Plush and Toys

Toy Best Sellers (From page 110)

Lisa LeStrange , owner of Lucky Duck Toys in Bryn Mawr, Pa. “We carry a line of science kits by a company called Thames and Kosmos, which are higher-end science kits for older kids and do really well. They’re educational but fun for the kids. Also, telescopes— people have been spending a lot more time looking at the stars and being outside. We carry globes you can touch and it will talk, telling you about different places in the world. Another one is InteliGlobes, which are interactive and more high-end.”

Key predicts a surge in demand for toys geared towards younger children. “I think keeping on top of innovation for my infant/toddler department in 2022 will be important. We’re seeing a lot of families around us have a third or fourth baby, and there’s always a need to stock baby toys that the big family doesn’t already have, or that you can assure grandma they don’t have because it’s only been out for six months.”

Ray is seeing strong early interest in what she refers to as “articulated slugs—they’re incredibly satisfying to hold onto,” she said. She adds, “Fidgets will continue. The sensory stuff will continue to be built on. I also think there will be more innovation in baby toys. Hopefully we will see an explosion of new stuff we missed this past year.”

Retailers frequently look to their young customers or relatives and social media to stay current with trends so their merchandise appeals to a wide age range. LeStrange belongs to a social media networking group for toy store owners on social media and says, “I listen to a lot of what these people have to say. I have to like it—even if the item is popular, if I don’t like it, I have a hard time buying it. I try to buy things you won’t find walking into a chain store. I try to find unusual things that make our mix look interesting when you walk in. You want the customers to walk in and say, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen so many things in my life.’ ”

Edwards pays close attention to social media platforms. “A lot of the trends are currently coming from TikTok and what the kids at school are talking about. I make sure to listen to the parents and kids to know what they are looking for and what they are excited about,” she said. Key also uses social media to share information about new inventory in her 1,300-squarefoot store. “Our best ‘merchandising trick’ has been highlighting new items in live videos. It can be

Continued on page 114

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Plush and Toys

Toy Best Sellers (From page 112) looking through everything we’re receiving on a particular day on a video or doing a full-on demo of an item, but nothing moves a product faster than a live video,” she explained.

Many retailers changed their store layout or curbed their in-store demos due to COVID. They are slowly returning to their pre-pandemic setup, but continue to adjust as necessary. “Our demo area is not open. We have a whole playhouse built into our store which we had to block off during COVID,” LeStrange said. “We had to adjust on that [demos]. Now we have part of our counter dedicated to demos. We also keep some demos behind the counter, but our demo area is very small. We keep changing it out so customers keep seeing something new.” Ray said about displaying items, “We spend a lot of time on it. During COVID we pulled all the acrylic out of our stores. We remade everything in wood. What I’ve found with plush—you mostly just have to keep it contained. You have to have smaller wooden boxes that squish it and keep it in place. We’ve also built special displays for our plush toys. With the little stuff, I take it out of the cardboard boxes and put them in big candy jars. After COVID, we put the little things in jars so people weren’t touching it as much.” Because of the high volume of customer traffic Key gets through her 1,300 square foot store, she said her team “has to reset the store daily. I think the constant movement of our items (while it drives our employees mad) keeps everything selling and feeling fresh.” ❖