Buzz Report: ASTRA Marketplace & Academy (final)
By Karyn M. Peterson -- Playthings, 6/29/2007 9:52:00 AM
LAS VEGAS, June 29—For a toy industry event that’s only a fraction of the size of Toy Fair, the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association’s 2007 ASTRA Marketplace & Academy this week offered a surprisingly expansive selection of toys and other children’s products on display.
“I wrote the most orders here!” Kazi Amed, manufacturer and publisher of the RainbowBrush markers and book-and-markers art sets, told Playthings, comparing his experience at both shows. The small Canada-based company’s newest offerings this year are its beautiful Alphabet Edition and Land and Seascapes sets; additional book sets, including those with flower, safari, Christmas, Far East and number themes, will be debuting soon.
Animator and cartoonist Gene Hamm, president of Hammination, was at the show this year debuting his how-to cartooning DVD, which is in specialty toy stores this summer. “Because it’s a DVD, kids can skip around to what they want to see,” Hamm told Playthings. The product is unique among how-to-draw tools in so that no hand blocks the view of the drawing in progress, he said, noting that the cartoons appear to draw themselves, step by step. Kids can print out the drawing guidelines as well, although a book of these may also be forthcoming, Hamm said.
At the Lunastix booth, new colors and styles of the now-classic juggling toy—including black-light versions—as well as new foot bags and birch boomerags, were demonstrated by company director John Liston. He noted that the company offers retailers samples of its toys to play with as well as an instructional DVD for in-store demonstrations. “Playing the video makes all the difference,” Liston told Playthings. “And nothing beats a person having fun with it.” He added, “Our business is fairly consistent. It’s been a good show and we’ve had a number of orders.”
Squiggle, a rapidly-expanding collection of doodle/learning games from RandomLine, Morris Plains, N.J., also picked up quite a few new retailers at the show this year, according to CEO John Kiely. The company currently offers the original Squiggle plus Squiggle Alphabet , Squiggle Shapes & Colors, and four on-the-go travel versions of the original, Alphabet, Script, and Shapes. “They hit a different niche with parents,” Kiely told Playthings. “We’ve had an outstanding show, tremendous. Lots of orders.”
At Maple Shade, N.J.-based Answers in Motion’s booth, its line of Thumballs—soft vinyl soccer balls for throwing and catching that feature everything from icebreaker topics to ABCs to emotions—were a hit with both specialty toy store owners as well as those seeking products for kids with special needs and for the education market. According to company founders Gregg and Mary Pembleton, 2007’s new ABCs ball has been very popular with buyers overall.
One of the most popular items for North Hollywood, Calif.-based Playroom Entertainment among the show’s specialty toy buyers, according to vice-president Tony Ahluwalia, was Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot, an addictive card game for ages 12 and up in which players attempt to keep their own bunnies alive while eliminating those of their opponents. Created by Jeffery Neil Bellinger to be an expandable, yet non-collectable, card game, there are now 10 booster decks since the introduction of this year’s final offering, the Ominous Onyx Booster Deck, and each deck actually “changes the mechanics of the game,” Ahluwalia said.
Killer Bunnies—which is designed to promote strategic thinking as well as social interaction, since players must form alliances—has proven as popular with grandmothers as it has with kids, driving those who have stocked the game to come back again and again for reorders. In addition, new accounts have sought it out at the show. “Whoever has carried it and taken the risk has had the rewards, because there is a following,” Ahluwalia told Playthings.
For retailers looking for brand new products and lines, start-ups like Tim Paczesny’s Education Outdoors, Eastport, Mich., filled the bill. The company’s Camp family board game aims to teach kids about the natural world through trivia questions leveled for different ages and ability levels. “The whole family can play together at their own level,” Paczesny told Playthings.
Camp’s four levels of wildlife and nature questions range from easy (recognizing which animal is in a photo) to difficult (identifying the scientific names of different animals), and a second addition of cards is in the works, Paczesny said. The company also offers free downloadable coloring pages—with a complete outdoors-themed coloring and activity book for kids on the horizon—and a space-saving, rustic point-of-purchase display made from recycled pallet wood that holds up to 12 games. “Most stores have taken the display,” Peczesny said, noting that more than 2500 games have been sold since November at toy stores and outdoor stores.
The new line of Miyu Magic stones from Gilford, N.H.-based Winscott Corporation also generated some buzz at the show, and retailers, reps and fellow exhibitors all stopped by to choose their own semi-precious stones, which were crafted into spiraled wire pendants on cords by Gail Jackman, vice president of U.S. sales.
“Actually, we say that ‘you don’t choose the stone, the stone chooses you,’” Jackman explained. The stones—which represent attributes and powers, such as love, courage and wisdom—tie in to The Emerald Boy, a fantasy book that’s already popular in the Netherlands, and is being translated into English for a September debut at retail. Kids can collect all the stones referenced in the book, and visit the interactive website to enter the code that comes with each one. They can also keep track of the points earned by collecting, and ultimately donate them to one of the company’s designated charity partners. In Europe, the company has chosen Unicef; a partner for the American market will be announced shortly, Jackman said.
The company offers its retailers a special starter kit, which includes 24 pouches with three stones each, 12 mini treasure chests with three stones each, four larger collecting boxes with six stones each, four copies of The Emerald Boy, 12 spiral wire pendants and stones, plus 120 zodiac cards, 60 brochures and 60 passports for collectors. An event kit is also available, which includes 150 stones, 75 pendants, 50 pouches and black fabric for setting the scene in which kids in attendance can reach into a container to choose their stones.
For Phoenix-based The Imaginative Child, the show was a chance to showcase I’m a Star and I’m a Doctor, the two latest additions to its line of Dramatic Play Boxes ($40), collections of role-play props designed to inspire kids’ imaginations and enforce early literacy. However, the veterinarian set is still “definitely the top seller,” COO Beau Schuster told Playthings.
Retailers looking to expand their offerings of lifestyle products, including children’s accessories, room décor items and playspaces, had plenty to choose from as well.
Sebastopol, Calif.-based Enchantmints entertained a steady stream of interested buyers—many of which were repeat customers taking advantage of a free freight show offer—for its decorative treasure boxes, foldaway mirrors and new wooden puzzles, which feature lush original illustrations in horse, fantasy and classic storybook themes. “We’re very well established now, and the principle is simple,” president Marke Levene told Playthings. “We still make things that are beautiful for children,” he said. “Children are the ones that need Monet. They need what’s true, beautiful and good, not harsh colors.”
Also new for Enchantmints, shipping now to stores, are its card domino set, Tiny Town circus collection, paper doll fairies and lunch boxes. The later of these are the most popular of the new items, with the horse-themed and ballerina-themed treasure and jewelry boxes the company’s continuing bestsellers, Levene said.
The new Zoocchini brand of adorable safari characters from New York-based Heidi’s Home Design offered retailers its debut selection of toys as well as a few children’s accessories and décor items. Each elephant, giraffe, lion, monkey and zebra is available in two sizes and comes packaged in a decorated bucket, which were all on display in the company’s booth as well as on some of the tables at ASTRA’s opening reception Sunday night.
Zebra and leopard wooden pull toys and lion and leopard wooden mechanical animals are also available to complement the plush collection. In addition, Zoocchini has children’s safari-themed acrylic carpets in two sizes along with children’s umbrellas, although the most popular items at the show were, predictably, the plush, according to Donna Slade, the collection’s creator.
For Bazoongi Kids, Addison, Texas, the buzz at this year’s show was for its new line of mesh backpacks, which came about as a result of consumers’ requests for see-through bags to meet specific school district’s safety requirements, Bob Muniz, vice-president of sales and marketing, told Playthings. The bags feature gender-neutral styling designed to appeal to slightly older kids. “I think that’s what helps it sell,” Muniz said. Of its older items, Bazoongi’s play cottages and other structures—especially the gender-neutral Bug House play tent and Circus Tent—are still the top sellers, and several of these are available to retailers in mini versions for in-store display.
