Rodney Stevens
With four of the five Stephenson family members being huge fans of toys and popular culture, when Maclean Toyworld was listed for sale, Jodie Stephenson followed her lifelong dream by purchasing the popular business.
“I have three boys and we always attend Comicon sort of events, we know far too much about anything from the 80’s, we love Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Marvel and Disney and we collect Lego and Pop Vinyls, our house is full of them,” Jodie Stephenson said.
“When I tell my friends, even people I went to high school with that I bought a toy shop, they say “I’m surprised it took this long” or, “of course you did.”
Jodie, who won a 2022 AusMumpreneur People’s Choice Customer Service Award for her custom fabric business Inklings and the Kraken, said she moved to the region 10 years ago and has worked from home until the opportunity to buy Maclean Toyworld saw her fulfill what she was destined to do.
“Dark Crystal, Princess Bride, Sesame Street, The Muppets, all that sort of stuff has been a life-long passion for me, to the point where all my tattoos are of Lion King, Marvel, Star Wars, and the Muppets, so nobody is surprised I bought a toy store,” Jodie said.
Currently being trained by owner Jehane Kaczorowski, Jodie said she has big plans for the store when she officially takes over on December 28.
“We’re going to be closed until January 2 so we can rearrange and change the shop and displays to make it as fresh as we can,” she said.
“We will be bringing in a lot of new Pop Culture items in as well as new toys”.
“I will be setting up different areas in the shop focused on different products, so there will be a Barbie lane, a Harry Potter section where you can buy wands and anything related, and a Bluey section, and a variety of other areas we hope will make it a bit more of an experience for customers, it will take a bit of time to set up how I want it but it will be worth it” she said.
“I hope to share the passion that I have for toys to the store to share with other people.
“I’ve already got a couple of volunteers to do story time once a week for children and I will get some early childhood books into the shop, so each week it will be a different book.”
Current owners Jehane and Grant Kaczorowski said they purchased Maclean Toyworld on the day the Covid epidemic was declared, and after three successful years they listed the business for sale so they can return to Melbourne to be closer to family.
“We have absolutely loved owning Maclean Toyworld, I love the community feel in Maclean and it is a very community-based store, we thank all of our loyal customers and the community and wish Jodie every success,” Jehane said.