Check Out Lewis Warren’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lewis Warren.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Well, growing up with C.P. (Cerebral Palsy) I was always told what I couldn’t do, and what I shouldn’t do. But… I have never been one to listen much to that and go to the beat of my drum. Not to say it wasn’t hard being handicapped, because it was and still is. Try having a speech impediment and ordering a pizza… Thankful for smartphones.

I started collecting toys and comics as a kid, probably around 4 or 5 years old because as weird as it sounds, toys and such were my friends. Growing up with a disability no one wanted to hang out with the handicapped kid so toys and comics kept me company. I would keep them in the package and I used to hang them all around my bedroom. My dad would ask me, “How the heck do you not want to open these?”

He thought it was just completely weird that I would keep everything sealed. But now that he sees the value he is just amazed and it wasn’t until I started buying my action figures I would buy two, one to open and one to keep sealed.

After years upon years of collecting I ended up having a MASSIVE collection and I didn’t know what to do with it. My girlfriend at the time was like “Hey, you have way too much stuff, you gotta get rid of some of this”. So I took it to a shop to sell it and that shop offered me an incredibly insulting offer. I couldn’t understand how unfriendly and terrible this was and I went and told my friend at the time and he made the comment “Why don’t we just make our store?” and this hit home with me.

Why not make a store and make it a community? Why not make a place that people want to go and spend time with and not be insulting? I was so enamored with the idea, but I was scared to put the idea forward. Luckily at the time, I had a girlfriend who supported me and pushed me to do the store. And so the store was born!

It was a long road for sure, But thankfully, I had people in my corner, my brother, JT, Tony, and my father. I couldn’t be more thankful for the help these people have given me and pushed me along the way for sure.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth Road? Haha, no… It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do and most of it I did by myself.

Where do I start? Well, Let’s see. At the time I was in California visiting my mother because she was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer and my ex-partner was in charge of finding a location to open the spot. He found a place and sent me pictures facing the windows and I could see the street and I thought “ok perfect, we have a shop!”

Little did I know, it was inside an office building. When I got back in town and found out about this I was shocked and worried! Because I sat and thought to myself, “We aren’t a dentist! We are trying to have a retail store and getting people to find us is going to be impossible!”

Then to pile it on, my ex-business partner decided after 2 weeks of signing the lease he didn’t want to do it anymore and bailed. Once again I felt just let down and scared. But my determination wouldn’t let me give up and I just kept moving forward.

I spent every day going and setting the store up, Hanging the grid walls, pricing products and just trying to get the store to an “opening” type of state. My at-the-time girlfriend would spend her days helping me set up as well. I kept putting our opening off because I was scared and worried about doing the store by myself and with C.P. Until I just told myself, “Ok, this is it, I’m opening this Saturday” and that is just what I did.

The opening was just the start, I had no idea how to get my name out there, how to get people into the store, or anything. I would go 5-7 days between customers and I would go home crying to my girlfriend and tell her “I have made a huge mistake” and “Why did I open this store”, but she would tell me:

“Just stick with it and it will get better. Don’t give up”

And I did exactly that. I trudged on and stuck with it through everything. I’m glad I did because now I have Amazon Prime doing a story on me and I have met so many amazing people along the way that I am truly grateful for and that they are in my life.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So here at Monkey Paw Toys, we specialize in collectibles, comics, video games, hard-to-find items, and more!

Describing the store is nearly impossible. Whenever people come in for the first time you can just see the amazement on they’re faces. We have everything from your childhood to stuff that is releasing tomorrow. We love that nostalgia and the feeling it brings. When someone comes in and says “Oh my Lord! I haven’t seen this since I was little!!”

It’s things like that we love hearing and making people’s day! One of the main points I wanted when I opened this shop was customer service, I want people to feel welcome and WANT to come to Monkey Paw Toys. I think it’s awesome and comforting that people can come to the shop and not buy anything but have a place to go to and talk about things they collect and hobbies.

I never had that growing up and I think I would have loved to have a place to go and just spend time at and meet like-minded people. I really couldn’t have done this without certain people, so I just need to take a moment to give thanks, to Jt, Tony, My brother, and my father. Their support and help mean “worlds” to me.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
We would love for people to support us! We have so many ways to get in touch and check us out:

https://www.facebook.com/MonkeyPawToys

https://www.instagram.com/monkey_paw_toys/

And of course, just coming into the store: 1555 S Havana St Unit G Aurora CO 80012.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.monkeypawtoys.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monkey_paw_toys/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonkeyPawToys
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@monkey_paw_toys7927

Image Credits
Lewis Warren, JT Newbury, and Tony Delk