CG Toys Cultivates Joy

Curating Toys. Cultivating Joy.

Ten-Year-Old Colt Abanatha Is Entering The World Of Entrepreneurism One Toy At A Time

by ELENA WRYE T ORIGINALLY SERVED AS A WEIGH STATION FOR THE road department. The humble structure sitting in front of local clothing boutique The Dirt Road, that is. “ “Trucks would come up here, and there was a scale out front for them to get weighed,” owner Heather Abanatha says. I

“And we ran electric to the building, because we always knew we wanted to do something with it—we just didn’t know what.”

Heather’s son, Colt, stands by her, smiling ear to ear, as Heather recounts the history of the 100-square-foot (floor to ceiling) building that they’re standing in. Now, it holds the weight of imagination, play, creativity, silliness, and fun as it houses Paducah’s newest toy store—CG Toys. When Colt celebrated his tenth birthday in February, the inception for CG Toys took place.

“For Career Day at school, he would always dress up as an entrepreneur—he always wanted to be a business man,” Heather says of Colt. “He would wear his sport coat to school on Career Day and say ‘I want to own a business.’” Of course, it didn’t take long for the entrepreneurial family to get to work on making their idea come to life. Once Colt’s birthday came and went, the family put their dream into action and began the renovation of the structure, with Colt’s dad, Gary, at the helm of the project.

“In ‘CG,’ I’m the ‘C’ and he’s the ‘G’ for Gary,” Colt says proudly of their duo status.

The small but mighty toy store gleams inside The Dirt Road. When you walk into CG Toys, you’re enveloped by a vast array of toys, candies, and collectables. Colors and textures greet you from every corner. The well-organized display of toys stands out against the white shiplap that lines the store’s interior walls—making an inviting visual for customers to discover what Colt and the Abanatha family have cheerfully curated.

The striking new backdrop was all done (with great enthusiasm) by Gary, making it just the beginning of what is truly a joint venture, as he now helps run the register during the store’s open hours. “Gary loves the toy store. The kids come in and ask for ‘Mr. Gary.’ His favorite thing is to see the kids’ faces light up when they come in, Heather explains.

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But before there was a register to run, and while dad was in the business of renovation, Colt dove in head first to finding products for the new venture. While the retail family was familiar with visiting markets to procure items for The Dirt Road, the notion of a toy market was new.

“We had to find vendors—which was challenging for toys,” Heather says of the buying process. “It’s not like clothes,” Colt adds.

“No, it’s not. And the toy markets are at odd times. They’re often in California or Las Vegas, and we still had school. So it was more online searching, calling, and different methods,” Heather says. “We have about 25 different toy vendors right now—which is great! But it takes that many to source all the things.”

With the amount of attentiveness that Colt gives to what is trending, the retail-savvy family takes full use of utilizing the various toy vendors they have discovered, and have found that they are able to provide their customers with products that are difficult to find anywhere else.

The diligent research that both Heather and Colt do in regards to the store’s merchandise would often lead them back to the trendy “TikTok Famous” candies. These are edible treats that TikTok users perform challenges with and take videos of themselves eating. When the Abanatha family found that there was nowhere in Paducah where these could be purchased, they were elated to find a source and make them a part of the CG Toys product line.

But in order to provide his customers with unique finds such as these, Colt has experienced the hard work and time that it takes to do so. And as a young entrepreneur, Colt has quickly learned how valuable time is. Not only does he play an integral role in CG Toys, he also excels in his fifth-grade school work, is an avid baseball player, and is active in his church.

“It’s a little bit of a crunch on time,” Colt notes. “But it’s worth it.”

Colt is no stranger to hard work, however, as he has had a front-row seat to that of the determination that his family has shown in their store. “Watching my parents has taught me that you always need to be nice to your customers. I see how hard work pays off. You can tell that hard work gets you good things.”

The good things for Colt? Besides saving for his college future and giving to his church, he finds the good in realizing that kids are choosing to spend their hard-earned allowance and chore money at CG Toys.

As parents and grandparents have shared stories with the Abanatha family of the chores that kids have so willingly done in order to earn spending money for CG Toys, the realization fills Colt with gratitude.

“It makes me happy to know that they want to do hard work to go to the toy store and that they care about coming here,” Colt says with a humble smile. And Colt has made sure to form a relationship and get acquainted with those who pay him a visit. He can expertly recall those who make frequent visits to the store—those whom he knows have saved up for their visit —and what products they usually gravitate to.

Colt’s aspirations didn’t stop at his storefront, however. Wanting to bring even more joy to the community, the team at CG Toys renovated the former Fork in the Road food truck into CG Toys’ very own traveling toy

truck that made its premier at this year’s Barbeque on The River.

The new toy store’s future is bright with its young visionary and his supportive family. To keep up with CG Toys’ journey—follow them on Facebook and catch their live videos on The Dirt Road’s Facebook and Instagram pages. The store carries, in Colt’s words, “all types of affordable toys.” To experience the joy that is cultivated at CG Toys, shoppers can visit on Fridays from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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