ASTRA Toy Times September 2019 by Fahy-Williams Publishing

S E PTE M B E R 2019

magazine

Business

Play and

in Pittsburgh for the Specialty Toy Industry

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SPECIALTY TOY RETAILING ASSOCIATION astratoy.org â&#x20AC;¢ September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 1

1 8/28/19 1:43 PM

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 2

8/28/19 1:43 PM

September 2019 • astratoy.org

features

departments

money matters

astra news

Tariffs on Toys Could be a Tricky Situation

Best Toys for Kids 2019 Winners

Turning Teacher Discounts into a Loyalty Program Benefits Everyone

The Grand Grandparent: Today

ASTRA Award Winners

Demo Your Merchandise and Watch Sales Soar

Newest Faces on the ASTRA Board of Directors

The Fine Art of the Add-On Sale

The Innovation Council Keeps Moving

Giving Back is Good for Everyone

Remembering Ted Kieswetter

toy stories 16

A Unique Approach to Marketplace & Academy Kept it Exciting

4 President’s Report 6 Message from the Chair 8 Ready, Set, Play 40 ASTRA Welcomes Its Newest Manufacturer Members 42 New Members 46 Index of Advertisers

marketplace & academy 32

Show Recap

trending now

A First-Timer’s Take-Away

The Rise of Book Sales in Independent Toy Stores

A Word From Our Partners

Thank You to Our Partners

Play in a Changing World

Making it Memorable

The Importance of Diversity in Dolls

Building Trust Builds Your Bottom Line

ASTRA Toy Times Magazine Mission Statement Our mission is to act as a channel of communication for the general membership of ASTRA and to provide information about current happenings and future goals as decided upon by the board of directors, various committees, and ASTRA staff. We strive to provide useful and timely information and support for and about ASTRA members in accordance with the ASTRA mission statement. We are always looking for good articles and input for the magazine. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please forward letters, comments, ideas, etc., to the ASTRA office at dmarsden@astratoy.org astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 3

3 8/28/19 1:43 PM

Board of Directors

chair Christine Blumberg past chair Dee Farrell chair-elect Amy Saldanha treasurer Kevin McGrath (2020) secretary Nick Tarzia (2021) directors Melissa Beese (2021) Betty Skoke Burns (2021), Jeanie Crone (2022) Corey Funkey (2022), Jacqueline Killian (2021) Lisa Orman (2022), Brad Ruoho (2022) Tom Rushton (2022), Jenna Stirling (2022)

Magazine

editor Tom Savage assistant editor Dee Marsden graphic artist Maia VanOrman

Editorial Advisory Committee

chair Tom Savage Jean Bailey, Consultant Ashley Browning, Specialty Marketing Group Roger Bildsten, Hip Hooray LLC Theresa Duncan, Villa Villekulla Toy Store Lisa Orman, KidStuff PR Relations Phil Wrzesinski, HABA USA Kemi Tignor, Little Likes Kids LLC

ASTRA Staff

president Kimberly Mosley member relations director Sue Warfield business development director Ahren Hoffman meetings and events director Dina Velasquez marketing and communications manager Dee Marsden membership coordinator Robyn Foster office administrator Nicole Peavy education administrator Cora McCarron meetings and events administrator Clare McKeown Toy Times Magazine is published by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, 432 N Clark St., Suite 305, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-222-0984, info@astratoy.org, www.astratoy.org. Copyright © 2019 American Specialty Toy Retailing Association. All rights reserved. Advertisements are accepted. For more information, contact Fahy-Williams Publishing, 800-344-0559. All articles for Toy Times are supplied by ASTRA and its members, with Fahy-Williams assembling and editing the magazine, and managing the advertising sales function. ASTRA reserves the right to accept, reject, or alter all editorial and advertising material submitted for publication. Advertising in ASTRA does not imply endorsement of products and services. Opinions expressed in articles contained herein are those of the authors, not necessarily of ASTRA or its individual members. The information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable.

president’sreport

fter an especially long winter in most parts of the country, we were treated to warm weather, sunshine and blue skies. As quickly as summer came, it went -- but not without the annual gathering of ASTRA members and the specialty toy industry at Marketplace & Academy. From the moment we touched down at the airport, Pittsburgh welcomed us with open arms. The city was beautiful, the bridges iconic and the convention center a column-free expanse of sunlit space. We opened Marketplace & Academy with two great pre-conference workshops. There was a two-day Certified Play Expert (CPE) workshop – a workshop offering knowledge on the importance of play and how it impacts child development. We also offered the customer service module of the Certified Master Sales Representative Certification (CMSR). We debuted a new area on the trade show floor called Play from Day One where attendees learned about how play supports both healthy children and adults. From the quick, 15-minute Lightning Learning sessions to the organic ideas generated while sitting at lunch or talking with a vendor, this year’s show was full of great ideas. We closed the show with keynote speaker, Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter, who spoke on the importance of creating lasting value. This year’s show was phenomenal. If you missed it this year, I look forward to seeing you next year in Orlando – the happiest place on earth! Save the date to join your specialty toy industry family from June 7-10, 2020. I continue to be amazed at the extraordinary work done by the ASTRA staff to put on a fantastic show. From concept to execution, the staff worked tirelessly to put on the best show ever. But we can’t do it alone. We count on the important work done by the ASTRA volunteers. You are the engine that drives ASTRA forward. Thank you for everything you do to move ASTRA forward. While it was a successful convention, ASTRA is always looking forward. There is no doubt this year has been a challenging one for the specialty toy industry. The tariff news is ongoing and constantly changing. At the time of this writing, the US had resumed trade talks with China about additional tariffs that would affect toy imports. Our member businesses typically do not have the financial cushion and flexibility

needed to absorb the higher costs and reduced sales that these tariffs will create. ASTRA will continue to monitor this situation and share news as it unfolds. In the meantime, ASTRA members, who are so inclined, are encouraged to join the fight against tariffs by visiting www.donttaxtoys.com, sending a grassroots letter to their members of congress and sharing the #donttaxtoys message on social media. 2019 also brought new Toys R Us news. Just a year after filing bankruptcy, the company has announced it will open six locations this holiday season as well as an online shop. They are downsizing to 10,000 square feet, saving room for play areas in order to enhance the shopping experience. Toys R Us' efforts to mimic a local, independent business is an approach that ASTRA toy store owners have mastered. But it's not about just reducing the size of the store. Our stores know there’s a personalization that comes from neighborhood toy stores that will be hard to replicate on a mass-market scale. Our stores are a part of the community and built into the fabric of the local economy. Store owners are armed with toy expertise and in-depth knowledge about the importance of play for good child development. They are able to curate a careful selection of unique products the best fit the kids in their community. These are the ingredients that ultimately lead to a great business. Can a chain store do all that? Hogwash! And now, with summer coming to a close, we look to the fall season. Get ready for Neighborhood Toy Store Day, held on Saturday, November 9 and join hundreds of toy stores across the country in celebrating this important day. Visit ntsd.astratoy.org to find resources and vendor offers to help you celebrate in your community. In the ups and the downs and the quickly changing retail landscape, ASTRA remains committed to supporting the work you do to change the world through the power of play. Here’s to a fantastic start to the fourth quarter. Play on! Save the date and check ntsd.astratoy. org/pledge to pledge to celebrate in your community and gain access to important resources you can use for celebrating the families in your community. Here’s to celebrating play! Kimberly Mosley, ASTRA

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 4

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Add a little magic to playtime Our whimsical plush friends, like the magical llamacorn collection, bring the sparkle and shine to any playtime adventure!

800.448.GUND GUNDbusiness.com

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 5

8/28/19 1:43 PM

message from the chair

Adapting to

Change

TOP 5

SELLERS

New

he only thing that is constant is this world is change. As we continue to succeed in the toy industry, we must adapt. We can wait for change to affect us or we can be proactive and change the future in our favor. Prior to joining the toy industry, I worked in the record industry. Remember records, tapes and CDs? Almost every record account I called on, Tower Records, HMV, Camelot Records….have gone out of business. But not all of them! FYE (For Your Entertainment), Newbury Comics and others adapted to the changes in the record industry and became teen stores/novelty stores or pop culture stores. They adapted, built and created a new experience for their shoppers…and succeeded! A successful company is like a great white shark. In its prime, it chews up the competition, but if it dares to sit still for too long, it dies. Some of the world’s most profitable and enduring companies have achieved their long track record of success by constantly reinventing themselves. • National Geographic launched their magazine in 1914 and it became an instant success with its yellow bound cover. By the 1990s, National Geographic was viewed as your grandmother’s publication. Seeing the magazine decline due to the internet, they launched the National Geographic channel bringing their illustrious photography of nature and cultures to the masses. • American Express only started pressing credit cards in 1958. Before that, they were primarily a travelers check

company (remember travelers checks?). They shifted with the times. • Western Union was sending 200 million telegrams in 1924. With cheaper longdistance phone service and then the advent of the internet, they looked for other means of survival. Today, Western Union is the largest money transfer service in 200 countries. Every industry has to adapt when there are disruptors in the marketplace. The toy industry has had a lot of disruptors over the years – catalogs (Sears Roebuck Catalog, Spiegel catalog and more), big box mass market retailers (WalMart, Target) and now Amazon. Throughout all of these disruptors, specialty retail has continued on. What can we do to adapt? How can we be better, bigger, more successful? At ASTRA’s Marketplace & Pittsburgh this past June, I reviewed these three components of success: ADAPT We all have the means to change our store, change our way of doing things, change our mentality. ASTRA is one of the tools to help us get there. If you attended Marketplace & Academy, you got a chance to see some of the best speakers and breakout sessions that we have ever had – including Yancey Strickler, the founder of Kickstarter, who was the keynote speaker. If you did not attend the Academy portion of Marketplace & Academy in 2019, be sure to mark your calendars to be a part of it in 2020. The sessions are chock full of new ideas and inspire you to think differently. Adapting to technology, new ways of shopping, and reaching new customer bases will lead us to a new level of success!

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 6

8/28/19 1:43 PM

BUILD Building strong relationships is a key to success in any field. We need to continue to build on our relationships… with each other, with our customers, with our industry. We all want the same thing – right? We all want a healthy toy industry where we can all prosper while bringing the value of play to our children. And, we can do it – together! ASTRA continues to build a network of professionals from all arenas – sales representatives, retailers, manufacturers and now inventors and industry affiliates can join the ASTRA board. This year, we are proud to welcome our

first affiliate member to the board. In all we do, it continues to be important to build relationships together towards success! CREATE Whether you create a toy, create an idea, create an in-store experience, create play – you are working towards the success of your business. ASTRA is helping this industry create a vehicle to help all of us grow, learn, educate, give back and succeed! ASTRA continues to bring us to the next level of excellence through our community, networking and the passion

for PLAY! ASTRA President Kimberly Mosley and her team are exemplary leaders, taking the organization to new heights by leading us to ADAPT thru education, BUILD relationships with our sales representatives, retailers and manufacturers, and, of course, to CREATE toys that teach, develop and entertain both children and adults alike. Let’s continue to adapt and succeed into the future of toys and play!

Christine Blumberg, CPE Chair, ASTRA Board of Directors

astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 7

7 8/28/19 1:43 PM

ready set play

Letting

Imagination

FLY

By Jean Bailey

ave you ever stopped to realize that everything is created twice? If you look around you right now, you will see countless objects that someone had to conceive. This world of objects that surrounds you was once formed in someone’s mind, who then went on to design the chair you love to sit in, the colors of your favorite sweater, and the shoes you wear when you want to dance. All of these things on their way to becoming real, were first formed inside someone’s mind and visualized by an invisible mental faculty we call imagination. In the course of the Certified Play Expert (CPE) program, we introduce six mental faculties that toys and play contribute to. These faculties are mental muscles that need to be strengthened and, like a physical muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. There is a documentary about Steven Spielberg where many of his fellow directors credit him with an uncanny ability to see in elaborate details the films he wants to create. His movies premiered first in the theater of his imagination. Afterwards, it becomes actual animation, actors, costumes and locations. Like most master talents, Spielberg started young, and by age 12 had made his first full fledge formal movie. Toys and play are the easiest way for kids to build their mental imagination muscles as they act out stories, change their perspectives, playfully weave in new ideas, and explore new emotions within their pretend play scenario. Researchers agree the additional benefits of imaginative play include language development, social and emotional development, particularly empathy - and the all-important ability of self-regulation. Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein are thought leaders in the field of creativity. Much of their research is reflected in their book, “Sparks of Genius,” and it is not surprising that through their investigation and research these authors became strong play advocates. They point out in their book that highly creative individuals like Nobel prize winners and MacArthur Fellowship ‘Genius Grant’ recipients have something in common: a healthy

dose of pretend play rooted in their childhood and continuing into adulthood. While the priority on academics and test scores continue to filter down to younger and younger grades within our educational system, imagination is often abandoned as a contributor to the learning process. Curiosity, creativity and imaginative inquiry such as, “What if …,” are often lost in the mind storm of facts and figures teachers are forced to fill young children’s brains with. Imagination can often get bumped out of the mental real estate. Thank goodness for the toy industry, which represents a place that pays homage to the transformative power of imagination. Inventors like Henry Ford refused to let others destroy what they imagined in their minds. When engineers told Ford it was impossible to build the internal combustion engine he envisioned, he trusted his imagination more than his experts. In David McCullough’s biography, ‘The Wright Brothers,’ he takes us back to when Orville and Wilbur Wright were children. Their father gave them a propeller toy he found from a French inventor that they christened “the bat.” Winding it up and watching it spin to the top of the ceiling fascinated them. Their imaginations were set into motion and they started tinkering on their own flying machines. At first they were just toys, but now, we know the rest. Let us as play advocates acknowledge the power of play and imagination and refuse to consider toys as frivolous or irrelevant, and credit toy inventors as the societal contributors they are. As two characters in the movie, “Toy Story,” show us, it’s wrong to disparage toys. Woody: You're a toy! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're an action figure! You are a child's plaything! Buzz Lightyear: You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity. Join the next Certified Play Expert workshop in learning more about imagination and the other mental faculties toys contribute to. After all, acquiring knowledge can take you to ASTRA infinity and beyond!

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 8

8/28/19 1:43 PM

An essential ingredient to every toybox, every childhood, every generation. See a whole world of puppets at www.folkmanis.com or call 1-800-654-8922 for a free catalog

astratoy.org â&#x20AC;˘ June2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 9

9 8/28/19 1:43 PM

moneymatters

Preparing for

TARIFFS on Toys T

ariff talk wasn’t necessarily an organized session at ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy in Pittsburgh in June. But, there was a lot of talking, a lot of speculation, and a lot of head scratching. The problem with trying to come up with a resolution on the possible tariffs is that the storyline seems to change every month, every week, every day. With a large number of toy products produced in China, the concern is real, and legitimate. At the time of this writing, no tariff on toys had been implemented. (Editor’s Note: The USTR announced a delay on tariffs on most toys until December 15). But the feeling among many in the industry is that it seems only a matter of time. “Any huge change is going to make you nervous,” said Peter Reynolds of Juratoys US. “Look what happened to steel. Steel was going to have tariffs, then it wasn’t going to have tariffs. Canada was going to be involved, then Canada wasn’t. Mexico was going to be involved, and then Mexico wasn’t. Then it was going to bigger, then smaller, and then suddenly, bam, one day they came out. Right now, the way things are happening in government, I wouldn’t bet against it.” So far, the unknown is the most difficult part for everyone in the industry to prepare for. Both the unknown of when something might come down, and what might be affected. “Some vendors have told me they’ll

deal with it when it comes, but I’ve heard almost nothing from the vendors,” said Carle Wunderlich II, who says he’s heard from three of the 22 different lines he reps at WundeReps. “I do have one vendor who gave me prices in January of what they would be if things went up. But it didn’t affect the entire line. I think it’s the material that it gets down to.” Anne-Marie De Witt of Fireside Games in Texas says it comes down to inventory in preparation to a potential tariff. She says she has the inventory now that a new tariff wouldn’t affect her until 2020. De Witt says they have enough inventory on some titles that will last three-to-five years. A tariff, obviously, won’t affect that product. “I can just keep selling those for the same price and I don’t have to worry about the tariff on those products,” she said. “We have our last shipment coming in in the next couple of weeks, so I don’t even have to think about it for 2019.” But many in the industry may not have a surplus of inventory. Even if that’s the case and a pending tariff is coming, De Witt says the best thing to do right now is to not make major decisions. She says it’s best to put yourself in a position where you can take that first hit from a new tariff, should one come down. If that happens, then it’s time to deal with the actual effect of the tariff and figure out your position. She says some in the industry have already overreacted and raised prices, even

though a tariff still isn’t in effect. “I feel the best posture is a cautious posture, both in overreacting and underreacting. You’re in danger if you do either one,” De Witt said. “Raising prices before anything has even come down can hurt your relationship with your retailers and your customers. You’re not being deliberative in your decision making.” At the time of this writing, the US had resumed trade talks with China about additional tariffs that would affect toy imports. In late June, The Toy Association testified at the U.S Trade Representatives Special 301 Committee hearing regarding proposed tariffs on approximately $300 billion in Chinese products, including toys. Their aggressive advocacy and media campaign against tariffs on toys is ongoing and ASTRA is partnering with them on their efforts. ASTRA has also partnered with the Americans for Free Trade coalition which has sent letters to President Trump signed by more than 660 companies and trade associations, including dozens of toy companies, urging the president to end China tariffs. But for now, it’s wait and see...and prepare...without overreacting. Given the uncertainty, that can be tough. “I worry about a lot of things,” Wunderlich said. “I do my best not to worry about things that aren’t a ASTRA problem yet.”

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 10

8/28/19 1:43 PM

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 11

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Turning Teacher Discounts into a

Loyalty Program is a Win-Win for All

ith school starting up again all around the country, kids are in back-to-school mode which means teachers are too – and they are looking to buy supplies for their classrooms, especially at the beginning of the school year. Several retailers around the country offer teacher discount cards with varying degrees of percentage discounts on all purchases to support their classroom. Beyond traditional teacher discount cards, some retailers like ABC & Toy Zone in Rochester, Minn., have taken the teacher discount card idea a step further and turned it into a rewards program that helps them save by accruing rewards and receiving notifications when there are sales on products that benefits teachers. ABC & Toy Zone still offers a back-to-school sale for teachers, but the year-round loyalty program helps track purchases and works to bring customers back into the store. Their point-of-sale system tracks every dollar spent and allows them to issue customers store credit for free goods at certain point levels. “When teachers come in and ask for a discount, we ask them if they’re part of our loyalty program,” said ABC & Toy Zone store manager Peggy Wiegel. “We tell them it’s a good way to earn free goods, and you get notification of all of the sales that are coming up. It’s a perk for them, if they choose to do it.” When the store does have a back-to-school sale, they put specific price points on items that can be used in a classroom, such as trim, bulletin board sets and books. “It allows us to offer all of our items to teachers,” Wiegel said. “Teachers are all over it because they start to anticipate when the sales will be. I tell them to watch their emails because a certain sale is coming up.” Wiegel says they do not ask for identification when teachers come in for certain sales. She says they usually have a conversation with them, like where they teach, what they teach and how long they’ve taught. “We try and get to know them, and we obviously want them to come back whenever we have a sale for teachers,” she said. “The loyalty program works, and it helps us build relationships with not just teachers, but every customer.” Creating a rewards program can be done through a point of sale system and customized to the audience and specific offers that retailers determine. QuickBooks allows retailers to easily formulate parameters on how much people have to spend to be rewarded; for instance, stores often adopt a simple formula of $500 spent equals a $25 ASTRA in-store credit.

moneymatters

Demo Your

Merchandise, and Watch Sales Soar

t might seem uncomfortable to take one of your items out of its package and let the customer play with it. It’s a loss, after all, when you open a package and use it as a demonstration. But in the end, it’s probably worth it. However, many manufacturers will send extra sets of their product for demonstration. Be sure to ask when placing your orders. If they do, take full advantage. If they don’t, bite the bullet and break one open for demos. With the wide variety of toys available in a retail store, the ones that are available to touch, feel and play with are the ones that move more quickly off the shelves. “The box can only tell so much of the story. Once the kids get their hands on it, they fall in love,” said John Stallings of ThoughtFull Toys, which manufacturers Modarri Cars. “We’ve found great success in demoing the product. That’s why we have so many displays for our retailers, and we’re always trying to encourage them to put out a car for kids to play.” It seems fairly obvious that getting a product in the hands of a potential buyer is the way to go, especially at trade shows when manufacturers can have the face-to-face time to describe the product and help retailers know how to sell it once it’s on the shelves in their stores. Stallings agrees that they’ve had success with Modarri at various trade shows. Without the demos, he says it’s hard for people to understand what the product is. “We’ve had incredible success at shows when we demo it. I bring big crowds,” Stallings said. “People will just huddle around and start to really understand what’s going on, and they’re just amazed by it.” As a result of the success of showcasing the products in front of retailers, Modarri sends retailers demo materials so that kids can play with the products and ultimately, purchase one to take home with them. Some retailers make it a point to break out items and demo them all the time. For Gwen Ottenberg, owner of Imagine That Toys in Wichita, Kansas, she works with manufacturers to make sure she gets a demo and calls it part of her partnership with the manufacturer. She also has her staff each take a game home, play it with friends and family, and then teach it to everyone else in the store upon their return. “Everyone gets to pick a game that we’re going to focus on heavy for Christmas. It’s their job to teach all of us the games when they come back, so one person isn’t stuck learning all the games,” she said. “I’m the queen of demos, and I love it. Let’s play!” ASTRA

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 12

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Brought to you by Goliath

Game Night Feature

Goliath Shook Things Up at Game Night with May Cause Side Effects The guessing game with an extra dose of absurdity.

The ASTRA annual game night was one to be remembered. The attendees had the chance to participate in a clinical trial study for a new “drug” by Goliath. The “drug” was none other than May Cause

Symptoms include: (but not limited to)

Side Effects, a new charades-like card game.* Participants split up

- Hysterical laughing

into teams, taking turns playing the roles of the Test Subject and the

- Acute foolishness

Lab Assistant. Test Subjects had to “swallow” two pill cards, one red and one

- Random twerking

blue – each which causes different side effects – one physical, the

- Weird noises

other verbal. Test Subjects then acted out their side effects while their

- Unusual accents

Lab Assistants guessed the word or phrase. Those who guessed right, kept the card, and stayed in the drug study! Curious what side effects you may encounter? Check out the fun of May Cause Side Effects, suggested for 4 or Effects more players, ages 13 and up.

“The side effects were like nothing I’ve ever experienced before!” - you, probably

For more information, please call Goliath Sales at 469.666.6805. or email us at j.kitto@goliathgames.com. For media inquiries, please reach out to a.lloyd@goliathgames.com

*Game contains no actual mediction. Does contain potential for a good time. WARNING: These side effects will change the way you speak and act.

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 13

8/28/19 1:43 PM

moneymatters

The Fine Art of the

September2019 â&#x20AC;¢ astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 14

8/28/19 1:43 PM

fter a short stop, maybe an hour, maybe a couple of hours...maybe even an entire day, your customer finally makes it to the cash register. Some of them have one item in hand, maybe a couple, and some even have toys, books or clothes bursting from their grasp. But is there room...maybe, for just one more item? It’s the fine art of the add-on sale at the cash register. Your Point of Sale (POS) is a prime spot in your retail store to pitch an add-on sale. Many add-on items fit nicely around the cash register, such as games, novelty items, fidget toys, or anything that’s easy to demo. The key is to engage the customer, getting them to talk about the item, and playing it with them. Once they see how easy and fun it is, it becomes a much easier sell.

Get them engaged, and the hook is in.

“I’m always just blown away at how important that moment is,” said Kevin Carroll of the dice game, Tenzi. “What it’s done for us has been fantastic. Without the display or demo out, it just wouldn’t have happened for us.” Carroll says he’s seen a lot of stores have success with selling Tenzi as an add on. One of the best, he says, is Celeste Vanderlip of HobbyTown in Fairfield, CT. HobbyTown was one of the first retailers to carry Tenzi. She says Tenzi, and other games like it, are an easy add-on sale. “If you can explain it in less than a minute to someone, and you don’t lose their attention, you can sell it,” she said. “As you’re standing there at your point of sale, tell them how great it is, and play it, or demo it. It’s easy, and it’s a hook. It becomes a no-brainer for them.” Vanderlip, who is now with the HobbyTown corporate office, says look for the mom in the bunch at the cash register. She says mom is always the decision maker. Add-ons, Vanderlip says, are easy to sell because they fit in the size of a gift bag. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard moms say, ‘I’m so sick of just giving a bottle of wine, or flowers,’” Vanderlip

said. “It’s the add-on thing that makes it so easy and convenient, and people love it. I tell them to put a game in the bag with the bottle of wine and make a night of it.” Price point, too, says Vanderlip, makes for an easier sell. She says she put several items at her POS that were under $20, and it made for great conversation and helped make the sale. “It’s those family games everybody’s looking for at Thanksgiving, or vacation, or a game that can be played on the island in the kitchen,” she said. “We always knew when the mom was looking at something, and had questions. As we rang someone up, it always became very interactive when we talked about the game or product. We talked about when you could play it, where you could play it, who you could play it with, things like that.” Carroll says it may be awkward for some employees at retail stores to play the games or engage in the customer at the checkout. It can be an awkward moment, or even fill pushy. But he says an employee can make it much easier by saying something like, “Would you like to win five or 10 percent off of your purchase today?” When the customer responds with a rousing “Sure, how do I do that?,” it’s the moment that the employee can tell the customer that if they can beat them in a game of Tenzi, or any other game that’s near the POS system, they get discount. “Now you’ve made a game of it, and people love that,” Carroll said. “Certainly if the salesperson practices enough, it’s not going to happen that often.” Carroll says other stores have offered discounts like five percent off if the customer can roll a Tenzi in under 30 seconds, and other similar challenges. It’s all about getting the customer engaged in a product at the POS, which will likely turn into a sale. “Have it out, so they want to ask questions about it,” Vanderlip said. “It’s not in their face, but it’s engaging in a conversation that really gets them to want to buy it, and then they want to recommend it to others.” ASTRA astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 15

15 8/28/19 1:43 PM

toystories

One Manufacturer’s

Unique Approach Kept it Exciting By Tami Murphy

wo retailers walk into a booth at Toy Fair, write a huge order and never pay for it. Are you waiting for the punch line?! So is Wizard’s Chest of Denver, because this is exactly what happened to them this year with University Games. I’ve had the pleasure of working with University Games over the last year and because the product line had many new additions in 2019, as a team, we asked ourselves, “how can we ensure as much face time as possible to talk with as many of our independent specialty retail customers at Toy Fair?” In the preschool category alone, under the Briarpatch brand, we had additions to our Eric Carle, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Pete The Cat licensed games as well as our new popular First 100 license. We needed our customers to not only see how that line had grown, but we also had a hot new game in HEIST, and again we knew, that if the buyers saw it and played it, they’d be sold and want it on their shelves. What we came up with was a bold idea that could either cost us a few thousand dollars or tens of thousands of dollars and honestly, that was part of the fun. Working in conjunction with our sales reps, we made a big push for our independent retailers to schedule appointments at the show. As encouragement, we offered an extra discount on show orders if they booked and kept an appointment. And for our VIP brick and mortar customers, we went a big step further - their initial order for the year is due at Toy Fair and if they booked and kept an appointment at the show, their order would be entered into a raffle to be

completely underwritten by University Games. Orders at the show ranged anywhere from $2,500 to $20,000. It was stressful, wondering which name would be chosen?! In the end, Bob Moog, owner of University Games pulled out the Wizard’s Chest name and their invoice for $18,979.10 of product was zeroed out. “The Wizard’s Chest is a long-time customer of University Games and we have continued to expand our selection of their products as they have brought new lines into the fold,” said Kevin Pohle of Wizard’s Chest. “The products in their Great Explorations, BePuzzled, and Front Porch Classics divisions were instant hits with our customers and we look forward to continue our growth with University

Games over the next many years. The drawing of Wizard’s Chest was particularly exciting for their sales rep, Erin Griffin of Erin Griffin Group. “I started my career in the toy business as a sales associate, then manager at The Wizard’s Chest years ago,” Griffin said. “I have been a sales representative working with both University Games and The Wizard’s Chest for the past 22-plus years. It is so exciting that this long time VIP retailer wins this 2019 promotion. University Games continues to support our specialty retailers.” Greg Waples, the senior vice president of sales at University Games says the relationship with the independent stores is important to University Games because they are the cornerstone on which they build the entire company. “They have historically given us the strength of business that allowed us to make good business decisions and not be so dependent on the mass merchants to support our company,” he said. “In return for the loyalty we have given them first dibs on new products. A perfect example of this is HEIST. I have no doubt that HEIST is going to be the next big game and so does our entire management group. We didn’t take that early data and run to the mass merchants to squeeze it in. We took it to the independents first as we always do and are allowing them to make ‘hay’ with it this year and next year the mass can have it too.” Waples says it also gives them a great early read on new products and they use that in their product development strategy. What will University Games do for next year’s show? You’ll have to book an ASTRA appointment to find out!

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 16

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Stock MukikiM for your BEST Q4!

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 17

8/28/19 1:43 PM

trending now

The Rise of Book Sales in Independent Toy Stores

By Ashley Browning

hat we’ve heard for the last couple of years is that book sales have been on the rise. Sales were up 9.3 percent in the first week of 2019 over the same period last year, according to Publishers Weekly. I too have noticed a significant increase in the sales from the book line I represent. Wendy Bacon from Whistle Stop Hobby & Toy in St. Clair, Michigan and Rob Kearney of King Arthur’s Court Toys in Cincinnati both gave me their insights to their book sales and trends. “We have always carried educational/workbooks, with arts and craft books along with sticker books and a smaller selection of board books for infants and toddlers,” Kearney said. “We started carrying more books when a neighborhood bookstore closed their doors and when Toys R’ Us closed. Both agree that books sales seem to be trending in the toy market, and both have seen increases in their book sales. Some of

the increased sales have come from the current book trend, and some from big box stores closing around the country. “Book sales have increased dramatically. We get requests daily for specific titles,” Bacon said. “I always wanted to open a children's book store so I love that the demand is so great. Our book sales have increased so much due to the closing of Barnes & Noble, Kmart and Target in our city or neighboring city.” It’s not surprise that graphic novels have been on the rise. It’s a concept that always holds strong, and both Bacon and Kearney say they have seen upticks in that category of book. “We have bought some titles like the Hilda series, traditional superhero comics and some illustrated classics,” Kearney said. “We carry mostly kid’s books along with young adult fiction but have also had success with some books geared to parents.” Bacon says building their book client base has been a steady process. Not being a traditional bookstore, she says many times books are used as an add-on purchase when they’re in the store for toys. But now that customers are getting used to books in the store, it’s becoming a book destination, too. “I've noticed in the last few years moms are bringing the kids in to just pick out a book,” Bacon said. “I think there's a fear of all this technology out there like Ipods, cell phones, laptops, and video games that parents want to make sure kids are enjoying something as simple as a book. People are sometimes surprised with the selection we have and get excited about picking out a book instead of a toy.” Similar to toys – or any retail product – it comes down to price point and what works best for any storeowner. Kearney says the books that are priced between $15-$20 are the strongest for hard cover books for both young adult and story time books. Workbook and sticker books, he says, usually do best around $10-$15. “A few years back I couldn't sell a book over $12, but now I order many hard covers that retail over $20,” Bacon said. “I take many special orders from my customers. I always tell them to let me know what they're looking for, and I hope to keep expanding my book department.” Just like demoing toys and games, both Bacon and Kearney say it’s important to have weekly story time session to expand their book offerings. Bacon says they also offer opportunities to local authors. She says one customer wrote a children’s book about a giraffe and they invited her to come to the store to sign copies of the book. “It went over really well. Even our giraffe stuffed animals sold,” she said. “We do have a little table where kids can sit and read. Parents like to pick out books from their childhood to share with their children.” ASTRA

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 18

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Play in a Changing World By Kemi Tignor

s long as kids have been around, they have sought out toys and playthings. Things used to be much simplier for them. They ran outside, spent time in the woods, where a patch of bushes and a few sticks could make a fort. As Americans moved to cities in increasingly large numbers in the early 1930s, a consensus formed that kids did not only need playgrounds to exercise their bodies or libraries to develop their minds, but they also needed toys. While America has changed since the 1930's, becoming far more technologically advanced, today’s kids still need toys. Sticks and bushes still make a fort, but today’s children have advanced, and so has our country’s marketplace. The buying power in the United States, just like its toys, looks much different. A recent study at the University of Georgia estimates the nation’s total buying power reached $13.9 trillion in 2016, with minority groups making the fastest gains. The report also says African-American buying power, estimated at $1.2 trillion in 2016, will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2021, making it the largest racial minority consumer market. Some of those numbers are eye-catching indeed when it comes to the spending power of minority buyers. Millennials, those U.S. citizens born between 1981 and 1996, are the most diverse generation in our country’s history. A recent report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program reveals the millennial generation is the largest in history at 75 million, with 44 percent a minority. Those are statistics that can’t be ignored. A recent story in Weebly, an e-commerce website, said there are six ways to win over the buying

The Diversity

power of such a massive, and diverse, consumer base. • Show your humanity • Be good to our environment – in obvious ways • Teach and inspire • Pay attention to (and include) customer feedback • Public user-generated content, such as recommendations • Be social and mobile-friendly Capturing that buying power is a must in today's ever-changing economic landscape. A recent New York Times article by Denene Miller noted the limited representation of African-American kids in children’s books published in the United States. Of the 3,500 children’s books published in the United States last year, 319 featured black characters, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. This problem of limited representation exists not only in books but also in toys. Bringing high-quality multicultural toys to the market provides parents and caregivers with important resources to help children learn and grow developmentally and thrive in a changing world. All parents want their kids to see themselves in the world and to be happy and ASTRA successful members of an increasingly diverse generation.

in Dolls is Important in our Industry

By Theresa Duncan

s the 2018 mid-year and 2019 catalogs arrived in the mail, it seemed as if each one was half the size it had been the previous year. Many companies had merged and there were fewer catalogs. What surprised me when I looked at the catalogs was seeing which toys were missing. My go-to brands had discontinued a significant portion of the dolls I usually ordered. The missing dolls all had one thing in common: they weren’t white. I was shocked that lines I had chosen in part for their selection of Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls, suddenly were making very few of those dolls. I reached out to the companies, and when I did get a response, it was something I had heard before: the non-white dolls just weren’t big sellers. It’s the same response I get when I turn down a brand for its lack of diversity or when I struggle to find non-white specialty dolls such as fairies and mermaids. While it certainly isn’t true that every family only buys dolls of their same race, to simplify things, let’s pretend doll sales correlate to the racial makeup of the United States. As of the 2010 Census, the US was 72 percent white. If we were looking at a spreadsheet filled with UPCs and sales numbers to decide which products to discontinue, it would be easy to keep only those with 72 percent of sales and cut those with much

smaller numbers. When we look at the spreadsheet, we got rid of some products with weaker sales. But if we look instead at the actual dolls, we eliminate the Black and Asian dolls. And when we look at the most important thing the children who are playing with the dolls - we got rid of something so much more important. Carrie McCain, author of Black Nerd Problems, says that it is important for all children to have access to diverse toys. “White children need to see fictional non-white characters in media, books and at the toy store as characters that are capable, noble, smart and all of the above,” she said. “White children recognize that the qualities of the heroes, the protagonists, the role models extend to kids of color, to characters of color helps normalize that POC are worthy to be named as such.” At the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy in Pittsburgh, there were numerous vendors offering beautiful multicultural dolls. As the world becomes increasingly more diverse, so too should our toys. Regardless of what has happened as an industry, we still have to remember who we are ultimately serving and make our business ASTRA decisions accordingly. astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 19

19 8/28/19 1:43 PM

trending now

Building Trust Builds Your Bottom Line By Phil Wrzesinski

fter college, my first job was at a YMCA Camp just outside my hometown. I taught team building through wilderness trips and activities. We used things like ropes courses and rock climbing to lead groups through the stages of development from Communicating to Cooperating to Caring to Trusting. TRUST /trəst/ noun 1. firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Groups that learned to trust each other, that had a firm belief in the reliability of each other, always performed at a higher level than groups without that trust. My team and I proved that every single week. When I joined the toy industry in 1993, I used those same principles developing my staff and working with my customers. I knew that trust was the key to getting the most productivity out of my staff. I learned quickly that trust was also the key to building long-lasting, profitable relationships with my customers. It didn’t stop there. When I learned how to earn the trust of my vendors, our relationships – and profits – grew! When a vendor blew my trust, I learned to move on. Trust, however, isn’t easily given. It must be earned by both parties, and it is easy to break. Fortunately, the steps we used to lead groups to trust at the camp apply perfectly to our industry.

COMMUNICATION The first step to earning trust is communication. In team building we did activities that relied on good communication skills including being more open and honest. The same holds true in business. As a vendor, my job with HABA is to make sure you know what is going on, the good, the bad, and even the ugly, to help you make better decisions. As a retailer, your job is the same. Your customers will trust you more if you’re open and honest about the products you sell. One of the best ways to earn trust is to tell the customer the ‘downside’ of the product. If all you do is sing the product’s praises, they’ll reject the hype and go looking for the downside they know you’re trying to hide. Your vendors will trust you more when you are upfront with them why you aren’t ordering or are slow to pay. Be honest. The more open you are with your vendors, the more they are willing to work with you and help you through tough times. COOPERATION In team building the next step is cooperation – working together for the greater good. In business I call that looking for the Win-Win. What is a good deal for me that is also a good deal for you? Too often this is where trust breaks down. We get greedy chasing dollars instead of relationships. While this might work in the short term, it never ends well. Businesses that only chase dollars rarely stand the test of time.

CARING This is the final step toward trust. When we see groups putting the needs of each other and the needs of the group ahead of their own, we know we are building trust. In retail we see this when the business puts the needs of the customer first. When a retailer builds policies to protect their customers, not them, they are building trust. Return policies, giftwrap policies, forms of payment, and store hours are all signals that tell the customer whether you are looking out for their needs or yours. For vendors it is the same. The policies we set for our retailers must be customer-centric, too. Easy, attractive terms, easy ordering, generous return policies, strict online MAP control, free displays, etc. are all ways we show our retailers we care about them. BOTTOM LINE The bottom line is the only line that matters. When we build and foster trust between customers, vendors, reps, and retailers, not only do we strengthen the toy industry, we strengthen our own bottom line for the long run. Better yet, we make business much more enjoyable to run. Chasing dollars is exhausting. Building relationships is rewarding. Don’t chase the dollars. Look for the partners who care about your long-term success and become a Trustworthy partner in their ASTRA success as well.

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 20

8/28/19 1:43 PM

Congratulations to our new SpinFly Fly Club members!

Spinflyer: case pack of 12 with free rack and demo - only $102 Contact Spooner at 888 887 6996 or orders@spoonerboards.com 2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 21

8/28/19 1:43 PM

OUTDOOR & ACTIVE PLAY Pop & Pass Hog Wild, LLC

ARTS & CRAFTS: 7+ Y’Art Craft Kit Puppy Kahootz Toys

OUTDOOR & ACTIVE PLAY: RIDE-ON PRIMO Ambosstoys LLC

GAMES: 7+ Planet Blue Orange Games

ARTS & CRAFTS: UNDER 7 SloFlo Motion Magic Play Visions, Inc.

GAMES: FAMILY MORPHY Fat Brain Toy Co

CLASSIC Lite Bright Schylling Inc

PRESCHOOL Hape Sunny Valley Adventure Dome Hape International Inc GAMES: UNDER 7 Yeti or Not! Fat Brain Toy Co

CONSTRUCTION Magna-Tiles® House 28-Piece Set Valtech

PRETEND PLAY: IMAGINARY Timber Tots Tree House Fat Brain Toy Co INFANT & TODDLER RollAgain Sorter Fat Brain Toy Co

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 22

8/28/19 1:43 PM

PRETEND PLAY: ROLE Reversible Rainbow Cape Creative Education of Canada, Inc

PRETEND PLAY: VEHICLES Playviator Fat Brain Toy Co

PUZZLES Shashibo - The Shape Shifting Box Fun in Motion Toys

6 ISSUES OVER 6,700 RETAILERS

PUZZLES: JIGSAW Escape Puzzles Space Observatory Ravensburger The Magazine

for People Who Sell Toys

SCIENCE & DISCOVERY My Robotic Pet - Tumbling Hedgehog Thames & Kosmos

To advertise, contact Todd Crayton todd@fwpi.com • (315) 789-6431 • 800-344-0559 astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 23

23 8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA news

The Grand Grandparent: Today By Roger Bildsten

ou are reading Toy Times Magazine. Therefore, grandparents are an important part of your business. What are you doing about it?

Recognize the Opportunities I know independent toy retailers who report that grandparents represent more than 50 percent of their overall business. Real data on specialty toy stores is hard to come by so I talk to a lot of people and run my own informal surveys. But even if you only go by NPD’s September report that grandparents make up at least a quarter of U.S. toy sales, that’s still a lot. You need that business so make sure you’re paying attention to it — and recognize that you have a great story to share with these savvy consumers! ASTRA sees the importance of serving the grandparent market and included a session at Marketplace & Academy to start addressing the opportunities. We enjoyed a lively hour that zeroed in on key ways to serve this group of consumers who care so deeply about kids. Here are some highlights. Have a Strategy Shoppers do almost nothing today without a mobile device in their hand — and that includes grandparents. In May, Fast Company reported that 68 percent of over-55 consumers make online purchases every month. I’d bet that rate is even higher a couple of months later as we go to print. You need a multi-channel approach to serving customers no matter what their age or how or where they choose to reach out to you. It’s what we call the omni

channel, and you need to be a part of it. You can find a lot of omni-channel resources online, but make sure you have the basics in place. • Is your website up-to-date? Grandparents don’t want old websites. NOBODY wants old websites! • Do you have an active customer data base and to you use it wisely? In April, Retail Dive reported that 65 percent of polled shoppers say receiving mobile coupons they can redeem in-store is important when shopping in physical stores. Grandparents LOVE to be rewarded for loyalty. Can they sign up for updates from you? • Are you telling your story? As an independendt toy retailer you have great stories to tell and grandparents want to hear them. Social media can be cheap and fun and grandparents are eager users. Tell them your stories! • Can you help the grandparent with a distant grandchild? Conde Nast reports that 58 percent of grandchildren live more than 50 miles away from their grandparents. You need to be able to facilitate a gift purchase with a few clicks. That’s how we live today. And remember that you have to be able to adapt! Things are changing fast but your good stories can work on whatever online platforms become important to your customers down the road.

Relate to Your Important Customers The ASTRA Innovation Council has identified three key traits of consumers who shop with independent toy retailers — and these certainly apply to grandparents. When they think about where they’ll shop for kids, these smart shoppers are looking for: • Experience • Connection • Identity How you incorporate these three key traits in your stories can make them more effective. Experience might be as old fashioned as a wonderful storefront, or a comfortable bench near your book department. (You do sell books, I hope!) You can host a grandparent/grandchild in-store event, or even host a grandparents evening. Grandparents LOVE to talk about their grandkids! Connection might be the way you help a grandparent connect with a grandchild in a distant state just by recommending the right craft kit. You’re seeing a large and growing market for affluent boomers who want multi-generational ways to connect. Those connections might take the form of expensive family cruises but can also be an art project, a puzzle, or affordable game everyone can play together. Identity, because what we give a child is an important reflection on who we are as a grownup. A grandparent wants the child to like what they give. They want it to show that they thought about it and they want it to mean something. They want to make a better effort than just sending a gift card. And they don’t want to screw up! You can help with that. Make sure they know you are there! Grand Grandparents You have wonderful tools at your disposal for reaching out to grandparents, both in real time and online. Make the most of those tools Remember that you need the grandparent market — and grandparents ASTRA need you!

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 24

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Award Winners

Beau James Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award From ASTRA

B Manufacturer Excellence Award Winner Fat Brain Toy Co.

Retailer Excellence Award *play

Sales Representative Excellence Award Bill St. John

Rising Star/Young Professional Award Winner Nick Guffey, CPE

Industry Innovator Award Cassidy Smith

eau James, a fortyyear veteran of the toy industry, received the 2019 ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award shortly before his passing. “Beau was known far and wide as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable professionals in the specialty toy business,” said Kimberly Mosley, President of ASTRA. “He knew this market inside out. He was an enthusiastic supporter of ASTRA’s role in helping specialty retailers prosper from the very earliest days back when ASTRA was launched, and he continued his support in so many ways over many years. On behalf of the ASTRA Board of Directors, we are grateful that we had the opportunity to present this award to Beau with our heartfelt congratulations and let him know how much he has meant to so many. Thank you, Beau, for all you did for our industry.” For many, Beau was the “doll guy” – a reputation that started in his early days with International Playthings, then the distributor of Sasha dolls by Trendon Ltd., and continued in his tenures with Madame Alexander, Gotz and Corolle. More recently he was Managing Director of KidSource, a USA-based distribution company bringing quality European products into the US. He served on the ASTRA Board of Directors and as a consultant—both formally and informally—to many in the industry. Above all, he was a proponent of the power of play and the value of the partnership between manufacturers and specialty retailers in bringing high-quality, well-designed and developmentally appropriate playthings to children everywhere. “When it comes to what makes specialty special, and why that’s so important for kids, Beau understood that connection deeply,” said Dee Farrell, CPE, VP Marketing, Hape International and Chair of the ASTRA Board of Directors. “We were so lucky to have him as a colleague who shared the vision ASTRA embraces for playful, healthy childhoods full of happy memories for all kids.” On a personal level, Beau James always had a smile on his face. “Whether you were a friend, a business associate or a neighbor in the next booth, he was always happy to see you,” said Christine Blumberg, CPE of Roberts Blumberg Giacobbe and incoming chair of ASTRA. “He was well respected and admired in the industry certainly for his business acumen but also his gregarious, outgoing, wonderful personality! There is no one else quite like him and no one more deserving of the recognition the ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award brings with it.” ASTRA astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 25

25 8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA news

Introducing the Newest Faces on the ASTRA Board of Directors Jeanie Crone 2022 (Manufacturer)

Lisa Orman 2022 (Affiliate)

Jeanie has held executive positions in many industries throughout her career. She started as a retail apparel buyer, later moving into apparel product development and sourcing. She was eventually named Vice President of Global Sourcing and Production for Tommy Hilfiger. Jeanie lived in France for 10 years, working as a consultant for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. There she used her apparel production skills to help prepare companies in Romania to qualify their businesses for loans from the bank, as their country prepared for entry into the European Union. Returning to the U. S. in 2009, Jeanie was named Vice President of the Publishing Division of Educational Development Corporation (EDC). In her 9 years at EDC she focused on the Specialty Toy Market in an effort to successfully broaden EDC’s scope in this very important channel. In 2018 Jeanie joined Schleich, USA as Senior Manager of the Specialty Channel. In her role, she continues to maintain strong customer relationships. Her ability to fully understand the business from both the retail and wholesale sides makes her a valuable business partner.

Lisa Orman has been passionately building awareness for specialty toys, games, juvenile services and more for 25 years. She started KidStuff PR when she was pregnant with her first child because she realized all new parents go through this massive educational process trying to learn about what they want and need for their little humans. Most of the really cool stuff she ferreted out for her own family was NOT from massive companies with multi-million dollar advertising budgets so she realized those smaller entrepreneurial companies needed her PR expertise the most. It’s been her joy to live a playful life with her clients and media who cover them making every day different and packed with interesting challenges. She knows how lucky she is to love her work and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Her kids grew up as KidStuff PR’s play testers and she thinks they are brilliant and intellectually curious young adults now because they got the best of play when they were children. Her hobbies include cooking, travel, playing with her dog, meeting new friends, shopping at specialty stores and reading. And she’s the self-declared Queen of Yahtzee, her favorite game. If you spot her on a plane she’ll probably be playing her electronic version of it.

Schleich USA Inc.

Corey Funkey 2022 (Manufacturer) Smart Toys and Games, Inc.

Corey has had a very successful career as a sales executive for the past 30 years. His experience is in both large multi-national corporations and smaller entrepreneurial organizations. Prior to joining Smart Toys and Games, Inc., he was Vice President of Sales for Fibre Craft Materials in the arts /crafts and toy categories. He led the development of a strategic planning process that allowed the business to double in size. His experience in working with both large mass market retailers and independent specialty toy stores allows him to have a unique perspective on the retail market. He finds the most positive difference between the channels is the passion that specialty store owners bring to the business. He has been an active member of ASTRA serving on multiple committees. Corey served as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Kids in Need Foundation; a national charity devoted to helping deliver school supplies to underprivileged children across the US. Corey and his wife Mary Ann live in the south suburbs of Chicago. They have two grown children Amanda and Christopher. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, reading and trying to solve SmartGames challenges.

KidStuff Public Relations

Brad Ruoho 2022 (Retailer) Legacy Toys

Brad has been in the toy industry for seven years and an ASTRA member for five years. His passion for toys started long before that. Brad is a born entrepreneur with a child-like heart - from the age of 18, he has started and successfully grown numerous businesses. He sold all of them to focus on the toy industry, recognizing the deeper meaning and quality of life it provides. In 2012, Brad and his wife, along with their three daughters, started their first toy store, Legacy Toys, in Ely, MN. They wanted to fill the void the local toy store left upon closing in their small town. Since then, he has grown Legacy Toys to four stores in the upper midwest, with a fifth location set to open in the Mall of America in October 2019. In addition, he has launched Legacy Bound, a children’s book publishing company, and Golden Monkey Games, a game development and publishing company. Brad also is a partner of Sun in My Heart, a non-profit company that builds homes, schools and orphanages around the world. All of these companies have the same mission: “Making the world a better place for our children; the greatest Legacy we can leave.”

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 26

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Tom Rushton 2022 (Sales Representative)

Jenna Stirling 2022 (Retailer)

As a kid or even while in college, Tom was not sure he knew was going to work in the toy industry. After meeting the Front Porch Classics team while selling German Galileo Thermometers at a trade show in Chicago, it hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks - he had to be a part of selling fun. Since his time at Front Porch Classics, Tom served as VP-Sales of Sababa Toys before joining Revenew Sales, which he now runs from his farm outside of Wilmington, NC. When he’s not flying to his next meeting, he can be found on a mountain bike trail somewhere in the Southeast, pedaling away and doing his best to avoid the trees.

Jenna graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She began her career teaching informal science education at the Museum of Life and Science and quickly realized she would need a second job to support her non-profit “habit”. She joined the ranks of specialty toys at Learning Express Toy Stores and found her true passion. Currently, as the buyer for Marbles Kids Museum, she solely focuses on object play. She is the ultimate advocate for toys. Jenna works to curate a selection that showcases and enhances the play that happens in the Museum’s exhibits. She wants every guest to experience the power of object play. Her goal on the board is to serve as a bridge between children’s museums, specialty toy manufacturers and retailers nationwide. Jenna and her husband Chris have two wonderfully mischievous daughters, Evie and Nora Jane. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, board games, and training her German Shepherd puppy, Coal. ASTRA

Revenew Sales

Wikki_ASTRA_Unplug_ASAP_PRNT.pdf

7/18/19

Marbles Kids Museum

3:34 PM

astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 27

27 8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA news

ASTRA Board of Directors 2019-2020 Front L-R: Nick Tarzia Christine Blumberg Jacqueline Killian Betty Skoke Burns Dee Farrell Melissa Pia Bossola Beese Lisa Orman Jenna Stirling Back L-R: Kevin McGrath Brad Ruoho Amy Saldanha Tom Rushton Jeanie Crone Corey Funkey

The ASTRA Innovation Council Keeps Moving By Roger Bildsten

his spring the ASTRA Innovation Council examined interesting examples of retail innovation from around the world. The focus of the study was on smart and effective ways to reach customers. We sought ideas that could be tested, and then applied, within the ASTRA ecosystem of retailers, manufacturers, and reps. Innovating to Address Key Consumer Traits As we entered 2019, the council had identified three key traits of consumers who already do, or some day might, shop with independent toy retailers. When they think about where they’ll shop for kids, these smart buyers are looking for: - Experience - Connection - Identity We looked for innovations from all over the world that helped deliver on these traits. The diverse ideas were then distilled to some favorites that might be a particularly good fit for the challenges facing independent toy retail. Along with selecting a favorite, the council developed ideas for how it could be tested in the real world — with real ASTRA members — and measured, documented, tweaked, or improved for broader implementation within the ASTRA community.

Innovation Testing As a result of this work the council prepared for the ASTRA board a proposal for just such a test. The proposal was presented at the board’s June meeting to an enthusiastic reception and much discussion. Ideas were shared — and a lot of further work was handed back to the Innovation Council to move the project forward. The council is now working on a proposal format, to be submitted for board approval at its next meeting. The program will then be shared with the ASTRA membership for implementation. Once the format for this first innovation test is in place, the council will propose additional innovations. We are studying other innovative ways to help our customer base find the EXPERIENCE, CONNECTION, and IDENTITY so special to the independent toybuying experience. Innovation Council Meetings The council meets monthly via conference call. The agenda for each call is always full. Unfortunately, the busy Marketplace & Academy schedule didn’t allow time for an in-depth Innovation Council face-to-face meeting in Pittsburgh, but members did find time to gather. You may have seen us jamming a table at the Sunday breakfast where we updated each other on the board’s innovation ASTRA discussion and planned next steps.

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 28

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Lorem Ipsum

R U O Y W S O S R G USINE B

ABC19ASTRA

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 29

8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA news

GivingBack is Good for

by Ahren Hoffman, business development director ASTRA’s Foundation exists to increase awareness of the importance of play and its impact across the lifespan from early childhood through adulthood by way of research, education and philanthropic activities.

STRA’s annual trade show provides an opportunity for attendees and exhibitors of Marketplace & Academy to come together and give back in the communities we visit each year. In 2018, held in New Orleans, ASTRA launched corporate social responsibility projects as part of the trade show and conference experience. Together, we were able to invest in the city through volunteerism while supporting the economy with our annual trade show. As an organization focused on investing locally, we have a responsibility to help those in need and contribute to the common good in each city we visit. Volunteerism comes with many rewards: • Building respect and a good reputation in the community • Making the community a better place to live • Creating connections and networking with peers While we think of volunteering as helping those in need, supporting a worthwhile cause or influencing the community, it has benefits for the volunteer too. Giving to others supports both mental and physical health. It can reduce stress, strengthen relationships, provide a sense of purpose, bring fun and fulfillment which lights up the brain and gives it a happy “DOSE” (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins) of chemicals. We made an impact on both the community and each other at ASTRA’s 2019 Marketplace & Academy in Pittsburgh, PA!

ASTRA Partner: Tangle Creations

Program: Park Cleanup Attendees were invited to come in early to volunteer for a park cleanup project in Pittsburgh. Volunteers were tasked with various activities, such as planting, invasive plant removal, trash removal from the stream and more. ASTRA partnered with Tangle Creations to give back to a community in need after the October 2018 Squirrel Hill tragedy nearby. Organization: Nine Mile Run Watershed Association

People and Business

Mission: Nine Mile Run Watershed Association restores and protects its watershed ecosystem, while working regionally to support and implement resilient solutions for a healthy urban environment. Project Location: Frick Park Impact: • 31 Volunteers • 124 volunteer hours • $13,211 total philanthropic impact from volunteer labor Daily DOSE: Being outside increases Vitamin D levels! Light tends to elevate people’s mood and physical activity has been shown to relax and cheer people up. —Harvard Health Letter: A prescription for better health: go alfresco

ASTRA Partner: Crayola

Program: Backpack Stuffing Attendees were asked to fill a backpack with back-to-school supplies on the tradeshow floor! ASTRA partnered with Crayola to fill 1,000 backpacks with over 10 items for back-to-school readiness on Monday and Tuesday of the tradeshow. Impact: • 127 Volunteers • 9 volunteer hours • 1,000 backpacks • 10,000+ items • $50,000+ total impact from volunteer labor and materials donated • 5 different elementary schools received the backpacks: - Arlington Elementary School - West Liberty Elementary School - Banksville Elementary School - Allegheny Elementary School - Pittsburgh Liberty Elementary School • 51% Pittsburgh Public School (PPS) students are federally eligible for free or reduced-price lunch • The four Pennsylvania school districts with the highest percentage of students living in poverty are in Pittsburgh • District-wide, 65% of students are designated as economically disadvantaged by the state Department of Education, but that number is above 80% at some schools • In 2019, Pittsburgh Public Schools received 1,383 requests for homeless and foster care services for students Daily DOSE: Making others happy is powerful! Research has shown that giving makes us far happier than receiving. –Science Magazine: Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin & Michael Norton

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 30

8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA Honors Memory of Toy Industry Veteran ASTRA Partner: Blue Orange Games

Program: Puppy Break Attendees were greeted on Tuesday morning by “Dug” the pup. ASTRA and Blue Orange Games partnered to help create awareness for the importance of adopting and fostering shelter animals with snuggles, licks and lots of playfulness with the Puppy Break. • Humane Animal Rescue - 1 Volunteer - 2 volunteer hours - $500+ donation to the Humane Animal Rescue - Lots of happy faces! Daily DOSE: Working with pets and other animals has been shown to improve mood and reduce stress and anxiety. –Harvard Medical School Special Health Report: Get Healthy, Get a Dog: The health benefits of canine companionship

ASTRA Partner: David L. Lawrence Convention Center

Program: Food Donation ASTRA partnered with the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to donate leftover food from meal functions to local social service programs including, Jubilee Kitchen and 412 Food Rescue. • Food Donation - 1,000 pounds of extra food was donated in partnership with the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to social service programs in the area • Jubilee Kitchen • 412 Food Rescue Daily DOSE: Supporting local soup kitchens and social service organizations is a rewarding and meaningful way to grow communities and help them thrive. Supporting these organizations creates meaningful experiences and helps communities make progress toward achieving key social goals. –Feeding America

ASTRA Partner: Good360

Program: Donations ASTRA partnered with Good360 on the Toys for Joy program, giving back to the local community and beyond by donating toys, games, school supplies and juvenile products, generously provided by the exhibitors of the trade show, to underprivileged children and families in need. • Toy Donation Daily DOSE: There is great satisfaction in giving back to the world around us! Studies have found that altruism or empathy for others makes us more connected and overall, happier people. –Science Magazine: Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin & Michael Norton We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. ASTRA –Winston Churchill

Ted Kiesewetter

STRA honors the memory of toy industry veteran and founder of International Playthings Ted Kiesewetter, who passed away on May 24, 2019. Kiesewetter came into the toy industry in the late 1960’s when, in his own words, “there was very little interest in quality developmental toys.” He was instrumental in driving the development of quality specialty play products with high play value as an alternative to mass market toys, and the channels needed to get them in the hands of children whose families increasingly recognized the importance of play in healthy child development. “Thanks to his long toy career, most of it at the helm of International Playthings (now Epoch Everlasting Play)—there isn’t much about the emergence of the specialty toy industry that Kiesewetter didn’t help to create and witness firsthand,” noted Kimberly Mosley, president of ASTRA. “He was truly a giant in our industry and his sensible, thoughtful voice as one of our go-to elder statesmen will be missed.” Kiesewetter’s commitment to the specialty toy market was legendary. He was an early supporter of the ASTRA and a co-founder of Playing for Keeps, which promoted healthy children’s play with products that focus on the features of the child’s play rather than the features of the toy. He was the recipient of ASTRA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, about which he said, “I have been fortunate to receive a number of awards in my career, but I cannot think of another organization I am so honored to get an award from, because this award is given with sincerity, an emotional attachment to a recipient the organization has known for many years, and no ulterior motives. That reflects ASTRA’s integrity and true commitment to its mission.” Kiesewetter’s recent thoughts on the future of the specialty toy industry will no doubt resonate for many years to come. First was his reminder to keep up with the way customers are living their lives. “The most important ingredient in our industry is being in the moment,” he noted. Second, he emphasized the critical importance of channel relationships. “It’s important to visit your key accounts and put in some face-to-face time to build strong relationships.” Third, he recommended that manufacturers and retailers grow their expertise about how play helps kids develop. “Healthy play,” he said, “is a valuable platform for selling toys. It ASTRA helps business and it helps kids. Use it.” astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 31

31 8/28/19 1:44 PM

housands of specialty toy industry professionals gathered in Pittsburgh from

June 9-12, 2019 where they spent four days gaining new business insights, connecting (and re-connecting) with industry colleagues and discovering the newest products, many of which debuted on the Marketplace floor.

Toys R Us, tariffs and toys â&#x20AC;&#x201C; oh my! With an industry constantly changing, Marketplace & Academy offered education and networking opportunities for retailers, manufacturers, sales representatives, inventors and service providers to be mighty together.

September2019 â&#x20AC;˘ astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 32

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Keep the learning going throughout the year! A downloadable package of select education sessions featuring the Lunch & Learn with Jason Kotecki and the keynote session with Yancey Strickler is available for purchase on ASTRA Academy at academy.astratoy.org.

Save the Date

Marketplace & Academy 2020 June 7-10, 2020 Orlando, Florida

astratoy.org â&#x20AC;˘ September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 33

33 8/28/19 1:44 PM

A First Timer’s Takeaway What’s It Like to Attend

Marketplace & Academy For the First Time?

STRA’s Marketplace & Academy is three days of non-stop toy selection. It’s rows of big, small, loud, colorful and fun. The Marketplace & Academy really has it all. It’s an opportunity to see friends you only see on an annual basis. It’s a chance to see new items, and get acquainted with the tried and true partnerships that have been around since ASTRA’s beginning. But the main objective of the conference, is commerce. For toy manufacturers and retailers, making the annual trip to Marketplace & Academy is a must. For newer companies such as Rhode Island-based Sproutel, the visit to the annual excursion is now high on the priority list. Pittsburgh in June was Sproutel CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Horowtiz’s first trip to Marketplace & Academy, and he overwhelmingly said it was worth the trip. “It was really good to interact with the community and to understand exactly what buyers are looking for and to get really good solid feedback,” Horowitz said. “We met a lot of people and we’re still about a year out from shipment, so we didn’t know what to expect. But we got a good amount of orders, so we’re really excited about that.” Horowtiz says he knew it was a national conference, but still didn’t know exactly what to expect. But he says the size and scale was significant. So much so, that he’s planning on a return trip to ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy next year in Orlando. “I would certainly suggest any small toy maker, or toy maker in general, who

is new to this space, that it’s a great opportunity to see how the system works to get plugged in to the community,” he said. “You can get really good, valuable feedback to bring your product to market.” Although in a massive setting this year in downtown Pittsburgh at the David Lawrence Convention Center, Lindsay Williamson, store owner of The Animal Kingdom Children’s Store in State College, Pennsylvania, said she felt the size was perfect. She said she’d been to ToyFair in New York previously, but said she felt much more comfortable at ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy. “It was smaller, in a really good way,” Williamson said. “It was much intimate and personal. I didn’t feel like I was constantly in the way or being interrupted when I was talking to vendors. Normally I avoid shows and I try and do things in a more private setting. This felt like a really good balance. It was like a private setting, but in a show setting. It was cool.” For Kim McDaniel, owner of the St. Louis-based game manufacturer Across the Board, Marketplace & Academy was set in a great venue. She says she credits ASTRA for letting everyone in the industry know who was coming, and what to expect. Across the Board features handcrafted, wooden, unique board games, and McDaniels admits their product is a niche product and isn’t for everyone. “The participation was good and the people who came by our booth had done their research and were seeking us out. They didn’t just come upon us by accident,” she said. “It seemed people read about our

company and knew who we were when they walked up. The people who stopped by our booth were definitely in our market, which was nice.” McDaniel, too, says she’s been to ToyFair in New York, but felt the setting in Pittsburgh was more efficient. “ToyFair seemed like people were just walking the show and came upon you more by accident than seeking you out,” she said. “We joined ASTRA specifically to go to Marketplace this year, and I’m sure we’ll be back.” Even if retail owners didn’t buy a lot at Marketplace & Academy this year, they felt it was worth their time. Cristin Heselton, owner of Lady and Leap Toy Shop in New Hartford, NY, said she did do some buying, but more than anything else, she left Pittsburgh with great ideas. Those great ideas, she said, will certainly turn into purchases down the road. “There were a lot of products there that I had not seen. I really wanted to have all of it in my store,” she said with a chuckle. “It was very worthwhile to go to see what’s out there and to talk to some of the reps and hear what’s good and bad, and what’s popular.” With Orlando on the books for next year’s venue for Marketplace & Academy, Horowitz, Williamson, McDaniel and Heselton all say they’re planning to make it back. “If you’ve never been to a toy show, this is the one to start with,” Williamson said. “Some of the other shows can be super overwhelming and intimidating. Marketplace was much more ASTRA manageable.”

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 34

8/28/19 1:44 PM

astratoy.org â&#x20AC;¢ September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 35

35 8/28/19 1:44 PM

A Word From Our Partners Thank you to all of the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Partners who made this year’s event possible. We asked our Partners to share their answers to the why behind their commitment to specialty. Cheyanne Huke Crazy Aaron’s Puttyworld ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Premier Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? Beside the invaluable insight of fellow manufacturers and long-standing retail partners on the message boards, the networking events, and the unique opportunities of Neighborhood Toy Store Day, the ASTRA Marketplace offers an experience unlike anything else within the industry. No amount of sales reporting or market research can ever be as impactful and insightful as the conversations of the Marketplace showfloor. Whereas many industries are stamped with harsh competition, the marketplace floor is marked with the sentiment of solidarity and mutual support. Partnering with ASTRA is the most defined way of looking out at like-minded manufacturers, countless retail partners, and valuable voices within the community, all the while gesturing “we’re in this together!” What do you value about the specialty market? In a business landscape dominated by spreadsheets and monthly reports, there’s not a high enough value that can be placed upon person-to-person interaction and good-will insights. Luckily for us, that’s precisely what the specialty market offers us - as it relates to single products, brand identity, and the balance of the industry at large. The enthusiasm and energy of our specialty stores has allowed our business to keep our doors open, while the faith and support of those stores has allowed us to innovate, experiment, and ultimately diversify our catalog in ways we couldn’t have imagined otherwise. The staff of specialty stores can tell our story with a smile on their face, with product knowledge in their heads, and with putty in their hands… no algorithm can capture that magic. Mark Carson Fat Brain Toy Co ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Premier Partner In the memoir by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, he glowingly refers to himself as a “shoe dog”, someone who is not just passionate about shoes, but intimately familiar with every facet of its design, construction, merchandising, and sales. In a similar way, the specialty toy market is made up of thousands of “toy hounds”that leverage their knowledge of products and customers to differentiate themselves from the uninformed

“toy sellers”in their markets. We have an absolute passion for developing and manufacturing innovative toys and games, and we simply love doing business with individuals who share that same passion and energy. What do you value about the specialty market? It’s the one organization that keeps us in direct contact with our people, the “toy hounds”who are as passionate about product as we are. But more than just product, ASTRA allows smaller manufacturers, independent retailers, and reps the opportunity to collaborate on topics that are unique to the specialty industry. The specialty community is tight knit, but we rely upon ASTRA to keep those connections strong. Paul Perricelli Alex Brands ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Supporting Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? ASTRA is a great community of people working in an industry we love. We chose to partner with ASTRA so that we could interact and forge relationships with all our members. Whether it be retail customers on the show floor, ASTRA staff at a community outreach event or competitive suppliers at the lobby bar, this interaction is great for our community and most importantly, the children we ultimately serve who buy play with our products. We all want the same thing -- for all of the specialty toy retailers and suppliers to thrive and be the leaders in the toy market at large. What do you value about the specialty market? The value of the specialty market lies within the personal relationships between consumers/ retailers and retailers/suppliers. These relationships and the care we show for one another is what makes the specialty market “special”. The information and feedback we receive is crucial to our product development and the way we operate moving forward. The swiftness with which a trend can be identified and put into our consumers hands is our true advantage. Only with these partnerships can we continue to be successful and have a whole lot of fun doing it. Brian Rovner Smart Games ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Supporting Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? For us partnering with ASTRA is and always been a no-brainer. We value ASTRA’s ability to unite the specialty industry and facilitate valuable dialogue.

ASTRA events balance efficient business and genuine relationships. What do you value about the specialty market? We depend on our retail partners to showcase our brands - to educate new customers about our products, how they are played, their quality, etc. Where else but specialty could we find so many great people, people who take a personal interest in our products, people who value genuine partnership? We are honored to be part of this community and look forward to many years together. Martin Marechal Blue Orange Games ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Supporting Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? We choose to partner with ASTRA because they allow us to have the highest quality connections with speciality retailers. We are proud and grateful to be part of a community of professionals and retailers that strive to elevate the value of the specialty market and work together to bring value to the stores. Not only does ASTRA work hard all year with retailers and provide them with tools to succeed, ASTRA puts on a wonderful show where manufacturers can exhibit, interact, and host events such as game nights. What do you value about the specialty market? First of all, we value the relationships Blue Orange Games has created with each retailer through years of commitment to the specialty market. We realize specialty stores are the best bridge to bring toys and games to communities and provide first-hand experience for consumers through play. These retailers and their employees really care about the toys, games, and people in their stores. They are able to communicate, connect, and understand what their customer is looking for and are able to recommend the best items for their requirements and wants. Lili DeSoto Thames & Kosmos ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Supporting Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? ASTRA offers the support and opportunities we need to develop these relationships in so many ways: ASTRA Marketplace & Academy is one of our top trade shows of the year, providing us with crucial face-to-face interaction so that we can determine what our customers need and how we can go about fulfilling those needs. ASTRA’s Kit Session and Game Night events have also

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 36

8/28/19 1:44 PM

been very helpful from a product development standpoint, while the Best Toys for Kids program has proven to be very useful in gaining exposure—not only for nominated or winning products, but for our line as a whole. What do you value about the specialty market? For Thames & Kosmos specifically, our products are designed to provide hands-on learning and playtime experiences, and the best way to demonstrate how they do that is to do just that—demonstrate it! Because of this, we can’t emphasize enough how important brick-andmortar specialty retailers are to the success of our products and the growth of our mission to introduce a variety of concepts and skills through tactile processes. Specialty stores become a brand ambassador of sorts: they have their own unique and loyal pool of customers who trust the retailer’s decision to carry a specific product. They do their research. When a specialty store chooses to put our product on their shelves, it’s because they believe it in and will advocate for it to their customers. You can’t ask for a better environment to get a product off the ground and into the hands of the children (and parents) we aim to serve. Jenna Piller ACD Toys ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Supporting Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? Our specialty toy business has grown over the years and ASTRA has been there every step of the way. ASTRA is a fantastic resource and a valued partner. What do you value about the specialty market? At ACD, we enjoy partnering with unique businesses that have diverse obstacles and goals. The specialty market offers interesting challenges and opportunities, and it thrives on creative approaches. We thrive on the challenge of offering valuable solutions to such a diverse environment. Ron Solomon MAPP Trap ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Experience Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? ASTRA exhibits a genuine desire and effectiveness to assist ALL of its members. From educational sessions at its marketplace, eblasts and periodicals, to online webinars, the group addresses the needs of vendors and retailers alike (a rare quality.) What do you value about the specialty market? Our association with the specialty market brings us a diverse set of perspectives about company and brand protection. The companies involved in ASTRA are professional and have a keen interest in an open and frank exchange of ideas. These characteristic of specialty have helped us to develop and improve our services in a way that would not be possible with large, mega-corps.

Iris Solomon Hahn Solo Consulting ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Experience Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? ASTRA is and always has been the best source for all that is specialty in our toy industry. We are thrilled and proud to be a sponsor of their Toy Fair and ASTRA “Share the Fair”events. We will always recommend our clients join with us in participating and enjoying all that ASTRA brings to our entire toy community. What do you value about the specialty market? We value the loyalty, community, acceptance and stamina of all our fellow specialty retailers, manufacturers sales representatives and affiliates in the toy industry. There have been many changes in the marketplace over the years, with ASTRA’s help, we have continued to be a close knit group of successful business people who are always there to help one another learn, grow and survive through good and challenging times. Jennifer Mines Iscream ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Experience Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? The ASTRA Marketplace is an opportunity for Iscream to work directly with our retail partners and learn more about their needs and how we can better design products to help them continue to be successful.

What do you value about the specialty market? I love working directly with specialty store retailers and sharing our merchandising suggestions because they have the platform to successfully carry out our visions in their stores. I enjoy putting together items to create a unique gift that their customers will not find anywhere else because it is a collaboration of different items grouped together to make the perfect presentation. For me - ASTRA is the chance to work one on one with the store owners and help them develop their own style within the different product categories and price points we sell that work for their specific buyers. James Alay Kent Displays/Boogie Board eWriters ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Experience Partner Why do you choose to partner with ASTRA? ASTRA is by far the simplest way we’ve found to get in front of specialty toy buyers and a great way to be among our thriving community of specialty toy makers, retailers, and media. What do you value about the specialty market? It’s a competitive market, but in many ways, it’s also a united market. We tend to mostly cheer each other on. That’s because together, as specialty toy makers and retailers, we face a lot of the same challenges and also get to share in a lot ASTRA of the exciting opportunities ahead.

Makers of potholder looms & loops, fiber art kits and weaving looms.

Harrisville Designs • 1-800-338-9415 • harrisville.com • Harrisville, NH astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 37

37 8/28/19 1:44 PM

Making it Memorable Thank you to Our Partners PREMIER PARTNERS

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

EXPERIENCE PARTNERS

MEDIA PARTNERS ®

STRA’s Marketplace and Academy is a massive collection of retailers, vendors, manufacturers and sales representatives. Packed into three days, it can be an assault on your senses with so much coming at you nearly every minute of every day. It can also be a lot to remember. But thanks to Ron Rosenberg and his breakout session titled ‘The Inner Secrets to Double Your Memory’ on Sunday, June 19, he helped make everything quite memorable. Rosenberg is president of Quality Talk and an award-winning speaker, author and coach. He is a nationally recognized expert on marketing and customer service, and his breakout session at ASTRA was a fascinating experiment. At this year’s Marketplace and Academy in Pittsburgh, the breakout sessions helped open the week on Sunday. Conference rooms stretching from end-to-end inside the 1.5 million square foot David L. Lawrence Convention Center were packed with speakers at expert-led workshops, along with general breakout sessions. In all, ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy this year in Pittsburgh packed 22 different breakout sessions into the opening day, covering several topics. One of these sessions, The Inner Secrets to Double Your Memory presented by Ron Rosenberg, highlighted ways to utilize memory to boost business and relationships. Rosenberg, a nationally-recognized expert on marketing and customer service, had a room of more than 50 people at attention and in amazement. “There’s nothing more personal than building relationships,” Rosenberg said. “For a small business, it’s everything. People can go online and find everything and that’s just so impersonal. People are so desperate for a sense of community, so if you can remember their name and remember information about them, it shows that you care.” At the start of his 45-minute session, Rosenberg put 15 words on a screen and let the audience look at it for a brief period of time. He did the same with a group of faces with names under their image. He then asked everyone to write down the 15 words, and the names under each face. Clearly, no one in the room was able to accomplish either. But by the end of the session, to the laughter and amazement to everyone in the crowd, no one had a problem with accomplishing each goal. He says people remember things that are strange or unusual, and that there are four things that people have a tendency to always remember: Quantity, Distortions in size, Violence, and things that are Disgusting. He was able to use these triggers to help remember the 15 words, and the names of all of the faces. “Everything now is just a number. You’re a credit card when you go to a store,” he said. “Once you can remember people, you can show the importance of the relationship. That’s what your business is built on.” Surprisingly, or maybe not according to Rosenberg, several people raised their hands during his session when he asked if anyone in the audience shopped on Amazon.com. The majority of the crowd gingerly raised their hands. “No, not really. I actually thought there might be more,” Rosenberg said when asked if he was surprised at the high number. “In all fairness, people buy stuff from Amazon all the time because the model works. What you have to do is figure out how to distinguish yourself so you’re not competing on price. People make decisions based on price, convenience and availability, but you have to have people you like, people you know and people you trust. That’s what’s important. ASTRA Knowing their names is the first step.”

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 38

8/28/19 1:44 PM

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 39

8/28/19 1:44 PM

new manfacturer members

ASTRA Welcomes Its Newest Manufacturer Members Floateez Brands Diecast Masters America Ambosstoys LLC Montclair, NJ www.ambosstoys.com The philosophy of Ambosstoys is simple: Convert the design of classic vehicles into metal toys through finest craftsmanship! ‘Amboss’ means anvil in German. Thus Ambosstoys - as the anvil - is synonym for handcraft, metal and longevity, opposing the unsustainable trends of many presentday toys (i.e. plastic, valueless, low quality.)

Sunrise, FL www.diecastmasters.com Diecast Masters America distributes a Collector Line of Diecast Masters, Caterpillar Models in 1:50th, 1:64th and 1:87th (HO) Scale. By Q3, DMA will also offer a Diecast Masters, Collector Line of 1:50th Scale Trucks, Tractors and Trailers for Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Western Star and International.

Braintree, MA www.iamabeautifulblessing.com Beautiful Blessings is a unique doll collection that empowers girls and women. Each doll comes with a motivational message reminding girls and women, We are Beautiful Blessings!

Tallahassee, FL www.explearntoys.com We believe that the future belongs to our children. Each toy is designed to nurture creativity and imagination of the child. We bring play to life with the finest commitment to craftsmanship and creativity. Explearn Toys stimulates children through every stage of the development cycle and helps to develop their natural abilities.

Explore Scientific LLC Cottage Door Press, LLC Rolling Meadows, IL www.cottagedoorpress.com Reading is learning. That’s the driving philosophy at Cottage Door Press. We believe in educating and entertaining both children and their grown-ups. We also believe in “reading up” to children— we respect them, and choose artwork and language that interests, informs, and stretches their growing minds.

Floateez Brands was founded in 2011. Bringing innovative, safe, functional and engaging products to the market place. We provide concepts through production product development and oversight.

iPlay, iLearn City of Industry, CA www.iplayilearntoys.com

Explearn Toys Beautiful Blessings

Cedar Park, TX floateez.com

Springdale, AR www.explorescientific.com

Founded in 2016, iPlay, iLearn’s mission is to fully meet the needs of children, so that they can develop the most necessary skills for the 21st century. Categories include Ride-On, Activities, Vehicles & Sports.

Letts Play Williamstown, NJ www.wishingpixies.com Wishing Pixies is a powerful, effortless parenting tool, disguised as a children’s product. Our dolls, story and a children’s app help parents guide their child’s emotional growth and support them in their goal of raising emotionally strong, happy and confident children. We teach children how to nurture the magin within themselves!

Explore Scientific manufacturers telescopes, microscopes, binoculars and outdoor products for kids and adults. Founded in 2008 to make astronomy, microscopy and exploration of nature accessible and affordable to the public. Helping ordinary people experience adventure, wonder and excitement of exploration and hands-on scientific inquiry. With high-quality durable, and affordable optical instruments we support public scientific literacy.

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 40

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Stellar Factory Mema Enterprise Pty Ltd North Bondi, AU www.dittybird.com Ditty Bird musical board books are the perfect instrument for playful learning through music and sounds. Every title features gentle touch contact points that activate the “ditties” on each page along with vibrant illustrations and engaging content for Big Minds with Little Hands.

Boulder, CO www.stellarfactory.com Stellar Factory is a small product and game design studio, based in Boulder, CO. Founded in 2014, Stellar Factory’s mission is to use well-designed goods and experiences to bring people together, encouraging playfulness and joy. They’re best known for their cooperative card games Spaceteam and Ravine.

Tink Digital White Plains, NY www.doodlematic.com Nurture creativity, design thinking, and problem-solving skills, and bring kids back into the physical world by enabling anyone starting at a very young age to translate the physical into the digital without writing a single line of code.

Wicked Cool Toys

Ok2Win Centerville, UT www.ok2win.com Ok2Win is the creator of the fun, fastpaced, easy-to-learn, family-friendly card games 3UP 3DOWN and BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE. Each game takes just 3 minutes to learn and 10 or so minutes to play.

Three Little Hens LLC dba/ The Toothless Monster Valrico, FL www.threelittlehens.com Three Little Hens LLC is a small, family business that was created to share The Toothless Monster with children and families everywhere. We are proudly based in Tampa, Florida, where we live with our three little hens...and one really loud rooster. We have more fun ideas in the works.

Bristol, PA www.wickedcooltoys.com Wicked Cool Toys (WCT) was founded in 2012 to make playtime the most fun ever! The team is expert at creating unique and innovative products that surprise, delight, and bring smiles to the faces of kids all ages. Top brands include Pokémon, Cabbage Patch Kids®, Blinger™ and Hank’s Twisted Challenge™.

Roooz Planet Inc Northridge, CA www.rooozplanet.com At Roooz Planet our goal is to design and manufacture unique plush toys with the highest quality. Roooz Planet is a world of cute, funny looking aliens known as Roozians’. With unique personalities and a child imagined image, they promote imagination and creativity. Kids can also gain educational messages through the “Faaar from Roooz Planet” picture book.

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 41

8/28/19 1:44 PM

new members AFFILIATES Brandwise, Inc. 12596 West Bayaud Avenue Suite 100 Lakewood, CO 80228 gford@brandwise.com www.brandwise.com How To Cake It Inc. 438 King Street West Suite 1904 Toronto, ON M5V 3T9 Canada accounts@howtocakeit.com www.howtocakeit.com Intromark, Inc 217 9th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15222 gderr@intromark.com www.intromark.com Product Counsel 3657 Roblin Boulevard Suite 206 Winnepeg, MB R3R 0E2 Canada ry@productcounsel.com www.productcounsel.com

INVENTORS Ollyball/Victury Sports PO Box 25 Yorba Linda, CA 92885 joe@ollyball.com www.ollyball.com

MANUFACTURERS “SAVAS TAKAS” ir KO 4 Palangos Street Vilnius, LT-01402 Lithuania karolina@logis.lt www.logis.lt ABC Plush 300 W Valley Boulevard #C85 Alhambra, CA 91803 jack@abcplush.com www.abcplush.com Ambosstoys LLC 55 Grandview Place Montclair, NJ 07043 info@ambosstoys.com www.ambosstoys.com

If any of the information below is incorrect, ASTRA truly apologizes. Please contact us immediately at info@astratoy.org.

Beautiful Blessings info@iamabeautifulblessing.com www.iamabeautifulblessing.com Bright Stripes LLC 71 Linden Avenue Bloomfield, NJ 07003 eric@brightstrips.co Charm Company 1500 South Hellman Avenue Ontario, CA 91761 ervm@folandgroup.com www.folandgroup.com Charty Party evan@chartypartgame.com www.chartypartygame.com Cottage Door Press, LLC 5005 Newport Drive Rolling Meadows, IL 60008-3832 epeterson@cottagedoorpress.com www.cottagedoorpress.com Crestar Ltd. 8463 Chemin Darnley Mount Royal, QC H4T 1X2 Canada robertg@crestar-limited.com www.crestar-limited.com Diecast Masters America 12717 West Sunrise Boulevard, Suite 418 Sunrise, FL 33323 jenkins.dale@hotmail.com www.diecastmasters.com Ed Speldy East Company LTD 2257 Four Mile Creek Road Niagara on the Lake, ON LOS 1JO Canada jeffrey.dai@realcoolbug.com www.realcoolbug.com Explearn Toys 3551 Blairstone Road Suite 128, #214 Tallahassee, FL 32301 gaurav@explearntoys.com www.oneworldtraders.net

Explore Scientific LLC 1010 South 48th Street Springdale, AR 72762 david.brown@explorescientific.com www.explorescientific.com Factory Door LLC 3356 Big Pine Trail Suite A Champaign, IL 61822 jgalliv@factorydoor.com Floateez Brands 1009 Audra Street Cedar Park, TX 78613 tjg@floateez.com www.floateez.com Fun City Toys, LLC 3555 West Reno Avenue Suite C Las Vegas, NV 89118 margotoys@gmail.com www.brickmates.com Fun Express 4206 South 108th Street Omaha, NE 68137 mnaylon@funexpess.com www.funexpress.com Hansa Creation USA 5151 Northwest 108th Avenue Sunrise, FL 33351 paulw@hansacreationusa.com www.hansatoysusa.com iPlay, iLearn 18725 East Gale Avenue #250 City of Industry, CA 91748 jordan@iplay-ilearn.com www.iplayilearntoys.com Kidful 10000 Washington Boulevard, Suite 600 Culver City, CA 90232 diana@inventiveorigin.com Letts Play 1400 Sunset Avenue Williamstown, NJ 08094 dletts@wishingpixies.com www.wishingpixies.com

Lucky Poke Games 385 South Lemon Avenue #E238 Walnut, CA 91789 rchang@luckypokegames.com www.luckypokegames.com Mema Enterprise Pty Ltd 20 Vicars Avenue North Bondi, NSW 2026 Australia hello@dittybird.com www.dittybird.com Mimish 68 34th Street Unit 6, Suite B530 Brooklyn, NY 11232 jennifer@mimishdesigns.com www.mimishdesigns.com MMG Brands 3835 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard #405 Westlake Village, CA 91362 sean.price@mmgbrands.com www.mmgbrands.com OAXIS Inc 2372 Morse Avenue Suite 446 Irvine, CA 92614 gjyong@oaxis.com www.oaxis.com Ok2Win 684 West 1045 North Centerville, UT 84014 service@ok2win.com www.ok2win.com Playroom Entertainment / Ultra Pro 6049 Soauson Avenue Commerce, CA 90040 marketing@ultrapro.com www.ultrapro.com Professor Puzzle Messom Mews, Grosvenor Road Twickenham, London TW1 4AD United Kingdom andrew.wade@professorpuzzle.com www.professorpuzzle.com

Robotime, Inc 3542B Meeker Avenue El Monte, CA 91731 william.wei@robotime.com www.robotime.com Roooz Planet Inc 19644 Roscoe Boulevard Unit B Northridge, CA 91324 info@rooozplanet.com www.rooozplanet.com SolidRoots LLC 1119 North Main Street Tulsa, OK 74106 janet.armstrong@solidroots.com www.solidroots.com Stellar Factory PO Box 2150-80306 Boulder, CO 80306 matt@stellarfactory.com www.stellarfactory.com Stephen Joseph Gifts 4302 Ironton Avenue Lubbock, TX 79407 kathleenl@stephenjosephinc.com www.stephenjosephgifts.com Sunshine & Glitter 9750 Northwest 17th Street Doral, FL 33172 meredith@sunshineglitter.com www.sunshineglitter.com Three Little Hens LLC dba/ The Toothless Monster 2406 East State Road 60 #1130 Valrico, FL 33594 ryan@threelittlehens.com www.threelittlehens.com Tink Digital 82 Greenridge Avenue White Plains, NY 10605 martin@doodlematic.com www.doodlematic.com tokidoki 5655 West Adams Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90016 joey@tokidoki.it www.tokidoki.it

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 42

8/28/19 1:44 PM

Toysters 1723 Pennsylvania Avenue Linden, NJ 07036 jimmy@toysters.com www.toysters.com Umarex USA 7700 Chad Colley Boulevard Fort Smith, AR 72916 evan.haddick@umarexusa.com www.umarexusa.com Wicked Cool Toys 10 Canal Street Suite 327 Bristol, PA 19007 rinz@wickedcooltoys.com www.wickedcooltoys.com ZYX Sticks 803 West Market Street Bethlehem, PA 18018 shannon@buildzyx.com www.buildzyx.com

RETAILERS ARJ Online Mercantile 18361 Mecca Street Hesperia, CA 92345 calikitchenca@gmail.com Avalanche Industries 144 Dixon Street Selbyville, DE 19975 cassiewi@avalanchind.com www.avalancheind.com AZM Retail, LLC 4220 Steve Reynolds Boulevard, Suite 18 Norcross, GA 30093 ibad@azmretail.com www.azmretail.com Be With Me The Children’s Playseum 7000 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20815 gina@playseum.com www.playseum.com Cartoon and Toons 634 Parkway #12 Gatlinburg, TN 37738 unameit1@bellsouth.net

Chalk N More 1777 Carl D Silver Parkway Fredericksburg, VA 22401-4924 chalknmore@yahoo.com www.chalknmore.com Charlie Brown Farm 8317 Pearblossom Highway Littlerock, CA 93543 cbrownfarm@aol.com www.charliebrownfarms.com Chatham Toys 515 Main Street Chatham, MA 02633 joey_mcisaac@yahoo.com www.chathamtoys.com Cheekade Meekade 326A East Lake Street Petoskey, MI 49770 lisa@cheekademeekade.com www.cheekademeekade.com Content 314 Division Street South Northfield, MN 55057 jessica@contentbookstore.com www.contentbookstore.com Copperfield’s Books, Inc. 139 Edman Way Sebastopol, CA 95472 srompelman@copperbook.com www.copperfieldsbooks.com Dinosaur Gardens 11160 US Highway 23 South Ossineke, MI 49766 garyjstephan@gmail.com www.dinosaurgardensllc.com Down On The Farm Toys 11788 West Louisa Road Lena, IL 61048 lenafarmtoys@gmail.com www.downonthefarmtoys.com El Mercado de Juguetes 42905 Carr 482 Quebradillas, PR 00678 info@elmercadodejuguetes.com www.elmercadodejuguetes.com

Eugene Toy and Hobby 32 East 11th Avenue Eugene, OR 97401 andrew@eugenetoyandhobby.com www.eugenetoyandhobby.com Fun Buy The Pound Toy Store 406 Beaver Street Sewickley, PA 15143 brenda@funbuythepound.com www.funbuythepound.com Funrarity 3859 South Valley View Boulevard Suite 35 Las Vegas, NV 89103 benny@funrarity.com www.funrarity.com Geomi 3127 Parkway Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 moonpiegeorge@gmail.com www.moonpieinthesmokies.com Gnome Games 985 Centennial Street Unit 7 Green Bay, WI 54304 mail@gnomegames.com www.gnomegames.com Happki LLC 5862 North Lincoln Avenue Suite C2 Chicago, IL 60659 mauricio@happki.com www.happki.com Heyday! 2016 San Marco Boulevard Jacksonville, FL 32207 heydaykids@comcast.net www.facebook.com/HeydaySanMarco Hobby Express Inc 1713 Route 228 Cranberry Township, PA 16066 info@hobbyexpressinc.com www.hobbyexpressinc.com Hooked on Toys 1444 North Wenatchee Avenue Wenatchee, WA 98801 hookedontoys@hotmail.com www.hookedontoys.com

Hopscotch 1120 Kessler Boulevard Longview, WA 98632 pamelahayeskong@gmail.com IDMACommerce LLC 1625 North Commerce Parkway Suite 315 Weston, FL 33326 idan@idmacommerce.com www.idmacommerce.com I’m Board 6917 University Avenue Middleton, WI 53562 margaret@imboardgames.com www.imboardgames.com Island Art Party 1279 South Kihei Road Suite 109 Kihei, HI 96753 info@islandartparty.com www.islandartparty.com iSpark Toys 925 Northeast Orenco Station Loop Hillsboro, OR 97124 info@isparktoys.com www.isparktoys.com Jack’s Marine and True Value Hardware Inc 188 North Ferry Road PO Box 3009 Sheer Island Heights, NY 11965 classycam@aol.com ww3.truevalue.com/jackstruevaluemarine/Home.aspx Just Games Rochester 1601 Penfield Road Rochester, NY 14625 sales@justgamesroc.com www.justgamesroc.com Lehman’s 2795 West 350 South Lagrange, IN 46761 lvs@ibyfax.com Little Pickles Inc. 7505 North Broadway Red Hook, NY 12571 rebecca@ourlittlepickles.com www.ourlittlepickles.com

Main Event USA LLC 5205 Smartt Drive Nashville, TN 37220 mayne@maineventus.com www.maineventus.com Mapamundi Kids 1306 Castro Street San Francisco, CA 94114 terra@mapamundikids.com www.mapamundikids.com Micro Center 4119 Leap Road Hilliard, OH 43026 beft@microcenter.com www.microcenter.com Mimsy Toys, Inc. 123 South Main Street Goshen, IN 46526 mimsytoys@gmail.com www.mimsytoys.com Mobile Advance 4055 Schaefer Avenue Chino, CA 91710 jlin@mobileadvance.com www.mobileadvance.com My Toy Chest 1000 N Point Cir Suite 1091 Alpharetta, GA 30022 scott@my-toy-chest.com Nature Calls Powerhouse Mall 8 Glen Road Lebanon, NH 03784 liznaturecalls@gmail.com www.facebook.com/Nature-Calls-Bonkers-326181874094355/ Parkway Presents 2694 Lisa Court Northbrook, IL 60062 parkwaypresents@gmail.com Phantom Toys 1289 Fordham Boulevard #181 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 phantomtoysnc@gmail.com

astratoy.org • September2019

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 43

43 8/28/19 1:44 PM

new members Presque Isle Gallery & Gifts 301 Pennisula Drive Suite 206 Erie, PA 16505 anthony@discoverpi.com www.discoverpi.com Taiga Games 145 West Washington Street Marquette, MI 49855 taigagamestore@gmail.com www.facebook.com/TaigaGames tdamco inc. 1321 Blanshard Street Suite 301 Victoria, BC V8W 0B6 Canada tsholland@tdamco.com

If any of the information below is incorrect, ASTRA truly apologizes. Please contact us immediately at info@astratoy.org.

The Curious Bear Toy & Book Shop 2061 Mildred Street West Tacoma, WA 98466 hello@curiousbeartoys.com www.curiousbeartoys.com

Tokyo Japanese lifestyle 3368 North San Fernando Road, Suite 110 Los Angeles, CA 90065 naokishinozuka@mominokila.com

Whimsy on Main 214 South Main Street Milbank, SD 57252 amythue@gmail.com www.whimsyonmain.com

The Party Place, LLC 4300 Rogers Avenue Suite 20-209 Fort Smith, AR 72903 ehsiv@hotmail.com

Town Creek Trading Company 6361 Ocean Highway East Suite 5 Winnabow, NC 28479 towncreektradingpost@outlook.com

Yeager’s 3101 Northwest Avenue Bellingham, WA 98225 yeagersjane@gmail.com www.yeagerssportinggoods.com

Thinker Trove Po Box 2080 La Crete, AB T0H 2H0 Canada info@thinkertrove.ca

Toy Lab 1529 Main Street Sarasota, FL 34236 thetoylabllc@gmail.com www.toylabsarasota.com

SALES REPRESENTATIVES CJF Enterprises 303 South 7th Street Emmaus, PA 18049 chrisjfaul@gmail.com

Daily Distro 7001 Anpesil Drive North Bergen, NJ 07047-4517 amber@dailydistro.com www.dailydistro.com Diamond Opportunities 1340 West 4th Street Apt 9 Los Angeles, CA 90017 warren@diamondopportunities.com Just Got 2 Have It! 6351 Club Drive McDonald, PA 15057 nicole@justgot2haveit.com www.justgot2haveit.com

Back to School with LÄSSIG ASTRA MEMBERS RECEIVE FREE SHIPPING AND 10% ON ORDERS $250 OR MORE!

CONTACT OUR SALES DEPARTMENT TO PLACE YOUR ORDER EMAIL: MEGAN.KEPLER@LASSIGUSA.COM PH: 530-809-1699 LASSIGUSA.COM

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 44

8/28/19 1:44 PM

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 45

8/28/19 1:44 PM

index of advertisers

ASTRA Toy Times Magazine, September 2019

All Baby & Child......................................................theabcshow.com................................29

KidStuff Public Relations...................................kidstuffpr.com......................................23

Duncan Toys.............................................................duncantoys.com.................................45

Lassig...........................................................................lassigusa.com.......................................44

edPlay..........................................................................edplay.com............................................23

MukikiM LLC............................................................mukikim.com........................................17

Endless Games.......................................................endlessgames.com............................35

MW Wholesale........................................................mindware.com.....................................39

Fat Brain Toy Co......................................................FatBrainToyCo.com..............................2

SentoSphere USA.................................................sentosphereusa.com...........................6

Folkmanis..................................................................folkmanis.com........................................9

Spooner Boards, Inc............................................spoonerboards.com .........................21

Goliath Games / Pressman Toy......................pressmantoy.com...............................13

The Lazy Dog & Co................................................lightstax.com..........................................7

Gund, a Division of Spin Master Inc............gund.com.................................................5

USAopoly Inc...........................................................usaopoly.com.......................................11

Harrisville Designs................................................harrisville.com......................................37

Wikki Stix...................................................................wikkistix.com........................................27

JC Toys Group Incorporated............................jctoys.com..............................................46

Winning Moves......................................................winning-moves.com.........................48

Kala Brand Music Co............................................kalabrand.com.....................................47

To reserve your ad space in the next issue of ASTRA Toy Times Magazine

contact Todd Crayton • (315) 789-6431 • todd@fwpi.com

September2019 • astratoy.org

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 46

8/28/19 1:44 PM

ASTRA-2

SCC - LT P KALA

B ACK TO SCHOOL

INCLU DES: MARK ERS • SOPR ANO UKUL ELE WITH COLO R-CO DED FRET • COLO R CHOR D TOTE BAG • QUIC K START GUID E R • ACCE SS TO: THE KALA UKUL ELE APP WITH TUNE W & FREE ONLIN E LESSO NS WITH EMILY ARRO

KIT by Kala with THE LEARN TO PLAY COLOR CHO RD® UKULELE STARTER

LEARN MORE AT KALABRAND.COM / LTP-SCC 2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 47 ASTRA-201907-ColorChord-D1-lc.indd 1

8/28/19 1:44 2:42 PM PM 7/19/19

The Classic 90’s Game is Back Ready to Enchant a Whole New Generation!

Item #1222 Item #1222 Item #1222

s F rom es F rom es F rom

Item #1222

New Puzzles From

Scattergories 30th Anniversary Edition Item #1229

Rubik’s

Color Blocks Item #5041 Rubik’ s Color Blocks Rubik’s Edge Rubik’s Junior Puppy Rubik’s Color Blocks Item #5041 Item #5040 Item #5038 Item #5041

800.664.7788 x101 or x103 wmsales@winning-moves.com @winningmovesusa

Rubik’s Color Blocks Item #5041

U sed under license R ubik’s B rand Ltd. All R ights R eserved. asbro. All R ights R eserved. WINNING MOVES, WINNING MOVES GAMES, and C LASSIC , es Inc., 75 Sylvan Street, Suite C -104, MA 01923 U SA. All All Rights R ights Reserved. R eserved. ®. Used under Danvers, license Rubik’ sBLOCKS, Brand RUBIK’S®, RUBIK’S® COLOR RUBIK’S® JUNIOR PUPPY Ltd. and RUBIK’S® EDGE are trademarks of RUBIK’S®. Used under license Rubik’s Brand Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 9 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. WINNING WINNING MOVES and CLASSIC, PRETTY PRETTY PRINCESS and SCATTERGORIES ares trademarks of HasbroGAMES, and are used with permission. © 2019 Hasbro. AllRights Rights Reserved. WINNING MOVES, WINNING MOVES GAMES, and CLASSIC, BIK’S®. UsedMOVES, under license Rubik’ Brand Ltd. All Reserved. Moves Inc., 75 Sylvan Street, Suite C-104, Danvers, MA 01923 USA. All Rights Reserved. RETRO, COOL, & FUN, and Logos thereof, are registered trademarks of Winning Moves Inc. © 2019 Winning Moves Inc., 75 Sylvan Street,and Suite C-104, Danvers, MA 01923 USA. All Rights Reserved. © 2019 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. WINNING MOVES, WINNING MOVES GAMES, CLASSIC,

ning

Moves

Inc., 75

2019_ASTRA_03_Sep.indd 48

Sylvan

Street, Suite

C-104, Danvers, MA

01923

USA. All

Rights

Reserved.

8/28/19 1:44 PM