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by Alyssa LaFaro
“Love what you do, and if you don’t love it, don’t do it,” recommends specialty toy retailer Nerice Kendter. “I think the key to surviving the past six, tough, years has been that I genuinely love this industry.”
Inspired by a toy store she visited in Belgium, Nerice opened Busy Bee Toys in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in 2006. Parents and kids in the area embraced the store and made it their own. “I am really lucky that a large portion of the community truly values what I am doing,” she says. “People continue to tell me they shop here because they want to see me stay open.” Read More
by Tina Manzer
Marketplace & Academy,
presented by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association
Sunday, June 16 through
Wednesday, June 19
Nashville Convention Center
1. Everyone will be there.
It’s the largest show designed just for the specialty toy industry. For the last three years, attendance numbers have broken the record set the year before. Expect to see about 1,500 of your industry peers. Read More
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| Keep Kids Moving |
| September/October 2006 |
Terri Bracken’s lifelong ambition wasn’t to run a toy store, but when Earth Explorers, her neighborhood toy store in Zionsville, Indiana, came up for sale four years ago, Terri jumped at the chance to own it.
“I didn’t know I wanted to get into the toy business,” Terri said, laughing ... [click here to read more]
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by Alyssa LaFaro
As summer approaches, the prospects increase for family vacations, otherwise known as car/boat/airplane rides from hell, especially when there are small children to keep entertained. Parents will be shopping for toys, games and books that offer quiet, long-lasting, non-messy fun to get kids from place to place. What would you recommend they buy at your store?
Specialty toy retailer Nancy Teed from Once Upon a Time Toys in popular tourist destination Stowe, Vermont, makes sure to offer portable versions of popular games such as travel-sized chess, checkers and bingo. “There are miniature versions of a lot of games – Apples to Apples To Go is new this year,” she reminded us. “And don’t forget about traditional coloring books and crayons. Read More
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by Kevin Fahy
Play It Again
When I’m on vacation, I always tell myself that I’m not going to think about business. I mean that’s the point, right?
The problem is, I tend to go shopping more often when I’m on vacation, partly because I have the time and partly because I’m doing different things and need different stuff. Visiting stores, regardless of what they sell, always brings me back to my job. Read More
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