New Bedford Toy Store Announces Expansion and Impending Move

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Three years after it was first announced it would be opening in downtown New Bedford, Cojo’s Toy World will soon be expanding – and moving.

However, it's not going too far from its current Purchase Street location.

“Don’t worry, it’s literally 30 seconds away, or less, around the corner, but it’s about 10 times bigger,” co-owner Ted Bolduc announced in a Facebook video alongside his cousin and fellow owner Jason “Cojo” Aguiar and pro wrestler and noted toy vlogger “All Ego” Ethan Page.

“We’re going bigger, we’re going as CoJo would say, ‘full hog,’” Bolduc said.

“We’re going. We’re going for it, baby!” Aguiar replied.

“We’re going all in,” Bolduc echoed. “We’re not going anywhere, we’re going bigger and badder and the best around, I guaran-damn-tee it.”

The video was released on Cojo’s Toy World’s social media on Christmas Day, three years to the day that the cousins announced Cojo’s was going to open. The store opened for business in March 2021 at 763 Purchase Street.

“We’re so appreciative of the community and friendship we’ve built in this toy store in less than three years,” Bolduc said, calling the announcement “our Christmas gift.”

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Cojo’s Toy World will move into the new location sometime in the spring of 2024. The new spot will be 104 William Street, in the space where the Paradise McFee Gallery was located.

“We are very excited for the expansion. We have realized this is myself and Cojo’s destiny,” Bolduc told WBSM.

Bolduc said Cojo’s is going to be “the biggest toy store in the area” as it is now going to be the sole focus for him and Aguiar, and will also allow them to ramp up online sales.

“We are going to be doing the toy store full time. We will also be starting to dabble with some cards, comics and vintage clothing as well,” Bolduc said. “The primary focus will still be toys, though. We should be adding about 5,000 new items to the new location for our opening in spring.”

Space is already at a premium on Purchase Street, where the store can only hold a limited amount of product – and patrons. Bolduc said the new spot “will be able to hold dozens of customers comfortably” and will be “in the same building as our friends No Problemo, Solstice Skateboarding and New Bedford Barber Co.”

More space means more events as well.

“We are planning some really big meet and greets and toy drives already,” Bolduc said. “The community has been nothing but supportive, so we are always excited to give back any way that we can.”

When Cojo’s was first underway in early 2021, Bolduc told WBSM that he and his cousin “had this vision for 39 years,” following in the footsteps of their grandfather Joe Aguiar of Westport, who was a toy dealer at the old Taunton Dog Track flea market in the 1980s and who also sold toys at consignment shops in the area, and uncle Randy Aguiar, who opened up Joe’s Toy World in Westport in 1990.