Keeper of the toys

Mike Sciacca

You get a homespun feeling when you walk through the doors of the

Combest Store in Huntington Beach, which features an old-time motif and

collectibles paired with the contemporary.

In the true feeling and goodwill of what a local neighborhood store

can offer, the Combest General Store is participating in the Toys for

Tots Christmas Program and will be used as a drop-off site for the annual

holiday toy drive.

The store is just one of several businesses in the vicinity of the

Huntington Beach Mall that is participating in the program.

It is the first year that mall stores have been used as a drop-off

site, said Mona Gustafson of the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Jack and Cherrie Combest run the Combest General Store and are the

longest-running independent retailers at the mall. Situated between

Barnes & Noble Booksellers and See’s Candy Store for the past two and a

half years, Combest has set up its toy drop-off station right inside the

store’s front doors.

“The mall office approached some of the businesses around here and we

thought it was a really good idea,” Jack Combest said of the program.

“The drop-off began a week ago and will continue to do so until a few

days before Christmas.”

The Combest General Store has been a part of the Huntington Beach Mall

for 20 years and the family-owned store has been in existence for 38

years.

The Combest General Store joins other businesses located near the mall

-- Bank of America, Zany Brainy, Staples, Macaroni Grill and Burlington

Coat Factory, as toy drop-off locations.

The Toys for Tots Christmas toy drive is a collaborative effort

between the United States Marine Corp, local fire departments, the County

of Orange and its “Operation Santa Claus,” the St. Vincent DePaul

Society, the Celebrity Foundation for Children and The Salvation Army,

Gustafson said.

Toys gathered from various drop-off sites will be distributed among

nonprofit organizations in Orange County.

A unique aspect of Combest General Store’s participation in the

program is that the Combests are offering a five-dollar gift certificate

they call a “Bonus Buck,” which is presented to anyone dropping off an

unwrapped gift with a minimum $5 value.

The “Bonus Buck” is applicable toward the purchase of any store item,

Cherrie Combest said.

“It’s sort of an incentive program,” she said. “In a way, we’re

helping them pay for the toy that they just brought to the drop-off. We

like our customers to know that we as a store care about what goes on in

our community.”

Combest General Store’s doors open at 9 a.m. and toys may be dropped

off any time during business hours, which have been extended past the

usual 9 p.m. closing during the holiday season.

“We’ve only had this drop-off in operation for about a week so it

hasn’t really been publicized,” Jack Combest said. “We have received some

toys but we hope to get a lot more. There still is plenty of time to come

by and drop off a gift.”

* MIKE SCIACCA is the education and sports reporter. He can be reached

at (714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.