Playtime could soon be paused as a long-standing Dunedin community service hunts for a new home.
The Caversham Toy Library has operated out of Baxter Hall for decades, but the building and church next door have been sold to the Samoan Methodist Church.
Because the incoming owners have their own plans for the site, the service must relocate its collection of about 1000 items.
Chairwoman Esme Grounds said the group was seeking a venue that would enable about 130 member families to keep using the resource.
The first preference was a spot in southern Dunedin, ideally as close to its current base as possible, but the committee would also look at suburbs from Waverley through to Tainui, St Kilda and South Dunedin, or further out in Concord and Green Island, Mrs Grounds said.
The volunteer-run organisation needed a low-cost lease that allowed it to keep membership fees affordable.
“We need to keep it within a window where we can still operate sustainably with the grants that we access regularly and also not raising our fees too much,” Mrs Grounds said.
“We want to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.”
She said the committee hoped to find a standalone space of about 80 to 90sqm.
It could also use a smaller 30sqm storage area with room to bring the toys out when the library was open.
The committee were creative and solutions-focused, and happy to negotiate how they could work with a potential landlord to achieve a good outcome for both sides.
If no site is found by the end of November, the library may pack away most of its stock and run a small pop-up service in St Kilda with the most popular toys.
“We need to be obviously realistic and flexible about how we move forwards. But the main thing is we want to move forwards and we want to keep going and we want to keep playing.
“It’s like lots of things in life. It’s doable, but it’s not ideal,” Mrs Grounds said.
Anyone with a suitable property can email the toy library at cavershamtoylibrary@gmail.com or send a message via Facebook.
sam.henderson@thestar.co.nz