Harlem Rallies To Rescue Grandma's Place, Beloved Kids' Toy Store

HARLEM, NY — The owner of a beloved Harlem toy store is counting her blessings and planning for the future after a fundraiser for her shop zoomed past its goal, rescuing it from a pandemic-induced crisis.

"I'm thrilled to death about it," said Dawn Harris-Martine, the 81-year-old proprietor and namesake of Grandma's Place.

A retired school teacher, "Grandma Dawn" opened the shop in 1999 on a quiet stretch of West 120th Street, right next door to her own brownstone. Initially a child literacy center, the shop expanded a few years later to selling books and toys after its rent was doubled.

For 21 years, Harris-Martine has subsidized the shop herself. That became less tenable in the past year, after the coronavirus forced her to close the store entirely between March and August and the business ran up $17,000 in unpaid rent and other expenses.

Then, on Feb. 5, Harris-Martine was the subject of a glowing segment on NBC4, highlighting her role as "grandma of the neighborhood." Though she'd gotten plenty of press attention before, something about this appearance resonated differently, within days, she was visited at the shop by Nicolas Heller, a popular Instagrammer who has helped draw attention to other local businesses struggling to survive.

Harris-Martine's granddaughter set up a GoFundMe, and Heller's post spreading the word helped it shoot past its $17,000 goal within hours. (The effort was aided by the supermodel Bella Hadid, who shared the link with her 38 million followers.)

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By Monday morning, more than 1,200 donors had contributed over $45,000, enough to not only cover back rent, but also bring Harris-Martine closer to realizing one of her longest-held dreams: to open a bookmobile for Harlem's underserved children.

"It’s going to be a reality that there will be a bookmobile giving out books and games and care packages with socks and underwear," she said.

Leaders of local and national nonprofits have reached out to Harris-Martine in recent days about setting up the bookmobile, including Tony Hillery of Harlem Grown. She has already begun collecting books, and after buying a bus to house the mobile library, hopes to get it up and running by May.

In the coming weeks, Harris-Martine plans to individually thank every person who donated to the GoFundMe. For now, though, she has more immediate concerns: so many new customers visited Grandma's Place over the weekend that her inventory was nearly cleared out, forcing her to restock the entire shop.

But she isn't complaining.

"At 81 years old it’s a pretty exciting time of my life," she said.

Grandma's Place is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, at 84 West 120th St.