Best of Delaware, Baby!

I headed out today to find a copy of the Sunday Washington Post. How hard could it be? It's one of the biggest papers in the country, right? Washington's only a couple hours away, right? I mean, Delaware's Joe Biden is the VP, so it can't be THAT hard to find in Wilmington, right?

Three hours later, I final

ly find one copy hiding at Claymont Newsstand, who doesn't take credit card purchases under $15 and who over double the cover price of the paper, but hey, I got it! 

What does this have to do with Best of Delaware?  - well, on our quest we found the July issue of Delaware Today magazine, which has a big half-page picture of Ciro, Jake and Louise Poppiti yoyoing at YoYo Joe's. Awesome! Plus, the writeup on YoYo Joe's. We're famous! And, our pal JonRob is mentioned in the writeup about the store as well. Who's the best?

We are!

YoYo Joe's yoyoers profiled in Washington Post Magazine

The Washington Post Magazine's cover story (registration required - unless you check out bugmenot.com) this week focus' on two local yoyoers - former YoYo Joe's employee and World Champion Tyler Severance (left) and Vice-President Joe Biden's favorite yoyoer Jonathan Robinson. It's a great article that was written with care. Writer Rebecca Bengal contacted me last year talking about doing a story on a regional yoyoer. The story features a cool video shot at the Maryland State Yo-Yo Contest in Perryville. The article also talks about both Mitchell's and YoYo Joe's. Great press! 

Rebecca told me there's more pictures in the paper edition of the magazine, so I'll be picking up a couple copies tomorrow. 

St. Paul is closed on Sundays.

At the ASTRA Convention 2009

I am in St. Paul, Minnesota - home of the 2009 American Specialty Toy Retailers Association (ASTRA) Marketplace & Conference. I will be checking out cool new toys to bring to YoYo Joe's plus getting good ideas to implement at YoYo Joe's. First up was the Keynote session with Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor, then it's Kits, Kits & more Kits and finally a couple choices as far as breakout sessions. I saw Bob Phibbs last year at the 2008 ASTRA Conference and he's a great speaker - always motivates me to try out new stuff. One idea I'm gonna implement right away when I get back is to get more goofy YouTube videos up - videos about new products, store events & more. Check out my Twitter page for live updates from #ASTRA09

Who put the K in K-B toys?

Donald Kaufman! Well, he and his family, anyway. Originally named after the 'Kaufman Brothers,' KB Toys recently closed.

Donald Kaufman, however, was a prolific collector of antique toys - mainly cars and trucks. Just this past year, he decided it was time to get rid of his toys and sell them at auction. The first of these auctions netted a cool 4.2 million, 1.2 million above the auction house estimate and 2.2 over Mr. Kaufman's own estimate. The Marklin clown car train pictured below alone sold for over $100,000. The second of these auctions is coming up in September. Check out this New York Times article about his collection.

Dad's Day Craft Event

Our Father's Day Craft Event - make an author page for the Klutz Build A Book - is wrapping up. Here's a picture of the participants busy at work!

The evil empire of toy stores

Ok, maybe I was a bit more dramatic than I needed to be, but that was my first reaction when finding out today that big box toy store Toys R Us (sorry, my keyboard doesn't do a backwards R) has purchased FAO Schwartz - the iconic New York City toy store.
Apparently, it is part of a TRU plan to consolidate the toy industry. They're trying to fight off the mega big box Walmart - who is now the biggest retailer of toys in the US.
TRU has already adjusted it's model a bit by making a move to retailing non-toy products in some of it's stores - selling things like laundry detergent & cleaning supplies.

TRU says that FAO will keep it's name, it's website and it's product mix, but call me dubious that a toy store who has decided to start selling non-toy product will keep FAO the way it is. I remember when Zany Brainy lost their focus when The Right Start took them over and don't hold a lot of hope for the future of FAO and it's unique way of selling toys.