Anonymous man pays off entire lay-by list at WA toy store

The owners of a popular toy store have revealed an anonymous man paid off the entire waiting list of lay-bys, gifting thousands of dollars in presents.

A ‘Secret Santa’ has helped Christmas come early for his community by paying off the remaining lay-by fees, totalling $12,500, at a local toy store.

Rick and Harvey Baker, who own ToyWorld in Bunbury, WA, said they received a call last week from another local businessman.

“He rang and said, do you still do lay-bys?” Rick Baker told NCA NewsWire.

The anonymous caller then said: “I’ve had a good year in my business, I’d like to pay all your lay-bys out for this year.”

ToyWorld in Bunbury, Western Australia where a Secret Santa paid for thousands of dollars in gifts on lay-by.

With the remaining lay-by amounts totalling $12,500, the Baker brothers said they were stunned by the generosity of this stranger, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Within an hour, he had paid for them all.

“It’s huge because this has been a tough year for everybody,” Mr Baker said.

“Some of our customers have been brought to tears, one particular gentleman came in and he’d just lost his job, which we didn’t know at the time.”

When the customer said he would have to return next week and pay more money towards the lay-by, Mr Baker said he joyfully replied: “It’s all been paid for by a Secret Santa.”

“He was just over the over the moon,” he said.

The cost-of-living crisis has made buying toys harder this holidays. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Choosing to tell customers face-to-face, Mr Baker and his brother Harvey have enjoyed helping spread the Christmas cheer.

“We wanted to see their reaction, it’s been unbelievable.

“We’ve had many tears,” said Mr Baker.

Another customer, mother-of-three Rhiannon Williams told NCA NewsWire the generosity of this stranger “couldn’t have come at a better time”.

“I had lost my job few months ago and hadn’t had much luck finding another, so money has been so tight,” she said.

Siblings Kade (10) and Addi Pitts (9) holding a surprise gift for their brother Jai. Picture: Supplied

Ms Williams went to ToyWorld with her daughter Kade, 10 and Addi, nine, to pay the remaining $1050 for a Star Wars Lego model of the Millennium Falcon for her 13-year-old son Jai.

“He (Jai) has no idea that he is receiving this gift,” she said.

“This generous act means my partner and I can pay bills that were not going to get paid,” she continued.

This isn’t the first time the family-run toy store has experienced a Christmas miracle.

In 2021, a local man paid for all the lay-bys on hold for Christmas that year, the bill totalling more than $13,000.

Mr Baker confirmed this was a different local to the man who paid for this year’s toys.

The business, initially purchased by the Baker brothers’ parents, has been in the family for 42 years.

Having grown the store from a humble 190 square metre shopfront to a sprawling 1000 square metres – the biggest toy store in the southwest, the brothers say they are now keen to retire, and have placed the business on the market.

Mr Baker said he hoped new owners would see the community’s generous Christmas spirit continue.

ToyWorld Bunbury is a part of the largest network of independent toy stores in Australia.