Alphabet Soup Celebrates a Wind Energy Anniversary

Wear Uniforms

Not only does it help customers find employees in the store, it helps brand awareness when you’re wearing your logo shirt at the gas station on the way to work or grocery store on the way home.

Window Display

If you have them, use them. Rotate once a month and make them big.

In-store Signage

Use directional signs that lead customers to different brands or categories, informational signs that teach about toys and toy shopping and/or creative signs with quotes, cute pictures, and nostalgia that hit you in the feels! Make sure you have new, fresh, up-to-date signage.

Other Things You Should be Doing Press Releases

Radio stations love to promote events when charities, children, and pets are involved.

Top Ten Toys Lists

Local TV news shows loves to promote local experts telling people what toys to buy. Consider using the ASTRA Best Toys for Kids list as a starting place.

Christmas Bundles

Do them by age and price point. Themes are handy, too.

Wish Lists

Whether you do a big Santa Mailbox or not, make sure kids are writing down what they want from your store.

Balloons

Buy some cheap balloons, preferably with your logo printed on them. Use them to help get a crying kid out of the store. Use them for donations when people want something for their child’s fundraising event. Use them for decorations to highlight certain toys. Use them for freebies during events. It will be some of the best marketing money you ever spend. ASTRA

Alphabet Soup

Celebrates a Wind Energy Anniversary

No doubt the toy industry tends to be on the cutting edge of forward thinking. After all, the industry caters to the children who will lead the next generation.

Greta Perl, owner at Alphabet Soup Children’s Toy Store in Ithaca, New York, is doing her part when it comes to thinking about climate change and how she powers her store. This summer, Alphabet Soup celebrated its one-year anniversary of being powered solely by wind power. Perl Greta Perl, owner of Alphabet said she’s doing what she can on her end when it comes Soup, won the Retailer of to climate change. the Year in Ithaca, New York

“The environment and fighting against climate earlier this year. Perl switched change is really important, particularly as a children’s Alphabet Soup over to store,” she said. “Thinking about what world kids are 100-percent wind energy growing up in, and what I can do to make it better. That’s to power her store important.” in 2019.

Although powered strictly by wind energy, it’s not as rugged as it sounds. There’s no windmill on top of Alphabet Soup in Ithaca, cranking out watts that are stored in Perl’s back room. She said it’s simply an option in New York when it comes time to choose a utility, and that there are several renewable energy options. Consumers are not responsible for generating the energy; it’s just a simple mark in a box.

She said it’s a little more expensive than traditional methods of power, but not so much more that it adversely affects her bottom line.

Although wind energy may be a unique way to power her toy store, Perl said visitors to her store would never know the difference. But, she said, it’s important for her to take steps each year to be more aware of her climate footprint, even if just in little ways.

“It’s sort of like a New Year’s resolution,” she said. “I think about wind energy this year, maybe next year I think about what items around the store can be reused or recycled a bit more. Little things like that make a difference.”

Although climate change has become a political ping pong ball of late, Perl said she hopeful that it won’t be a political issue moving forward.

Ithaca is in Upstate New York, which tends to be more Republican than the rest of the state around New York City. But Ithaca is also home to Cornell University, and college towns tend to lean more Democratic.

“We’re politically a mix in Ithaca, but to me, we all live on this planet. I don’t think it’s a political issue,” Perl said. “I think anyone who has children or is looking to the future at all should hopefully be thinking about these things little more and not make a political issue out of it.”

She said using wind energy has also helped with the message of shopping small.

“Another reason to shop small is that as a business, we’re making these efforts,” she said. “It reflects your values a little more than some of these bigger companies.”

Alphabet Soup won the award for Retailer of the Year from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance earlier this year. ASTRA