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Scratch-Lite® Sketcher  

Create beautiful "Stained Glass" pictures. You won't believe your eyes! This portable light box is perfect for travel, day or night.
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Connect at the ASTRA Convention

by Kari Anderson

When you’re running an independent business, it’s easy to feel as though you exist in a vacuum. Sure, you can trade notes with others in your local chamber of commerce, but they may not be able to appreciate the specific challenges that a toy-store owner faces.

Opportunities to meet face-to-face with other members of the specialty toy industry are rare, and when they happen, you won’t want to miss out. This year’s American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) Marketplace & Academy is taking place June 22 to 25 at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

In case you’ve never been to an ASTRA convention, here’s what you can expect.

Ideas from other retailers
           
Whether it’s in the form of an official seminar or just swapping ideas with someone at your lunch table, you’ll find that retailers who attend ASTRA are forthcoming with solutions that have worked for them.

Business tips from experts
           
Seminars by retail guru Rick Segel will bookend this year’s convention. Al Bates of the Profit Planning Group is returning after giving one of the most popular seminars presented last year. (See “Show Me the Money” in the upcoming issue of edplay for a recap of Al’s 2007 talk.)

Specialty products
           
Unlike Toy Fair, you won’t have to sift through irrelevant products at this show. And manufacturers may even have a little more time to spend with you than at the bigger shows.
           
If you’re within driving distance of Connecticut, the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy is definitely worth the gas money you’ll spend getting there. Heck, it’s even worth your airfare.

For more information about ASTRA’s 2008 Marketplace & Academy, visit www.astratoy.org

Dado Squares

Create three-dimensional structures, explore architectural principles and inspire complex thought with Dado Squares. Proportion, balance, structure and color come to life through play!
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Match Me If You Can!
Match Me If You Can! is the exciting game that promotes laughter and lively discussion for three to six players!
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CAMP, the Game That Grows With You

With 4 levels of questions, CAMP will challenge a 6 year old as well as a 68 year old. Level one starts with identification of animals and geography and increases in difficulty to everything from migrational habits of birds to safety rules when ice fishing…
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