Since graduating from St. John’s College, Shana Hack (A95) has been selling toys for a living, primarily in various stores around Santa Fe. When the time came to make some decisions about her future, Hack decided that she was happy selling toys. “I just realized I wanted my own toys,” she says.

Hack was sorry to miss what would have been her 10th reunion last September, but she had just opened Moon Rabbit Toys, a block from the Plaza on Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe. It’s a family enterprise. Hack’s husband, Scott Cox, a carpenter, built shelves for the store. Her mother, Karen, became her first employee. From the beginning, Hack was out to create an extraordinary toy store, one that reflected her own values. Only two toys in her store require batteries. Most toys are made from natural wood, and Hack scours catalogs and Web sites to find toys produced under fair labor conditions.

“I found some amazing companies in Thailand that make toys of renewable wood and that follow European Union labor standards. I buy a lot of toys made in the U.S., and some wonderful board games made in Germany. If I buy something from China, it’s because it’s a really decent toy. Where else are you going to get rubber chickens and Rubic’s Cubes?”

Don’t look for an Xbox or Game Boy in Hack’s store. “I love simple toys,” she says. “Take out a yo-yo and learn a trick. Who doesn’t love a Slinky? And Frisbees—they’re just brilliantly designed.”

Parents who remember how much fun it was to play with a Jiberwheel—a hand-held toy with a gyroscope—are buying them for their kids, but playing with them instead. Another popular toy is the goofy drinking bird, which provides a physics lesson every time he leans over to drink.

Hack’s stock of board games has already attracted Johnnies who enjoy strategic games. “There’s the ‘Settlers of Catan,’ all about trading and developing cities; ‘Carcasonne,’ which involves building a map; and ‘Hector and Achilles’—how could I resist that?”

When she’s a little better established, Hack would like to start a game night for Johnnies. Bringing students into the store would give her someone with whom she can discuss her favorite books: Herodotus’ Histories—which she keeps in her store to peruse at leisure—and Moby-Dick.

With just a little advertising and a good location, Moon Rabbit Toys has already attracted a good base of parents, tourists, and children of all ages. The downside is that she’s been known to work a month without a day off—a small price to pay for the rewards of running her own show and being able to play with toys. “I’ve been dreaming about this for four years, planning it for two, and now I get to wake up every day and say, ‘I own my own toy shop—how cool is that?’ ”

By Rosemary Harty

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