Toy retailer seeks franchisees
By Staff -- Playthings, 1/9/2007 11:44:00 AM
EAST LANSING, Mich.—Specialty toy retailer TreeHouse Toys & Books is launching a franchisee program through its affiliate TT&B Inc. that it expects will result in between 80 and 120 locations across the U.S. within five years.
TreeHouse, which received a 2003 Playthings Industry Achievement Award for Best New Store design shortly after its opening, will franchise its store concept under the name Brilliant Sky Toys & Books in order to avoid being confused with the many toy retailers around the country with “tree house” in their name. Brilliant Sky stores are expected to be similar to the original TreeHouse Toys & Books, an approximately 4,400 square foot location stocked with a mix of well-known specialty toys, games, books and related items merchandised on custom fixtures and surrounded by custom murals.
“We believe we’ve created a very special formula,” says Brent Taylor, TT&B Inc. president and TreeHouse Toys & Books co-founder. “Now the vision is to replicate this formula with a network of passionate and qualified entrepreneurs throughout the Midwest, and eventually the rest of the country.”
The first phase of the strategy calls for awarding up to 15 franchise locations throughout TreeHouse’s home state of Michigan, where it’s been officially approved for franchising operations, and in Ohio, where there are no governmentally mandated regulations that pre-qualify firms looking to franchise businesses. So far, the company has been approved to sign franchisees in a total of 29 states.
Discussions are underway with potential franchisees in several markets, according to the company.
For more on this story, see the February 2007 issue of Playthings magazine.
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