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6-year-old runs toy emporium

By DAWN HANKINS - dhankins@t-g.com
Posted 3/19/22

Henry Hallum, age 6, said recently, “I like being able to pick out toys that I know other kids will like playing with. I also like selling things with my mama.” Henry is the entrepreneur of Henry’s Fun Play Shop, located at 766 North Main Marketplace.

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6-year-old runs toy emporium

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Henry Hallum, age 6, said recently, “I like being able to pick out toys that I know other kids will like playing with. I also like selling things with my mama.” Henry is the entrepreneur of Henry’s Fun Play Shop, located at 766 North Main Marketplace.

Yes, Henry is a bit young to be running his own business. But with his mom, Katie Hallum’s, assistance, he is pretty much his own toy store boss. (See 3B for Katie’s story at The Hen House.)

No doubt this mother and son team are close. Katie says she’s a single mom and so Henry’s shop, which is located in her booth at North Main Marketplace, has given her kindergartner an opportunity to learn about business. But most of all, enjoy the experience of watching kids enjoy the selections he makes for them.

She said Henry, who attends Middle Tennessee Christian School in Murfreesboro, has watched her go live on Facebook with her line from The Hen House. “I think that he was ready to do his own little thing; he wants to sell stuff too.”

He really likes the “Tennessee Easter Bunny” books. He even models T-shirts for his mom’s store.

When it comes right down to it, mom says he’s still her little boy. She smiles. “Everything he gets, he plays with . . . wants to keep one of.

But he is perhaps way ahead of his time, in kindergarten standards. “He sits down with me and we order it. If he doesn’t like it, we don’t get it.”

Katie and Henry have Facebook live moments as well. “Now, when he gets his new stuff in, he goes live. So all the moms that were watching with me, get on [Facebook] with their kids.”

She said it’s all a lot of fun, sharing these moments with moms and their kids.

“We’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback about his doing his little lives.”

So word is that all the toys, Easter baskets, books and games are “Henry approved.” That means a lot to Katie.