Cartoon Planet, Warsaw, Poland

Everyone loves the utility of a convenience store: just one stop and a person can pick up a newspaper, a cup of coffee, a bagel (or a roll, or a biscuit, or a croissant—depending on location), a sandwich for lunch and a lottery ticket. It's not called a convenience store for nothing! And the concept has really caught on.

Many toy stores today can be considered convenience stores: arts and crafts over there, construction toys over here, backpacks in the corner, diapers, mobiles and infant paraphernalia shelved across the back of the store. But what about finding licensed product? Hmm, not so convenient after all.

Unless the store is Cartoon Planet. Here, all licensed products are under one roof. Warner Bros. rubs elbows with Disney and Snoopy romps with everyone. The store is a 'license-phile's' dream.

The concept for this Polish retailer was born of the challenges experienced by independent stores in the face of a broadening base of mass-market retailers in Poland. "These 'hypermarkets' were rapidly establishing networks, which allowed them to achieve economies of scales especially in their purchasing power," says Manoj Madnani, president of Cartoon Planet and a principal of Fareast Poland, a large independent distributor of licensed character products in Poland.

"By offering a wide assortment, the Polish consumer started to stop and shop at one location where food, clothes and toys were under one roof. With the expansion of hypermarkets, the independents were beginning to fall like flies," he adds.

Madnani says that payments to Fareast Poland from the independent toy stores were being delayed by an average of 90 days and by the end of 1999, 600 independent accounts throughout Poland each owed Fareast the U.S. equivalent of between $500 and $1,000. The slow payment and the frustration that they experienced to collect their money "was the impetus for Cartoon Planet," he says.

The beauty of the store, says Madnani, "lies in the merchandising. Each license has its own column. And signage is very important—so when a customer walks in, the staff is trained to ask what license are they looking for rather than for what product."

Comments from customers have been terrific, he quips, repeating often heard remarks like: "Finally Cartoon Planet has come to Poland from the USA," or "Good to see the Disney store has opened a new format," or "Finally a place where we can buy gifts as opposed to flowers when going to someone's house."

And over the next few years, consumers in Poland will have lots of shopping opportunities at Cartoon Planet. While there are currently two stores, the concept has been so successful, plans call for the rollout of 40 more outlets over the next four years.