Is Dallas Becoming a Premier International Toy Show?

November 4, 2008

The New York Toy Fair used to be a premier international toy show. Over the years, however, it has gone from being one of the big three international Fairs (Hong Kong and Nuremberg being the other two) to being the largest national show.

The US, at least in my opinion, needs to have a major international toy show. I think Dallas is on its way to becoming that show.

Here is why I think that:

First, to be a major international show, you need to pull the major retailers. Dallas is doing that. In fact, I am told that 30 countries were represented at the show and that
28 of the world’s top 35 retailers were present.

To get a flavor of who attendended, take a look at this list of just a few of the retailers who were present:

AAFES
ALDI
AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE
BJ’S
BORDERS
CANADIAN TIRE
CARREFOUR
COSTCO
FAMILY DOLLAR
HUDSON BAY
LOBLAW
KMART
TARGET
SEARS
TOYS R US
WALGREENS
WAL-MART

Looking at all the retail attendees we would have to say that this group represents a whole lot of buying power. Hell, Wal-Mart alone is a lot of buying power.

If you measure a show by the buying power of the retailers who attend. it sounds like Dallas is turning into the first of the big three international toy shows - Dallas in October, Hong Kong in January and Nuremberg in February.

We’re on our way.

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on November 4, 2008 | Comments (1)

November 5, 2008

In response to: Is Dallas Becoming a Premier International Toy Show?
Ana commented:

I think you are absolutely right. There are two reasons in my view: first, the size of the US market merits to have local distributors who can price point the products according to the US consumer needs (it is virtually impossible for us, toy retailers, to buy directly from Europe and Asia and sell toys competitively.) Second, the US is already a major point of distribution for countries in the hemisphere, but only for some big brands. For these brands, US stores and other stores in the Americas can purchase with far better terms if they purchase directly from Europe or Asia. If Dallas promises to be that kind of fair, then I agree that it is great news.