Downtown Beaufort Featured Merchant: Monkey’s Uncle

“I went to law school in my 30s. I had been in the newspaper business, but the publication folded and I needed to figure something else out. By the time I finished law school, I had two children, and we moved back here from Chicago because my wife grew up in Beaufort.

I knew people who practice law, and it seemed to suit them. But it didn’t suit me. It didn’t make me happy. We thought about looking for work and relocating, but we had really committed to being here because we loved the community so much. We wanted our kids to grow up here, and we were close to family, so I needed to figure out something else to do once again.

We were knee-deep in being parents at that point with young kids and they were happy. I wanted something that suited our lifestyle. I wanted to be home for dinner every night. So, that’s the commitment we ended up making, but it happened in a way that I wouldn’t have predicted.

I liked retail, and we were looking for a business opportunity. The first thing we looked at was a bowling alley, but that didn’t work out. But that led us to a space down the street that had previously been a children’s boutique, and we just kind of jumped into it. We started thinking about how we had been to a couple of cool toy stores, particularly a couple in North Carolina when our kids were little, and that seemed like a good fit for me. That all happened over a two-month period in the winter around February or March, and we were open for business by the end of July of 2013, and we moved into our current space in 2018.

We want kids to want to come here, and to bring their parents, too. We have a diverse customer base that spans all different classes of age, socio-economic, race, and all that. We literally get people from all over the world. We’re always trying to distinguish ourselves from what you can get on Amazon or at Walmart. That’s a challenge, but it makes it fun and gives people a reason to come in and shop instead of buying everything online.

We wanted it to be fun and family-friendly, where people feel welcome. We hope to have a sense of humor, so we have some gags and novelties and educational toys that feel more fun than educational. We also do a lot of sensory toys and fidget items.

We want it to be a place people want to come back to. It’s very gratifying when we have visitors in particular, who come to Beaufort regularly, or at least multiple times a year, and they say, ‘Coming to this shop is part of what we do when we come to Beaufort. It’s always on our list.’ That always feels good.

This wasn’t something I dreamed about when I was 25, but I really enjoy that part of it. Seeing people having fun shopping, kids excited to be here—I love that. It’s fun and every day is different and you meet a lot of people. It’s encouraging in a way, because sometimes if you watch the news, things can look kind of dark, but you wouldn’t know it being in here, to be honest.”

– Joe O’Brien, Monkey’s Uncle