CAMP

This is such a cute toy store. It's really clean. This is in the SoNo mall. Service was friendly.

Camp is a boutique toy store with sometimes offbeat and interesting items. Prices are ok too, sometimes even undercutting competitors and even Amazon. All good there.

They also have an "experience" area in the back - during our visit it was the "paw patrol experience." I was somewhat surprised parents as well as kids had to buy a ticket ($37/each!!!!). The experience - supposedly a series of interconnected adventures - lasted about 45 minutes or so. It was "ok" but the staff member leading it was clearly burnt out/unenthusiastic and the games were a bit lame for $37/person.

$37/family would have been more palatable for the experience we received. Slightly disappointing.

4 stars for store, 2 stars for the "experience."

Paw Patrol Exhibit: July 2022. Tickets have to be purchased online. Prices vary, weekends are pricey. I ended up finding a time slot that was very discounted for both child and adult. We loved it. Organized and the staff went above and beyond

Staff needs a serious training in customer service!!

My children tried walking into the back of the store as it always has been free, raised her voice at both my children saying that is not how it works anymore. One of my children is special needs and was very upset about a stranger yelling at him.

When I went to sign up, told both my children (3 and 6) they won't be able to go in till much later.

Felt very rude and would maybe publicize that they are now charging, will not be taking my children back to this till staff has a serious wake up call!!!

What a great place to visit if you have small children and maybe looking for great gifts! I took my daughter here for her birthday and she had a blast ! Walking up to the store front it appears to be just a room with toys ! But it has a magical surprise door , that leads to rooms filled with art and lots of different fun hands on activities ! We did a dance video that was sent to my cell phone, we made our own slime , a tie dye shirt and they had about 12 options to choose from . You could purchase a fun clay bust to paint they had many options to choose to plenty of seating to sit down with children. Kids were able to ride scooters and lil horses in the store !! This is a fantastic interactive outing kids will love.

The concept of this place is really cool, but overall it is a little disappointing.

This past December we went to SONO to take pictures with Santa and it was right outside of CAMP. We walked through and honestly thought it was just a small little toy/gift shop with ice cream. No one greeted us or told us about what was behind the "secret door".

We went back to SONO a few weeks later as and we decided to look around CAMP while we waited for our appointment time at TRIBU across the way (BTW, amazing piercing place - check out my review on them!). This time an employee approached us, asked if it was our first time, and then asked if we wanted to see what was behind the "secret door". He made it really fun for my girls (ages 4, 7 and 11). We went back and were WOWed by the cool set up. You can shop, craft and play back there - and we would have never known that it existed had the employee not approached us. We didn't have a lot of time that day, but after exploring a little, we decided we would visit again.

So yesterday we returned. I checked out their website before visiting and saw all the scheduled programs they offer, but didn't see anything about the crafts. We get there and it takes FOREVER for someone to help us. Now, you can't get back without a staff person letting you in. There were two other families waiting around too. There was one employee manning the front, which includes helping customers, ringing people up and working the ice cream station. We decided to leave and walk around and come back a little later. When we did the employee was on his phone, but quickly got off when we approached him. He didn't get up or anything. When we asked about crafts he told us we'd have to ask the people in the back at the craft cabin. Less magic this time to open the door. He just had us wiggle our fingers.

When we get to the back we notice it is pretty busy this time, and that's understandable since it's a holiday (Presidents' Day) and it's raining out. Kids are playing basketball, are riding around scooters, etc. We make our way to the craft station and the person there is on their phone. We ask about what kinds of crafts they have and get a very brief description of how it works and what they have to offer. This person clearly isn't excited about their job. The crafts range anywhere between $15-$40. So we allow our girls to pick out their crafts. One picked a canvas bag to color with markers, and the other two picked out ceramics. The bag was $15, the smaller ceramic was $15 and the medium sized ceramic was $35. With the ceramics the girls each got to pick 4 colors of paint - one squirt of each color. They use these disposable trays for it and the colors are running into each other. They give you 3 paint brushes and no water to clean the brushes in between. Some of the crafts are way over priced in my opinion.

Since the place was busy that day they had their event room open so we were able to sit in there and paint and color, which is a good thing because basketballs were flying all around where the regular tables were. (My drink was knocked out of my hands by a basketball hitting me when I walked out of the craft room).

After you're done with your craft you just leave it on the table (weird to me) so that it can dry and an employee will eventually come and box it up for you and you can pick it up. There is no name left with the crafts so they know who it belongs to, etc. We thought we'd let the girls play a little while their crafts dried, but there were so many kids there just playing that even they found it a little too crowded in the slide/fort area, and in the basketball area there were adults and older kids who were playing a little aggressively. We decided to leave and walk around the mall instead. Our crafts were ready for us when we returned an hour later, but again, the staff person was on their phone when we approached them.

This place has the potential to be something really fun! The interactive displays mixed in between the shelves of toys is great! (The wooded walkway near the canoe is actually a piano!!). There's lots of stuff to entertain the kids as you shop, which surprisingly meant my kids weren't asking me to buy them stuff because they were too distracted by the things to do! This place could benefit from hiring people who actually enjoy working with children, who want to be work (and not be on their phones the entire time), and slightly adjusting their prices for crafts and programs. I definitely think we'll return if we are in the mall, but we wouldn't go specifically there for CAMP. I probably wouldn't pay for the crafts again, but would shop there and let the girls play.

This place use to be awesome but then they started requiring reservations to enter the back of the store. Usually I would understand but they are requiring you to pay 10 per person to go in. We talked with the associate and at first all he said was that this was the way it was since June 2020. Ok but that does not answer questions or make it alright. My wife kept digging and found out some more info. To use any of the craft areas or expedition displays you need to pay. So even the adults need to pay for only what the kids are doing.

And then they say well we give you a gift card and you can use it to buy anything in the store. What if my kids don't want any of the toys. And almost every toy in there has a heavy markup on it. So spend $40 to enjoy the store but really only the children use the displays and do the crafts. Or don't pay and you can't do much of anything. So why bother going in.

Also the crafts they were advertising, they're at Michael's for significantly less money. We were able to actually get all the crafts they would be forcing us all to pay for for a fraction of the price.

This place has really ruined the experience.

The staff is super helpful, friendly, and attentive. My son is almost 4 and he loves going here. I find myself having fun as well . The admission price goes on a card to use towards purchasing toys or activities. Great marketing.

Overall good experience, great crafts and cool decor, but wish counselors would monitor mask wearing as many adults and kids were not wearing masks despite current regulations! Also, please offer classes outdoors!

So today i went into camp with my husband. We have cane to camp many times before, and always had a good experience. My husband and i love the "magic" door. Once covid ended we went to store and had a great time the magic door was still open. So today when we go in, there are two other family and one employee and the store is very dead. My husband tried to open the magic door and go into the rest of the store. Well apparently the it was shut down and we need a reservation. Now that fine covid has changed a lot of things.
What i didn't appericate was the employee who start YELLING AND BERATING my husband because he opened the door and walked through i the hall way. He is a veteran with hearing damage he can't hear when someone says something to him from behind. The employee instead of defusing the situation allows other customers to verbally insult my husband this is DISGUSTING! its a toy store that should be dun and the employee only made us feel unwelcomed and upset