New products and old friends

It's the end of Day 2 of Spielwarenmesse, the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. At left is a beautiful tower in the old city, festooned with banners welcoming Toy Fair. Our feet are weary and our brains are full, but it's been a thrilling couple of days. The show is massive. I wish we could sneak some snapshots of the interior, but not only would the show organizers not take kindly to it, it simply couldn't capture the buzz of the place.

We have seen fabulous, brand new toys from Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Austria, Japan, Finland and many more places from around the globe. We always strive to find unique things for our shop, and that will be no struggle here. The only problem will be trying not to buy too much!

We are thrilled to have our good friend and colleague, Michaela "Mishka" Bodorikova with us from Slovakia. Mishka has worked for us in Lakeside for several summers and is now working on a Master's Thesis on the differences between American and European businesses and how the two interact. So what better place to do a little research! After our time here in Germany, we are heading to our old homeplace in Slovakia to find some more employees, because alas, Mishka will not come again this summer.

It's hard to choose one representative toy to show how much fun we're having here. There are updates on existing products (Bilibo Pixel "dice", anyone? Trust us, it's great!) and totally new concepts (a construction kit made of colored felt and wooden screws? We're in!). Perhaps one good example is this little contraption:

Sturdy enough to support my 200 pound frame, this deceptively simple device could scoot a child up and down the street in no time! First impressions? Let us know!

Well, we've miles to go here, so it's off for a night's rest. In the mean time, please write to us and let us know what you think we should be looking for!