J & R Junior- new store opening for young technophiles

I recently attended the "soft opening" of a brand new kid's store downtown.  It's J &R Jr., part of the seminal  downtown landmark J & R ____ World (electronic, music, and now kid's.  They also have a cafe!)

The store began when the son of the founders of J&R, whose name is Jason, had a second kid, and realized how much cool stuff was coming out for kids, and how he had to rebuy all of that stuff again.  The light went off in his head, and he went "Wow!  I went to get into that business too!)  They sell toys, books, baby gear, and kid's electronics.

The store is beautifully laid out, with ample room to try things out, play with the electronic music kit, check out new video games, and wheel around the high-end strollers.  They seemed to have a lot of great stuff in stock.  Of course, it was all brand spanking new.  I'll be interested to come back in a year, and see how their layout works when it's crowded and used and full of kids.  But it looks great right now!



In addition to the store, they have an area for developmental classes and a full-time daycare, both will be run by MoonSoup.  They could also probably do birthday parties and concerts in there too.

Max Darwin will do some crazy and silly things
to make you laugh at J & R Jr's.

Speaking of which, they have a fabuloso selection of performances for the opening weekend (Feb 11 & 12)

Magicians, princesses, giveaways, and lots of fun other stuff.  The soft opening featured some of the performers including  A Princess Visit and The Amazing Max(who is, it turns out, an old friend of mine from year's ago, but I didn't recognize him, because it was 18 years ago) Fortunately he recognized me, and I'm looking forward to having a beer or 3 with him soon.  Both of their shows are going to really wow your kids.  And when you look at the schedule and realize that Laurie Berkner  AND Dan Zanes are going to be at this free event (albeit on different days!), you should really just start camping out now!

I think this will be a great addition to the downtown universe of places to buy things for kids.  They really seem to have their stuff together.

Here's the schedule

Feb. 11:

1:30 pm: Laurie Berkner
2:30 pm: Little Maestros
4:oo pm: Farmer Jason

Dan Zanes will perform at the opening of J & R Jr

Feb. 12:

11 am: Dirty Sock Funtime Band
12 pm: Tad Hills (book reading)
1 pm: Amazing Max
2 pm: A Princess Visit
3 pm: Dan Zanes
4 pm: Kidz Bop (autograph signing)

Address: 1 Park Row, 2^{nd Floor, New York, NY}

Arrive early for performances, space is limited. NYC shuttle buses available.

For more information  visit www.jr.com/jr