Print edition: 
Paula Moffett warned her daughter she'd have to grow up one day.
"I told her she'd have to get a real job," Moffett said. "She said, 'No, I don't.' "
Turns out daughter, not mother, was right.
Moffett's daughter, Gwen Ottenberg, is owner of Imagine That Toys in Comotara Center at 29th and Rock Road. While running the business certainly involves many grownup chores, Ottenberg insists that it also allows her to fully indulge her inner child, right down to trying out most of the products she sells.
"I knew I was not designed for corporate America," she said. "I knew I wanted to play for a living."
As if to demonstrate, Ottenberg jumps on a PlasmaCar, designed for kids 2 years old and up, and expertly wheels it around the store, punctuating the maneuver with a characteristic explosive laugh.
Ottenberg, 29, is a Pennsylvania native who moved here when her husband, Albert, was hired at Cessna Aircraft. She got the idea for Imagine That while working in the gift shop at Exploration Place.
"We would constantly hear, 'Why isn't there a good toy store in town?' " she said. "So many toys are so cheaply made that they fall apart. We sell stuff that's going to last through a child."
Ottenberg worked for another small business for a year to learn how to run her own, then spent six months putting Imagine This together before opening with about 3,400 square feet of space in August 2007. This summer, she moved next door to a 5,000-square-foot space.
Ottenberg said she's managed to expand in a difficult economy because parents "will skip Starbucks to make sure their kids have what they want."
Imagine That carries more than 10,000 different items. There are jump ropes and Jax, chemistry sets and board games, Lego kits, stick horses, stuffed animals and just about anything else a child could imagine — hence the name.
Soon, there will be even more.
"We're building toward Christmas," Ottenberg said. "People start shopping as soon as kids go back to school. They can shop without all the 'helpers.' "
Actually, Ottenberg welcomes children into the store, as long as they're accompanied by adults. There are play stations set up in back — the current lineup includes a doll house, parking garage and teeter-totter — where children can enjoy themselves while "mom and dad shop covertly," Ottenberg said.
Ottenberg said her store's target demographic is newborn to age 12, before kids get older and "they're normally too cool for toys."
In addition to selection, Ottenberg prides herself on the service of her eight-person staff. At least one mother has parked in front of the store and completed a purchase over the phone rather than wake a sleeping child.
"You can't get that kind of service everywhere," Ottenberg said.
The store is a family operation, with Albert building store displays —"He's the elf," Gwen said — Paula manning the cash register and father Robert handling shipping. The Moffetts took early retirement from white-collar jobs to join their daughter here.
Ottenberg said her main goal is offering toys "that let kids be kids" — a feeling she hasn't forgotten.
"It's definitely my likes, my personality in this store," she said.
