Photo courtesy Trevor Yopp

Buying Toy Joy was not initially in the cards for Fred Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Wild About Music in downtown Austin.

He attended the March 31 auction of the longtime toy store, which closed in mid-March not long after moving from Guadalupe Street to Second Street—down the street from Schmidt's newest venture, Austin Rocks. When a deal emerged that was too good to turn down, he and Wild About Music co-founder Shelley Meyer accepted the challenge to take over Toy Joy. The store reopens April 12.

"We're taking this much-loved Austin brand and keeping it alive," said Schmidt, who opened Wild About Music in 1991—four years after Toy Joy first debuted. "This is good news because it gives us a chance to make it right and make it viable again."

The acquisition allows Schmidt and company to further their mission to diversify downtown Austin's business offerings beyond restaurants and bars.

"Downtown is becoming a more active, more vibrant place, but it needs to have more daytime uses," he said. "That's where we're filling a niche, and we hope others will join us."

Schmidt and Meyer will also retain former Toy Joy owners, Trevor Yopp and Lizzy Newsome, to help manage Toy Joy and their other ventures.

"We're not just taking it over because we would be hard pressed to find people more joyed by toys," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said he takes pride in preventing another Austin staple from falling during the city's high-growth period.

"Austin was able to avoid losing another piece of its authenticity, and that's why people come here—they want to experience Austin in as unique an Austin form as they can."