With each passing year, more and more consumers are understanding the impact their purchases have on small businesses. A fine example of this is Marin Diddams who posted a now-viral plea on TikTok for her father Steve Diddams’ small business, Diddams Party & Toy Store.
In the short video, she explains that the Bay Area business has been an institution that has defied all odds. Over its 34 years in operation, Diddams has held its own against competitors like Party City and Amazon. As well as survived the COVID-19 pandemic, which crippled many independent retailers. It even thrived enough to have three different locations.
She goes on to explain that one of Diddams Party & Toy Store’s biggest money-makers has always been Halloween. Unfortunately this year business has been so slow that her dad is already offering 50% off costumes. While she worried that her October 21st plea may have been too little, too late. The heartfelt video soon went viral driving some much-needed sales to the store.
“My daughter did this without telling me,” said Steve. “The next morning, she calls me up and says ‘Daddy, I hope you’re not mad at me. I made a video to try to help you and there are 60,000 views. I think you should do something.”
While some videos like this go viral with little real-world results, the store is already seeing traction from Marin’s TikTok! “I stand in the stores every day and shake people’s hands and they say, ‘Oh, I saw your daughter on TikTok,’” Steve said, “And it’s just wonderful, and we sure needed it.”
The comments are also littered with nostalgic posts from Bay Area residents about their fond memories of the place.
“No way! We loved Diddams growing up! Heading there this weekend for you and your dad,” wrote user Diana Lum.
“YOUR DAD OWNS DIDDAMS!!! Me and my cousin would go to diddums in San Carlos all the time as kids,” commented Erin Rundell.
“When I first started, there were young mothers coming in — 34 years ago — and now their kids are grown up and they bring their kids in. So I’ve got one, two, three generations of customers,” Steve said. “And we probably touch about half a million people a year. So half a million people times 34 years… That’s a lot of people.”
It genuinely sounds like Diddams is such an institution people kind of forgot to go there, assuming it would always be around. Sometimes it can slip consumers’ minds that our dollars are what keep places like this in business.
“I don’t even know how to work TikTok, but my daughter sends me the comments, and there must be, I don’t know, 100? 1,000? There’s a trillion comments and all these people. I mean, I just cried when I saw it,” explained Steve. “There all these people that say, ‘Oh, I was there when I was a child’ and ‘My favorite store ever,’ and that… that just warms the cockles of my heart.”
Steve started the store in the late 1980s’ after he and his wife moved from New Mexico due to her accepting an internship. After struggling to find work a relative invested the seed money to start a business, and Diddams Party & Toy Store was born.
The store sells party supplies, speciality toys, and is known for its intricate balloon art. The owner also tries to buy from a number of suppliers, to keep the store from becoming “generic,” “We buy from almost 200 suppliers, and so you get a big diversity of stuff,” says Steve.
“It has been beyond delightful,” Steve said. “And, you know, I am so privileged that I really do get to participate in the most important moments in people’s lives.” And appreciation for the community like this isn’t something you get from Amazon or Walmart.
If you find yourself in the Bay Area be sure to check out one of Diddams Party & Toy Store’s three locations. You can watch Marin’s heartwarming plea below:
