THE owner of a tea room has opened a new toy shop in Worcester.

Emma Moule, owner of Auntie Em’s Tea Room in Worcester City Arcade, has opened a toy shop above her café.

The independent family-run business in the Shambles, reopened on September 14 following the Coronavirus lockdown.

Emma said she opened the toy store on September 19 with support from Mark and Heather Stewart, former owners of Wise Owl Toys in Charles Street, who helped her start up and gave her advice on how to run a toy shop successfully.

Emma said: “We are a family friendly tea room which accommodate for pushchairs and high chairs so families can relax while their children can play whilst the adults can enjoy a hot drink and food knowing they can see their children playing in the play area.

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“We always talked about selling toys because of how family friendly we are but when we saw the news that Wise Owl Toys was closing its doors after 20 years it inspired us more.”

She said the pair passed on all their suppliers, contacts and equipment, but most of all their “vital words of wisdom” helped her launch the toy shop.

Various toys will be sold at the shop, including Orchard, Playmobil and Usborne books, which were all recommendation of Wise Owl Toys.

There is also Small Foot by Legler items which are mainly wooden toys with a low carbon footprint. A popcorn machine, ice cream machine and Pick ‘n’ Mix is also available for youngsters to enjoy.

The business, which is open from 9am to 5pm every day, has created five new jobs by opening 7 days a week.

The tea room opened in March 2019.

Emma added: "The tea room isn’t overly busy but we struggle to put out any A boards in the high street to show people where we are but we are working on it.

"The last 12 months we have have had some fantastic support especially our regulars who are amazing.

"One of our customers is 85 and she comes in most days and she is part of our team now. Her name is Olive."

Emma shared on Auntie Em’s Tea & Toy Emporium Facebook page before opening a few weeks ago: “It’s been a long battle to keep this place open and we look forward to seeing you all.”