MATTHEW COURTER/Sun-Gazette Nicole Desaulniers, owner of The Mulberry Moose, is flanked by Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce president Jason Fink and Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter for a ribbon-cutting with confetti during the new store’s grand opening.

A recently opened toy store in the heart of downtown looks to provide an underserved market with unique items at affordable prices.

“I wanted to do one more thing in my life where I was bringing something to the community,” said Nicole Desaulniers, owner of The Mulberry Moose, 423 Mulberry St., who also holds a masters in marine biology, and previously worked in the field.

Desaulniers had previous experience working at Kids Catch in Lewes, Del., for six years, following the birth of her children.

“That store brought in over a million dollars in sales every year because it’s the beach. I mean, the summers were insane,” she said.

Desaulniers moved to the area three years ago after having visited friends in Oval over the past 25 years, and, after batting around a couple of ideas, decided to open up her own toy store.

“I saw this space on December 28, and I just was like, this could be a cool place for a toy store,” she explained.

After thoroughly going over the financials of setting up the business throughout January, Desaulniers then booked a trip to a Las Vegas toy convention and began making connections with vendors.

“I tried to make sure I had a little of everything here, but I really tried to stay away from what you can find at Target and Walmart,” she said.

“I was able to pull a lot of stuff in that you don’t see there, but I still wanted to get some of the classic games and the novelty stuff that brighten people’s day,” Desaulniers explained.

The store boasts an expansive inventory of plushies, wooden toys, games, puzzles and more from over 58 different vendors.

“I hand picked everything in this store to make sure you have a little bit of everything, so that all people are taking care of,” Desaulniers said.

With such a wide variety of items, keeping prices reasonable was crucial, Desaulniers explained.

“I tried to most items in a $15 to $30 range so that people could come in and get a birthday present or something that was reasonably affordable, but I also have a ton of stuff under $15,” she said.

Although the process of setting up any business is never entirely seamless, Desaulniers said that the involvement of local business organizations was a major help.

“It was recommended to me to join the Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce, the Williamsport Business Association and the Central PA Chamber, so I joined all three in one morning, and it was like, bam, I was slammed with everyone’s excitement,” she said.

“It was just amazing that people were so excited and so welcoming. The WBA posted on their site, and I had started my Facebook page on a Thursday, and that weekend, I had almost 500 followers from them,” she explained.

“What the chamber has brought is an understanding of what’s available in this community and the connection with people,” Desaulniers said.

Its that connection with people that Desaulniers cites as a big source of her commitment to the business.

“My goal is to bring quality, fairly priced products, toys and games and baby items to the community, and create an environment that feels welcoming and joyful and makes people smile,” she said.

“I would really like to see this become something that people are proud to have in their community, and to say, ‘we have a toy store.'”

“You’re not going to get rich owning a toy store. You have to have a passion for it and you have to enjoy being around people, and playing and just having fun,” Desaulniers said.