Neighborhood Toy Store Day is November 9th

We're getting ready for our big toy event - Neighborhood Toy Store Day!  It's a national event, and toy stores all over North America, and the world are celebrating.  The Golden Apple is hosting two of our favorite local companies:  Just Jump It and Blue Orange Games and we'll be having contests and games of skill, along with a visit by Froggy.  The event starts at 11am and activities go on until 3pm.

ASTRA Marketplace 2011

I'm just home from ASTRA marketplace. This is where specialty toy store owners and specialty toy manufacturers gather to plot and plan what kids will play with in the coming year! I had a great time, and I'll be posting more about what I learned and found. What I'm thinking about though is play. How can I make play more important - I make my living by retailing play, and I want it to have enormous value, because if it's valuable, people will want it.
This TED video is from TED Bulgaria, but it's very easy to just switch "America" for "Bulgaria". Play makes your brain bigger! How is that for an endorsement!

Steve Keil: A Manifesto for Play

Is It Buy a Quality Toy Tuesday?

This last weekend bugged me. The days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday seemed like an endless Soviet Era propaganda film about the decadence of the west. Sure I'm a retailer, but is it really all a big game, to trick people into spending money at your store no matter how, or why? Obviously I'm on a rant about what makes a specialty store different (see previous post), but I think things have gotten way out of hand.
ASTRA (the American Specialty Toy Retailers) worked hard this year to produce a list of toys - The Best Toys for Kids. We didn't come up with "Door Busters" or "3 at this Price" toys. This selection of toys, along with the rest of our products, our outstanding staff and pleasant shopping environment is what we have to offer. This weekend made it seem like that's not enough, but we're happy to offer these things on Friday, Monday and every day of the year.
Certainly media hype has a lot to do with "Black Friday". Send a reporter out, show some video of shoppers in the cold at 4 am. Big news story. Today The Golden Apple is holding our own "Dog Bites Man" news event. Customers thoughtfully choosing toys with our help. Free Gift Wrapping - film at 11. Hope you can find parking, what with all the TV news vans out front!

Home from ASTRA

It's Sunday night, and I'm still not quite down to earth after the amazing American Specialty Toy Retailers Association (ASTRA) show in St Paul. The toy business is a business of play, and the ASTRA people set the bar for high energy and excitement. I have a long list of posts highlighting some of the things I did,found and learned this year, stay tuned!

ASTRA Chooses Toys

ASTRA is the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association, and the Golden Apple is proud to be a member of this great organization. Being a member of ASTRA provides many benefits to the Golden Apple, but it also provides benefits to Golden Apple customers. ASTRA helps us find the great toys that you love. Of course we take the credit when customers rave about our selection of educational and fun toys, most of which cannot be found at other stores. But some of the credit belongs to specialty toy store owners all across the country. This blog purports to take you behind the scenes at the Golden Apple, so here it is: The real story! Some of our great toys come directly from a list that ASTRA provides to us. ASTRA creates the guidelines, and members choose the toys. This process is going on right now, and the criteria for choosing a great toy might give you some insight into how we decide what toys arrive on our shelves. I would love to hear your comments on the Good Toy Criteria. Anything you might add?


Criteria for Best Toys For Kids List selection process

To ensure that the toys chosen are worthy of the ASTRA seal, we will ask all participants to make their selections based on the following Good Toy criteria:

* Does it Engage the Child? A good toy should encourage open-ended play, invite exploration, and engage a child's interest beyond a short sitting.
* Does it Expand the Child? A good toy with play value benefits the child at a particular stage by introducing and reinforcing age-specific skills. A great toy grows with the child, helping him/her advance from one developmental stage to the next.
* Is it Age Appropriate? The play activity should developmentally suit the child's age.
* Is it Safe? A good toy must meet or exceed all 2009 federal safety standards and specifically be compliant with August 2009 CPSIA regulations.
* Is it Fun? Most of all, a good toy is fun to play with. Dull and boring, regardless of benefit, have no place in a Good Toy Box.