“Slime is still on.” That’s right, you heard it here, folks. Dumbo resident Natalia Jacobs opened Two Kids and a Dog in December — the toy store just across from Whole Foods in the old Poke Green space — and when I bumped into a pal on my way to the store, she asked me to get the word on the hot new toys. Jacobs had the answers.

So, also buzz-worthy in the kiddo department: stuffies like Squishmallows, throwbacks like lava lamps and arcade games, and for the younger set, the revamped but still old-school Fisher Price toys. Of course the scooter brigade will be out in force soon, as the weather warms up, Jacobs noted, and she has her selection of Micros ready.

Jacobs, who of course has a 12-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son and a labradoodle, opened her first store in Dumbo in 2014, since there was so little retail going on in the neighborhood for kids. (In fact, she would sometimes shop here in Tribeca at Boomerang.) Before her kids were born she ran a women’s clothing line — Candela NYC — that sold to Saks, Barney’s, Intermix and the like. (You can still find some pieces on Poshmark.)

After a couple years off to care for the kids, she was ready for a new job but done with wholesale. So she found a space in a mini-mall on Pearl Street — “literally it was barely bigger than a bathroom” — and as her retail neighbors left, she gradually expanded, eventually putting five of the small spaces together to create a kids emporium. In 2018 she opened a second shop in Williamsburg across from the entrance to Domino Park, but she was too early for that party. There was no street traffic since all the residential buildings were still under construction.

She closed that a year later and then waited for her opportunity here, having noted that there’s a lot more strollers and a lot more stuff going on for kids (schools, parks, the Downtown Community Center) concentrated in this little corner of the neighborhood than say, the West Village. She hopes there will be more Two Kids stores to come.

“I’d like to have four or five,” Jacobs said. “I’d really love to make a brand out of it.”

The store is jam-packed with toys and kids clothing; her specialty, other than the general notion to carry something other than what Target carries, is do-it-yourself kits for just about any interest: science, art, crafts. She tries to stock the store with toys that are not easy to find as well as classics — like View-Masters — that she carries year-round and has since the beginning. The target age range is newborn to 10 years. My photos are only capturing a small selection, NB.

PS: Coming within the next two weeks is Rosie’s Kids Cuts, a one-seater hair salon that will be run by Rose Negron, who has a following in the neighborhood and beyond.

Turns out there was a good use for the old Poke Green kitchen after all.

Two Kids and a Dog
275 Greenwich | Warren & Murray
646-342-4549
natalia@twokidsandadog.net