In today’s Saigon, parents no longer need to empty their wallets in purchasing new toys for their kids thanks to a budding market of toy rental services.
Similar to their regional counterparts, Saigoneers are now turning to online shops on social media like Facebook and Instagram for goods and services. This sense of convenience has extended to all aspects of life, including parenting. According to Tuoi Tre, new parents can save a significant amount of money each month by renting toys from vendors instead of buying them outright.
Depending on the origin and condition of the items, parents can rent an imported set of toys for VND60,000-200,000 per week. For Lam Thuy Duong, owner of a popular toy store in Binh Thanh District, renting out toys is not only a way to make ends meet but also to help out other parents like her. The toy store owner charges VND70,000-180,000 per item for a week of usage, but she added that not many parents need more than one week per item as kids tend to get bored easily.
She started the business based on her children’s toy collection, which continued to grow due to the kids’ ever-changing taste in toys. The shop now boasts a wide range of toys – around 500 items – imported from the US and South Korea, ranging from VND500,000 to VND5 million apiece.
"As toddlers tend to get bored after one week or so, we keep changing the toys to keep them interested," 31-year-old mother Nguyen Thi Cam Tu told the news source.
For parents like Tu and Nguyen Thi Diem My, the financial burden of entertaining their kids is eased by rental services like Duong's.
My estimated that her family spends approximately VND400,000 in rent for toys. “For [my daughter's] next birthday, I’m planning to get a few dozen items to make a small playground for all the children in the family,” she told Tuoi Tre.
It’s not uncommon for rental toys to suffer minor damage from repeated use but most shop owners find this an unavoidable reality.
“Seeking replacements from other countries may take months,” Nguyen Ngoc Duc, who owns a shop in Thu Duc District, told the news outlet. “Many items have been shelved because we fail to find replacement parts.”
Renting toys is definitely a practical solution for parents who don’t have the budget to cater to their kids’ growing needs, but experts have expressed concerns about hygiene and contagious diseases if the rental toys are not properly disinfected in between customers.
[Photo via Ken's Toys Reviews]
