Clinovirgin — Uyo's Virgin Toys and Accessories Shop

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In Nigeria, you barely see an outright toy store. It's rare because selling toys without other things isn't a good business. It's profitable, but you may not last in the business. Why? It's not a necessity. It's just an added advantage to men and women who would want to purchase toys for their children.

So there's this store in Uyo, not a direct toy store, but a clothing store with toys and baby accessories. The toy store is called Clino Virgin. It's under a popular mall in my city called Tropicana Mall.

Clino Virgin is located at the outskirts of Uyo, in Tropicana Mall. Tropicana Mall is a big space that houses most businesses. The owners of these businesses rent these places to market their products and make them even more visible.

It's not an independent establishment, and you can access this place using different routes from Udoudoma to 2-lanes depending on where you're coming from. If you're coming from IBB, the location would be by your right, while those coming from Oron Road appear to see the mall by their left.

Once you enter the Tropicana Mall, you tend to see this place close to Market Square in Tropicana Mall. As the name implies, its products are as virgin as it is portrayed. The address is at Udoudoma; there is no precise number for it.

Clino Virgin came into existence in the year 2019 and was formerly at Kilometre 7, Oron Rd, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, before the government demolished a lot of establishments to build a four-lane road since it's along the airport route. So their establishment was affected, making them secure a niche at Tropicana Mall. That's where they are now, and their place tends to be more visible and spacious than where they were before. They moved into Tropicana in the year 2021 by January.

The person who founded this place chose to keep his identity concealed for security reasons. Let's just be satisfied with the above information. He created a lot of social media handles and websites where customers can reach out to him and his partners. These are a few social media handles used for communication, complaints and information.

At Clinovirgin, they carried out various activities from my first visit to that place. There are about 5 employees in that place who help in monitoring, first impressions, packaging and receiving payments, advertising and informing, delivery and the like. Let's break it down. Let's talk about the employee who's entitled to give the first impression.

• First Impression Employee: This employee's work is to welcome customers to the shop and use catchy words to make them stay and make purchases. They give the first impression that the place has the quality their customers are looking for.

• Security employees: Their job is just to stand by the door to open for customers. It's one of the tedious jobs, but since it's a big place, customers don't come in as they do in the market square. Why is security personnel kept in front of the door? This is because there are some customers that find it difficult to open the transparent glass door. So the security personnel does the work of assisting.

_{Security Employee}

• Monitoring and service employees: After the first impression, employees have successfully laid the foundation; they take over by keeping an arm's length with the customers so as to convince them and also state reasons why they should go for a particular toy and which one they suggest for male or female children. They mostly do the informative work, as most parents aren't aware of how toys work.

• Cashiers or payment employees: They do the work of receiving payments and packaging their products for them.

These are the three major employees and their nature of work or activity. We also have the sales boys and girls who run errands, such as helping in delivery and assisting customers with their purchases in a trolley or basket. They also operate as an international brand, as their toys can't be found in the local market.

Most of their toys and goods are imported. And note that they don't sell just toys. I told you the reason why most Nigerians can't open a toy store just for toys.

Their environment is as clean as that Clino in their company name. Just looking at the exterior, you can tell that the interior is as clean as what I can describe. The environment is giving virgin vibes, implying that no matter the number of times you visit that place, it will always look new. Thanks to their lighting. With their lighting and transparent glass, we can be attracted to make purchases in the store.

_{The environment and interior}

There are various facilities, which include

• Toys section: This section is basically for toys and other baby accessories. It's still part of the shop but can be easily identified as a place where toys are sold. They have shelves where these toys are kept.

_{Toys section}

_{Toys section}

• Another section is the house of footwear, bags and clothing. This tends to be part of the shop, but it seems to be a different section of the shop. It has seats where customers can sit to make their purchases.

_{Clothes section}

• Cashier desk: There's always a counter for making payment in any business establishment. Though I didn't take a picture of the place, I did a video of the place, and if you look closely, you'll see that the cashier's desk is close to the door, and this place is not transparent like other places in the shop.

In terms of security, there are CCTV cameras all over the place to avoid theft, and there's a security person at the entrance who keeps any bag you bring into the store in her custody and gives it to you when you're leaving. She also ensures she checks your purchases.

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Their prices may be a bit exorbitant but they'll give you the best you've been looking for. Like I said, most of their products are imported and has good longevity. Let's take a look at some of their toys and their prices. These toys have categories and I'll be pinpointing a few from the pictures shown below.

Small toys: Small toys are segmented into one place, and these toys include telephones, water guns, puzzles, magic boxes, sculptures of actors, small toy cars and most things that can be used with the hands. Eyeglasses aren't exempted either. These are the kind of toys sold here for both adults and children.

_{Small toys}

• Big Toys This big toys section is seen by the glass walls of the shop. These include helicopters, cars, Power Rangers, remote control cars, teddy bears, pianos and guitars, both big and medium sized.

Big car and teddy bear
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_Dolls

These and many other toys are sold here, including bicycles for adults.

Knowingly fully well that this place is not a place for people without money, they tolerate all customers who come with the intentions of checking the price or admiring their products. I can recall an experience I had when I went to purchase a sneaker. They told me the sneaker is 87k, and I was shocked. That shock made them say something I didn't like. They said that their shop is not for broke people and that I should go and hustle and come back.

The staff in Clinovirgin can't do this. They try their best to understand people irrespective of their pockets, and they don't downgrade their customers. They treat everyone with high self-esteem. When I went to make purchases, a customer was responding in a harsh way. The way they calmed the situation got me.

I'm not a fan of toys, so I had to purchase a toy phone, which was quite cheap, and I did transfer to them instead of cash. Their prices are fair enough for the type of place they operate in, and they offer discounts of 5% off goods not more than 200k in worth. I actually like the place because it's unique compared to other places, and it's always neat.

cellphone toy	3500	33 steems

You'll see what you're looking for in terms of toys, and you can't compare them with other toys. I strongly recommend this place to parents who want to buy toys that would last for their children.

You won't experience imminent destruction of that toy even though it is overused or falls from a height. It doesn't scatter like the recent toys; children tend to spoil easily without thinking of how it was done. If you're in Uyo and you're looking for imported Crocs and sneakers, Clinovirgin has got you.