Top-10 Most-Wanted Toys for Tween Boys Notoriously difficult to select products for, boys in their pre and early teens may not be so fixated on electronics and video games after all...
New Trading Card Games Make “Magic” Good friends. Fantastic images. Evolving play. Collectible card games have quite a draw. Experts in competitions and novices hanging with friends both come for quick fixes of addicting games...
10/1/2009
Holiday Toy Lists: What's Hot This Year In the November issue of TDmonthly Magazine, see which toys and games are dominating the hot holiday lists for Christmas...
10/1/2009
Toy Fair Preview: Take 1 Get a head start on the 2010 American International Toy Fair, scheduled for Feb. 14-17 in New York City! TDmonthly Magazine's December issue will launch our annual Toy Fair Preview...
10/1/2009
Private Labels Are Coming to Toy Land A Nielsen report from late November 2008 states that sales of private-label brands in the United States in all categories grew to $81 billion in 2008, a 10.2 percent year-on-year increase versus 2007...
Retailing Tips: Riding Out the Recession There’s no time like a recession to try new things. At least that’s what the majority of 38 specialty retailers told TDmonthly Magazine about how they’ve approached 2009...
TDmonthly's Fall 2009 Award Winners! TDmonthly Magazine's Fall 2009 award winners include bugs that buyers can't resist, sophisticated arts and crafts kits for girls, games with penguins, gobblers and plenty of dice, and beautiful natural and wooden toys...
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Marketing for Time’s Sake Impressions — the number of people who see a marketing message — have traditionally been the metric used when selling sponsorships in the events and tradeshow industry...
In This Issue Since holiday ordering may be more difficult than ever this year, TDmonthly Magazine has boosted its video coverage of new and best-selling toys, so you can see them up close and in action...
TDmonthly Goes Inside … Toy Crazy, Malibu In 1998, when Melissa Moore opened the first Toy Crazy in Malibu, Calif., the beachside town was a lot more laidback than it is today. Sandals and cutoffs were de rigeur fashion and iconoclastic specialty shops the norm...
9/1/2009
Retailer Spotlight: The Tutoring Toy A desire to work together as a family first led Diane and Bill Sartain to investigate opening a toy store, and the opportunity to help parents understand the value of play clinched the deal in 1988...
9/1/2009
Retailing Tips: Revising Your Business Plan A business plan is a living document, meant to be revised periodically. It is your one-, three- and five-year plan, which, at any given time, should reflect your plans for the next few years...
9/1/2009
TDmonthly’s 2009 Award Finalists! Toys, games and baby items poured in for the fall installment of TDmonthly Magazine’s 2009 awards program. The submissions have been narrowed by about 40 percent...
Get Ready to Order: Holiday Specials Below is a list of discounts and specials available to you from select toy and hobby suppliers who have been screened and are recommended by ToyDirectory.com, Inc...
8/1/2009
My Best Sellers: Moon Rabbit Toys At Moon Rabbit Toys in Santa Fe, N.M., the focus is fun for all ages, and customers are encouraged to try out products before they buy them...
8/1/2009
Top-10 Most-Wanted Gifts for Boys In June 2009, TDmonthly Magazine surveyed 47 specialty toy retailers about what's selling best for boys in their stores...
8/1/2009
Out With Electronics, In With Classics In a world of gadgets and technology, many specialty toy-store owners stick to non-electronic products to stock their shelves and please their customers...
8/1/2009
TDmonthly's July Staff Picks Should the summer sun melt away excitement over new toys and games? No way! Vermont Teddy Bears are making their way to high-end toy stores...
7/1/2009
In This Issue This month in TDmonthly Magazine, find out how BANDthology and Restoration Gallery’s Global Green Pals fared with reviews and ratings from our Roundtable families, in addition to gaining some tips for business-boosting events...
7/1/2009
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Harvesting Leads for Sales According to the Center of Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), “91 percent of decision–makers prefer to make purchasing decisions at exhibitions,” versus any other marketing medium. If that’s the case, why are tradeshows under such scrutiny...
7/1/2009
Video Highlights of ASTRA 2009 The 2009 ASTRA Marketplace & Academy in St. Paul, Minn., had plenty to offer in terms of creative plush, fun games, cool ride-ons and inventive accessories — and TDmonthly Magazine caught more than 150 toys on tape!...
7/1/2009
Bandthology Tones Minds With Trivia TDmonthly Magazine’s Tweens & Teens Roundtable participants tested their knowledge of popular musical groups, history and trivia when they played Bandthology: The Board Game for Music Lovers...
Retailer Spotlight: At Once All Agog Since September 2006, Candace Gooch has been working to ensure that her toy store, At Once All Agog in the Upper Limerick Village Historic District of Maine, lives up to its name...
7/1/2009
Event Marketing Guru's Corner: Selling to Qualified Prospects Eighty percent of your competition spends exhaustive and futile time presenting to prospects that are never going to buy, yielding extremely poor "return on objectives" (ROO) by spending exhibit time inefficiently...
6/1/2009
Holiday Preview - Games Whether making matches or blurting out the answer is the way to win, these new games have plenty to offer when it comes to fun and … a little bit of learning, too! See bridges, balancing acts and big bites in TDmonthly’s Holiday Preview of Games...
6/1/2009
Blog Entry Leads to Buy-Local Blitz Cinda Baxter calls the 3/50 Project a “happy accident” that started with a March 11 blog she wrote for her AlwaysUpward.com website. In the entry, she asks readers to pick three of their favorite independent retailers and spend a total of $50 a month among those stores...
LeapFrog Stumbles and V.Smile Frowns There are mounting signs that the Electronic Learning Products toy category is undergoing a structural change — and not for the better...
Retailer Spotlight: Melody’s Choices When Steve Melody got into the specialty toy business, he was no stranger to the retail world, having owned a gift and collectible store in Fayetteville, Ark., for 39 years...
6/1/2009
My Best Sellers: Melody’s Choices Steve Melody, owner of Melody’s Choices in Fayetteville, Ark., shared with TDmonthly Magazine which companies are responsible for the top sellers in his store...
6/1/2009
Retailing Tips: Ordering What Customers Want All retailers are faced with an inventory dilemma. Spend a lot of money now to have fully stocked shelves and a great product selection, with no guarantee that customers are going to want what was purchased, or go with products known to sell and take customer requests, possibly driving away shoppers...
6/1/2009
Wal-Mart Cuts Toys and Crafts in Clean-Up Campaign Wal-Mart is in the throes of a major change in its store layout. Earlier this year, management promulgated a policy called “fast, friendly, clean.”...
5/1/2009
Steps for Supporting Shop Local Have you heard of The 3/50 Project? In TDmonthly Magazine's June issue, find out how specialty storeowners are grabbing on to this and other shop-local initiatives...
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Why the CIA Is Your Friend For the purpose of this article, CIA does not stand for Central Intelligence Agency. Rather, it stands for Competitive Intelligence Advantage. Your CIA must be kept current at all times and requires a clear strategy for application...
5/1/2009
Benefiting From Business in the Blogosphere You barely have time to design or sell product, fill orders, and market your business in all the traditional ways, so why blog? Because the benefits of successful blogging are many...
5/1/2009
Toy Businesses Create Buzz on Facebook Social networking online is a lot like old-fashioned, face-to-face networking, only at a greater speed to a broader audience...
5/1/2009
Retailing Tips: Marketing for the Most Return When I saw that we only received three coupons back from a particular newspaper advertisement that cost $300 … it was easy to see that it still wasn't worth the cost when the newspaper discounted the advertisement...
5/1/2009
Old Games See New Competition It is rare that a large retail chain totally controls a lucrative product segment, but this is definitely the case with GameStop and its used game business...
5/1/2009
Is Hasbro's Cash Cow Being Led to Slaughter? For many years, Hasbro’s board game business was boring. Nothing happened of any consequence, there were no new competitors, and the category was as flat as a … well, a board. This is now changing...
4/1/2009
TDmonthly's Top-10 Picks From Pomona The aisles of the Western States Toy & Hobby Show, held March 7-10 in Pomona, Calif., boasted an array of eco-friendly wooden toys, creative play sets and activities, and plenty of great toys for boys...
Timing Your Marketing for the Most Return Have you ever had a great promotion that just didn't catch attention, or a full-fledged marketing effort that fell on its face? In TDmonthly Magazine's May issue, tap into other storeowners' experiences...
4/1/2009
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Green Means Go Buying signals are all around us. We just have to learn to recognize them. They’re very much like a traffic light — red, yellow and green signals to stop, proceed with caution, or continue...
The Toy Market Stages a Turnaround As a rule, the first quarter represents about 15 percent of the year in terms of U.S. toy sales. The first two months of 2009 were, to say the least, very challenging...
3/1/2009
ASTRA's Top Toy Fair Picks During a gathering of more than 100 members of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association at Toy Fair 2009, specialty toy-store owners shared their favorite finds, highlighting must-see new products among the thousands at the show...
3/1/2009
Family Pastimes Promotes Cooperative Play In 1970, as Jim Deacove was sitting in his backyard watching neighborhood kids playing games, some “heady insights” occurred to him about the nature of traditional, confrontational game play...
3/1/2009
Toy Fair 2009 Wrap-Up With more than 1,100 exhibitors and in excess of 100,000 products to see in the four days of Toy Fair that overtook New York City, TIA's annual toy show issued a high calling for the 10,000+ retail buyers who walked the aisles of the Javits Convention Center...
3/1/2009
Toys in the News: 3-30-09 Former Massachusetts employees of Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us will receive their overdue pay for earned vacation time in a $100,000+ settlement resulting from a self-audit...
3/1/2009
TDmonthly's Top-10 Most-Wanted Games In January 2009, TDmonthly Magazine polled 56 specialty retailers around the nation about their sales in the games category...
New Toys at Pomona Though not near the size of Toy Fair, the annual Western States Toy & Hobby Show consistently delivers a broad selection of creative toys and games for the specialty market...
3/1/2009
Access Safety COCs Here Now that the Feb. 10 effective date regarding important requirements under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has come and gone, you may be left wondering which products on your shelves or on order are in compliance...
3/1/2009
Video Games Enthrall With Tales and Technology New technology and expanding storylines are drawing in fans of video games this year. The best and the brightest are those that grasp the prevailing technology and take players to the worlds they want to visit...
3/1/2009
Watch Videos From Toy Fair 2009! Whether you flew to New York or stayed snug at home, you can still see some of the best new products from the 2009 American International Toy Fair by watching TDmonthly Magazine's demonstration videos. You even get to meet Stephan Pastis, creator of the nationwide cartoon sensation "Pearls Before Swine," as he demonstrates his new plush line by Aurora World...
3/1/2009
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom recently found a tree full of creative play possibilities, practiced logic with colorful cubes, brushed up on spelling, and Bingo’d her way to a nutritious lifestyle...
Regional Reports: What’s Selling … And Where No name came up more frequently for wooden toys than Melissa & Doug. Whether it’s play food or art supplies, this company led the pack...
3/1/2009
Watch Toy Fair 2009 Videos Whether you flew to New York or stayed snug at home, you can still see some of the best new products from the 2009 American International Toy Fair...
2/1/2009
Games You'll See at Toy Fair In a recent survey of 44 specialty retailers, more than 25 percent of those planning to attend Toy Fair '09 indicated they are most looking forward to finding great new games at the show...
2/1/2009
Toys in the News: 2-27-09 Marvel's beloved superhero Spider-Man will soon have a new stage on which to strut his stuff. "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark" will debut at NYC's Hilton Theatre Feb. 18, 2010...
2/1/2009
What Does the CPSIA Stay Really Mean? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted Jan. 30 to issue a one-year stay on select testing and certification requirements outlined in paragraphs 14 (a) (1), (2) and (3) of the Consumer Product Safety Act...
2/1/2009
Stay on Tests Provides No Rest The Consumer Product Safety Commission's one-year stay of testing and certification requirements under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has received largely disgruntled reactions from the toy industry...
2/1/2009
The Secret Lives of Toy Makers If you've ever wondered who invented that game on your shelf, or how other retailers stalk the trade-show booths, these rough sequences shot at Toy Fair 2008 will give you insights...
Hollywood ToyBoy: Partnering Up in a Recession As everyone with a checkbook knows, money is tight, and despite government intervention, the recession isn’t going away anytime soon. Does this mean sad times for the movie and toy business? Hardly...
2/1/2009
February Staff Picks You'll soon be making your own picks from the hundreds of new products debuting at the American International Toy Fair and other trade shows early this year. In the meantime, we've put together a brief list of specialty options...
2/1/2009
Film from the Fair During the four days of Toy Fair, February 15-18, TDmonthly Magazine’s video crew will capture hours of exciting show footage, including product demonstration videos performed by manufacturers themselves...
2/1/2009
Retailing Tips: Researching New Toys In the March issue of TDmonthly Magazine, find out what your fellow specialty toy-store owners and experts have to say about finding the best new products...
Retailer Spotlight: HobbyTown USA HobbyTown USA got its start in 1980 when Merlin Hayes and Thom Walla purchased a single store in Lincoln, Neb., and launched into franchising five years later...
2/1/2009
Toy Fair 2009 Overcomes Doom and Gloom Toy Fair 2009, Feb. 15-18, managed a decidedly positive buzz despite recession woes and admitted hardships over compliance with the lead- and phthalate-restricting CPSIA...
Retailing Tips: Are Your Online Sales In Line? While many small-business owners dream of millions of credit-card sales from their online stores, more realistically, the majority find a website to be a consistent advertisement...
2/1/2009
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom bestowed a top rating (5 out of 5 stars!) to all three of the products she most recently reviewed...
2/1/2009
Regional Reports: What’s Selling … And Where Sticky Mosaics by Orb Factory are just blowing away the competition. Not only did they rank at the top for girls’ arts and crafts toys, but some storeowners reported they were the best-selling item in the store...
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Selling Too Much The pure, anecdotal sales pitch is dead, and few observers are mourning its passing. Have you noticed how difficult it is for anyone with the word “sales” in his or her title to get a simple appointment?...
1/1/2009
January Staff Picks Huggable and handmade plush, artistic accents and eco-friendly designs characterize some of the newest items out in the specialty market...
1/1/2009
Talk of the Fair Four days of the latest offerings from companies big and small — plush, games, construction toys, science kits, educational products and more! Will you be able to see it all?...
1/1/2009
Good Co./Bad Co.: Who’s Fair to Specialty? In late 2008, TDmonthly Magazine asked 52 specialty retailers to share their preferences for vendors. Which companies can they not live without?...
1/1/2009
Good Co./Bad Co.: Feel the Love What attracts specialty retailers to long-term relationships with their suppliers? Everything from excellent customer service and return-friendly policies to fast, free shipping and broad product selection...
1/1/2009
Wisdom for the Web How does your website compare to those of other specialty retailers? Find out in the ShopTalk section of TDmonthly Magazine's February issue, where former retailer Adeena Mignogna will reveal what storeowners are doing right...
1/1/2009
Regional Reports: What’s Selling … And Where From Blokus (distributor currently changing as of 12/08) to Wedgits from Imagability, small, easy-to learn games and toys are the winners when it comes to popular sellers...
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom focused on gaming in her most recent reviews, finding fun with frogs, watching kids become a wizard’s apprentices, and seeing how the features of Blue Orange’s Double Shutter Jr. added up...
12/1/2008
My First Toy Fair: New Exhibitors In addition to visiting your tried-and-true vendors at Toy Fair 2009, you'll also want to catch the companies whose products are just making it onto the market...
12/1/2008
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: The Age of Business Theater Evolution on the trade show floor is moving in the direction of experiential marketing — driven by increasingly informed and sophisticated attendees who are demanding a “show me” form of exhibiting...
12/1/2008
December Staff Picks The holidays demand that your store be more about selling than buying this month, but it'll soon be time to excite customers with new and innovative toys, games and gifts for 2009...
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: How to Handle Objections One of the most overlooked and under-valued areas of professional selling is the mastery of addressing and effectively handling the real reason sales do not occur...
11/1/2008
Questions Bring Families Closer, Reviewers Say TDmonthly Magazine’s Grade School Roundtable participants raved about their experiences with The Box Girls’ Family Dinner Box of Questions, a simple game of asking and answering questions that brought the families closer...
11/1/2008
November Staff Picks From colorful paper constructions to useful items for babies and toddlers, the products in TDmonthly Magazine's Staff Picks this month offer fun ways to decorate, educate and play...
11/1/2008
Hollywood ToyBoy: No Downturn for Toys “I don’t care if the economy’s in the crapper!” I screamed into my phone, my no-news-is-good-news accountant to the stars (and me) on the other end of the line...
11/1/2008
Holiday Gift Guide: Teach Kids to Choose Quality Intense marketing or fancy packaging can make a toy seem better than it really is, and sometimes, perception complicates the task of selecting safe, quality toys for children — or helping them pick the right one!...
11/1/2008
Retailer Spotlight: Where’d You Get That!? For Michele Gietz, owning a toy store with her husband Ken was the realization of a lifelong dream. “From the time I was very young, I said someday I’d own a toy store,”...
My Best Sellers: Where’d You Get That!? Where’d You Get That!? is a specialty toy, game and gift store on the elite Williams College campus in the Northern Berkshires of Massachusetts...
11/1/2008
Early Edition: Toy Fair Find out which hot, new toys will be on display at the American International Toy Fair in New York with TDmonthly Magazine’s Toy Fair Preview in December and January. Before February rolls around...
Top-10 Most-Anticipated Holiday Sellers Affected by slow sales and a frightening economy, some of the 32 specialty toy-store owners TDmonthly Magazine interviewed in late October didn't feel they could positively name which products will be their strongest sellers for Christmas...
October Staff Picks As you welcome all that exciting holiday fare into your store, be sure to keep your radar out for new and interesting products...
10/1/2008
Hollywood ToyBoy: Keep Connecting I love the new technology, even if I’m a little out of the demographic. That’s a good thing for me, because Hollywood is all about the new technology ... even if they don’t understand it worth a byte...
Attracting New Customers You know your primary customer base, but what about those who don't frequent — or even know about — your store already?...
10/1/2008
Retail Solutions: Optimizing Websites and Staff TDmonthly Magazine’s new feature, Retail Solutions, flies over to the East Coast this month to see what challenges specialty toy-store owners in that region are facing...
10/1/2008
Retailing Tips: Hosting Happenin’ Holiday Events Holiday shoppers are intent on finding the right gift for the special people in their lives, and sometimes, hosting a special event can encourage them toward that perfect gift … right in your own store...
Music Gives Video Games “Rock” Solid Standing After an incredibly strong seven months, and with August looking equally good, video game producers and retailers are looking forward to the next four months with trepidation...
9/1/2008
One Year Later: Beyond China, Beyond Lead Despite an onslaught of scientific reports, enacted legislation and consumer calls-to-action since the 2007 toy recalls for lead hazards and defective designs, hard statistical data on the effect and risks of phthalates is still being gathered and assessed...
9/1/2008
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Knowing “No” An exhibition industry supplier friend of mine recently explained to me how dejected she felt after hearing “no” so many times while conducting sales calls...
The Specialty Toys Report Is Here! ToyDirectory and TDmonthly Magazine are excited to announce the release of TDmonthly's 2008 Specialty Toys Report, "Positive Toys for a Promising Future."™...
Hollywood ToyBoy: “Net”works Target Kid Spenders “What do you mean the server is down? How can I Google anyone’s credits?” I scream at my ever-patient assistant as she brings in my sixth mocha-java-special and the bad news...
9/1/2008
September Staff Picks From new books to flying discs to cuddly friends, TDmonthly Magazine has come across intriguing new products during the last month...
9/1/2008
Retailing Tips: Hiring for the Holidays Many of the 68 specialty retailers who spoke with TDmonthly Magazine said their part-time employees just work more hours to cover the busy holiday season.....
9/1/2008
Preview Holiday Play As wallets warm up for holiday spending, take some time to browse through what other retailers believe will be the season's hottest items...
Get a Glimpse of 2009 In TDmonthly Magazine's November issue, check out the latest innovations from mass-market (and some specialty) manufacturers, see which big trends may be coming your way...
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom In her latest round of reviews, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom applauds lessons on virtue in classic tales, gives a kid a “boost” with a well-designed product for toddlers, and gets sporty with some hip-hop and indoor bocce...
Round Up Those Ratings Are you considering a product for your store, but want to first know what consumers think?...
8/1/2008
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: 5 Steps That Sell Each of us is bombarded with more than 5,000 promotional and marketing messages daily. To be more effective in communicating in today’s marketplace, your message must cut through informational and promotional clutter...
8/1/2008
Branding Toys: Personality Continuing from last month’s article, “Branding Toys: The Position,” we now look at the third of the 4Ps of branding: personality...
8/1/2008
Have Virtual Playgrounds Played Out? At the beginning of the year, I said in my article “Is All This Talk About Webkinz Good?” that the top six virtual playgrounds were beginning to face challenges.....
8/1/2008
ToyDirectory.com® and TDmonthly™ MagazineContact: Alison Marek, Managing Editor12340 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 226Los Angeles, CA 90025 Phone: (310) 979-4330Fax: (310) 979-4350E-mail: alison@toydirectory.comwww.tdmonthly.comwww.toydirectory.comAugust 22, 2008FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Industry Leader Names Most Positive Toys of the YearTDmonthly Magazine Honors 44 Winners in Second...
8/1/2008
August Staff Picks As summer sales wind down and holiday ordering begins, you probably don't have time to look through the 500+ products TDmonthly Magazine uploaded since last month...
8/1/2008
TDmonthly's 2008 Award WINNERS! This year, more than 200 specialty products are featured in TDmonthly Magazine's 2008 Specialty Toys Report: "Positive Toys for a Promising Future."™ Forty-four superior toys received one of five 2008 TDmonthly awards...
8/1/2008
Retailing Tips: Secrets of Discriminating Sales Approximately two-thirds of the 64 specialty storeowners interviewed told TDmonthly Magazine they hold at least one sale a year to increase traffic and sell off unpopular items...
Final Nominees Announced! Submission forms and product samples rolled into our offices throughout the month of June, and evaluations have yielded a new crop of nominees for Positive Toys for a Promising Future: TDmonthly Magazine's 2008 Report on Specialty Toys...
8/1/2008
Retail Solutions: How to Draw Customers to Your Store TDmonthly Magazine’s new feature, Retail Solutions, will follow groups of specialty toy-store owners in specific regions throughout the country to see how their businesses improve over the next year...
8/1/2008
Retailer Spotlight: Aunt Jean’s Toys & Treats Frustrated by a long commute and determined to fill a need for quality children’s toys in her community, Jeanette Lauture opened Aunt Jean’s Toys & Treats in Montclair, NJ, in March 2007...
8/1/2008
ThinkFun Puzzles Set Brains on Fire When husband and wife Bill Richie and Andrea Barthello co-founded Binary Arts in 1985, they started with the premise that “having fun is a great way to learn"...
7/1/2008
Rebuilt Griddly Games Sports Strategy and Fun Named after the world grid, Griddly Games makes sports-themed games that feature diverse, hand-painted characters. Reisa Schwartzman, now owner and president, took over the bankrupt company in December 2006 and, with Penny Osborn, director of operations, revamped the business...
What Not to Turn Down in a Downturn Tempting as it may be, a potential economic downturn is not the time to turn tail and run. As my Granddad always told me, “You’ll never win the kitty if you sit out the hand.”...
7/1/2008
Why That Awful Toy Deserves a Second Look It’s natural to be hesitant about a toy you don’t know much about. But are you missing big sales by being too cautious?...
7/1/2008
U.S.-Made Buffalo Games Grow With Good Marketing Buffalo Games began in 1986 as a family business. When Mark Predko, now director of sales and marketing, joined Buffalo Games in 1994, there were only seven people running the company, he told TDmonthly Magazine...
7/1/2008
Hollywood ToyBoy: The French Connection “Why did it have to be the French?” Yeah, yeah ... we all joke about Parisians’ rich food and snooty attitudes, but who doesn’t want to see the City of Lights? Me, that’s who...
7/1/2008
Event Marketing Guru’s Corner: Activate the Hot Buttons Last month’s column focused on purging platitudes from your strategic marketing. Today’s marketers use almost identical marketing messages, so “outside perception” reads all things as equal...
7/1/2008
Conversations With Keithley: Toys Will Survive Between fighting for a national toy safety standard and educating presidential candidates, the Toy Industry Association’s agenda has been a lot more about politics than play these days...
7/1/2008
Branding Toys: The Position Picking up from May’s article on the branding promise, we’ll now look at the second of the 4Ps of branding: positioning — the compact and clear definition of what your company offers...
7/1/2008
Why Retail May Be More Challenging Today Achieving success in retail today is more challenging than it was 10 years ago, four of 10 toy-store owners and experts told TDmonthly Magazine...
7/1/2008
Retailing Tips: Ordering By Customer Request Most specialty toy-store owners told TDmonthly Magazine they get requests for items they don’t carry quite often, even daily — but they don’t bring all the toys in...
7/1/2008
Final Nominees for Specialty Toys Report! Submission forms and product samples rolled into TDmonthly Magazine's offices throughout the month of June, and evaluations have yielded a new crop of nominees for the 2008 Specialty Toys Report...
7/1/2008
Get Ready to Order! To help you prepare for the 2008 holiday season (really, it’s just around the corner!), TDmonthly’s August Get Ready to Order Issue will feature hundreds of new products in addition to multiple manufacturer specials...
7/1/2008
Sales That Sell Is it a good idea to hold sales in your specialty store? Find out what other retailers say about the when, why and how of marking down items.....
7/1/2008
ASTRA Comes to You Visit the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association’s annual Marketplace & Academy after the show!...
7/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom Dr. Wright put on her sports mind for this round of reviews, delving into soccer, football and racing. Read on to see how the products scored:...
7/1/2008
How Wal-Mart’s Beating Target at Toy Placement It is now pretty clear that we are looking at the worst year this century for the U.S. toy market. Why? Three reasons: gasoline prices, housing implosion and run-away inflation. We all know about the first two, but the third deserves a closer look...
6/1/2008
Video Game Market Sees a Slowdown June 19, 2008 – I have again analyzed the NPD data that has just come out on video games. The information tallies pretty well with my own retailer panel data and with what the buyers tell me......
6/1/2008
Bananagrams Maintains Ap’peel Abe Nathanson and his family love word games. In 2006, Abe wanted a new game — an anagram game so fast it would drive them bananas...
Yesterday’s Marketing is Dead: Part 3 Today, we're witnessing a collage of poor marketing that seemingly duplicates one another's unoriginal poor marketing. The culprit? Platitudes.....
6/1/2008
ASTRA Trade Show Highlights The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association’s annual Marketplace & Academy is set for June 22-25 in Mashantucket, Conn...
6/1/2008
Get Ready to Order! TDmonthly Magazine’s July Holiday Preview issue will continue to highlight the newest products for the 2008 holiday season...
Bumpy Ride Ahead, Economists Predict The country’s in recession or it’s not, claim economists as they continue to debate the strength and depth of our current financial woes...
6/1/2008
Get These Toys! A TDmonthly Magazine survey of 66 specialty retailers last month showed that many of the toys and games that have topped best seller lists for months are, in fact, still right at the top.....
6/1/2008
Retailer Spotlight: LB Toys Glitches in the rise to success may sometimes serve as launching pads into unexpected careers. Such was the case for Jamie Burdette, owner of LB Toys in Media, Pa...
6/1/2008
My Best Sellers: LB Toys Customer service — including a play area for kids and activities for the community to enjoy — is a key element at LB Toys in Media, Pa...
Strategic Space Runs the Race Mark Salzwedel, president and CEO of Strategic Space, Inc., reflects on the history of his game design and his first year publishing tabletop games...
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Travel Toys TDmonthly Magazine spoke with 40 specialty retailers to find out which items are on their must-have list when it comes to travel items...
5/1/2008
Get Ready for the Holidays Now Fourth-quarter sales are the game-breaker for independent retail businesses, but the other 75 percent of the year is just as critical, because that's when decisions are made about what product will be there for the crush of holiday shoppers...
Hollywood ToyBoy: Will Blockbuster Toys Sell? “Where’s my new AirBook? Did you take it again?” I yell to my shell-shocked assistant, who is looking for my super-thin notebook yet again...
5/1/2008
Store Closings Hit Specialty Market A mid-April “New York Times” article reported that midsize retailers such as Sharper Image and Levitz have declared bankruptcy thanks to falling sales and overwhelming debt. The winds of change are sweeping the toy world, too...
5/1/2008
How to Close Your Store and Move On Optimism can cure a slew of predicaments, but how do you know when it’s time to shut the “Glad Book” and face the facts?...
5/1/2008
How to Survive a Fallen Economy Despite reports of store closures and economic challenges, many stores are surviving, and even thriving, as mid-year approaches. Several toy-store owners gave TDmonthly Magazine these eight tips for making it through rough waters:...
5/1/2008
Boost Store Traffic With Evergreen Toys Some of today’s hottest evergreen properties are celebrating milestones in their brand heritage with creative marketing plans and new products, manufacturers told TDmonthly Magazine...
5/1/2008
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom Between shooting off custom rockets and using spelling and vocabulary to score a win, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom rated each of the following products with 1 to 5 TD stars.....
4/1/2008
Geospace Skyrockets to Success After Magnetic Marbles launched into space aboard a U.S. Space Shuttle as part of NASA’s 1993 “Toys in Space II” program, the toy received a much-deserved name change: Geospace® Magnetic Marbles.....
4/1/2008
Toys to Watch in 2008 The American International Toy Fair, an annual event that takes over New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Center each February, is the primary launching ground for the toys, games, dolls and various innovations that will shape the nature of the toy industry...
4/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Games Most of the 63 specialty retailers recently surveyed by TDmonthly Magazine said their best-selling games are those that are educational...
3/1/2008
TDmonthly's March Staff Picks You may be exhausted from all the products you encountered at Toy Fair, so TDmonthly Magazine has compiled a “short list”...
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom Dr. Wright doesn’t just look at toys; she analyzes them. In and out of the box, she scrutinizes them for playability, appropriateness and educational value. The latter quality is especially important to this psychologist/mother, who also homeschools her three youngest children...
1/1/2008
Tips for Toy Fair 2008 - VIDEO! This brief video will help you weather whatever storms Toy Fair 2008 — and New York in February — may send your way...
1/1/2008
Our First Toy Fair: Games Before you hit Toy Fair, check out these new companies who told TDmonthly they were exhibiting at the show for the first time...
12/1/2007
Toy Buzz: Giddy Goose ‘n Gander Unleashes Inner Pirates Rough seas, pirate ships, swashbuckling adventure. Pirates are popular these days, and Giddy Goose ‘n Gander Games is right in the high seas battle with its two games, Piratack and Piratitan...
12/1/2007
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom Dr. Wright doesn’t just look at toys; she analyzes them. In and out of the box, she scrutinizes them for playability, appropriateness and educational value. The latter quality is especially important to this psychologist/mother, who also homeschools her three youngest children...
12/1/2007
Homeschool Roundtable: Pirates Attack This month, TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable families played two pirate-themed games from Giddy Goose ‘n Gander: Piratack the board game and PiraTitan the card game...
11/1/2007
Foxmind Exercises the Brain For Mounir Ferchiou, North American manager of Foxmind Games, the company name says it all...
Play Goes Green “Going green” is the catchphrase of the new millennium, and more than the auto industry is finding it profitable to “save” our planet...
9/1/2007
Homeschoolers: Blast Off With Baseball Conquest on the baseball diamond and controlling the universe are the themes of this month's Homeschool Roundtable games...
7/1/2007
My Best Sellers: Henry Bear's Park After 31 years in business, Owner Sally Lesser of Henry Bear’s Park in Massachusetts, knows that staple items and best sellers go hand in hand...
7/1/2007
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom Dr. Wright doesn't just look at toys; she analyzes them. This month, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom packs up a fuzzy backpack, puzzles out an alphabetical dragon and more...
7/1/2007
Families Conquer the World Families who play together can now kidnap cows, train a horse, or just vanquish the enemy...
7/1/2007
TDmonthly's Toy Videos If a picture's worth 1,000 words, a video's worth volumes. Use TDmonthly's Toy Videos to get a better look (and listen) at some of the latest toys on the market...
6/1/2007
Out of the Box Makes Its Own Rules Word games, board games, dice games, card games. Party games, skill games, family games … Out of the Box Games makes every type of game imaginable...
6/1/2007
Homeschoolers Go for Fantasy This month, our Homeschooling Roundtable participants met an imaginary creature named Freddy in Once Upon a Blue Moon, and took a break on the collectible, adoptable and customizable Big Freddy Chair...
6/1/2007
Giddy Goose 'n Gander: Imagination at Work Gerry Groundwater, owner and founder of Giddy Goose ‘n Gander Games, is serious about the importance of thinking outside of the box in the games market...
6/1/2007
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom Dr. Wright doesn't just look at toys; she analyzes them. This month, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom Tangoes to go, improves her Volangulary, and more...
5/1/2007
TDmonthly's Developmental Expert Christina Liu uses toys to help kids with or at risk for developmental delay reach their full potential. This month, her kids put it together big time, learn to chase words, hop through the Amazon and more...
5/1/2007
Homeschoolers: Sentenced to Play This month, TDmonthly's Homeschool Roundtable raved about four games that were four kinds of fun...
5/1/2007
Retailer Spotlight: All Things Fun! After spending a decade opening stores for others, Dina and Ed Evans decided it was time do something for themselves...
5/1/2007
My Best Sellers: All Things Fun! Every day is full of adventure for Ed and Dina Evans, owners of West Berlin, N.J.'s All Things Fun, where action toys, games and comics are the focus...
5/1/2007
Top-10 Family Games at Games Expo 2007 Games Expo’s debut 2007 show in Las Vegas highlighted strategic board games, fantasy games and just-plain-fun games for the family...
4/1/2007
Award-Winning Toys Don't have time to test every toy yourself? Luckily, there are plenty of others who want to do it for you...
4/1/2007
Holiday Preview Now that Toy Fair is over, all those new toys seem just so … old. So what’s next?...
4/1/2007
Games Expo 2007 Made Its Mark A sparsely populated trade floor at the Games Expo’s debut, March 18 to 22 at Las Vegas' South Point Hotel, indicated it may take time for the show to gain momentum...
4/1/2007
Play It Quickly Games designed for families and other groups are the most popular...
3/1/2007
Mass Market: Combo Games The modern idea of a game can include anything from traditional board games to cutting-edge video games to interactive DVD games...
3/1/2007
TDmonthly's March Staff Picks Pencils and cameras ready, TDmonthly Magazine trolled the aisles of Toy Fair for special toys for specialty shops. Lucky for us, other toys came straight to our office, too...
3/1/2007
New Games Have Global Effects An alternate reality game has attracted tens of thousands of players worldwide in the search for a hidden cube ... and a $200,000 reward...
3/1/2007
Homeschoolers: Think to Win Think, think, think! Games that entertain while exercising the brain were the focus of this month's Homeschooling Roundtable...
TDmonthly's Top-10 Coolest Toy Fair Toys TDmonthly was at Toy Fair, too, and here are some of the toys we think kids of all ages, backgrounds and sensibilities would have a hard time resisting:...
3/1/2007
Report on the Survey on the Code of Ethics For the past two years, a committee of concerned members of the toy and game industry has been studying and discussing a proposed Code of Ethics. The Proposed document has been accepted for review by the Toy Industry Association...
3/1/2007
Preschool/Early School: Wooden Toys Rule While investigating blocks, games and frames for little kids, TDmonthly’s Preschool/Early School Roundtable participants favored products...
3/1/2007
TDmonthly's Psychologist Mom This month, TDmonthly Magazine's Psychologist Mom takes her kids to the races, prepares them for retirement and more...
3/1/2007
Toy Sleuth: February Take something commonplace, look at it from a new angle and …Voila! The next big toy...
2/1/2007
TDmonthly's Top-10 New Games Enter the Valley of the Pharaohs. That's what specialty store customers are doing...
2/1/2007
TDmonthly's Top-10 Most-Wanted Games Blokus by Educational Insights and Apples to Apples by Out of the Box continue to dominate the games category...
Kids Find Fun With "The Touch" Some toy designers spend years perfecting their idea and face many rejections, but Adrian Anthony and her husband, Christopher, garnered almost instant interest and encouragement with their product, The Touch...
TDmonthly's Top-10 Most-Wanted Games Their broad appeal to both kids and adults is why games such as Educational Insights' Blokus and Out of the Box Publishing's Apples to Apples are best sellers...
11/1/2006
Game and Toy Creation - Part 3 After protecting your concept and making the decision to launch your own company, promoting and marketing your invention is the next step...
9/1/2006
From the Minds of Babes In the 1880s, a teenager founded his own toy company based on a game he invented. Over 100 invented games later, George Parker and his company, Parker Brothers, were an institution...
8/1/2006
TDmonthly’s Psychology Expert Beth Carroll, Psy.D., is a professional psychologist who specializes in child intervention and development...
8/1/2006
Games Grow in Sophistication … and Sales Stress relief, strategy building and strengthening the family have accounted for the growing popularity of game playing across the United States...
7/1/2006
The Mathematics of a Successful Toy Frank Armbruster, the man who is Colorado Bootstrap Inc., has worked out a mathematical equation for puzzles and toys that calculates which product will have the best chance of success...
Electronic Games Rule the Travel Set Card and trivia games are moving fast, as far as travel toys are concerned, as well as small, colorful electronic handhelds, sources told TDmonthly...
Homeschoolers Rate Toys Five homeschooling families evaluated three new toys, rating them on a scale of 1 to 10, with “1” being the best and “10 being the worst.” This month, moms raved about Rob Walrecht Productions’ Solar System Model, while kids ran to their computers with their new Webkinz. Everyone enjoyed getting wet with Watery Science...
5/1/2006
Games Shrink and Smarten Up Quick-playing strategy games were mentioned 20 times by 25 retailers when asked what new games would be hot in 2006...
Corporate Consultant Goes Crackers Mark Liebig has spent the last 23 years educating cherry-picked employees of multi-national corporations on global market operations. His latest challenge? Eight-year-olds...
4/1/2006
Sudoku Popularity Not So Puzzling The popularity of the one-digit Sudoku electronic puzzles, developed from the forerunning puzzles that appear in newspapers, is just beginning to grow in the United States...
3/1/2006
Homeschoolers Rate Toys Five homeschooling families in Western North Carolina evaluated four new toys, rating them on a scale of 1 to 10, with “1” being the worst and “10” being the best...
Sudoku Craze Continues The popular number puzzle, Sudoku, that has experienced widespread popularity in Europe, has made its way to the United States...
2/1/2006
Homeschoolers Play to Win … and Lose TDmonthly’s five homeschooling families in Western North Carolina were asked to evaluate three games for educational and play value...
2/1/2006
Homeschool Families Rate Toys Five homeschooling families evaluated four different toys. Below are their numerical ratings, based on a scale of 1 to 10, with "10" being the best and "1" the worst...
1/1/2006
Games and Puzzles The following products are from manufacturers you won't find at Toy Fair 2006...
1/1/2006
Getting in the Game DVD interactive games were an idea a decade in the making. Now, they're becoming ubiquitous...
Games Win for the Holidays Families who want that get-together spirit to last through the New Year are expected to load up on games for the holidays...
12/1/2005
Traveling With Lewis and Clark Painted Pony Press creates and distributes history games that cater to the educational and museum store market...
Jax Games: A Winning Hand Jax Games believes in solid value and solid construction for each and every one of its games. The company, a privately held firm in Minneapolis, Minn., opened its doors for business in 1980 with classic offerings that included pinochle, poker, blackjack, and Kings in the Corner...
6/1/2005
More Toys! Manufacturers have developed many new and innovative products ready for display during this year´s upcoming holiday season...
WTHRA Show Wrap Up Last month´s Western States Toy and Hobby Show drew many exciting new products to Pomona, Calif...
4/1/2005
Board Games Find Their Niche Board games occupy a unique genre of game play – both adults and children are avid consumers. Yet, in this highly competitive market, it takes more than just a creative idea or interesting game play to be the next Trivial Pursuit...
4/1/2005
A Gamut of Games to Please the Entire Family You and your family are on a weekend retreat to your very own little cottage in the woods. It’s evening, and pouring rain – and the television’s broken. Sounds like a board game is exactly what the doctor ordered...
4/1/2005
TDmonthly’s Top 10 Most Wanted Licensed Games 2004 was a banner year for child-driven movies and television shows. Characters from these stories have been ubiquitous, as their creators tackle every marketing corner available. Games provide a logical tie-in, resulting in a plethora of “must-have” licensed games for little ones...
4/1/2005
Toy Inventors Cashing in on your inventions requires new skills and new ways of dealing with the toy industry, but the only way to succeed is with preparation, hard work and a determination bordering on obsession, Levy and Weingartner say...
2/1/2005
Gaming is Relative at The Five of Us The Five of Us, Inc. is a team of veteran storytellers turned game developers. Their product? Narrative driven play in a “world of whimsy and wonder.” Their logo? A hand; each finger representing the three brothers, one sister and her husband that make up the company...
12/1/2004
Jax Ltd. Inc. : Bringing Home Fun Games for All Ages From the new How Tall Am I? game for young kids to the latest poker deck Dealing Shoe for all you Texas Hold Em sharks, JAX, Ltd. Inc has hot- wired the non-electronic games world with original fun for everyone from pre-schoolers through adults...
11/1/2004
b. dazzle inc. Introduces a New Exciting Puzzle for All b. dazzle, inc.´s (ToyShow) “American Native Flowers” Scramble Squares has recently been named one of Dr. Toy’s “10 Best Socially Responsible Products” in October 2004. b. dazzle, inc. collaborated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and they created “American Native Flowers,” as a first installment of a series...
11/1/2004
Board Games Googolplex Games Googolplex is an innovative board game by Googolplex Games (ToyDirectory) that has over a trillion game variations. Googolplex is a maze board game constructed out of 36 movable tiles. The different placement of the tiles creates a new and different game each time. The objective is for...
10/1/2004
A Game For All Equations Bedmas (Ages 7 to adult) by Alagan is a unique new game that brings arithmatic skills and fast-paced competition to the same arena...
8/1/2004
Fun That Adds Up There is a good reason that Dr. Toy has ranked Numbers Count ($14.99) by purple pebble games as one of the 100 Best Children’s Products. In fact, this game was very well near the top of the list...
8/1/2004
GAMES Dream Green 1-2-3 OY! is the family math game that will dramatically improve fast mental arithmetic, build confidence and encourage teamwork! Teachers, parents and students of all skill levels will love this fun math game as each game is presented with numerous variations that are adaptable to players’ abilities...
8/1/2004
GAMES Baggo Inc.The “Official” version of Baggo is a bean bag toss game that is fun for any age group! The object of the game is to get the bean bag in the hole as many times as possible. All games, with the exception of Family BAGGO include 2 official Baggo...
7/1/2004
Front Porch Classics: Built To Last Founder of Front Porch Classics, Steve Edmiston, coupled his entrepreneurial talent with his imagination to create games...
6/1/2004
Travel Games Can be a Real Trip Long family road trips never again have to result in whining, crying and traumatic emotional scarring...
5/1/2004
Toys That Go the Distance Whether on a long flight, road trip, or even a quick jaunt to a friend’s house, children need the right toys to prevent restlessness and boredom...
5/1/2004
Portable Amusement Handheld or mini versions of entertainment are becoming increasingly popular in today’s bustling world...
5/1/2004
GAMES & PUZZLES UDE Launches New Trading Card Games New from Upper Deck Entertainment, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trading Card Game features the shelled crusaders as they battle their arch nemesis, Shredder and the Foot Clan. BreaKey is a strategic battle game where two or more opponents use collectible keys, knowledge...
3/1/2004
Featured Products in TDmonthly Magazine: General Games
eeBoo is an innovative company that consistently produces beautiful, useful and well-made products for children. We use only the original art of well-known and well-loved children's book illustrators to create completely original and vibrant toys and gifts... More information on eeBoo corp. products.
U. S. Games Systems, Inc., founded in 1968, publishes more than 400 proprietary products including specialty playing cards, informational card decks, inspirational products, and award-winning games that are both entertaining and educational.Family games include: Banana Split Card Game, Continuo, Wizard Card Game, Wizard Junior, Quickword, Snatch-It Word Game, Rain Forest Card Games, Hexago Continuo, Phase 10, Lewis & Clark Exploration Game, Royalty, Power Sharks, Kids' Classics, Morse Code Signal Set, and Squadron Scramble.Other popular products include: Historical Signals and Semaphore Collector's Set, Creative Whack Pack®,... More information on U.S. GAMES SYSTEMS, INC. products.
JAX LTD., the fun and games people, is recognized for our exceptional family games, including the long-time favorite SEQUENCE game. JAX games are designed with the idea of providing family interaction - with an educational flair. In addition to our complete line of SEQUENCE games, your whole family will enjoy all of our unique, fun-to-play games including SOLITAIRE FRENZY, OVER and OUT, RESPOND, TAKEAWAY, CUBES, MATCH'EM, SHAKE-UP, POLYGON, THE GAME OF CHIPS and everyone's favorite, KINGS IN THE CORNER. While the majority of our games... More information on JAX LTD INC. products.
Griddly Games creates award-winning party and board games that deliver innovative, engaging fun that brings people together. Founded in 2007 by two moms from Vancouver, British Columbia, who took it upon themselves to fill the void for wholesome family fun that all ages could enjoy at once, Griddly Games offers products that inspire laughter and fun, while promoting an active and healthy lifestyle. The company’s philosophy is to offer games that encourage social interaction, learning, strategy and challenges that anyone (the entire grid of... More information on GRIDDLY GAMES INC. products.
The Mayfair Games® brand encompasses a wide array of great board games, card games, dice games, and party games. These are fun and usually educational games full of intrigue and interaction. All offer great replay value. Besides being the world’s leading train game manufacturer, Mayfair publishes games about everything from collecting rare specimens in the Amazon to building city states in ancient Mesopotamia to creating trade routes in renaissance Italy! Manage a gang during the Roaring Twenties or try farming in arid Mexico!... More information on MAYFAIR GAMES INC. products.
