Two things happened this past week that reminded me why this is called the season of giving. First, on Friday we asked our customers to help us collect as many toys as possible for a Boston-area event called Christmas in the City. The response was overwhelming, and according to an email we received, our truck load of toys was able ... Read More »

We just got an email: “I’m involved in helping a 100% volunteer run Boston-based charity that hosts an event (www.christmasinthecity.org) for 3000 homeless children and hands out toys to an additional 4000-5000 children. The demand this year was overwhelming and we may come up 1000-1500 toys short. I’m calling area toy stores to see if they could donate 1,5,10,100 toys, ... Read More »

First of all, thank you. We’ve had a huge show of support, and it’s really made us feel a whole lot better about this situation. In four years of blogging, I’ve only called a company on the carpet one other time, and it was when an Amtrak conductor insisted I cover up while breastfeeding on the train. I’ve seen the ... Read More »

An Open Letter to Playmobil: Dear Playmobil, As soon as we saw your new Pyramid at Toy Fair, we were enchanted. We gave it top billing during our 31 Days of Giveaways in July. A full page in our annual catalog. We assembled it here in our office for the photo shoot (note to Santa: this took a while), and ... Read More »

It’s not an easy thing to open a store, whether it’s your first, your fourth or your four-hundredth. There’s so much that goes into it, from design to construction to ordering fixtures and merchandise to receiving that merchandise and putting it on the fixtures. There are so many details to remember. Getting it done with months of preparation is challenging. ... Read More »