Errol Hines with Windy from Plant Plush
After our first day in New York it
was time to sit back, reflect and have a nice quiet dinner.
We met with Helen's daughter who lives in New York at a top-notch
restaurant.
Imagine my surprise as I viewed the menu with prices starting
at 27.00 and up! These prices did not include soup or salad; they
were strictly for meat and a potato of some sort. I will admit
that the steak I ate was incredibly delicious.
After dinner we met up with Sally
and Bill Winey, and Errol Hines from Planet Plush.
Sally shared some stories about her experiences on how she got
started and how far she has come with her Winey line. Bill and
Errol teased me about being a typical tourist, my southern accent
and just about everything else imaginable. They really gave me
a hard time!
My first day in New York was very memorable. I had met a lot of wonderful people and looked forward to returning to Toy Fair in the morning.
Day two in New York
Sara, Helen and I wanted to grab a quick breakfast before going
to the show. We went to a small restaurant in the hotel and once
again got the shock of our lives. Everything started at $18.00
and up, we ordered 1 cup of hot tea, 1 cup of coffee, 1 orange
juice, 1 muffin, 1 bagel and toast. Our bill including tip was
right at $35.00 and we were still hungry.
Let's put it this way, there is no way in this world that any
of us would gain any weight in New York, we could not afford to
eat! LOL
We finally made our way back to the
show, checked our luggage and headed for the Ty booth again.
We found some dealers eyeing Ty's Beanies and writing up descriptions
of the many styles.
Later that day we returned to the Ty booth and witnessed one lady
who had been approached for photographing the Ty booth. Ty's reps
and security handled the situation with grace.
They calmly explained their policy and asked nicely for the woman
to hand over the film. She was very reluctant and seemed to not
understand their policy.
They offered to have the film developed and return all pictures
minus the ones taken of the Ty booth along with a fresh roll of
film.
We walked away briefly and as we returned I could tell that the
woman still was not happy about the situation and at this point
the film had been exposed and was hanging out of her camera. I'm
assuming she either exposed it on purpose or accidentally, regardless,
the situation had been resolved.
Today's show would be very quiet; many retailers have already
left, which allowed us to view product without any lines. It has
been estimated that approx. 20,000 people attened the show.
We made our way through the center
and met some wonderful dealers eagerly willing to show their wares.
I was impressed at all of the new items, which would come out
this fall. Later in part three of this article I will share some
of my top choices for the holiday season.
We ran across the Rumpus Toy booth and introduced ourselves. I
had recently conducted an interview on this company and was anxious
to meet up with Amy and others who had assisted in the article.
Rumpus Toy is launching a new concept,
which should help to gain attention to their products. They were
offering a FREE software disk loaded with information about their
line and the opportunity to advertise their product on webpages.
For more information regarding this concept, visit http://www.rumpustoys.com or contact customer service at Rumpus at the
following number. 1-888-RUMPUS-1
Outside the US call 212-463-9869
I was impressed with the Rumpus line and especially liked that most of their products had a kid oriented purpose. Monster in My Closet was very cute and popular. Benny Blanket was soft, warm and colorful.
After leaving Rumpus we came across the Peaceable Planet booth. The representative we spoke with was very friendly. He showed us their popular line and shared some interesting information, which has never been written before. Their Patriotic Pride line, which includes a 7 ½" Democratic Donkey has been redesigned. The donkey originally was designed with four stars and now will only include three stars. According to the representative there were approx. 2,300 of these donkeys manufactured, this is bound to make highly collectible.
While visiting the booth Sara, Helen and I played like kids. Sara and Helen got to sit upon the now famous Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant. Sara said the Democratic Party would never be the same.
Peaceable Plant was founded in 1998
in Savannah Georgia. The company manufactures two lines of plush
animals, Peaceables and Patriotic Pride.
Peaceables are a line of educational, collectable plush with an
international theme. For more information on Peaceable Plant visit
them at their website at the following link. http://www.peaceableplanet.com
While visiting Peaceable Planet check out their adorable "No Evil" Chimpanzees. Harmony (Hear no evil) Clarity (See no evil) and Frank (Speak no evil) These tend to be favorites of teenagers.
Look for part three of this article to be posted in the next couple of days. Part three will include information on Limited Treasure and Plant Plush along with additional information on my experience traveling with Sara and Helen. It will also include closing comments of my toy picks for this year's holiday season.
