Acting on impulse

Few childhood memories can compete with that of walking into the neighborhood toy store with a buck burning a hole in your pocket, eyeballing Silly Putty and bouncing balls with intense deliberation to make that all-important purchase. Many things have changed over the years, but it's nice to know that novelty and impulse toys are still capturing kids' imaginations.

Specialty retailers appreciate the significance in carrying pick-up items and keeping the small toys neatly merchandised. The cash register area provides the ideal setting for buckets of pick-up items. Exasperated moms and their shopped-out kids can get a quick fix while staff can keep a close eye on inventory. The impulse/novelty market has also evolved to include affordable birthday goodie bag fillers and last-minute package toppers. A booming Easter market also gives these toys a place in holiday baskets that were traditionally filled with candy.

At Heights Toy Center in Little Rock, Ark., owner Greg Bonner relies on huge Plexiglas bins surrounding the cash registers to hold what he calls baby boomer candy—Sugar Babies, Red Hots, Pop Rocks—along with many Toysmith and Small World Toys items. Bonner updates his offerings (more squirt guns and wind-up pool toys in the summer) to keep the "novelty" in impulse and the bins invitingly full.

David Hesel, owner of The Toy Shop of Concord in Concord, Mass., relies on a cherry wood frame with 40 to 50 clear bins to hold a rotating stock of pick-up items priced from 10 cents to $3. A pegged area typically holds Basic Fun key chains, whistles and blister-packed cars and trucks. At the checkout Hesel selects "nifty bin items" priced at $1 to $20 that range from wind-ups from California Creations and Groovy Girls toys to Sanrio pens and offerings from Merry Thoughts and Accoutrements. New Crocodile Creek pastel and primary-colored play watches that debuted at Toy Fair will soon join the fray.

"Impulse toys provide instant gratification," he remarks. "Don't fool yourself that just because the kids are in tow that parents and adults in general are not attracted to novelty toys. This is an area that skims the adult market, and the price points are easy on the pocket."

The classic backdrop of many impulse/novelty toys adds to the appeal, says Joy Leavitt, co-owner of Kiddy Winks in West Hartford, Conn. Bins and hanging displays hold animal grabbers and groan tubes along with die-cast cars from Toysmith, Schylling and Small World Toys. A personal favorite is Club Earth's new spin on the old-fashioned Chinese yo-yo, along with Play Visions' water balls, Mondo Squish and Water Wigglers. Other products along those lines are the soon-to-be-released pliable Zyrofoam by Jakks Pacific, which comes in a variety of colors, Yanova's Glo Gear light-up necklaces and Glitterama by Curiousity Kits, with which kids can make their own sparkling jewelry.

Classic and crude elements of Toysmith's noise putty makes it the "absolutely best-selling novelty item" at Charlotte Street Toy Shop, notes manager Karissa Ickes. An open sample of the plastic container with goo that makes the proverbial "wind-breaking" sound is on the counter at the St. Augustine, Fla., store and invariably every customer gets the urge to try, she says. Schylling's metal harmonicas and kazoos sell quickly as do old-fashioned sweets like wax lips and candy dots. For this hands-on retailer, Ickes says constant straightening-up fits right into the staff's daily routine.

"You know what you're dealing with so it's part of the regular merchandising," agrees Ann Brownell, owner of Belmont Toys in Belmont, Mass. Stacks of Lucite bins and cases in the middle of Belmont Toy's floor are filled with everything from rubber farm and zoo animals, pull-back cars and squirt fish to glow-in-the-dark stars and whistles from manufacturers like Toysmith and Noveltoy. "Anything you put at point of sale really moves."

Kazoo! Company keeps its water snakes, squish balls with finger and body parts and snap caps close to the register in full view of staff to keep shoplifting at a minimum, says Diana Nelson, owner of the Denver, Colo., store. Nelson figures about eight percent of her total business is in novelty and impulse items despite $3.99 to $7.99 average prices.

Dollar-wise, impulse is a category that generates about five percent in total sales at The Learning Tree in Leewood, Kan. "Novelty is good for point of sale but it's hard to incorporate on limited counter space," says owner Jane Girson. Baskets and bins found at a local Wal-Mart join Lucite holders that, unfortunately, have a tendency to attract garbage and dust bunnies. Girson sometimes sprinkles novelty items with other toys to create a theme.

Scribblers pens are flying out the door as teacher gifts, present toppers and adult purchases, Girson notes. Mini-sized no-spill bubbles and wands are also hot at point of sale, and Girson looks forward to carrying her Toy Fair find—Basic Fun's new pens that incorporate classic board games like Operation and Etch-A-Sketch. Basic Fun is also hoping its collectible Skate Brigade line catches the eyes of retailers (and buyers), while Gamewright pursues the play angle with Kitty Corners, a bingo-style board game for the younger set. Other off-beat novelties include Tangle's unique and colorful puzzles and Art Asylum's take on jack-in-the-boxes, 'N the Box, which features the likes of Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper.

Bins and dumps on one whole side of the register at Rainbow Toys in Falmouth, Maine, keep impulse items in check. Low-end rings and necklaces, Bendos and the Hog Wild line of novelty toys move well, along with the $2 and $3 sand-filled Rainbow Creatures, according to owner Juliette Steinbach. Also on the way are Gund's Fashion Fish, a smartly dressed line of colorful, aquatic plush creatures.

"The previous owner wasn't into impulse/novelty and customers are now thanking us for carrying items that kids can buy with their own money," explains Steinbach. "As much as I'd like to sometimes get rid of the whole impulse/novelty category when I'm tagging each little item individually, you just can't. It's too important to the business."