LA-based Toybox Labs has landed its first retail partner after selling direct-to-consumer for six years through its e-commerce site. The company’s namesake 3D printers are hitting shelves in CAMP stores this week across the US, just in time for the holiday season.

Using demo stations installed at CAMP stores, kids can try out the product for free and print a custom name tag or a toy that takes less than five minutes to complete. If consumers purchase the Toybox printer, they will unlock access to print many of CAMP’s original characters, including Scout the Bear and Hazel the Snow Leopard.

Toybox considered making the jump into retail stores for years, but didn’t want to commit too heavily until it found a partner that could properly showcase its 3D printer, COO Malcolm Bird tells Kidscreen. 

“We have all these great videos [online] that show exactly what Toybox is and [show] kids getting excited and printing things, but how do you do that in retail? The amazing thing about CAMP is that it’s experiential. There’s actually going to be a Toybox printer set up in each store, so kids are going to be able to directly interact with it.”

Since its startup in 2018, CAMP has opened nine locations across the US—including LA, Brooklyn, Boston, New Jersey and New York—aiming to fill the void left after Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy that same year. The company also saw a need to create a fulfilling shopping experience for kids who wanted to fall in love with a product before they bought it, says Tiffany Markofsky Speyer, CAMP’s chief communications officer.

“One of the things that we really pride ourselves on is telling stories at retail,” she explains. “There are all these different ways in which we bring products to life, but there are very few places where you can really interact with a product and create an emotional connection to it.”