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Toy story: Inside a niche (and expensive) hobby
Summary
Millennials, increasingly well-travelled and steeped in Western pop culture, are turning to toy collection as a serious, and often pricey, hobby
For 35-year-old Shrey Pacheco, a Delhi resident and media professional, one of the best gifts he has ever recieved was for his 31st birthday—a model of football club Manchester United’s legendary football stadium, Old Trafford, by Danish toymaker Lego. While it cost his wife, 36-year-old corporate professional Anisha Sharma a lofty ₹30,000, this did not deter the duo—since then, the couple has built an impressive collection of toys at their residence.
A similar story unfolded with 34-year-old Avishek Dalal, who works as a developer with a US technology firm in Hyderabad. A decade ago, in the early years of his career, Dalal spent nearly ₹10,000 on a scale model of a Formula 1 racing car by Ferrari. “It was the kind of purchase that growing up as a middle-class kid, your parents wouldn’t even dream of allowing. So, in a way, this made me feel that I was independent, and had the means to fulfill childhood dreams," he said.
The likes of Pacheco and Dalal are among a small but growing group of toy collectors—a niche interest that is showing an uptick in India, especially among millennials. With the rise of dual-income, young urban households that are well-travelled and steeped in Western pop culture, toy collection is gradually finding a place as a serious hobby.
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The rise of a hobby
Those in the business believe that the pandemic played a key role in encouraging toy collection as a hobby. Manish Kumar, store manager at iconic UK toys chain Hamley’s for south Delhi, said that footfall of “serious collectors" is growing. "Since the pandemic, we see a steady stream of adult customers who walk in and ask for specific models of Lego and Hot Wheels. Since the movie came out, Barbies are of big interest, too," Kumar said. As per his estimates, a Hamley’s outlet in “prime urban spots" entertains “at least two adult customers making purchases above ₹10,000 each day."
The trend is evident outside stores, too. On messaging platform WhatsApp, groups with over 300 members see regular posts about limited-run sets of Lego, early-edition gaming consoles, rare playing cards of series’ such as Pokémon and NBA, and more.
From one such group, Mumbai-based corporate professional Vineet Sharma procured a collector’s edition set of Lego’s Gringotts—a landmark destination from Harry Potter—for ₹53,000. “My wife and I spent three years in the US, where we first picked up the hobby. Today, we plan to build a collectibles corner at home," Sharma said.
Alongside Gringotts, Sharma’s prized collections include a ‘Lightsaber’ sword from Star Wars from US toy firm Hasbro, a set of original-release Pokémon cards that he purchased from Japan three years ago, and a scale model of Tintin’s car, the Mercedes 600. Collectively, he has already spent above ₹150,000—and intends to spend more "if the item is right."
For most collectors, the passion rises from owning a limited-run item of a famous movie, TV series or comicbook. While Pacheco’s interest spawned from his first gift of GI Joe action figures brought from the US, Dalal’s interest includes rare, expansive board strategy games he followed in childhood.
Pacheco, who has collectively spent over ₹400,000 In toys, fulfilled one dream by procuring a replica of an aircraft carrier from the movie, Top Gun: Maverick. Built by Mattel’s Matchbox, the set is unavailable across platforms today—and sells at over ₹30,000 on unofficial online channels.
Dalal, who estimates his toy spend at just above ₹50,000 so far, also collects tinkering models—toys of special artifacts with rich historical connotations that need some degree of skill to build. “Ugears, which is quite popular in the US and Europe, is now in India. Their sets need you to follow precise instructions as well as improvisation such as using wax to smoothen the edges, in order to build. Their models are super-precise, and the process is therapeutic and engaging," said Dalal, who recently bought his first Ugears item—a trinkets box that he built for his wife, an edtech professional.
A growing business opportunity
The growing hobby of collecting toys is generating commercial opportunities, too. In 2020, Lego officially established its corporate presence in India—it previously only served retail sales. Today, the toy industry is growing—in August, homegrown market researcher iMarc pegged India’s toy industry at $1.7 billion. By the end of this decade, the value of the domestic toys market is slated to more than double—growing at over 12.5% annually.
In July 2019, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Brands spent ₹620 crore to acquire Hamley’s. The world’s oldest toy store, open since 1760, is today a ubiquitous presence across urban India. In June this year, Blinkit, the quick commerce division of hyperlocal services firm Zomato, launched Lego toys on its platform for 10-minute deliveries. Announcing the availability, Albinder Dhindsa, chief executive of Blinkit, wrote on X that the company had been tracking “an increasing number of queries for Lego toys on the platform for a while." In September, the company also introduced Hot Wheels.
The commercial expansion is boosting interest in more complex toys, too. One such example is Lego’s modular replica of Death Star—an artifact from the fiction series, Star Wars. On Lego’s official website and at Hamley’s, the set is marked ‘retired’—meaning that it is no longer in circulation. This is significant for collectors, for this means that alongside being an enticing collectible, this toy is also now an appreciating investment.
"Back when it was released, the Death Star retailed for somewhere around ₹50,000. Today, certain online marketplaces are already charging at least ₹75,000 for it—while in forums, retail prices of the Death Star can go well above ₹100,000," said Pacheco, who has been on the lookout for it for the past year.
Not quite there yet
However, amid all this uptick in interest, the hobby is still nascent.
Anuj Dawar, whose wife’s family runs Delhi-based games, sports and toys retailer Maya Toys and Sports, said that the lack of awareness and engagement in toys as an industry has hampered it. “India never invested in toy design as a field, even though of late there have been efforts from the government to boost local manufacturing. As a result, enthusiasm was never built, and most people coming in to buy toys looked for inexpensive options—stating that kids would end up wasting an expensive toy," he said.
With three physical outlets, Maya Toys and Sports sells sports merchandise such as cricket jerseys, which make for their biggest revenue driver. But, it also sells collectible editions of Lego sets, Marvel superhero merchandise and Hot Wheels cars, as well as die-cast car models from the likes of Jada, MiniGT and Bburago—brands that are quite popular among collectors today.
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Dawar, whose wife’s family has run Maya Toys since 1959, said that a lack of concerted effort to promote toys as a valuable item led to kids never looking at toys quite in the same way as families in the West did.
"This is understandable—back then, disposable income was seldom available to splurge on toys. This was, and remains to be a niche hobby—even today, most people would rather spend on travel or gadgets, rather than expensive toys," he added.
In Bengaluru’s Richmond Road, multi-brand retailer Sapphire Toys also has a similar observation. “We do see interest in high-value collectibles, and most buyers are working professionals. In most cases, we take a preorder and some amount of prepayment, and then either procure the requested item or import it for our customers. There’s definitely a rising interest, but it’s not quite at scale—most buyers still feel that spending exorbitantly on toys is an indulgence," said a store manager at the outlet, requesting to not be named since he wasn’t authorised to comment. An email sent to Mohammed Fuzail, the proprietor of the business, remained unanswered until press time.
Availability remains an issue. "If Lego launches a collector’s edition model, India gets 50 units of this at best. These units are then sold over a span of five years—so, when we get a buyer, the cost and availability factors mean that from first visit to purchase, the journey is often of two months," Maya’s Dawar said.
