More Specials - Playmobil and Alex 20% off until Sunday

A couple things are running through my mind at 4 am on Saturday as I just finished checking a pile of massive orders. 

1 - I really need to work on my playlist. Exactly when did I go through this heavy metal phase that seems to dominate the songs on the list?

2 - It's Saturday and I haven't posted our latest specials that started on Wednesday! Yikes! What was I thinking?

All items at YoYo Joe's from Playmobil and Alex are 20% off until Sunday the 14th only! 

If you're not familiar with Playmobil, you should be. They're great toys from German toymaker Playmobil. All of them are made in Europe - either Germany or Malta. They're incredibly well designed toys that fit into specific themes - pirates, knights, circus, princess castle & more. They're appropriate for ages 4 & up and the sets run in all price ranges - under $10 to almost $200. All of them are 20% off today and tomorrow only! Check out the brand new Pirate Ship (right), which can quickly disguise itself as a innocent merchant ship. 

Alex makes wonderful arts & crafts toys (as well as tub toys, infant toys & more). They cover sewing, knitting, painting, coloring and much more. Their toys fill a wide range of age groups - from babies to 10-12 or so. The pottery wheel (left) has been a hit this year. Everything we carry from Alex is 20% off until tomorrow only!

We just got big orders from both Playmobil and Alex, so we're as well stocked with these items as we've ever been!

Remember, extended Holiday Hours means that we're open until 10 pm on Friday & Saturday. 

Super Specials until December 11th

Super Specials on Terrific Toys at YoYo Joe's

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Special prices are good until Thursday, December 11th only!
We've got some good deals going on at YoYo Joe's, but hurry, these prices are in effect until Thursday, December 11th only!

Thanks to its cuddly soft, beanbag body, Calin Charming Pastel can be posed just like a real baby. 12 inches tall with Sleeping eyes.Recommended for ages 18 months and up. The 'Charming Pastel' Doll won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award. It's a good, high quality doll from French dollmaker Corolle. 

 With a dungeon and a working drawbridge, this wooden play castle is fully assembled and ready for adventures! Features towers, balconies, a trap door, arched walkway, and a removable turret. Castle is hinged for easy wide-open, imaginative play and closes conveniently for compact storage. Dimensions: 22" x 14.5" x 15" Assembled. Recommended for ages: 3+ years

Become a pottery pro with a real pottery wheel and a variety of included tools to position and sculpt your clay! The pottery wheel includes 6 unique carving attachments with an adjustable tool arm, carving blades, outline shaping tools, shaping tube and excavator, 2 lbs grey and terra cotta clay, 6 colors of paint, sponge, paint palette, 2 brushes, clay cutting cord, 80 mosaic tiles, 8 glass jewels, glue, AC adapter, and instructions.Recommended for ages: 7+ years

Build it, float it, fly it with the Uberstix Starter Set. Future architects, engineers and even rocket scientists will love this versatile construction system that utilizes principles of physics and mathematics to build, float and fly their wildest projects! This kit has everything you need. It includes 450 pieces to build skyscrapers and towers, boats that sail, bridges that can support HO Scale train sets, an UberFO that flies and hovers and much more. Get introduced to UberStix and learn how to use recycled materials to build even bigger! Use your own recycled water bottles to build a ship that really sails! Your imagination is the power. 450 pc kit includes 40 page book. Recommended for ages: 8+ years
 
Large textured mat gym with 4 great activity toys! Also includes a large peek-a-boo mirror tiki hut that plays 2 10-minute tunes and has lights that coordinate with the beat! Grows with baby. Great for gym, tummy time and seated play. Mat measures: 36" x 28.5" Recommended for ages: 0+ years


Assorted push toys by Selecta Spielzeug. All wood toys, made in Germany for toddler to push along. Choose from various styles and characters. 

 
The brand newly redesigned Playmobil Pirate Ship is cooler than ever. It quickly converts from a regular ship to a pirate ship . Cannons hide beneath deck, pirate flag rolls away. With cabin, working anchor winch, functional loading crane, with boat hook and a space for treasure. Floats or drives on rollers. Size: 26 x 9 x 22 inches (LxWxH) Recommended for ages: 4+ years

The Melissa & Doug Princess Castle is a toy fit for a princess! Welcome, your Majesty! Decorated with regal accents, this wooden play castle is fully assembled and ready for royal play! Features two removable turrets, balconies and a flying buttress, an arched walkway, towers and a working drawbridge! Castle is hinged for easy wide-open, imaginative play or convenient to close for compact storage. Dimensions: 27" x 15.25" x 17.5" Assembled. Recommended Ages: 3+ years

Yo-Yo Club starts meeting January 10th

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At Yo-Yo Joe's, we're continuing the tradition started at Mitchell's nearly ten years ago by hosting a weekly yo-yo club. Join us to learn how to yo-yo. All ages & skill levels are welcome. Bring your own yo-yo (or buy one at YoYo Joe's). Classes are free and will be taught by Joe Mitchell, owner of YoYo Joe's and former President of the American Yo-Yo Association, and Tyler Severence, 2007 US National and World Yo-Yo Champion! Check out a little bio on Tyler at the yoyojoes website here. 

Did You Know - YoYo Joe's wraps for FREE?

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Yup, free wrapping. We've had lots of customers ask us "how much?" when we ask if they would like their purchases wrapped. Which means we're missing the boat on extra money or just plain crazy to be giving away wrapping. Either way, take advantage of us before we wise up. We have birthday paper (party frogs!), Christmas wrap and Hanukkah paper. If there's a line, we may ask that you come back in a bit to get your wrapped packages, but we'll get them done, or my name's not Joe. 

YoYo Joe's in the news again!

Look! I'm famous! Well, not so much, but the Community News thought enough of our new store to do an article about us. It's a good article, check it out online here. 

Newest Toy Hall-of-Famer - the Stick!

The stick? Really? A Toy Hall-0f-Fame worthy plaything? Seriously, though, a stick?

Well, the National Toy Hall-of-Fame at the Strong Museum of Play decided that the good old fashioned stick was Hall-worthy by inducting it into the 2008 class of Hall-0f-Fame honorees. Many a younger brother may be more familiar with another application of the stick as the weapon of choice their older brother(s) used upon them. But I guess that's a question for a different hall-of-fame.

Not to be undershadowed by the stick, also inducted this year were the more logical choices of the baby doll and the skateboard.

There were 12 finalists for this years class of inductees, including non-winners Clue, Dollhouse, Flexible Flyer Sled, The Game of Life, Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Rubik’s Cube, Thomas the Tank Engine, Wiffle Ball and Yahtzee. Imagine getting beaten out by a stick.

Check out the official press release, including a history of all three inductees here.

Ethan's pad

So, you'd think that your parents owning a toy store would be the ultimate, right? Toys, toys and more toys!
However, our son, Ethan, gets to spend all kinds of hours here at YoYo Joe's. He's here way too late at night, and for chunks of time over the weekends. He's a trooper, though, as he doesn't complain much. Recognizing that he's was gonna be here a lot, Emily was nice enough to design his own little 'pad' in the store's back room. He's got a chair that folds out into a bed (The chair is pretty comfy, I took a little siesta in it last night and woke up at 1 am!) , a blanket, a pillow, a tv with a DVD player in it, plus he brought his Wii  and keyboard from home. He even has a carpet (sorry, area rug) for his space. Here's a pic of his space.
I guess if you're stuck in one place for vast quantities of time, it's pretty cool to have your own plush space to chill.

Meet the people at YoYo Joe's - Tyler Severance

This is first in a series of postings introducing the people who work here at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun - First up is Tyler Severance. 

Tyler is a senior at William Penn High School in New Castle. He worked with us over at Mitchell's and we brought him along for the ride. He's really stepped up his game with his gift-wrapping skills over the past couple of weeks. 

Tyler started showing up at Mitchell's Yo-Yo club with his brother Danny years ago. Here's a shot of Tyler from a couple years back...back when he was but a long haired lad. 

Danny and Tyler are both terrific yo-yoers, and Tyler actually won the 2007 US National and World Yo-Yo Championship in the 5A (or counterweight) division. So, he's a former World Yo-Yo Champ! He's retired now (you know, he's all of 17 years old), but don't be surprised to see him yo-yoing at YoYo Joe's. Tyler will also lead the YoYo Joe's Yo-Yo Club, which will start meeting in 2009 on Saturdays - a great place to learn awesome yo-yo tricks by one of the best yo-yoers in the world. 

Here's a video of Tyler's World Championship winning performance at the 2007 World Yo-Yo Contest. 

The Monday after...

The theme for this past weekend for me? Sleep is for suckers! (Or, maybe normal people who actually enjoy the feeling of being well rested).

YoYo Joe's enjoyed our biggest sales day so far on Friday, but we look forward to eclipsing that total plenty more times in December. Things were quite busy all weekend and we blitzed through several rolls of wrapping paper this weekend only. We have lots more stuff expected to arrive this week as we have heaps of orders due in. Plus, this week we have our first Adult Swim event on Wednesday from 7-9 - you know, the night where we bar the store to our primary end users of our products? Kids schmids!