Sweet Dreams Toy Store

I’m conflicted. I love toys and I think this is an impressive toy store just based on its variety and how much they stock their shelves from floor to ceiling in each room. It’s a little excessive though, even a bit overwhelming and as a kid, I might’ve gone nuts coming here (in a good way, not so much for the adult/​parent). I can’t say much about prices since I’m not exactly in tune with standard or typical retail store costs but it’s not a chain so I’d expect to pay a small premium. I thought the various giftwrap wallpaper was interesting. The sections of the store are organized pretty well based on category of the toys. Unlike a comic book store or hobby store, it’s definitely geared more toward babies and young children than older kids (e.g. teenagers). Their train table was really popular for kids to interact with and play on.

I went here as a child and wanted to share the experience of Sweet Dreams with my daughter. Unfortunately I ran into an incredibly rude clerk. Such a shame, I had fond memories of this store. The content is great, the female clerk who was «helping» today downright rude and ruined this store for me.

I have been buying a lot of stuff for other people’s kids the last few years. I shop enough to know that most toy store workers are very nice, helpful and great with kids. This store was strange.
I stopped in with a friend who wanted to get something for her god daughter. I am boring and favor educational toys, but I saw something super adorable and suggested it to my friend. She liked it and decided to purchase it and some other accessories. While the guy was ringing her up, she asked if they gift wrapped.
Instead of saying yes or no, he said, «You have to pay first. People try to walk out without paying.» He was not pleasant and there was no one else in line after us, so I can’t even blame it on him being busy. Now, if she was trying to divert the toys away from him, maybe the unnecessarily accusatory response may have made some sense. Since she already had her wallet out, it was just insulting.
If it were me, I would have left right then. Fortunately for Sweet Dreams, my friend really wanted to make her god daughter happy. If I ever walk in and see that bald dude again, I am walking right back out.

Don’t know why I continue to buy things here? I’m in the store once or twice a year to check out the women’s clothing Middle aged man, who is possibly the owner, is intolerable. Never a smile or any semblance of good will. What he will do is glare at you with an impossibly dour look on his face. To make it worse he watches you like a hawk making you feel like he thinks you are about to steal something. Stupid me bought something on both last visits. Not again! I won’t come to your store Mr. Mean guy and why would any one?

there i was, trying to support a local store instead of just going to amazon to purchase toys for my nieces. apparently no good deed goes unpunished.
arranged my day to include a visit to sweet dreams… super.
found parking in elmwood… so far so good.
no sign on the door saying ‘no dogs’… so far so good.
walk around the store… nice selection, so far so good.
about to ask the counter guy for assistance, and he says (and i quote) ‘we don’t allow dogs in the store’.
hmmm…
here are some reality checks for sweet dreams:
— they have this thing called ‘customer service’, where you make customers feel welcome and appreciated, even if you have to ask them to tie their dog up outside… i.e., ‘sir, i’m so sorry, but we’ve had problems with dogs in the store. would you mind tying him up outside?’
— every toy store in s.f. allows dogs… just called them all to double-​check
— amazon allows dogs (so to speak)… and you don’t have to deal with elmwood traffic or parking… not to mention that you get free shipping, no-​hassle returns, and probably cheaper pricing.
before moving to (and experiencing the dismal customer service that runs rampant in) oakland, i lived in berkeley for almost twenty years. it is depressing to find that thoughtless, b-​team customer service is still the norm.
when sweet dreams finally goes out of business, complaining that amazon and the big box stores did them in, you can be sure it won’t be their fault. as the factory owner said, «it’s not our factory polluting the lake, it’s all those dead fish!»
amazon, here i come.
p. s.: every customer in the store… especially the kids… lit up when they saw my dog… a very well-​behaved and adorable fluffer. just sayin’…

After a late dinner on Friday, March 28, 2013, my partner and I were walking past Sweet Dreams and he saw a plush Ty puppy. He said, «I want that one.» Unfortunately, the store was already closed so I made a mental note of the puppy.
In the early hours of March 29^th, I went online and found the same puppy online. I showed my partner the puppy and the response was, «No, I want the one in the store window.» Really???
I literally had nightmares about being rejected while asking for that one particular puppy. But much to my surprise, the personnel at Sweet Dreams were very kind when I went back yesterday and asked for the puppy.
I woke up this morning to find the plush puppy next to him. Should I be jealous? Nah, because Sweat Dreams are made of this. «Who am I to disagree?» as Annie would ask.
Thank you Santag (spelling?), the guy who retrieved the puppy from the window.
ps. This store has a lot of cute stuff. And the gift wrapping was free. I chose the design called Orinoco Flow, named after my favorite Enya song. There’s a theme here…

Popped in to find Xmas gifts for 3 young boys, got excellent advice from staff, gifts wrapped and we were on our way quickly. Probably best not to linger too long here — even if you don’t have any children on your shopping list you’d likely buy a lot of very cool stuff.
A nice old fashioned toy store, which as another reviewer noted is almost extinct. Long live Sweet Dreams!

I remember the candy selection to be sooooo much better??? Maybe cause I was a kid, and everything looked better as a child? But the clothing in the back is fun, and the gifts are sweet

My son, daughter-​in-​law, 21 month granddaughter and I visited this toy store to purchase some small toys to keep my granddaughter occupied during meals out at restaurants. We filled the basket with some small toys. The clerk rang up the toys and we were shocked at the $ 60+ total. When we checked the purchased items, we discovered that my granddaughter had put several items in the basket that we didn’t want to purchase. Several similar items were included and at $ 8.99 each, the bill was much higher than we anticipated or wanted to spend. There were two similar dolls, two similar bracelets, two similar squeaky toys. Eliminating those duplicates would have brought the price down to a more reasonable amount. We asked the clerk to take back the duplicates. He said he could take care of that after we paid for the purchase as a separate transaction. We completed the purchase thinking that he would take back some of the toys and give us a refund. After we paid, he told us that he could not give us a refund and that we could only exchange the items for other items. WOW, TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AT THIS STORE. It was not as if we had gone home and played with the toys and then tried to return them. The toys were still on the counter. BAD STORE POLICY!!! GOOD WAY TO SCARE OFF GOOD CUSTOMERS. IT SURE SCARED US OFF. WE WILL NEVER RETURN.

So we gather up a big basket full of little toys, trinkets and gadgets to keep my toddler occupied on a long flight tomorrow. We get to the register and the guy rings us up for everything, including two of the same item, which we mistakenly picked up. We pay with credit card and seconds after the transaction goes through, we notice the oversight of having picked up duplicate items. We ask if we can just reverse that part of the purchase, to which we are told «sorry, no refunds, only exchanges.» I understand their small boutique policy and its fair enough, but this was literally SECONDS after completing the transaction. Two issues: 1) you couldn’t have told us we had picked up duplicate items as you were ringing up the duplicate items?, and 2) you couldn’t throw us a bone and refund us for just the one DUPLICATE ITEM? wow. poor customer service from a guy who clearly didn’t care about the job or the place’s reputation. We won’t be back.

As good as it gets, for a modest-​sized, truly independent toy store. You know, the kind that’s mostly extinct.
The place is packed to the gills with just enough selection of every imaginable toy category. Nothing exhaustive – space limitations prohibit that. But there’s enough, and boy is it convenient. And for a child, it’s a dreamworld. None of that Toys R Us sterility.
Helpful staff, decades of history, INSANE window displays, and reasonable-​for-​an-​independent-​store prices. What’s not to love?

I went looking for some gifts for my Mom for her birthday. They have a nice variety, and selection of merchandise. It’s a Candy Store, Clothing Store, and Household goods Store all in one.

So cute and the staff are always friendly. I love my «lady hammer.» It’s always fun to poke around and get some candy. Unfortunately, I do not like whatever brand of jelly beans they sell. wish it was Jelly Belly, but instead I got some pretty weird as well as some flavorless beans. Very disappointing haha. My other complaint is that the a lot of the clothes sold in the adjoining shop seem ten years out of style… especially the novelty socks… yikes! I love the shoes, atmosphere, soaps, and knickknacks here though!

«Dad, can we buy some plastic Army Men?»
Where do you find that in Berkeley? Sweet Dreams, of course! After picking up my dry cleaning at C&C (Marshmellow, good dog), we crossed the street and Hot Barb (the buyer) and Kevin (the manager) where on hand to greet us. Up on the wall of cheap toys were, sho-​nuf, a bag of Army Men! We paid $ 4.95 and a bag of fifty soldiers were deployed to our house. We asked about plastic tanks, but alas, the liberals of Berkeley would be outraged if Sweet Dreams crossed the line on war toys. I bet if we went to the Orinda store, they would have them.

I’ve been to this place many times way in the day as a student at Cal wandering down College avenue. So couple days ago just really wanted to check Sweet Dreams out and I really wasn’t planning on buying anything– heck it’s a toy store!!! But, I got suckered in… Yup, because I think I magically turned into a kid! They have so many neat toys that back in the day I wish I could have had,…and not just toys (I was looking for a plush cat that looked like my siamese/​calico but couldn’t find one), but they have games, puppets, kits, books… everything fun!!! Oh how fun it is to be a kid!!! Then since I couldn’t find a cat that looked like my siamese/​calico, I decided to shop for my nephew. I found the perfect gift for him and his parnets!!! YES a pottty training kit, that has a potty training book for him, some baby mags like GQ for babies, and parents manual, and real tissue!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAH I can’t wait to give this gift to him, as I am not babysitting and changing diapers on a 2 year old– not just yet!

The counter guy that I’ve had the 2 times that I have been in there is So rude. Hello, you work at a candy store! That should make you a little less mad at the world.
I do like the selection of candy and trinkets, but that is the Only reason I have returned.
The clothing section is nice too and the girls in that area are really friendly. Maybe they should switch staff.

umm WHAT HAPPENED?
did i miss something? did the management change? something?!
I don’t even know what to say about this place. I remember coming here when i was younger and the candy was terrific and every thing was nice and tidy. However, when dropping into the store the other day, every thing was a MESS and where did all the staff go?! everything was all over the place and their items seem to be more miscellaneous than ever. I was extremely disappointed that they let this place fall through the pits and let it age horribly. *sigh*
Best regards Sweet Dreams, hopefully things will turn around for you, my dear.

Aww such a cute palce! tons of candy as well as entertaining little souvenirs and knick knacks. Everything from cute hats to mugs about how cats are cool, to a book of solely pictures of butts. Awesome. Lots of cool toys and random gifts and collectibles. I didn’t get any candy, because i’m trying this new thing called self control. It sucks so far and i don’t like it at all. :(
But it didn’t stop me from drooling over all of the dark chocolate turtles.
Fuck self controlllllllllllllllllllllllllll. I feel so deprived. /​depressed :(:(
I need my chocolate fix asap or i’m going to start resorting to drugs or something even worse.
Not really. But still. I need chocolate in my system n.o.w.

The employees were a little too helpful. They must be teaming up for loss prevention causes because we went out the door twice and had our purchase beep. It also happened to a customer before us. It’s mildly embarrassing so if they need to tag everything they should be super diligent about deactivating it once purchased.
That being said, I think it’s a great store with lots of weird things. A good store to get a small gift for someone you don’t know what to gift. I took advantage of their socks wall– bought my mom and sister virgo/​libra socks and I got a pair of sushi socks! SUSHI SOCKS! SO cute, I’m excited about them. I also got the (seriously) CUTEST rain boots I’ve ever seen– lady bugs with little eyes sticking out on the toe. Man I never thought I would want it to rain so bad! $ 30 for the boots and socks were 3/​$ 15. Not bad. They had a coffee cup I would’ve purchased had it not been $ 10. A little much, I thought.
Great store, though. If the employees could chill just a weeeeee little bit, it would be perfect!

I have been going here for years. Lots of fun stuff and a great selection of stuffed animals, furry hand PUPPETS
Playmobil, books, puzzles, etc.
FIVE STARS to Irene and the other counter staff that
I have dealt with over the years… always friendly and helpful
ZERO STARS to management–
I have heard complaints about them from more than one source.
FOUR STARS for fun inventory