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TDMONTHLY MUST READS
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...READ MORE
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...
Amid a harsh economic climate, Reed Elsevier has put multiple Reed Business Information trade publications, including Playthings and Kids Today, up for sale...
TDMONTHLY TOY VIDEOS
Watch and Learn With July's Videos
Help your customers turn the lazy days of summer into fun and challenging learning experiences...READ MORE
TDMONTHLY SHOP TALK
TDmonthly Goes Inside ... The Dinosaur Farm, South Pasadena, Calif.
Step inside The Dinosaur Farm in South Pasadena, Calif., and you'll be transported back to the Jurassic Age ... or not, depending which room you're stepping into...READ MORE
Teri Weiss bought The Elegant Child in Beverly Hills from her friend and employer 20 years ago. Since that time, she's built her private showroom for baby gifts into an online sensation...
Ibrahim Victory first opened Ventura Toys in Sherman Oaks, Calif., more than 20 years ago...
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....
Owner Candace Gooch of At Once All Agog in Limerick, Maine, encourages her customers to play with the toys in her store and experience their craftsmanship. Here are the items she told TDmonthly Magazine shoppers want most....
Drawing potential customers into your store can take a little more cunning than just putting a product out for sale....
Dogs in tutus, pianos strewn across gardens: If you want to stage events that attract attention, you may want to forget about toys for a moment....
TDMONTHLY TRADE SHOW COVERAGE
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!...READ MORE
“This year's ASTRA show did not disappoint,” Joe Mitchell, owner of YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun in Wilmington, Del., told TDmonthly Magazine. “Despite an economy that's still in trouble, it was clear that there were more attendees to the show...
From pet fish in self-sustaining aquariums to tiaras with all the twinkle a little girl could want, specialty toy-store owners at the 2009 ASTRA Marketplace & Academy found plenty of fun products...
With increased costs and lower budgets, both retailers and manufacturers have had to change the way they connect with each other....
TDMONTHLY CHARITABLE KID CONTEST
13-Year-Old Kimberly Is the TDmonthly Charitable Kid
Thirteen-year-old Kimberly of South Carolina has been named the TDmonthly Charitable Kid and will give away 100 Schoenhut My First Piano IIs to needy children in her community...READ MORE
TDMONTHLY NEW TOYS
Notable and New Toys by Category — Specialty Only
See all the new specialty toys we've uploaded in the last month to make your ordering easier...READ MORE
See all the new toys we've uploaded in the last month to make your ordering easier...
TDMONTHLY HOLIDAY PREVIEW
As you’re planning for your final holiday orders, take a look at some product categories that largely define the specialty market today...
TDMONTHLY TOP-10 MOST-WANTED LISTS
Top-10 Most-Wanted Plush and Puppets
In May 2009, TDmonthly Magazine surveyed 43 specialty retailers about their sales of plush and puppets. More than half of the storeowners said Folkmanis accounted for their top sales....READ MORE
“All of a sudden, we've had a surge on dolls,” Bill Rayment, owner of Toy Crossing in Harbor Beach, Mich., told TDmonthly Magazine during a recent survey of 43 specialty toy stores....
In May 2009, TDmonthly Magazine conducted a survey of sales in furniture and children's play house items...
TDMONTHLY TOY REVIEWS
TDmonthly’s Book Expert
Sibling mice Benny and Penny made a favorable — and humorous — impression on TDmonthly Magazine’s Book Expert and the kids she read to. The reviewers also enjoyed an environmentally centered, educational board book...READ MORE
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....
TDmonthly Magazine’s Dolls Roundtable learned there is a world of wonder down under as they traveled with Restoration Gallery’s Pink Coral Laurel, from the Global Green Pals line, in her pretty pink snorkel gear to Australia’s coral reef....
TDMONTHLY POPULAR STORIES
Hannah Montana and Princesses Reign
When 3-year-old Hailey Farrant of Beachwood, N.J., isn't dressing up herself, she's dressing up one of her dolls....READ MORE
About a year ago, I wrote an article in the UK Toy News Magazine that said that there were really only five virtual playgrounds worth talking about – Mattel’s Barbie Girls, Ganz’s Webkinz, Disney’s Club Penguin (toy license: Jakks Pacific), Neopets (toy license: Jakks Pacific) and Russ Berrie’s Shining Stars...
The year 2009 will probably be remembered as the year in which the U.S. toy market underwent a structural change. I hear more and more often that the big retailers are looking upon the toy department as a necessary evil and a loser...
TDMONTHLY MANUFACTURER'S CORNER
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...READ MORE
TDMONTHLY TOY BUZZ
Cloud B Soothes Children to Sleep
Created with the desire to help children sleep and simplify parents’ lives, Cloud B’s award-winning plush and apparel products are delivering what everybody wants: a better night’s sleep....READ MORE
Conceived more than 20 years ago by a Dutch boy who longed to own a go-cart, Berg Toys has grown into a worldwide market leader in the manufacture of outdoor toys...
TDMONTHLY UPCOMING ISSUES
Green Means Go
You've seen the influx of "green"-dubbed toys and children's products over the past few years, and it's only becoming greater...READ MORE
