May 2009 New Specialty Toys — Rail Roads & Trains

Birthday Thomas and Box Car
From: LEARNING CURVE

Other products from LEARNING CURVE

Age Range: 3 and up
Gender: Boys And Girls

Category:

Rail Roads & Trains

Thomas, Sodor's cheeky favorite train car, comes all decked out in birthday finery. Covered with streamers and confetti, this engine comes packaged pulling a special boxcar whose panel door slides back to reveal a load of wrapped presents. This festive addition to a child's train table is compatible with all of Learning Curve's wooden rail line, as well as many other major brands.
— “There's definitely a group that's really into it,” said Scott Loveless, owner of Toys That Teach in Bothell, Wash., of his persistent sales of Thomas the Tank Engine in spring 2009.
— “Thomas is about all we do in licensed toys, and it's still selling. We're getting requests again,” Peggy Sebert, owner of Becky & Me Toys in Glenview, Ill., told TDmonthly in April 2009.
— Six of 49 retailers named Thomas as their best-selling licensed toy line in spring 2009.

Modeled after the DVD of the same title, the Great Discovery set offers a wide variety of experiences. After building the wide figure-8 of track, kids can act out the familiar story, or stories out of their own imaginations, with two talking engines and two talking destinations that actually recognize which engine has just approached them. Unique phrases at each destination greet the engines with salutations or instructions from the merry conductor, Sir Topham Hatt.
― “Thomas and Friends wooden train pieces by RC2,” are best-selling wooden toys for Michelle Deutschmann, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys in Falmouth, Mass.
― Buddy Wood, owner of Le Jouet in Metairie, La., said he sells between 75 and 100 Thomas the Tank Engine pieces per month.
― Thirteen percent of 56 retailers named wooden railway as a top seller in early 2009.