Addressing mass hysteria

Taking the proverbial bull by the horns, the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) will tackle the issue of mass-market competition during the group's annual conference next month. And in a unique move, the organization is embracing leaders outside the specialty toy business in facing the common challenge of big box competition and predatory pricing practices.

Specialty customers are now considering "shopping at stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Costco, as their product offerings have evolved over the years," ASTRA executive director Kathleen McHugh notes. "At the same time," she adds, there is an element of opportunity to be found in specialty chain store closings.

"We would all be foolish not to adapt to the new circumstances" notes Joanne Farrugia, outgoing ASTRA president.

"The question for us," says McHugh, "is: What can we do to prosper in the current landscape?"

The conference—May 13-16 at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago—is geared to provide informed commentary on how to meet the big box challenge, combat and regain position with consumers.

ASTRA will launch the four-day event with a State-of-the-Industry presentation that asks "Where Have the Consumers Gone?"

In addition to Farrugia and specialty toy manufacturer Roger Bildsten, president of Manhattan Toy, the opening panel will include Phillip Cooke, a founder of the Council of Independent Restaurants of America (CIRA). He is also founder and chairman emeritus of FSA Group, a firm that specializes in management services for various associations.

Before starting his own company Cooke served as the editor of several leading food service publications, including Restaurants & Institutions and Chain Store Age, the precursor to Nation's Restaurant News.

In 1999, Bob Kinkead, the chef/proprietor of Kinkead's Restaurant in Washington, D.C., asked Cooke to help him create a new association for independent restaurant owners who were suffering from the incursion of national chains into the mid- and upscale dining market. Their efforts resulted in the Council of Independent Restaurants of America (CIRA), which today boasts 14 chapters and a membership of 650 nationwide.

"CIRA is very supportive of, and actively engaged in, the Mainstreet USA program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation," McHugh tells PLAYTHINGS. The Mainstreet program "is dedicated to revitalizing the core retailing districts of cities and towns across America, in order to recapture the retail momentum and sense of place lost with the advent of the suburban big boxes," she adds.

ASTRA members can benefit from the experience of other small businesses—even those that are dissimilar—in facing the fading entrepreneurial spirit and the viability of small businesses throughout the United States, McHugh notes.

Additional information about the conference is available at: astratoy.org.