Skip to content
  • Our data is copyright protected — copying without permission is prohibited
  • We handle no money, ever
  • No business is promoted for payment
  • Tell us if something is wrong — we check and fix it
AyRojgar

Toy and gift shop

Retailing toys and gift items. In September 2026 online toy prices ran from Tk 58 to Tk 3,815. Imported toys carry 25 percent customs duty, and most of the year's selling happens in the few weeks around Eid and Pohela Boishakh.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Toy and gift shop

Toy and gift shop

Starting capital
৳1,50,000 – ৳14,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
1 – 5 people
First sale
3 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
12 – 36 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

A shop selling toys and gift items. The figure available for the domestic toy market is about Tk 7,000 crore, of which local supply is about Tk 4,000 crore and imports about Tk 3,000 crore as of December 2025. So 'all the toys come from China' is not quite right: imports are around 43 percent of the market, the rest is made here, and there are over a hundred manufacturers in the country. Still, most of what sits on a retail shelf is Chinese, and it reaches the shop through the wholesale markets of old Dhaka, Chawkbazar among them. The import cost is written into the government schedule: HS 9503, covering tricycles, dolls, other toys and puzzles, carries 25 percent customs duty; festive and entertainment articles under 95.05 carry 25 percent; sports goods under 95.06 carry 10 percent. That is customs duty alone, with VAT and other taxes on top; one report puts the total at up to 52 percent depending on the product. From the shop's side the prices are visible: in September 2026 a 53-piece Lego set was listed at Tk 255, a 23-piece wooden toy set at Tk 600, a bubble gun at Tk 815, magnetic blocks at Tk 1,080 and a children's mini camera at Tk 1,485. Educational toys run from Tk 100 to Tk 4,000. The thing that matters most is the cash pattern. The income is not spread through the year. A large share of the selling happens in the weeks around Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Pohela Boishakh and Puja, and the money to stock up goes out well before any of it comes back.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳30,000 – ৳2,50,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳58 – ৳3,815 / unitMarket quote
Variable cost৳35 – ৳2,289 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin30% – 40%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue3 – 45 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time12 – 36 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle30 – 120 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss3% – 8%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity4 – 30Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • Shelving and glass showcases, good lighting, spare batteries and a tester for checking battery toys, and a phone for online photographs. Prices could not be verified here.Equipment
  • Stock across price bands. At September 2026 retail prices toys run from Tk 58 to Tk 3,815, and educational toys from Tk 100 to Tk 4,000. Stock has to be multiplied before a festival. Wholesale prices and bulk discounts could not be verified from any source and have to be taken in person at Chawkbazar.Starting stock
  • Trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, issued in 3-5 working days and renewed yearly. In the DNCC area the application is online, issued in 3 working days and renewed in 2, with the fee under section 10(4) of the City Corporation Model Tax Schedule 2016.Licence
  • Being able to say which toy suits which age; spotting small detachable parts and poor-quality paint; and judging how much to stock before a festival. That third one decides the year's profit or loss.Skill
  • Wholesale suppliers. The Chawkbazar area of old Dhaka is the known wholesale centre for this trade, where the importers and wholesalers sit. There are also over a hundred toy factories in the country, so a domestic supply line is possible alongside imports.Supplier
  • A shop where people walk with children, with glass showcases and open display at the front. Toys that cannot be seen do not sell. Shop rents could not be verified here.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Decide what kind of shop it is: toys alone, or toys with birthday and wedding gifts and wrapping. Adding gifts keeps some selling going in the months between festivals.
  2. 2Choose a spot where people walk with children: a school gate, a market corner, the ground floor of a shopping complex. In this trade the child brings the buyer in.
  3. 3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, issued in 3-5 working days.
  4. 4Go to the wholesale markets, Chawkbazar in old Dhaka among them, and take prices from several shops. The same toy is priced differently shop to shop, and you need to know how much comes off at how many pieces.
  5. 5Keep the first load small and mix the price bands: some under Tk 100, some around Tk 500, and a few from Tk 1,500 to Tk 4,000. Two months tells you what moves.
  6. 6Remember the duty is already inside the price of an imported toy: the schedule puts customs duty on HS 9503 at 25 percent, and with VAT the total is higher still. That limits how far a wholesaler can come down.
  7. 7Bring in the festival stock one to two months ahead. Eid-ul-Fitr, Pohela Boishakh and Eid-ul-Adha all fell between March and May in 2026, and in that run-up both the crowds and the prices rise in the wholesale market.
  8. 8Before loading up for a festival, work out what happens if it does not sell. Toys do not rot, but the money dies on the shelf, and the next festival is four months away.
  9. 9Test electric and battery toys yourself when buying. Returns are hard in the wholesale market, and if the supplier will not take a dud back the loss is the shop's.
  10. 10Check toys for young children for small detachable parts and paint quality. Toys are not yet on BSTI's mandatory list of 315 products, but a legal notice has demanded rules on toxic elements in plastic toys, and parents now ask.
  11. 11Keep wrapping paper, ribbon and cards for birthdays and gifts. They cost little and sell nearly every day, and that is what keeps the shop open in the months without a festival.
  12. 12Open a selling line with photographs on Facebook or an online page. Buyers of educational toys search online, and toys above Tk 1,000 do move there.

Seasons

  1. JanLow
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarHigh
  4. AprHigh
  5. MayHigh
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulLow
  8. AugLow
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctHigh
  11. NovLow
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · Imported consignments come in through the port, so wholesale prices here are often at or below Dhaka's, with a big-city customer base as well.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The Chawkbazar area of old Dhaka is the known wholesale centre for toys and gift items, where the importers and wholesalers sit, so a retail shop here restocks fastest and cheapest.
  • Strong fitGazipur · A large garment workforce, and after the Eid bonus the cheaper toys sell; the Dhaka wholesale market is an hour away.
  • Strong fitNarayanganj · An industrial, densely settled district right next to the old Dhaka wholesale market, so stock can be fetched and back in a day.
  • PossibleBogura · The commercial hub of the north, where shopkeepers from surrounding districts break bulk, so a shop can run semi-wholesale alongside retail.
  • PossibleCox's Bazar · Tourist families buy toys and souvenirs for children, but the selling is locked to the tourist season, which doubles the seasonality risk here.
  • PossibleCumilla · On the Dhaka-Chattogram highway between the two wholesale centres, and with remittance income there is more to spend at festivals.
  • PossibleKhulna · A divisional city drawing buyers from nearby districts, though restocking still depends on Dhaka.
  • PossibleRajshahi · A divisional city with its own buyers, but with the wholesale market in Dhaka both the freight cost and the waiting are longer.
  • PossibleSylhet · A high concentration of families with relatives abroad, and at Eid the visiting relatives buy gifts for children, so the market for pricier toys is comparatively better.

Risks and cautions

  • HighWorking capital: The income is lumpy and the costs are not. Eid-ul-Fitr, Pohela Boishakh and Eid-ul-Adha all fell between March and May in 2026, with Puja in the autumn; in the other months sales drop while rent and wages carry on. The money for festival stock goes out one to two months early and comes back in the festival week. One bad festival and that money sits in the stock until the next one, about four months.
  • HighDependency: Most of what is on the shelf is imported, and the shopkeeper controls neither its price nor its supply. A duty change, a dollar move or a stuck LC pushes the wholesale price up, and retail prices cannot follow at once. The schedule puts customs duty on toys at 25 percent, and one report puts the total tax at up to 52 percent depending on the product.
  • MediumDemand: Toys are not a necessity. When a household comes under pressure the toy is the first thing cut. One founder's estimate is that although there are about three crore children aged 0-8 in the country, imported toys reach roughly 20 percent of them, and mostly upper-middle-class families. The buyers of expensive toys are few, and they are the first to cut back.
  • MediumCompliance: What the rules on toy safety will become is uncertain. Toys are not on BSTI's 2025 list of 315 products under mandatory certification, but as far back as 2019 a legal notice went to 11 government officials demanding regulations, citing UK research that found lead, chromium and other toxic elements in plastic toys. If toys are ever added to the mandatory list, uncertified stock can no longer be sold and part of the shelf could become dead overnight. Whether or when that happens cannot be said, and that uncertainty is the risk.
  • MediumOther: Toys break, battery toys do not work, and customers come back with them. The wholesale market is not strict about taking duds back, so the loss lands on the retailer. In a small shop a few bad pieces in a consignment eat that consignment's profit.

Sources

What changed

No corrections have been published yet.

Questions and answers

No questions yet. Be the first to ask.

Similar businesses

Retail & wholesale

Stone and sand trading

Buying river stone and sand and selling it into construction. A 100-cubic-foot tractor load costs Tk 8,000 at the Panchagarh pit head while Dhaka pays Tk 123-125 a cubic foot for local three-quarter stone, and the gap is freight and lease tolls.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 20
First income
30 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Children's clothing shop

Retailing clothes for children aged 0-12. Panjabi sets Tk 260-985, frocks Tk 150-650. Children outgrow clothes, so stock turns over far faster than in an adult boutique.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳7 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
20 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Stationery and book shop

A stationery and book shop with photocopying. A 204-page exercise book is Tk 68, a 300-page one Tk 169, and white paper Tk 34-40 a dista. Textbooks come free from the government, so the season's money is in exercise books and photocopies.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Seed, fertiliser and feed dealership

A farm input shop selling seed, fertiliser, pesticide and feed. The fertiliser margin is fixed by government at Tk 2 a kg today, rising to Tk 3 from 1 July 2027.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
30 – 180 days
Editorial estimate