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Discount Store News, Feb 1, 1993

NEW YORK -- On the heels of a strong Christmas and a presidential inauguration, Toy Fair 1993 promises to be an upbeat event with buyers scourin manufaturer's showrooms in search of toys to keep the momentum flowing.

Dolls, video games, plush, arts and crafts, and large, bulk toys drove the market during the 1992 holiday season as did licensed products bearing Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin likeness.

This year, Toy Fair-bound buyers report they will look for new introductions in these broad categories to drive 1993 sales plus more dinosaur products to support a growing interest in the bygone beasts and the likely runoff from the upcoming movie "Jurassic Park." Of particular interest this year also will be nurturing-oriented dolls in the spirit of the 1992 season hit, Baby All Gone by Kenner, anything bearing the likeness of Barney the dinosaur, more Aladdin products, Barbie, radio-controlled dolls and vehicles and Batman.

Hands down, the top selling doll for the season was Baby All Gone. For many retailers, the doll was a sellout by early December. Barbie, particularly Totally Hair Barbie, was a hit, pushing Barbie sales over the $1 billion mark.

Rollerblading dolls by a host of manufacturers, Nerf bow and arrow sets, and trolls, also were hot sellers the 1992 holiday season.

Toy Tips, a Milwaukee-based toy research company, reported that a nine-month testing and survey program of 536 toys for children over 3-years-old that included the following toys: * Erector Set #2 for ages 8 and up; * Fisher-Price Dino-Roars for 2 and up; * Hasbro's Cabbage Patch Kids Newborn Magical Monitor Baby, for 3 and up; * Little Tikes Beauty Parlor, ages 3 to 6; * Mattle's Totally Hair Barbie, for 3 and up; * Ohio Art Mickey's Etch-A-Sketch, 4 and up; * Playskool Garage with remote control opener, 2 and up; * SEGA CD-ROM attachment to the SEGA 16-bit Genesis, 6 and up; * Tomy Kid Cam, 3 and up.

Overall, the 1992 holiday season produced better than anticipated sales throughout the country, according to Jody Leavin, spokesman for the Toy Manufacturers of America. Exact statistics will be released soon. However, toys "R" Us, the nation's largest toy retailer, announced that eight-week sales ended Dec. 26 produced sales of $2.965 billion, up 18.5%. Among the top sellers at Toys "R" Us were video games, Tyco's Crash Dummies and Hasbro's Batman line, according to published reports.

At Kmart, 1992 hits included Baby All Gone, Totally Hair Barbie, action figures, rollerblading dolls, My Bundle Baby and a host of nostalgia toys such as erector toys, Lincoln Logs, Creepy Crawlers, and train sets, said senior buyer Chuck Smith.

Such positive news is already having its impact on the 1993 show, to be held Feb. 8 to 19 in New york at the main toy building at 200 Fifth Avenue and at the Jacb Javits Convention Center and showrooms across the city.

In fact, the prospects are so good that the 90th American International Toy Fair was declared a sellout in December. All five halls of the Javits Center's lower level will be filled with a record 1,036 companies occupying 151,000 net square feet of available exhibit space.

Total Toy Fair attendance is expected to top 22,000 buyers from the U.S. and 80 foreign countries.

Buyers are anxious to get started.

"The challenge of the industry is new merchandise," said Kmart's Smith, who is looking to Toy Fair as an opportunity to ferret out some new items to fuel Kmart's growth.

Of particularr interest to him are: Kenner's Alien action figures for boys; Nef; Batman, in both vehicles and figures; TV dolls, particularly more nuturing dolls; radio controlled dolls; LEGO; Little Tikes; video painters; dinosaurs, including Barney; Thomas The Tank Engine; and Barbie.

Kmart also is looking to bolster its offerings in "try-me" products such as the Buddy L line of trucks and cars and electronic learning aids.

The big "try me" toys will be a big seller, Smith predicted. "The technology keeps getting better. We're past the point of no return," he said, adding that intereaction, via voice command, will grow and prosper.

At Stuarts, a 20-unit chain headquartered in Franklin, Mass., toy buyer Fred Cask said he'll be looking at increasing his offerings in dinosaurs, Barney--beyond just plush-arts and crafts supplies, more licensed product and new Barbie issues. In fact, Stuarts added a new Barbie doll at Christmas, Glitter Beach Barbie, which did well.

This year, Cask said he will be enlarging his offerings in arts and crafts to between 8 ft. and 12 ft., depending on the size of the store, from an average of 4 ft. Also, he said he is looking to feature a licensed product section within infant/toddler for new issues of Barney, Thomas the Tank Engine, Lambchop and others in an effort to better display what he feels will be a hot category in 1993. Total space for these licensed goods, particularly plush, will not be increased.

Licensed products, particularly in plush, did especially well at Stuart's at Christmas as did Creepy Crawlers, Barbie (especially Totally Hair), Baby All Gone, rollerblading dools, Magic Bundle Baby, and Star Trek. In fact, Star Trek did so well at Stuarts that Cask said he will be looking for more Star Trek product at Toy Fair.