Just for fun: Start training the next generation with a vending machine playset

Convenience services operators often are multi-generational affairs, and current-day leaders surely remember “helping out,” perhaps by sampling the snacks or riding along on route deliveries. Just for fun, if you want to give your youngest generation a chance to run their own convenience services operation without having them eat you out of your best-selling candy, there’s another way they can have their very own “first location.” What’s more, they can lean into the future of unattended retail by offering beauty products instead of sweet and salty snacks.

The Sort, Stock, Select Beauty Kiosk Play Set  from Melissa & Doug is a new take on its wooden vending machine toy playset. The mini beauty kiosk — complete with coins, cards and realistic makeup accessories — allows little ones to practice counting, color matching and cause-and-effect while stocking and selling their favorite items, just like a real convenience services operation.

If you prefer to keep it “old school,” the Sort, Stock, Select Wooden Vending Machine — which won the 2025 Preschool Toy of the Year award from The Toy Association and became a viral hit on TikTok — is also available.