Vallejo’s Slime World offers fun and creativity for kids

VALLEJO — Alexandra LaRonge was 18 when she saw a young girl selling pre-made slime online. She found the material fascinating and was itching to touch it.

Slime is a gooey substance made with glue and borax. Unlike Play-Doh, it stretches without breaking and can hold beads, glitter and charms — making it ideal for endless customization.

LaRonge started experimenting. Her first try produced a bouncy ball, which is the result of over activating the mixture, but she soon got the hang of making slime and fell in love with its versatility.

Today LaRonge shares her passion for slime at Slime World, located at 419 Georgia St. in downtown Vallejo. She modeled her business as a cross between Build-a-Bear, where kids personalize a stuffed animal with clothes, scents, sounds and accessories, and Cold Stone Creamery, where different ice creams are displayed in a counter bar.

Slime World has a colorful counter that kids approach to choose the size of the slime they want to purchase, from 2 oz. to 16 oz. Then they choose a type of slime — buttery, sticky, crunchy, fluffy and so on — scents, colors, and different add-ons like beads or glitter. After they have all their materials they set up camp on a table to experiment and have fun.

“I see all these kids that are on the tablet, on the phone. And it's so sad because they don't know how to entertain themselves. They don't know how to create anything anymore,” LaRonge said. “So it's really fun to see them playing. It’s very hands-on. They get really excited.” 

Aside from being fun, slime is a highly sensory toy that helps kids with ADHD and autism, as well as adults who have arthritis, said LaRonge. 

“Once I got into my 20s, I got diagnosed with ADHD and a bit of autism as well, and I've realized that's why I love slime so much,” she explained. “And you know, it's really good for me to focus, because I could never focus as a child.” 

Playing at Slime World is affordable. Prices vary depending on the size of the slime kids choose, starting at $11 for 2 oz. and going up to $30 for 16 oz. “That comes with everything,” LaRonge said. “All of the slime, the add-ons, the scent and everything, it’s all included in that price. And they can keep going and grabbing more glitters and add-ons as well. And there’s no limit on time either.”

If a parent cannot afford new slime, kids can bring back their old slime and keep playing with it. And if the slime gets too sticky or too hard, LaRonge will fix it for free.

LaRonge opened her Vallejo location a year and a half ago, but she launched the business 10 years ago, when she was only 18. Once she learned to make slime and had enough product, she posted it on Mercari, an online marketplace, and sold out in one week. To double check that her passion for slime could become a profitable business, she set shop one day at a craft fair in Fairfield.

Unbeknownst to LaRonge, her dad, fearing that she would fail, gave money to his co-workers so they would go by the fair and buy slime. But LaRonge proved him wrong. She sold over $800 that day even though not one of her dad’s co-workers showed up. 

Convinced now that she could make a living with slime, in 2018 LaRonge competed in and won  “The Battle of the Pop-Ups” at the Solano Town Center, in which aspiring business owners pitch their idea to a panel. The winner gets a kiosk rent-free at the Fairfield mall for four months and  a $500 merchandising package. At 19, LaRonge opened her first Slime World business in that kiosk.

Over the next few years the business grew. LaRonge expanded twice in the mall and finally opened a store in downtown Fairfield and another in a Concord mall.

After she opened her Vallejo store, she decided to close the other two locations. “Sadly, when you hire people, they don't care about it as much as you do,” LaRonge said. “I want my customers to feel really good, like in Disneyland, coming in and having a really fun and creative time. So I closed those two stores because it got too stressful managing people.”

Aside from that, LaRonge found a warm welcome in Vallejo. “Right when I first opened, all those small [downtown] businesses came in and they said, ‘Where's your flyer? I'm putting it up in my store’,” she said. “In Concord and Fairfield I never met the side businesses. They kept to themselves.” 

LaRonge loved the community so much that she and her sister bought a house in Vallejo. “We really want to support Vallejo,” she said. “We really believe that within the next 10 years it's going to be a lot nicer, and a lot more people will want to move here.”

Slime World is only open Fridays 1 to 5 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., but LaRonge is willing to open the space any day of the week if customers need it. “If they text our number with what time they want to come in, I just need a 30 minute notice, and then me or any of my employees can open up for free,” she said.

She also offers birthday parties for kids starting at $300 for 10 kids and one hour of play with 2 oz. slime per kid. Parents can add as many adults as they want without extra cost.

“We offer cakes through a local lady, and we have decorations too,” LaRonge said. “Or you can bring in your own decorations and food, and then we can put it all up before you even get here, so you don't have to stress about it.”

In the future, LaRonge wants to collaborate with Vallejo schools, especially given the benefits of playing with slime for kids who have ADHD and autism. She’s also applying for a $10,000 grant so she can open up a “slime mobile” and pull up to schools, craft fairs, parks, and so on.

For now, LaRonge is focused on her small shop downtown, where kids gather around tables to mix colors, debate scents and shape something entirely their own. In a city where kids don't have many creative outlets, Slime World has become a place to slow down, create, and play — one stretch of slime at a time.