Toy-Aisle Bill Could Change Campbell Shopping
- Assemblyman Evan Low proposed legislation affecting toy sales and aisle displays, aiming to regulate consumer practices. - Local retailers and shoppers could see changes in product placement and pricing if bill becomes law. - Analysis explores potential impacts on Campbell consumers and stores, reporting this week (patch.com).
Campbell shoppers are already living under Evan Low’s toy-aisle law: California began enforcing it on Jan. 1, 2024. (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) Assembly Bill 1084, written by then-Assemblymember Evan Low of Campbell and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 9, 2021, applies to retail department stores in California with 500 or more employees across their California locations. (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) The law does not ban “boys” and “girls” aisles outright. It requires a separate gender-neutral section or area with a “reasonable selection” of toys and childcare items for children, and retailers can choose how to label it. (legiscan.com) Stores that miss the requirement can face civil penalties of up to $250 for a first violation and $500 for later violations, enforced through lawsuits brought by the attorney general, a district attorney or a city attorney. (california.public.law) The Legislature wrote the law around store layout and comparison shopping. Civil Code Section 55.7 says similar products are easier for consumers to compare when they are displayed closer together in one undivided area of the sales floor. (california.public.law) For Campbell, that means the biggest effect would fall on large chains nearby, not every toy seller in town. The statute covers “retail department stores” over the 500-employee threshold, while local specialty shops such as Pennyland Toys at the Pruneyard are not the obvious target of the law’s language. (patch.com) (thepruneyard.com) Shoppers would most likely notice the change in how products are grouped, not in what products are sold. The law lets stores keep traditional sections as long as they also maintain a mixed section with comparable items together. (patch.com) Low framed the measure as an effort to reduce stigma around toys marketed by gender. “We need to stop stigmatizing what’s acceptable for certain genders and just let kids be kids,” he told the Associated Press in 2021, as Patch reported. (patch.com) Opponents argued the state was compelling a message from retailers. Patch reported that the California Family Council said the law violated free speech and objected to government pressure on stores’ merchandising decisions. (patch.com) So the practical question for Campbell is narrower than the headline suggests: not whether toy aisles could change, but whether large stores serving Campbell have fully adapted their displays since Jan. 1, 2024. (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
