Gigly Spotlight: The East Manatee Toy Store That Sells Out Every Sunday

There's a toy store off U.S. 301 in east Manatee, next to two industrial bakeries and a collision repair shop, and it's open three days a week. By Sunday night it's out of toys. Then the staff spends Monday through Thursday restocking it.

That's Fidget Toys Plus, and it belongs to Faith Bench. Online she's Mrs. Bench, and 6.7 million people follow her on TikTok. That's more people than live in the Tampa Bay area. All of them are there to watch someone squeeze a stress ball.

The math teacher part

Bench taught math at Braden River Middle School for eight years, then worked as the district's secondary math curriculum specialist. The Business Observer reports the district named her Educator of the Year in 2020. Her own store bio says she'd been using fidget toys in her classroom since 2013. When school went virtual in March 2020, she started making TikToks to keep her students engaged, and a few of them showed the fidget toys.

The internet asked where to buy them, and you couldn't really buy them anywhere. So she and her husband launched FidgetToysPlus.com in October 2020. She told the Business Observer it got 1,000 orders in the first 24 hours. She'd also tell you it was "the first ever fidget toy store," and nobody seems to be arguing.

Most teachers get a mug at the end of the year. She retired into a business that once shipped 1,927 orders in a single day.

Fidget trading, explained for adults

Bench invented something called fidget trading. Two people sit across from each other, each with a toy, and barter. She made up a three-symbol system: a plus means "add something and we'll talk," a minus means no, and a check means deal. It's basically a car dealership where the typical customer is somewhere between 6 and 13.

It took off. The Jets tagged her in a fidget trading video, and now grown adults without kids are trading squishies on camera. So many people showed up at the store to trade with her that trading is now by appointment only. Here's one, straight from her TikTok:

@mrs.bench

Watch it on TikTok if the player doesn't load.

If you'd like to run negotiations at home, she sells the Fidget Trading Mat with the plus, minus and check printed on it ($12 small, $35 large). There's also a Fidget Trading Starter Kit ($35, with a NeeDoh guaranteed), so your kid doesn't walk into their first trade empty-handed.

What's on the shelves (until Sunday)

The site sorts things into Poppers, Stress Balls, Slime and Mystery Packages. The single best-seller, according to the store, is the Stretchy Dough Ball at $6. The homepage this week was pushing a Jumbo Skull Squishy ($15) for Halloween, a Fidget Toy Advent Calendar ($30) for December, and a Mystery Scoop from $21 for anyone who likes surprises.

How to go

• The store: 6481 Parkland Drive, Suite 108, off U.S. 301. The address says Sarasota, and the Business Observer calls it east Manatee, so both counties can claim it. Open Friday through Sunday. Get there Friday if you're picky.
• Online: fidgettoysplus.com. About three-quarters of the business is online, and it ships as far as Western Australia.
• Fidget trading with Mrs. Bench: by appointment only. Her posts say to email her to book.
• Mark the calendar: per the Business Observer, there's a meet-and-greet with Bench and other creators at the store on Sunday, Nov. 15, 1 to 4 p.m., with custom slime stations, make-your-own stress balls and open trading.

Follow along on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Find them on Gigly: Fidget Toys Plus and other fidget toy shops, or browse every local maker and shop.

Bring something good to trade. A nine-year-old will see right through you.

— Marina