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New York Toy Fair Moose
Back in the New York Groove Publisher John Baulch reports from this year’s New York Toy Fair. And he thought it was going to be a quiet trip….
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his year’s New York Toy Fair was the first – and as it turned out, the last – to be held in September. The move from February to a new autumn timeslot had been made based on feedback from a couple of years ago, which suggested that the pandemic had altered retail selection and ordering patterns. In hindsight, these new timescales turned out to be temporary, rather than representing a permanent shift. More of that later… Before we consider what will happen with future events, let’s look back on what happened at the first North American Toy Fair to be held for over three years. Many had cited the weather as a key advantage to moving the show to September – however, the Universe wasn’t playing ball. Media reports of an apocalyptic flood in New York greeted our arrival at Newark, although thankfully by the time we reached Manhattan the storm had passed. To be fair, it did look pretty horrendous in the boroughs and outlying districts, and the storms saw many flights cancelled, including that of Walmart team, who I understand sadly never made it to the show. The TOTY awards once again provided the Friday night curtain raiser for the Toy Fair. It was a hugely successful night for Mattel, who took home no less than seven awards, followed by Lego with five and Jazwares and Playmates with two apiece. You can find a full list of winners below. One thing which came over loud and clear from the award ceremony was the sheer sense of elation from the US toy community that it was able to come together for the first time since February 2020 – exactly as we had seen at the London and Nuremberg Toy Fairs, when they returned post-pandemic.
The following morning saw the storm clouds disappear and Toy Fair open. If the aisles seemed marginally quieter than usual, that was perhaps to be expected – the LA toy event had been taking place for the preceding six weeks, while media and investor attendance may have been impacted by the new timing. Nevertheless, the audience still comprised a healthy blend of the domestic and international toy communities, with many retailers (major and specialty) and distributors making the trip. Many had wondered in advance how the change of date would affect the show. It was no secret that some of the biggest toy companies wouldn’t be exhibiting: Mattel, Hasbro, MGA, Zuru and more. However, over 1000 exhibitors did take space on the show floor, around 10% more than were showing back in 2020. That figure also included 300 first-time exhibitors, who arguably would have had a better chance of meeting with retail visitors with some of the ‘big boys’ not present. In terms of overall visitor numbers, we were told that the attendance figure was likely to end up around 20,000, which was essentially back to pre-pandemic levels. Some exhibitors chose to showcase ‘holiday’ ranges, which certainly worked for US specialty retailers and media visiting the show – speaking to our US contributor Rick Derr during the show, he found several new lines that he placed immediate orders for. For me personally and I suspect most of the US and global major retailers who attended, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of ’24 ranges. Some exhibitors kept these lines firmly under lock and key, but many others had some great new lines which we were given a sneak peek at.
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Exhibitors had gone to great lengths to design their stands to align with the goals of the ‘Toy Fair Reimagined’ initiative, with many opting for a more open look and feel to stand design and presentation. Of course, there were still secret rooms on a number of stands, but overall, the majority of stands had a more welcoming feel than has often been the case in the past. Despite some initial reservations about the autumn timing, I was genuinely coming round to the idea that there were decent foundations to build on for future years. Then came the bombshell(s)… We were invited to attend a press conference on Sunday morning. There had been rumours on Saturday of an announcement about future plans for the show. One by one, twists and turns were revealed. No show in 2024. Then back to New York in March 2025. We were just trying to process this information when the real bombshell was dropped; from 2026, we were told that the show would be moving to the second week in January …and relocating to New Orleans. We certainly didn’t see that coming; in fact, a few of the international journalists turned to me to check that they had understood correctly what had been said. Once the news spread, there was inevitably much debate about these new arrangements. Most accepted the logic behind not running a show in ’24, the Toy Association having decided that Q1 is the right timing for the event, rather than Q4. Clearly, two shows held a few months apart wouldn’t work. Some questioned the March timing for 2025, especially as the reason the show moved from its traditional February timeslot to September was because February was deemed