A Decade Running Jolley’s Farm Toys

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

‘Collecting has seen a few changes over the past 10 years.’

Article & Photos by Sharon Salm

Nicholas Grose is an avid toy collector – and so dedicated to the hobby that when the opportunity to purchase Jolley’s Farm Toys presented itself, he jumped at it. Ralph Jolley started the business in Meaford back in 1964, and when Jolley could not continue with the physical work to set up at shows, he approached Grose to buy the company in 2014.

Earlier, Jolley had given Grose his first job, hiring the seven-year-old to make miniature bales to sell to collectors who wanted accessories for their toy displays.

Grose would set up his bale-making operation out front of Jolley’s booth at the farm shows.

All Grose’s earnings went to purchasing toys from Jolley, and he often told Mr. Jolley that if he ever wanted to sell the business, he would be interested in buying it.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Jolley’s with Grose at the helm.

“Toy collecting has seen a few changes over the past 10 years,” Grose explains. “Older collectors still have money to spend but are spending on high-end and handmade toys.

“Younger collectors have tighter budgets, so they are more selective with their purchases. They have specific toys in mind – like the first piece of machinery they drove or equipment they want to have at the farm.

“Many no longer have an interest in collecting equipment from their father’s or grandfather’s era.”

He says the “scale of collecting has moved down in size. There has been a shift from collecting 1/16th to 1/64th scale in Canada. With European transplants collecting 1/32nd. The smaller scale collections are space-saving and today 1/64th is as highly detailed as the old 1/16th. There are more companies like Husky Farm Equipment manufacturing their own line of toys in 1/64th for small-scale collectors to enjoy.”

There are not a lot of implements for 1/64th tractors mass-produced. Toy collectors can make their own 1/64th accessories and implements with a 3-D printer, which lets them create one-of-a-kind implements.

Over the years, social media has changed toy collecting, according to Grose. “There are more avenues of communication for today’s collectors. Facebook, online auctions, and online toy trading all give collectors easy access to a large assortment of common toys.”

That allows Grose to stock the shelves with more unique items. “I carry more specialized toys that they cannot get so easily from the neighbour or online. I am buying in more toys from Europe and speciality lines.”

Times have changed.

“I am starting to see a decline in collecting equipment from the older era, with this generation of toy collectors no longer having a connection to a grandfather’s or great-grandfather’s machinery or toys. The younger collectors are including plastic toys in their collections because that is what they grew up playing with. Collectors are starting to share their 20-year-old plastic Bruder Toys with their kids. Multi-generational collecting will now include plastic toys,” notes Grose.

When Grose started running Jolley’s, he was building static displays and, over the last 10 years, he has transitioned to now building play tables with his daughters, reusing the same toys that he grew up with. BF