Mum who started shop with £100 in pocket has people saying 'boss' on TikTok

A small shoe store in Waterloo has blossomed into a thriving toy shop that thousands of people across the country donate to every year. Jane Hastings, 54, is the proud owner of Toys Toys Toys on Crosby Road in Waterloo opened her shoe shop 14 years ago, when she had two young children at home and nothing more than £100 in her pocket.

Leading up to Christmas she would sell toys for children and eventually decided to transform her shoe shop into a toy store. The mum, from Bootle, told the ECHO, how the shop has had her “run off” her feet over the last decade but her hard work eventually paid off.

She said: “The toy shop has been here for 11 years now. I started the shop when my children [Daniel, now 34, and Sophie, now 24] were little. I now have nine grandchildren. I think that is why I have a toy shop, it's for the grandkids because they cost me a bomb.

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“It’s been hard, it’s had its ups and downs but I have just stuck at it. I’ve had bad and good times and I've been run off my feet, some days I start at 5am and don’t get home till 10pm.”

Jane’s daughter, Sophie Blue, told the ECHO how her “amazing” mum built her “empire” with only £100 in her pocket and deserves recognition for the work she has been doing. She said: “Every year she has helped hundreds of kids, my whole life I’ve watched her feed, clothe and look after the world and their kids. She would give you the socks off her feet if you asked, she just gives, gives and gives and never expects anything back in return.

“My mum deserves some recognition for all the hard graft she has put into her shop over the last ten years. She does deserve it, she's built that empire from £100 in her pocket and it's amazing. The sheer definition of hard graft and resilience in human form, that is my mum.”

But, it was in April this year when Jane’s hard work finally paid off and her shop took off. The mum joined TikTok in April and now has over 17,000 followers on her toystoystoys.uk account. On the account she shares videos of products in the shop and started receiving hundreds of “gifts” from fans.

Jane said: “I went on TikTok in April and it went through the roof. I started receiving gifts in the post so I made another video saying everytime I get a gift I’m going to donate it to children and then I started getting thousands of donations in the post.

“This year I have parcelled up 36,000 parcels since April and donated them to children’s homes, kids in care and the local areas. We have built a community up with all these gift donations, it’s amazing. The amount of messages we have had has been unbelievable since joining TikTok.”

This Christmas, the mum is appealing for toy donations, alongside Abbie Walker, 31, from Sefton, who has worked for Jane since she was 16, to donate to the Mayor’s Christmas Toy Appeal in Sefton. You can find out more about the Christmas toy appeal here.

Jane said: “We’ve been involved in the toy appeal for six or seven years, but this year it has been our biggest donation. Honestly, it's been an emotional rollercoaster since April, we have all been crying, I just can’t believe the response we have had.”

The mum also says through her TikTok videos she has got the whole country saying the word “boss,” as she frequently uses it in her clips and fans have loved it. She has even had gifts in the post with the scouse slang word on.

You can find Toys Toys Toys at 65 Crosby Road, Waterloo, L22 4QD or follow them on TikTok, here.