'Class Mom Forever': Einstein's Attic Owner The 'Fun Aunt' Of Long Island

NORTHPORT, NY — When Lori Badanes purchased Einstein's Attic with her husband, David, in 2014, she was coming off a career in education at Howitt Middle School in Farmingdale.

Badanes, upon purchasing the toy store she "always" shopped at herself, took her strengths from one career and applied it to the next. The educator always had an interest in child development and how children learned through play, she said. Part of her responsibilities at the school was to help kids who were failing school to pass.

"It always fascinated me how you could take curriculum and make it fun, and then the kids would absorb it, or how you could look at the way they learn and play to their strengths," Badanes told Patch.

Badanes played to her own strengths, as well. Upon retiring, she recalled how she was always a class mom. Running a toy store, she said, carries similar responsibilities: mass assembly of goody bags, wrapping gifts, purchasing toys, and cleaning the playroom. Her scholastic responsibilities are "all the things rolled into one" at Einstein's Attic.

"I always get teased that now, that I’m class mom forever," Badanes said.

Badanes grew up in Northport — and residing there with her husband was a condition for their marriage, she said — and said she loves the community.

"I’m very blessed and very lucky to be able to be in such a wonderful community that cares about shopping locally," she said.

Badanes tries to reciprocate the support through charitable outreach. Whether she is handing out free gifts to children who lost a tooth or are potty training, or she is supporting charities like The Chloe Belle Foundation by hosting toy drives, she tries to demonstrate the care she has for her customers and the surrounding community.

She said she knows her regular customers by first name.

"I think we really feel like we’re part of the community and they’re a part of our family," Badanes said. "I’m like a fun aunt."

Badanes' time as owner of Einstein's Attic has come with rewards and challenges.

The most rewarding part stemmed from her penchant to give out free gifts.

Badanes was selling Jellycat animals, including an $80 gigantic stuffed tiger. A mother came in with her son, and she told him, 'I’ll buy you whatever you want.' The son wanted the Jellycat tiger and became upset when it was too expensive for the mother.

Badanes said she asked the mom, "‘Is it OK if we give it to him?’ And so she said, ‘What?’ She was crying."

"I think it’s so rewarding when you can really help someone who really needs you," Badanes said. "Like when we can help The Chloe Belle Foundation, or when someone is really in need ... You don’t really know what’s going on in other people’s lives, and if you give a little something to them to help them, it’s really rewarding. I think it’s really nice to give people beautiful gifts."

The most challenging part, she said, was the toy shortage that resulted from China closing its ports around Christmas 2022.

Badanes, who prides herself on being a "very good problem solver," said she and her husband ordered very large amounts of toys early.

"If my husband and I didn’t have the financial resources to do that, then Einstein’s Attic wouldn’t have had toys last Christmas," Badanes said.

Badanes' problem solving skills were evident during the coronavirus pandemic, which led to what she called "one of her favorite stories of all time."

Einstein's Attic did not have the online capabilities it has now, and Badanes was the only one in the store because of COVID-19 shutdown protocol in 2020.

She said she Facetime’d all of her customers for Easter and birthdays to see what toys they needed. Then, David Badanes and the couple's two daughters took their three cars and ran contactless deliveries all over Long Island.

"People would say, ‘Oh, I did a puzzle today!’ and I’d say, ‘I made 300 Easter baskets today!’" Badanes said. "It was the craziest time, because everybody needed Easter [toys], and there was no way to get it, because [the store] closed in March. We just delivered, delivered, delivered everywhere."

The family used an app to calculate efficient routes. Badanes would put the baskets together by town, and the family would deliver the goods. They worked each day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

"'You’re doing Commack, you’re doing Riverhead, you’re doing Roslyn, you’re doing Port Washington, you’re here!’" Badanes recalled. "It was everywhere. We didn’t say no to anyone ... That was really a fun time for our family to do that and join forces."

The store does online sales now, so people can purchase toys and Einstein's Attic will ship shrink-wrapped gifts.

Einstein's Attic is at 79 Main St., Northport. The store can be reached at 631-261-7564. The business originally opened in 1997.