Celebrities Pay Greenbacks for “Green” (11/1/2007)
Ellen West extols the detailed craftsmanship of the Käthe Kruse toys she sells at the Acorn Store in Santa Monica, Calif. Lifting a blond, pony-tailed doll from the shelf, she revealed to PlayZak that the little beauty even has a sweet pink blush to her tiny behind.

Finding Safe Toys (9/1/2007)
Even as Congress investigates toy safety in the wake of massive recalls of toys made by Mattel and others in China, consumers appear to be taking matters into their own hands by buying more playthings made in Europe or America ― even if they cost more.

Trains Leave Models on the Slow Track (12/1/2006)
Parents are doing the hobby how-do-you-dos, 10 of 13 specialty toy retailers told TDmonthly Magazine

Grandpa Pushes Trains on Kids (11/1/2006)
Parents and grandparents who are trying to wean their youngsters from videogames tend to promote the toys they liked best when growing up.

Trains Keep Hobbies Chugging (10/1/2006)
Models are out, electronics are in, and RC trains, planes and automobiles are keeping the hobby industry hobbling along, retailers told TDmonthly.

Webkinz Knows What Kids Want (9/1/2006)
Sales of Webkinz, the plush pet toys with virtual online lives, have topped the one-million mark after only 14 months on the market, with weekly totals surpassing 10,000

Norooz Productions Celebrates Culture (6/1/2006)
Dustin Ellis, the son of an Iranian mother and an American father, distinctly remembers feeling different from other school kids growing up.

The Treasured Child: Selling Toys for All Ages (5/1/2006)
Since 1997, the Treasured Child has nestled on a quaint main street in a historic district of La Grange, Ky.

CHA Craft-User Study Surprises Industry (3/1/2006)
The Consumer Usage and Attitude Study, released in January by the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) at its 65th winter convention and trade show in Las Vegas, produced surprising results.

Scrapbooking Is King at CHA Show (2/1/2006)
Scrapbooking and papercrafts dominated the 65th Annual Craft & Hobby Association Convention and Trade Show, gobbling up half the floor space of the Las Vegas Convention Center Jan. 30 through Feb. 2.

Licenses, Sexy Costumes Rule Halloween Show (1/1/2006)
Halloween 2006 falls on a Tuesday, which suggests that it’ll be more of a children’s celebration than an all-night grown-up kids’ fest.

Paper Money: Origami Goes Mainstream (12/1/2005)
Origami, the ancient art of paper folding, is expanding beyond its traditional niche as scrapbookers embrace the creative activity.

Scrapbooking Follows Fashion (11/1/2005)
At October’s Sixth Annual MemoryTrends Trade Show for scrapbooking and papercrafts, TDmonthly Magazine discovered that fashion is found more places than on the runway.

The Bead Shop Follows Fashion Trends (10/1/2005)
Bored with retail, Goldi and Mark Miller launched The Bead Shop to design and manufacture girls’ products. But the couple never shuttered their women’s apparel store in Milwaukee, which today functions as a living lab for a business that — after only seven years — boasts sales around the world.

Big Lots! Concerns Scrapbooking Community (10/1/2005)
It’s no secret — and perhaps no surprise — that Big Lots! and other discount chains have jumped onto the $2.5-billion scrapbooking bandwagon.

Zizzling Hot (8/1/2005)
Everybody knows: Roger Shiffman, the mastermind behind Tiger Electronics’ phenomena Furby and Giga Pets, is coming out of retirement. But what everybody wants to know is: what’s brought Shiffman back and what, exactly, is he working on?

HyperFlex Turns Sales Inside-Out (7/1/2005)
After more than two decades in the toy biz, Mark Chernick, the founder and chief executive officer of Play Visions, is presiding over his company’s hottest product to date: Hyper-Flex, a material that can stretch to eight times its length, then return to its original form.

 


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