Should toy buyers emulate the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

Should toy buyers act like museum curators? It sounds like an odd question but not if you read an interesting article in the October 2, 2009 New York Times entitled: “On the Tip of Creative Tongues.” It seems that the term, “curate,” which has always been associated with museums, is now being used by some retailers to describe how they choose their merchandising mixes.

The article ridicules while acknowledging the shift in the word’s meaning. Here is how the article places the phenomenon:

The word “curate,” lofty and once rarely spoken outside exhibition corridors …has become a fashionable code word for any activity that involves culling and selecting…. But now, among designers, disc jockeys, club promoters, bloggers and thrift-store owners, curate is code for “I have a discerning eye and great taste.”

Well, I thought about it and I am sure that there are toy stores out there that carefully choose their product mix with an eye towards how it all comes together. In other words, the whole of the toy store is greater than the sum of its parts.

I think it might be interesting for select buyers to take on this mantle and show us how a great toy store or department should be mixed. If you are a buyer or know a buyer who sees him or herself as a curator please let us know. We want to hear about how you go about your craft.