Small Wonders

Rolling Hills Estates is the most amazing place to visit around the holidays! We were there with my family during the first week of January and it was amazing. The crowds, the atmosphere everything was perfect. The kids really wanted to go to Small Wonders to see the huge piano which was featured in the movie BIG. Although, the lines were big it was definitely worth it (for the kids). The store is really enormous and there are all kinds of toys and entertaining stuff.

Very very bad woman in here. She is rude and throw plastic bag to me cause my kids make mistake. This place is for kids but they dont understand at all.

My kids love coming in here… there are toys (and a train table) to keep them occupied while I shop. They have high quality toys and not as much of the cheap plastic stuff that you find at the larger toy stores. Some members of the staff are very sweet and yes, some have been less friendly, but it’s never particularly bothered me. I like to be left alone when I shop! They’ve been around forever and are a staple in the Palos Verdes mall.

Very rude woman, accused me of «messing with her» for asking about different products. And then implied I was not a customer and she was busy with other customers. I will take my business elsewhere.
Blond hair, older, wearing a pink shirt Saturday the 21^st.

Wonderful selections, great quality. You cannot please everyone, but you can understand when an owner knows what’s she’s doing. Very insightful gifts, modern and creative. I’m planning to do a good percentage of my shopping there for certain family, not only because of how long the owner has done well, but because there IS a sense of caring. To each his own perspective.

Such a charming and creative toy store. Here you will find much more educational and higher quality toys than the large vendors. I bought a «tool set» from them for my cousin’s son when he was a toddler, and he loved it. It was made of all different textures and very age appropriate.

I love this store. I have been coming here since I was a little girl. Now I buy gifts for all of my friends kids here. The staff has always been very helpful and friendly towards me. They gift wrap my present beautifully. They always have very cute and unique gifts. Shopping here always brings a smile to my face.

I love to «shop small» and support small businesses when I can. With that said, I only support businesses that are worth supporting. This store has the most unhelpful and racist employee that I have ever experienced and I will not be returning.
Upon arriving a «gentleman» was working the counter and he never acknowledged us, offered help etc he just played with his bouncing ball against the wall. When another member of my family walked in, a female locked eyes on him and watched us the entire time as if he was going to rob the store. When we went to buy something she ignored us and gave us an attitude until she saw the money. Then she looked at us and helped us. When we wanted another item, we were a big inconvienence to her and she huffed and puffed until we bought the item and left.
When we left there was a little Asian girl playing with their demo pedal cart. When one of our boys got on, she went to him, held the cart to prevent him from moving and basically kicked him off and took the entire demo display inside with a lame excuse of ‘she didn’t want the hoodlem kids to come and play with it.” I have never felt some much hatred from anyone then I have from this employee. This store will never be getting my business. Instead, we’ll go back to the book store on the 2^nd floor, where we were much more welcomed there and spent our money there instead.

I believe in supporting Mom & Pop shops, but not this one.
As other reviewers have stated, the staff is rude and dismissive, including the owner. While browsing through the store today, I came upon a sign in the gift wrap section, that left me speechless. (See photo above). Who proudly displays something so utterly rude in their own store???
I started going to Small Wonders as a kid and now that I’m a Mom, wanted to continue the tradition. After the last few visits and then todays insulting sign, it’s not going to happen. Why, yes, Amazon and Target, you can have my $$$ instead.

I love my PV mall and try to support local businesses so when I needed to mark off the 4 little ones on my Christmas shopping list I decided to stop by here before browsing Amazon or Toys R US.
The store was not very organized, I couldn’t figure out where certain toy types or age groups were, half the items didn’t have prices marked, the other have were super overpriced. I do not have kids and this store does not make it easy to shop at all. Additionally, I was in the store for over 20 minutes walking in circles and not one employee stopped by to see if they could help. I do not understand how this place stays in business.

Come on… perhaps the owner and employees need to read the reviews here. I went shopping here today and I bought few items. They could not even tell me happy holidays or merry christmas after I paid for my items and left the store. Talk about shitty customer service.

Wonderful selection. I just wish for kinder staff. I went here (sans kids) to purchase a specific toy my son wants for Christmas, and I could easily have saved myself a 20 minute drive and purchased it online, but I also thought it would be good to support a small business…
The cashiers (the owners, I believe) were quite cold and unhelpful. The store was not terribly busy and I had been nothing but polite, so it was unclear to me why I received such an unfriendly response to my questions about the toy.
Sorry to say, I chose not to purchase there after all and will be purchasing that toy online instead.

I love bringing my daughter here. So much to see and do. After such stimulation overload, she’s ready to wind down at home and relax. The store is small and feels cramped, but it sure does pack a whole assortment of toys that your young ones will enjoy.
Whether it’s the outside display or some of the designated play stations set inside, it’s nice that kids can «play» with some of the toys to keep them occupied while parents shop for gifts. The back corner room with the glow in the dark toys are a treat. I love the expansive choices of Melissa and Doug toys. Most of the toys are high end and exceptional in terms of quality. I like how they’re educational (motor skills, alphabet, role playing, etc.) as well. The toys are a bit over-​marked, but it’s not too exorbitant. You’ll spend maybe 5% more than the discount chains, but I’m sure it’s to offset the high rent at the Promenade.
My daughter loves the small, figurine animals made by Schleich. High quality, very realistic toys that are $ 3.59−7.00 each, depending on size.
The only thing that irked me was that there’s a $ 10 minimum for credit card purchases (Discover is not accepted).

This store is really small, but it is only full of fun, unique and educational toys and books. There is little to no crap toys here.
Playmobile, Brio, bath toys, play kitchen stuff, dolls, dragons, puppets and a bit of Hello Kitty. The book section is a little lacking, but I’ve scored some great finds.
The perfect place to find a present for any little one in your life. Plus, free (and fun) gift wrapping.

I love the inventory at this store, but I have to agree with many of the other reviews, the service is bad. I never have friendly service there. I was in there over Christmas and overheard a couple employees complaining about having to be there and just sitting there bitching and moaning while many many customers roamed around and had to seek out help. They never greet you when you enter, but I usually begrudgingly fork over my money to get quality toys for my kids. Fact is, you can’t get these toys at Target or Toys R Us, and I’d rather shop a locally owned store, but usually at a locally owned store they appreciate your business; this place acts like it couldn’t care less.

This is where you go if you want to be treated like a felon or someone with a contagious incurable disease. The owner as well as the older woman daytime sales clerks are unfriendly, unkind and if your not buying there high priced items will treat you and your children in a cold way. I have been in this store quite a few times and have never had a positive experience. I will no longer shop here where everything is overpriced and I’m treated in a rude fashion — Boo on this store, they should work on their people skills!
Going to Target!

Small Wonders may fail as FAO Schwartz did for selling low end products at exorbitant prices.
The manager normally on duty during the daytime is curt, unfriendly and disinterested.
Today’s report from three in our family window shopping this week and in months past. Its just that she is so rude and indifferent lately that it was mentioned to me. So I decided to observe her demeanor. My family was right. Something besides high prices is wrong, so wrong. Really can’t tell what is wrong, but it is
Nantucket Crossing is close by, j friendly and family is the feeling there.
If you don’t want to be treated with active indifference at Small Wonders make the 4 Mile drive to Toys R Us, Target or KMart. Same stuff 50 percent less.

This is where you go if you want to find fun, interesting, and unique toys for both kids and adults. It’s like a miniature FAO Schwarz; a polar opposite of Toys R Us. They stock more art– and education– heavy toys, not so much Bratz or Barbie.
If I had kids, all their toys would be from here (now that I think about it, growing up, all MY toys were from here… that explains my genius-​level intelligence, no doubt). Their prices are fairly reasonable too.
Also this is a local, family-​owned store, and there’s precious few of these left. If anything, shop here to support a one-​of-​a-​kind small business.

Probably the only place I found that was really interesting in this mall. I like toy stores. Always have and always will. The store is pretty packed with merchandise. They have cool little animal figurines, some wacky fun items as well, like Nerd glasses and of course Hello Kitty stuff.
Fun place to browse and maybe find something that you want that you didn’t before.

2 ½ Stars (rounded down)
A lot of cool stuff for kids (I was looking for a gift for someone). Problem was there’s an unpleasant, grumpy older lady with a loud voice working, and she decided to share her complaints and attitude w/​anyone w/​in hearing distance.