HANNIBAL, Missouri- In this time of high prices and lead scares, some parents are turning to old fashioned handmade toys as gifts for their children.

Now Hannibal has a store that specializes in these kinds of toys.

It's a new idea...from some old friends.

 Hannibal's newest business is slice of old fashioned fun.

The American Puzzle Company store is located downtown at 217 North  Main.

It is a retail outlet for the the American Puzzle Company which is a sister company the the Whittle Shortline Railroad company.

Manager Tracy Fountain says one of the goals of this store is to bring something special to downtown.

She says, " Coming to downtown Hannibal was really a dream. And we'd like to do is to draw the locals. Sometimes when you live in an area you forget about the actual area. You know..Oh' nothings downtown. But we want to provide a place that people want to come down here and want to spend time because there's so much along main Street in Hannibal."

The store specializes in one a kind wooden puzzles...like the kind many of our grandparents remember playing with.

Tracy says, " Some of the puzzles, they're George Luck puzzles, which we are the only North American manufacturer of them. They have layers. So you'll take one layer off such as Africa. It looks like a single layer puzzle. You start taking it off and then you start finding a whole other level underneath. So they're neat and they're unique in the way that they're presented. And the kids like the smaller ones.  If they have like 5 layers, then they just start, they discover what's underneath."

The store  also  sells shadow box puzzles and when you pull off the cover on one of them, you find a layered puzzle underneath.

Along with all the puzzles, the store also sells all the Whittle shortline railcars that are so popular.

Even though the store just opened in October there are some big changes underway.

The retail part of the business is moving into this space next door by cutting out the wall between the two business.

That space will also include this area in the back where the store will host birthday parties.

And then the current store space will be turned into on big playroom, including a large train set up, for parents and kids to stop by and play with the trains anytime they want to.

Tracy says," Everybody who comes in here are really astounded but the best thing is to see those little kids. And they see that train table at their level and it's just like, Oh my Gosh..like the Heaven's opened up and got this train table down here."

Tracy says that they will  start offering those birthday parties in the begining of December.