wonderful children and two wonderful, beautiful daughter-in-laws who are just beautiful inside and out, and then five, three wild and two calmer grandkids, but they get it honestly. And so um we ended up, so the college, my husband says, Have you seen this gentleman? Have you met him? And it was in one of the magazines, and it was a double-page spread on David, and he's like invented, you know, involving super soaker and games and all this stuff. And I said, No, but I will. I said, I gotta reach out to him. So I ended up reaching out to him, and he was at the college. And this was, I mean, 16 years ago or something. I reached out to him, and somehow we never connected fully. And then Chris Awatri of Dynepic, who is a brilliant woman, um, she has a business, a lot of um, she's now in Belize, she's pivoting her business, but she still has Dynepic, and she does, she's like XR guru. So she's taken it to a whole nother level because the the defense system doesn't have a lot of cyber contracts out there right now. So she's she's kind of pivoting a little bit. And um she had a board meeting and she said, and one of my mistakes, when you have a business, you make mistakes. I made several, numerous mistakes. But the best thing about mistakes is you celebrate them. You celebrate every time because you will never do it again. So the best thing about Schinookie buying my business, and she's been with my business for 26 years, she's seen and lived through every mistake I've made. So she knows, she knows how I got in those situations and what I did to get out of those. And she knows how to avoid it. Yeah. So we ended up, and um David ended up the way I ended up meeting him, was I had a warehouse. That was one of my mistakes. But it was I was I said, You can use my my board, little boardroom. And there were all these local entrepreneurs, and she was getting funding, and not entrepreneurs, they were all venture capitalist people and all that with with monies, and she was doing her pitch to him and everything. And then there was one man sitting beside me, and we went around the table, and I said, I'm Christine Osborne, I'm providing the location, and I have a you know, a pod on a toy store in her. And then I looked and David looked at me and he goes, I'm David Wyman. And I said, You're the guy we've been trying to I've been trying to reach. And he said, Yeah, nice to meet you. So I grabbed him and put him on my board of advisors for Wonderworks. Sure. And and I had um um so many brilliant people. The CEO, ex-CEO of Fisher Price, Byron was there. Um, he was on it because Charleston has a plethora of amazing folks who have retired here. Yeah. You know, and um Mary Propes, who had CV, whatever her company was across the highway here on Clements Ferry, she was on the board too. Just uh it was amazing, amazing people. So I ended up um David the I would go do talks for him for his classes, and I still do. And he is entrepreneurs, and now they have an entrepreneur major at the College of Charleston.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

And it is it is unbelievable. And David, I'm so proud of them for having that BS in entrepreneurship. And the students, the senior students already have two companies each that they've started. And are active.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

And I'm just like looking at them and I go I go see some of this. But David, the day I retired after I sold Schnookie the business, um, she ended up um no, I ended up, he called and he said within twenty-four hours, he said, Let's go to lunch. And I'm like, Okay. And so he's like, I'm not letting this one get away. I went to lunch and I'm about to retire. And and I would do anything for him because he was so helpful to my business with his suggestions for a board of advisors. And if people don't know how a board of advisors works, it's like they don't really have any say-so except that they're extremely wise and you listen to everything they tell you.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

Well, I mean, you've I mean you've done this from the from the bottom up, Christine. So the the advice that and the knowledge that you have to share with these students is just invaluable. I mean, it's you should have your own class. You should have a Christine Osborne degree, you know, and small business.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

But the but the board of advisors, if anybody has a business, get a board of advisors. Oh. And and just have people tell them it's one meeting a year, and it's like two hours long, you know, and just host them. And then the advice that they give you, and then when you sell the business, give them a little bit monetarily off of that and

Retail Fixes That Boost Foot Traffic

SPEAKER_00 46:23

do a little contract with them, and then and it's well worth it. It is so well worth it. Oh, yeah. So David said to me, he's he took me to lunch and he goes, Would you be the first woman entrepreneur in resonance? And I'm like, Yes, you had to say that word. I was like, and then I'm like, but I'm like, honestly, David, I would do anything for you. So whatever. And he said, just meet with students and who don't want to talk to their professors and they don't want to talk to their parents, and they're like, you know, and they do. They call me and I go talk to the classes, you know, at different times, and they'll say, I don't know what I want to do. Right. Mom and dad have spent all this money. If I tell them that I don't know what I want to do, they're they're just gonna go ballistic. They're like, so help me figure out a path. And we go literally, I just listen to them. I ask them questions and they figure it out. Yeah. But it's just a sound. It's like a good point.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

Well, she's an occupational therapist.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

It all wraps in.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

It all wraps in. We got two um college of college of Charleston students in the Harbor Entre Accelerator right now, and they're about to pitch uh at Dig South, which is coming up on June 11th. Uh at the College of Charleston. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

And Elaine did Mealy, which is a and and I remember judging something, and someone said to me, We were at the College of Charleston, and I was judging something, Impact X program or something, and somebody said to me, Well, she's starting a social platform like Facebook or whatever, you know. And she they're like, like, you can't do that. I'm like, if she didn't do it, who's gonna do it? I said, absolutely what she does is she has a platform that's all about positivity. You cannot post anything really negative, and it's about um it's a storytelling. So like you would go and and they would they would um interview your grandmother and she would give you wisdom and life lessons, something that was important to her, and then they would post it on there, or students with their experiences, how they got through things, and they would post it on it. And it's M-E-E-L-I. So it's a platform that's getting ready to get started. That's so awesome. And the College of Charleston is doing it with every new freshman starting this year's class coming in.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Wow. So are you ever gonna retire? I am retired.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

She's retired, she's doing what she wants.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Leave her alone.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

She's happy.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

I know. Well, between between the school and the grandchildren, I mean that's that's all I want. They call me.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

Yeah, she's there's no there's no slowing this woman down. Does she do you uh I just met you? Um I can tell that. Um Debbie Antonelli. Does that name sound familiar? Give me vibes, the Debbie vibes, too, right? Uh entrepreneur, uh uh grower, uh, entrepreneur business woman, uh, and her kid has Down syndrome as well. And she does this really cool basketball thing, and I'll know you've probably heard this in the press. I loved it. She shoots oops, she's a basketball player from North Carolina, and she does she's a TV analyst, a sports analyst, right? And uh she does this, she she raises a million dollars shooting.

SPEAKER_03 49:33

Over a million dollars, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Over a million dollars shooting baskets, shooting free throws. A lot of special effects. We gotta introduce you to the show.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

Now it's at the gym. I used to be in her in her driveway. In her driveway. No, now it's a gym that is named after her.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

She's got a gym named after her, too. She does. Do you have a gym? Oh, we have new goals. Christine Osborne gym. Oh, the Christine Osborne Accelerator.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

Mayor Raleigh gave me my Christine Osborne Day.

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Oh, you have a day!

SPEAKER_00 50:04

And Mayor Hallman Day gave me one. And I'm like, y'all, come on. We come once a day. Yeah, when's the day for the first time? One of them was my birthday, May 16th. May 16th. And I don't know if it was just for that year or whatever. And then Raleigh did it the day of um when we did Cooper River Bridge run kids run one year. And he it just, you know, God bless him. He has just he has such a legacy in town. Yeah. Such a legacy in the city. I've never met him in town.

SPEAKER_02 50:29

So I've heard a lot about him, though.

SPEAKER_00 50:30

Oh, oh. Very, very wise man. Very wise man. Christine has two days. But it magic happens. So humble. You are so humble. Magic happens. I know it's all about magic. Say yes. I can't wait for you all to get dragonflies. I know I can't wait for some fun questions.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

We could talk forever, but we have to. But unfortunately, yeah, we have to let uh everybody get back to work. Um what's one toy from the past you wish you'd make a comeback?

SPEAKER_00 51:04

Would come back. Yeah. The hula hoop major. Major, major, major. And sorry, that it I tie it ties with two. One is the thing that you

Entrepreneur In Residence At CofC

SPEAKER_00 51:13

put around your leg, this lemon hoop. Oh my god, and then when you jump, and you jump, and you jump, and you jump, and you jump. So anything with swirling, jumping, gross motor skills, I love it. So I love that. But but I would have to take that back. The hula hoop is kind of still there. But the skippy, you can't really get it. You can't get anywhere. Mine had a lemon on the end. Mine had some ball. And then you had to be out of the way, so you skip it.

SPEAKER_01 51:36

I loved that.

SPEAKER_03 51:37

Me too. That was a lot of fun. You don't remember that? No.

unknown 51:40

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Christine and I had the best toys growing up. Um, what was one toy that every kid begged their parents for, but the parent if the parents did not want to buy it because it would drive them crazy.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

You know, there's so many gadget, like there's so many squishy things right now. So currently, it's the squishy thing. But there is, there are these toys that come on the market every so often. And like Schnookie had it this past Christmas. It's a chicken with the neck thing, and you pull it and it squawks, and the squawking is like the most obnoxious squawking thing you've ever heard. But it's like, but there are toys like that that she'll come and it'll or be a moo cow or or something or and you know the ones that sound like when you sit down and you watch whatever, you know, those type of toys or whoopee cushions, all that, or all that. Well, listen, I mean all that toy, all those type of things. I remember it is hilarious. I laugh.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

I remember when one of my nieces was born, and I was I was younger, my brothers are a little bit older than me, and um, I was mad at my sister-in-law. So for like her first or second birthday, I bought her the loudest fire engine I could possibly find in the toy store.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

It's just rude.

SPEAKER_03 52:53

And she knew, but she knew.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

She looked at me, she goes, Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

And they do, you know, folks come into the store, and that's what they say. It's the aunts and the uncles, and they're like, it's like for their brother or their sister, and it's not for their brother or sister's child. It is for the brother or sister. And they're like, What is the most obnoxious, loudest thing that you have in here?

SPEAKER_03 53:13

And they do like drums like that. I felt great when I did that. You'll have siblings thing coming back. That's awesome. Um, have you ever seen like a children's meltdowns in the store going on? Okay, yes, I do.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

So there are two quick stories. One, there was a child, and so you know, children don't want to leave, they cry, whatever. And I'm like, and I I I learned very quickly to go, okay, y'all. I'd go out to them, I'd go, okay, listen, if you go now, you get to come back. Come on, let's go. If you get to if you leave now, you get to come back. And it tricks their brain, and they are like, what? I get to come back. They don't really think about it. So I go out with their parent and I walk out there with them, and I'm like, here, here's a sticker from Wonderworks or whatever. But like they'll go. But there was one child, I'll never forget that went out there, was having the meltdown, and did a Spider-Man pose on the door. Put one hand here, one hand here, one foot there, one foot there, and the mother had the door open and was trying to get the child in, and it was like a Spider-Man. Like, I was like, I looked, I'm like, she goes, Don't talk to me. She goes, he does this all the time. I don't know what. And I'm like, I had never seen that.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

You know, nobody had never seen that.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

No. Look what you did, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

And then I did have like, you know, if you have a product in like at Christmas time, and like particularly like I'll never forget this woman, it was a West Ashley, and West Ashley was so magical. There were churches all around us. I loved it. It just magic happened. And like when I ended up doing the local section, John Gantt from the Charleston Hooker, and he was walking down the sidewalk, and he said to me, He goes, I said, What you got there? And he goes, A Charleston Hooker. I said, Ooh, I want one. And it was a it was a it was solid cherry, solid brass with a curly cue. And he had invented it. So when we did the local section with um with Christian Royal and all his pottery, John Gant we helped develop the butt grabber. He had a great sense of humor. He was in his 80s. Butt grabber. Okay. And it was a it was a solid, a solid cherry, and then two brassings so that it keeps your Boston butts off the cold ground. Oh. So it it you would go like this and turn it on the grill. And the Charleston Hooker was a grilling tool and still the number one grilling tool. And um, so John Gant's apprentice, Julie Cube, still makes those. And you flip, you know, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, whatever, and it doesn't burn you. Then he had a shrimp zipper, you know, to peel shrimp. And just it he was an amazing person. I never knew what he really did for a living till I went to his place and I looked in the trash can and he was behind Vazelli's heating and air. And I looked in his trash can, and they're these lantern sketches. And I fished them out, and I'm like, these look really kind of fancy. And he said, Yeah. He said, I just sold my business to Urban Electric. And I'm like, What did you do? He said, I made lanterns. He made 80% of the lanterns in downtown Charleston. Oh my god. Gas lanterns. And he made all the lanterns at the White House.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

What?

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Yes. This was John Gand.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

So then the name sounds really familiar.

SPEAKER_00 56:45

His name, and he and I said to John, and he married Lisa Rivers from Rivers Communication, all that, and it was Channel 5. So he ended up, and I and I had met Lisa, and then John was just like my mentor when my business partner passed. He kind of took me under the wing and he was very, very kind. And then one day I looked at him and I said, John, you've lost weight. And he said, You're rude. And I said, I love you. And I said, I really do. He like took such good care of me. And we had his products were selling all this. And it was just a pastime of his making all this stuff. And then he I said, Well, you're losing weight. And he goes, Okay. I I I said, Promise me, if you lose any more weight, you'll you'll get checked. And it turned out that um he called me about, I don't know, a week later and he said, I have liver cancer. And then I'm like, Well, can I go visit you? And where do you live? Because he wasn't, you know, he goes, I have to rest. And

Board Of Advisors And Learning From Mistakes

SPEAKER_00 57:43

he goes, I'm on the battery. I'm like, you live on the battery? And he said, Yeah. And it turned out that I was a little German girl, had a bike, college of Charleston. Every Sunday I would ride around the battery. There was a house I really loved. And he told me where he said, you just want to see my house. I said, No, I really want to see you. I really care about you. I want to see you. So I go there, and it's where my husband proposed to me. Stop it. And he goes, Do you want me to make you a brass plaque, Christine, and put that right out there? And I'm like, but I love the Gantt family, and they were Shay and all of them. They were great, they're great. Is there anybody you don't know? Right. No, you meet people. Well, you just met Mike today for the first time, right? So but now she's never gonna get you, Mike. No, everything's we're in. Everything's intertwined.

SPEAKER_02 58:27

I'm a little nervous.

SPEAKER_00 58:29

Everything's intertwined.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

I'm also German. I have an Oma and a gross motor. I married a German.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

How does she Deutsch break in ambition?

SPEAKER_02 58:38

Um ambition. You have all Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Can you speak German? We had to speak German at home till we graduated from college, and I had to pay a nickel for every American word. Oh unless I unless I had friends at home, so I was very social. That'll do it. I'd very social.

SPEAKER_03 58:56

Come on, social's not the word I'd use for you. Alright, I got one more for you. After 31 years, what legacy do you hope that Wonderworks toy leaves in our community?

SPEAKER_00 59:08

You know, um God, nobody's ever asked me that. They all leave you when you go in and when you go out. Your troubles are gone. You go in and you may have a trouble, but when you're walking out, there's that smile in your heart, there's a smile on your face, and for that brief moment, you're a child. And whoever you're buying for, you get that warm feeling, and it's a literal serotonin endorphin type of feeling, and it's in your body, but it's also in your heart. And so that is that is the sound that's that that store and those independent toy stores in the United States, and they do, but everybody who goes in, they leave happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, and it's just that great feeling in your heart. And the people that don't I really fully understand, like Mount Pleasant was so, so tiny. But to have the Chamber of Commerce now doing what they're doing, having unbelievable people in the positions that the that the the town has. I ran into Lee Cave from the city the other day and I saw him at the grocery store and he doesn't work there anymore. He was in charge of permitting. If ever I had a problem with a store expanding or opening, I'd call Lee. Now there's a whole system. But they cover everything and they are so thorough and they're so good. And the policemen come to the events just to drive by, get out of their car, say hi to everybody, and participate. You know, you don't, it's still a town, and it's still that feeling that you get, and you just and I love that. So I I you know two things. One is that you keep that feeling for of magic and you keep that warm-hearted feeling. And the other is like the town of Mount Pleasant, you get that feeling. City of Charleston, you get that feeling. West Ashley, you get that feeling. The city market, it is a whole family down there of vendors.

Toy Nostalgia And Parenting Moments

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

You know, you get that feeling when you're among them. And that is the that people say Charleston's so special. And I'm like, Y'all, it is. It is like the unconditional love that you feel from people, and you're walking down the sidewalk and people are looking at you and they are smiling, and the tourists just are like, Wow, is this for real? And it is for real. And people go, Well, uh, don't do that so much because too many people are gonna move here. But I'm like, it's okay. Mount Pleasant is growing, Charleston's growing, you know, you're not gonna stop that growth, but just embrace it, keep embrace it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

You have to embrace it and stay true to yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

Yes. Uh yeah. So I want everyone listening um to this podcast when you are planning to purchase some kind of toy or special gift for someone you love, please, please go to Wonderworks. You will never imagine the experience. I understand we have a lot of big box opportunities and locations around here, but you're not gonna get the service, you're not gonna get the products like you will at Wonderworks. So um, you know, please keep them in mind when you're shopping for your next uh your next gift. It's very special. Stopping and visit Shookie? Schnookie?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Snookie. I don't think we are. You call her Schnookie.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:40

Her her brother and sister did that nickname when she was little. And it stuck. It stuck. And she's she's not want to go buy a thing. She's like my daughter. Someone named Schnookie.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:50

I mean, come on. That's that's absolutely perfect. Christine, thank you so much for spending today with us and for sharing those incredible stories. I mean, I just and again, I need to go out with you one night. Let's go grab some wine. Yeah, I gotta see who I'm all for that. I have to see who you run into when we go out to dinner, you know. Yeah, I know it's gonna be awesome. Um, thank you again so much. And of course, Mike, love having you as my co-host. Uh before we leave, we want to thank our friends at sponsor, our sponsor, Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. Um, we're so excited to have them as our sponsor, and our friends here, of course, at Charleston Media Solutions, a great

Wonderworks Legacy And Closing Calls

SPEAKER_03 1:03:28

partner with us. If you're interested in uh sponsoring or being a guest on our show, uh please reach out and we'll get back to you. Make sure to like and subscribe to all of our media channels. Uh, we are on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. That's right. All those people are gonna hear you. Christine, give away. Uh, thank you so much for being with us today. Until next time, Mount Pleasant. Until next time, listeners.