Community Corner

Wonder Works is Rooted in Passion

Christine Osborne expands local toy story to Kiawah Island.

Twenty-two years ago, Christine Osborne was an out-of-work marketing executive trying to figure out the next chapter in her life.

She loved hands-on science, and a long-time friend loved telescopes, but when the two mentioned going into business together, their friends said a store that specialized in that geeky stuff would never take off.

“They thought it would be so nerdy no one would shop there,” Osborne recalled recently while sitting in the jammed-pack storeroom of in Mount Pleasant.

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This week, Osborne opened her fourth Wonder Works store in the Lowcountry.

The new Kiawah Island location at Freshfield Village comes a year after she opened a store at the Charleston Market and more than two decades after she opened stores in Mount Pleasant and .

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She spoke with Patch recently about her business and how others can find success chasing their passions.

“Wonder Works is a place where magic happens,” Osborne said. “It’s a toy store for all ages and imaginations. Everyone, from birth on up, can find something in there to play with.”

Wonder Works was born amid a recession in the early 1990s. And Osborne has grown in the last few years, despite sour economic conditions, because she’s found a niche.

“These aren’t the toys you see on the mass market,” Osborne said. “These toys are cool. They are very high in quality, and you’ll have them forever.”

In the world of retail toys, Walmart, Toys-R-Us and Target dominate, but Osborne has gotten so good at finding the unique and knowing what sells, toy makers often seek her advice.

“Most stores have like 40 vendors; I have more than 2,000,” Osborne said. “It’s not really us providing the feedback, it’s the customer. But we build a relationship with the customer, so we know what they like.”

She also shares that knowledge with fellow entrepreneurs, even ones that could be considered competitors. She thinks sharing her tricks benefits her business.

“Whether you’re a business that competes or not, we’re all friends in this community,” Osborne said. “There’s another store in this shopping center that sells toys, but I go over and help her with her displays.”

A year ago, Osborne decided to open her third location in the renovated Charleston Market. She wasn’t sure the tourist-heavy business would be right for her products, but with a few tweaks aimed more at adults, she’s found a great way to even out her business.

“Toys are so heavily weighted in the fourth quarter, but tourism is big in the second and third quarter,” she said.

Likewise, the Kiawah Island expansion puts her in an area that booms in the summer, and tourists are almost always in the mood to shop, she said.

Osborne credits a lot of her success to having a great team of employees. Like her, she said, they have tremendous energy and enthusiasm for the business.

Though she thinks her heavy involvement in charity and her benevolence toward other businesses contributes to her success, her passion is what has helped her thrive.

“My passion is fun, whimsical things,” Osborne said. “I love to help people smile. … So when people ask for help, don’t turn them away. They are your community, they are the ones that come into your store.”


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