Toy Town Antiques temporarily shut down by town of Snow Hill

SNOW HILL, Md. – Town officials temporarily shut down Toy Town Antiques earlier this week, and the owners tell 47 ABC it was without warning. Now local business owners are rallying around the beloved antique shop.

“Having Toy Town here has been one of the best things that’s happened to this town in a long time,” says Zen Smith of The Corner Shoppe.

“They waited until my husband left the store and then roped the place off,” says Deborah Seaton, Owner of Toy Town Antiques.

It’s something owners Richard and Deborah Seaton say they never expected would happen, when they first moved in two and a half years ago.

“We just wanted to fix up the place. So we made an agreement with the town of Snow Hill. We had an MOU, a Memorandum of Understanding, that we would complete the project within five years.”

That agreement was originally signed by the former mayor and three council members. But after just over two years of being in business, they say the town is trying to break the agreement.

“They have done nothing but try and find one thing after another,” says Seaton.

47 ABC reached out to Snow Hill officials for an interview but they declined, instead releasing this statement:

“Several immediate safety concerns with the building currently occupied by Toy Town Antiques were identified by reputable and licensed third-party engineers. The Town of Snow Hill has made several attempts to work with Toy Town Antiques to address these safety concerns in a timely manner, but unfortunately have not been able to reach a solution. The Town of Snow Hill has a duty to ensure the safety of the public. Therefore, it could not allow the dangerous conditions to go unremedied any longer. The matter is now before the court, and, as such, no further comment will be forthcoming.”

The owners tell 47 ABC they aren’t getting straight answers on what the town is looking for.

“We used our money, we used our time, we used our energy and it’s just it’s sad. It really is sad.”

And other local businesses say they just want this ongoing battle to end.

“We just want it to be done. We want it to be over with. We want everyone to be happy and everything to move on,” adds Smith.