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Business & Tech

Barbara Sinnet: From Illinois to Mystical Toys

Making Local Children Happy

As a child, Barbara Sinnet, owner of Mystical Toys never dreamed she would own her own business but today, she and husband Frank make sure kids in Mystic have their own little piece of the downtown pie. 

Ask any child who knows the store, which colored gumball wins the prize, and they will most likely answer with expedient certainty and an ear to ear grin, ”white…this month.”

Barbara and Frank Sinnet, originally met in Illinois at the third McDonalds in the U.S. Barbara, 18 at the time, was dating someone who worked at McDonalds, and Frank, originally from Maine, was in the U.S. Coast Guard and worked part-time at the iconic burger joint. He saw Barbara come in one day, peek over the counter with her sparkly eyes and the rest was history. They went on a first date in March, got engaged that May and married on September 8, 1962.

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Frank’s family lived in Ledyard so the couple decided to move to area where they started their family of five. Barbara stayed home with the children until braces for her older daughter necessitated more income. 

“I told him, ‘I’m going to give you a choice, you can either let me go back to work or I’m going to end up having an affair,’” Barbara said with her spunky spitfire attitude.

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Frank took her joke to heart, and Sinnet began work at the Beggars Roost, located where Army Navy on Main Street is now. Then, 31-years-ago, she stepped into , not knowing that business would become her livelihood.

When the previous owner decided to sell Mystical Toys in 1991, she approached Sinnet and gave her a week to decide. The business never turned a profit so securing a loan was impossible, but a generous neighbor offered to finance their purchase. Barbara turned it into a money making venture by discontinuing non-selling items and addind winning toys like Playmobil and Crayola.

Barbara has always lived within three blocks of the store and after putting in years of long hours, now has reduced hours and spends all her extra hours babysitting her grandkids and taking the occasional vacation.

“I used to go to the toy fair, now I go to the Virgin Islands,” she said. 

Between neighboring businesses, fantastic employees, tourists and traffic, Barbara is very happy with how far the business has come and the company she keeps.

“People say when are you going to retire?” Sinnet said. “I don’t work as much as I used to but I’m just not ready yet.” 

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