Toy store uplifts parents who lost premature baby

WAYNE, Neb., Oct 07, 2008 (Omaha World-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Out of a parent's worst nightmare has sprouted a business that spreads joy and happiness on a Main Street corner here.

Jacob Woerdemann died a few hours after he was born in 2004 due to complications from being about 14 weeks premature.

But his parents, Amy and Mike Woerdemann, didn't want Jacob's memory or spirit to also die.

Thus sprang "Jacob's Room," a fun-filled, family-run toy store, the sort you would rarely find in a suburban mall, much less on a small-town main street.

The store is dedicated to Jacob and is filled with the kinds of toys he might have enjoyed, from bright-red Radio Flyer wagons to shelves full of Legos and Tonka trucks. There is a play area with Thomas the Tank Engine, as well as a gallery of hand puppets with their very own do-it-yourself theater.

The store sells toys nationwide through its Web site, jacobsroom.com, and not only has brought a sort of peaceful therapy to Jacob's parents, but also has attracted other parents who've lost children.

"Sometimes, they just want to come in and talk and cry," said Amy Woerdemann, who manages the store. "There's so much about this store. We're not just a retailer."

Last month, Jacob's Room celebrated its second anniversary at its retail location in Wayne, a northeast Nebraska college town of 5,600 people. And Woerdemann was recently named "merchant of the year" in Wayne by the Lied Main Street Program, which works to enhance traditional business districts.

The toy store has been a welcome addition, said Gary Van Meter, who runs Mines Jewelers next door.

"Not only are young families coming down with kids, reacquainting them with Main Street, but older people, too," Van Meter said. "It's a lot easier for grandma and grandpa to buy toys there. They don't get mauled to death like at the mall."

Woerdemann, who is the computer technician for schools in Wayne, Emerson and Pender, admits that doing battle with big toy retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us is not easy, and not yet profitable.

But customers, she said, are surprised at how well she can compete on prices in a business that she says was "meant to be."

The idea of a toy store began only as an online endeavor: Woerdemann would use her computer know-how to sell toys via the Internet.

She asked her husband, a stainless-steel welder, about becoming the inventory manager. But before he could answer, the couple's then 3-year-old son, Christopher, piped up.

"Mommy, I could be your toy manager," he said.

"And that was it," Amy Woerdemann said. "I wanted to do something to incorporate Jacob in our lives, and what better way?"

Your whole life changes when you lose a child, she said.

"It's like you have to find a reason, why did this happen? Someday you'll find a reason, I don't know when, but I wanted to do something that made people happy," said Woerdemann, who now has two sons. "Knowing that this store has made so many people happy gives me comfort."

Woerdemann had no retail experience when she launched the online Jacob's Room in April 2006. The Main Street store opened five months later, after she discovered that several toy suppliers wouldn't ship products at competitive prices unless a business had a retail outlet.

The store opened in the former Legend's clothing store.

The ceiling fans, wood floors and antique photographs of small-town main streets in northeast Nebraska give the store a historic feel. There are play areas where kids can occupy themselves while parents shop for their gifts, and a bucket full of stick ponies next to the cash register.

The only sign that this store had a special, spiritual beginning is a pencil drawing of Jacob near the front door. It carries the inscription, in tiny letters, "Know that I am happy in my Father's arms, love mom, dad and Christopher."

Woerdemann said she tries not to play up the story of Jacob, but word gets around, and grieving parents filter into the store.

To keep costs down, Woerdemann and her family members work many hours in the store, which is open six days a week -- seven during the Christmas season.

She recently got some good news -- a change in her Web site has doubled the number of hits, boosting prospects for the fourth quarter. Regardless, Woerdemann said she is optimistic about the future of the store, which her 6-year-old son calls "the best place in the world."

"It's like Christmas every day," she said, "especially when you get a new shipment of toys in."

--Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com

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