Photo finish
Retailers face surprising competition
Maria Weiskott, Editor-In-Chief -- Playthings, 7/1/2001
You'll just never believe who I bumped into at a pizza shop in a small strip mall in northern New Jersey: Country Elmo. And he wasn't alone. He was with a Let's Pretend version of himself, a Mickey Mouse on skates, several plush Barneys and other stuffed beings. But this was no pizza party. Each of the toys had a price tag.
A few towns away, in another shop in another strip mall I visited, children's games and novelty items were artistically displayed for sale on shelves and counter tops.
But this was no toy store. It was a popular ice cream shop where the members of a Little League team were enjoying celebratory sundaes.
These days, competition for toy business is coming from some of the most unlikely places.
While in the Southwest recently, I walked into a tween clothing store, part of a well-known chain. Although I had no tweens for whom to buy clothing, I was attracted to the store by an innovative window display: a retro kitchen setting. The table was loaded with jars, tubes and bottles full of all the "enhancement" stuff girls like to try out, with several mirrors on the table and a plethora of accessories on nearby shelves.
Those shelves held a multitude of impulse merchandise also available at most toy stores: stuff like pens, diaries, address books, albums, plush, night-lights, and stickers—even a magazine rack loaded with tween favorites from Teen People to Cosmo Girl.
But the place, obviously a "destination location," was loaded with activity as well. The kids were having fun and, frankly, so was I, even getting swept up by the enthusiasm and making photo-stickers of myself at the Sticker Station (by Fantasy Entertainment). It is a major attraction for the store. One out of every three kids who stop inside makes stickers.
Who would have thought that a clothing chain—or for that matter, a pizza or ice cream shop—would be competing with toy stores?
While the idea of a big box discount club opening up nearby strikes fear in the hearts of many toy retailers, it is rare they feel the same anxiety over the grand opening of a store they historically would not consider to be competition.
Indeed, the rules of competition today are changing as rapidly as the whims of the marketplace.
