Our story

Four decades of changing with the work.

Creative Play started as a local retail business. The products, channels, and industries have changed, but the company behind them has kept adapting.

Milestones

Not one reinvention. A series of them.

1984

Creative Play begins in Knoxville as a family retail business.

1996

CreativePlay.com is serving customers on the web during the early years of consumer ecommerce.

2003

James Tidrick Jr. joins the business and the second generation begins taking shape.

2015

James Tidrick Jr. assumes responsibility for day-to-day operations.

Today

Creative Play supports five operating brands across products, rentals, ecommerce, and logistics.

What stayed consistent

Practical businesses, built around real customer needs.

The Creative Play name has covered different products and services over time. The common thread is operating businesses that solve concrete problems, rather than preserving one old business model for its own sake.