Direct from Market: ASTRA Marketplace

Playthings Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 6/30/2011 5:59:05 PM

Anaheim, CA - If you've never been to the American Specialty Toy Retailers' Association's Marketplace and Academy, but you've been to other tradeshows, you're in for a surprise. Whether other shows expect you to feed yourself on your own dime, ASTRA provides a "continental" breakfast which includes real hot eggs and meats, not jusAnaheim Convention Centert pastries, every morning. Plus a free box lunch, plus a mid-afternoon ice cream social! ASTRA also places the majority of its educational programming the day before the show floor opens. While this does mean shelling out for an extra hotel night if you want to attend the whole thing, it also means retailers can focus on learning without having to juggle appointments and shopping. (Sales reps and manufacturers too - ASTRA offers special educational workshops aimed at each segment of the business.) They even produce a directory of every single attendee, not just exhibitors.
At about 300 booths, it's a very manageably sized show, and compared to Toy Fair it is also very welcoming, with no fenced off enclosures requiring appointments to enter, far less that you sign non-disclosure agreements. It's all out there for your perusal. It's also a quieter show, with few giant mascots, life-size displays or showy demos going on — just the goods, ma'am.
Those goods run the gamut from dolls to games to outdoor play. While those who attended February's Toy Fair and the January gift shows would find relatively fewer new introductions, there were definitely some stand-out debuts. And with room to breathe and fewer distractions from irrelevant-to-the-specialty-shop mass market products, items that might have gotten lost in the noise at Toy Fair came into their own.
Reports of how traffic and sales went varied considerably from booth to booth. Some reported strong success stories, while others complained that with the show located in Anaheim, too many attendees had been lured away by Disney and other local attractions. They say they do better in years when ASTRA, which rotates around the U.S. regions, is less near to a major tourist destination. (Next year the show will be held in Baltimore, MD.)

 

New and NotableWorx Toys

Among the most exciting brand-new debuts was Worx Toys. The company's main character, Howie Worx, stars in books that come combined with vehicle toys and an innovative gadget connecting the two. Kids (or their parents) enter the code for each page for the appropriate part to light up and draw attention to itself. The car, helicopter and real remote control fire truck are very impressive, but watch this space- founding partner Gene Khasminksy can't go on the record yet, but he told Playthings even bigger things are in the works!
Another exciting brand new company is The Cooking Club for Kids — new toThe Cooking Club for Kids the US, anyway. The company is already a hit in its native Australia, where it even has its own TV show! The product is not just more play food: It's real, kid-safe cooking tools for kids! Kits include sweet treats such as cupcakes, cookies, gingerbread, cake and jelly, but also main courses such as pizza, eggs, BBQ, burgers, and pancakes, and even rice and pasta on the side. Also making its bow at he marketplace was Fort Box, which offers a four foot Tower of London cardboard playset with aspects that appeal to both boys and girls, and can be divided in two. More historical sites to follow.

Branching OutManhattan Toy

Exciting line extensions from established toy companies include EdToy from Manhattan Toy - a brand-new wood-based toy line produced in Korea. Vehicles, contruction toys and even dinosaurs feature "rotating magnet technology" which lets pieces be attached in multiple configurations, as well as making a surprisingly satisfying clicking sound when moved.
Also with a magnetic personality, Mogo Design Inc., which made its name for interchangeable magnetic charms on jewelry, is now turning its charm onto fuzzy slippers as well as a variety of collegiate designs.

Construction Zone

The Marketplace saw several exciting variations on this venerable category, proof that you absolutely can teach an old dog new tricks. Motion activated BrickBrites from Toolistic Inc. are waterproof and can be used to add light Fat Brain Toysto creations made with other brick system such as Lego. FatBrain 's dado bricks interlock like smaller bricks, but they're life-sized cardboard, so kids can build something big enough for them to play in. (yes, more cardboard. It's a trend. Even more cardboard was on view in Geared For Imagination's booth, offering a new color-your-own version of their Topazoo line, and Krazy Houze offers usual colored cardboard room decor with an adult-sized weight limit). And SmartMax offers a larger version of the ball and rod magnet toys often seen for older kids (or bored executives) - the larger size makes it safe for younger hands, aged 1 and up! 

 

The Road Not Taken

Whether its trains or cars or even marbles, the idea of rolling along the track laid out for you is well-established in the toy Wild Creationsbusiness. But at this ASTRA, it became clear that the hot new trend is roads kids can map out for themselves. New Roll-Up Roads by Wild Creations are removable leaving no goo behind and can be put down over and over again. The size suits Hot Wheels, Matchbox, even Thomas the Tank Engine. The Doodle-Track Car by Daydream Toys LLC  doesn't even need that much set surface - it will follow any line a child draws! (Doodle-track Train also available). And taking things vertical is The One and Only Wall Coaster from Active Products Inc. The over 16 feet of marble run components can be used for kids to build their own custom track on any wall. And they attach with poster putty, so the track can be changed over and over again. Comes with four glow in the dark marbles for night runs. 

 

Gaming the System

There were far too many games at ASTRA to list, most of them available for playtesting at ASTRA's game night. (There's also a kit session). But some of the hottest developments were in the realm of whole-family or even growGrandCamp Adventuresnup party games. Reverse Charades, invented by brothers Bryce and Scott Porter and first playtested by their large family of siblings, features a whole group acting while one person guesses, instead of the other way around. A new Junior edition is also available. Meanwhile, Morphology substitutes props for pictures or actions; players must build their guessable word out of a series of intriguing objects included with the game. Each card features an easier and a harder word, so players can pick their desired challenge level. 

Also notable, Perfect Stride by Funleague Games combines artwork sure to appeal to horse crazy tween girls with a riding adventure game mechanic that just makes sense. And the Search for Longbeard's Treasure from Grandcamp Adventures is a family treasure hunt game complete with maps, clues, special coins and action cards.

 

Brace Yourself

Bracelet Klutz safety pin bracelet among the Best Toy finalistscrafts are far from new for tween girls, but they're definitely hot. My Friendship Bracelet Maker takes the process we used to have to do by hand and creates a gadget to hold the threads and separate the strands. Ann Williams Group is taking it to the next level with an automated bracelet twisting machine, while Klutz's Safety Pin Bracelets kit is among the Best Toy of the Year winners.

 

Life Management Made Fun

Not every product shown at the ASTRA Marketplace is exactly a toy. Claessen's Kid Sleep's classic has a sleeping and waking figure so children who can't yet tell time still know whether it's time to get up... My First Alarm Clock combines a smaller version of the indicator above with a clock face and digital display to help kids learn to tell time. Meanwhile an hourglass watch help kids learn to tell time and learn to manage the time they have - plus an animation just for fun.

If time is money then Claessen and the Moonjar make a perfect pair - Moonjar teaches children to manage money by dividing it into spend, save and share categories. And completing the trifecta of organizational challenges that plague many into adulthood, A Beary Balanced Belly teaches children how to have good nutrition.

 

Extra, Extra

As always, some of our favorite finds defy categorization. KrazyHouse's Puzzle Pod is a transparent vinyl envelope with adhesive backing, so you can store puzzle pieces on the bottom of the board or crayons on the coloring book. 

This year one of our favorite finds wasn't even a product - it's Dragonfly Depot, an innovative, easy way for independent retailers to have an ecommerce site that makes them money, and gives customers the cross-channel shopping experience they increasingly expect, without inventory management hassles. In fact, retailers never even have to see the inventory, let alone ship it -- just pay $79/month and rake in about 20 percent of each sale from their Web store. Or, if there's something you want to sell that's not already in stock, you can provide it - and if you let Dragonfly offer it through others' e-stores, you get a cut of those sales too. Meanwhile, everything is branded with the store name from the end consumer's point of view - right down to the live chat greeting and the packing slip. MAP and authorized dealers are automatically enforced by the software. Dragonfly Depot was started by an independent toy retailer, but the software is industry neutral and is already branching out into the gift industry, where it has partnered with catalog buying group Ideation.