As kids, most of us earned a little money selling lemonade. Aaron Brown of College Park is no exception. What is different is that by age 7, Brown had moved on to his next entrepreneurial venture, selling toys. A decade later, the Woodward Academy senior owns Tin Toy Arcade, a successful online store that sells everything from vintage wind-up robots to whoopee cushions (a top seller). Tin Toy Arcade has seven full-time employees, including Brown’s mom and dad. “My job is literally playing with toys for a living,” Brown says. “I don’t think it can get much better than that.”
Q: How did you come to start a business selling toys?
A: My grandfather collected toys when he was a kid. One afternoon, I was rummaging around in the basement and found a huge box of them and started playing with them. I decided to buy my own toys and try to sell them. Among what I am selling now aren't the actual antique toys but reproductions using the same machine presses that produced the original toys in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Q: You have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and everything. You are the real deal.
A: Over time, the business has really grown into something. I would never have believed that it would be so successful, thanks to all my friends and teachers pushing me along the way. It has been super fun for me and a blessing for my family.
Q: How so?
A: My dad was an architect and his business went completely under during the recession. I hired him and he now works for me full-time. My mom, who was a teacher, also works for me. They boss me around at home and at the office, I boss them around.
Q: Do you have a favorite toy?
A: My first toy was this little Japanese bird — you wind him up and he pecks around. I had always been this very stoic little kid. My parents were shocked to see me laughing by myself with this toy. My favorite robot is Lilliput robot. It is yellow and my logo is an adaption of it.
Q: Where do the toys come from?
A: I have a few companies I work with, one in particular, Wagner in Germany. The company makes all of its toys by hand with bullet presses that Joseph Wagner stole from Hitler and repurposed to make toys. He gave the presses to his son, Marcus, who runs the business out of his garage and we have become friends. I went to Nuremberg, Germany, to meet both of them. We had some translation issues but the general love of toys seems to transcend language.
Q: What are some of your hot sellers?
A: We sell a lot of prank toys like hand buzzers, whoopee cushions, snap gum, those little flowers you put on your lapel that shoot water. Those are huge sellers and some of my favorites.
Q: Haven’t some of your toys appeared on TV shows and movies?
A: Probably 15 or 20. There was a table on "iCarly" that had water in it. All of the tin toy boats floating in it were mine. An episode of "Heroes" brought one of my toys to life. Most recently on "Supergirl," I saw one of my robots. It is interesting to see how the business has turned into a prop storehouse.
Q: Can you keep the business going while you are in college?
A: I hope to. I can run everything from my laptop here at school now. I plan to study industrial engineering or operations research. Hopefully, I can use the business as a testing ground to prove things I am studying in class.
Q: What’s behind being a successful entrepreneur. Drive? Big ideas?
A: I don't think it is one particular thing. I have found that the best way to solve problems is over time, that slow progress is a lot better than a sudden burst of change.
Q: What advice would you give other kids out there?
A: In my experience, it is about being open, searching for something that challenges you and that you are good at. It was never my intent to make money. I love the toys and I wanted to share them.
Information: tintoyarcade.com.
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