Toy Product News Brief

What’s New for ‘22 at the Petting Zoo?

Glad you asked because The Petting Zoo has PLENTY! Our core brand Wild Onez is industry leading. Ever expanding. And soon to have NEW species, sizes, and price points. Who needs new dinosaur plush? Oh yeah – pretty much everyone. Our NEW Dino Line runs broad and deep with a brilliant array of ultra-cool fabrics, colors, styles, and species. And if you don’t have a passion for purple right now, you certainly will soon. Purple Pazzion is our hottest new trending purple line. Perfect for any on-trend gift shop. Face it - no one looks out for your retail business more than The Petting Zoo. We’ll be exhibiting at all the popular gift shows this fall so why not plan on visiting to give us a look? Or better yet, give us a call today!

(For more information, call 888-8674059, visit www.pettingzooplush.com, or circle 57 on the reader service card.)

puzzles are both down. However, when she compared current sales to pre-Covid sales, games are down and puzzles are slightly up.

During COVID shutdowns, the store had many requests for two person and family games, as customers were only playing with members of their own households. Now, customers are coming in for all types of games again, said Anderson.

“Classic games have made a comeback now that grandparents are getting together with their grandchildren again,” said Anderson. “And families are really starting to step out of their comfort zone to learn how to play new games–not your typical games of chance like Candyland or Hi Ho Cherry Ho–that are engaging for the adults as well as the children.” She also noted that EXIT and Escape games have been popular.

Post-lockdown, people are still puzzling, but summer weather typically slows down their puzzle sales, said Anderson. “However, when I compare the past two months of puzzle sales to prior years, I am finding that we are way up compared to the past prior few years,” she said.

They are also selling a lot more 1,500-plus piece puzzles than they used to, mentioned Anderson. “We expanded our puzzle selection during Covid,” “So that may account for some of the increase in sales as well,” Anderson said.

To sell more board games, “make sure your employees learn to play as many games as possible,”

Anderson said. They have a lending library of games for employees to take home and encourage employees to play demo games in store when business is slow. “If they can explain how to play the game and why they like playing a particular game, then it will be easier for employees to sell them,” Anderson said.

Continued on page 174