Get into the Groovy

The Groovy Girls have come to Bloomington, Minn., in style—along with Cirque du Soleil, Dr. Seuss, the Trixieville fairies and a host of other furry friends who have taken up residence in Manhattan Toy's first brand-exclusive shop. The store, which the Minneapolis-based manufacturer opened September 9 in the Mall of America, carries a wide selection of the company's plush, soft dolls and puppets, baby products and tactile developmental toys.

“Basically, the store provides Manhattan Toy the opportunity to test-market products and promotions, and we're using it as a vehicle to build brand awareness,” Arete Passas, Manhattan Toy's president, told Playthings. “Right now we're focusing on determining what are the best products to feature in the store and how best to promote them and merchandise them, and it helps provide learning to us that we can then pass on to our retailers.”

Passas left open the possibility that the company could choose to open additional stores in the future, but ruled out the idea “at this time.” She noted, “This is not the beginning of rolling out our own stores per se, but really a brand-awareness builder because of the amount of people that go through the Mall of America. It tends to have a large drawing from across the United States and the world.”

According to a spokeswoman for the MOA, more than 40 million visitors pass through the shopping Mecca each year, with out-of-state tourists comprising at least four out of every 10 visitors during the mall's three “holiday” shopping seasons (in March-April, June-August, and November-December.) At present, MOA offers more than 520 retail shops, 20 sit-down restaurants, 14 movie screens, an indoor amusement park, an aquarium, a dinosaur museum, an indoor racetrack and several other attractions.

Passas said feedback from Manhattan Toys' sales representatives, as well as from its specialty toy retailer accounts, has been mostly positive. “People are pretty excited about the fact that this is raising awareness for Manhattan Toy and helping consumers know that Manhattan Toy is connected with Groovy Girls, because a lot of consumers don't know that,” she said. “So they like the fact that it is building awareness and they feel it does make sense. There are retailers out there initially that were somewhat concerned that we are competing with them, however…this is a one of a kind store, it's an only location and its primary intent is brand awareness.”

Although no MOA store exclusives are planned at the moment, Passas did confirm the shop would host live Groovy Girls characters and offer special sales promotions, like the gift-with-purchase and giveaways that it offered during the store's grand opening.