Attendees and exhibitors at the 100th annual New York International Toy Fair, held February 16—19, thought an elevated terrorism alert, the President's Day holiday and changing toy industry economics might keep traffic down. Then 20 inches of snow fell during the fair's first two official days.
The snarled traffic and canceled flights primarily affected business at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, where most children's publishers have booths. Exhibitors in the showrooms at the Toy Center, which were open for several days prior to the show's official launch, rely on scheduled appointments rather than walk-in traffic and thus didn't see as big an impact.
"There was at least a 90% commitment to appointments," said Andrew Steinberg, president of Modern Publishing, one of the few publishers that maintains a Toy Center showroom. He reported that one or two major customers canceled but most were in New York by the time the weather turned bad.
"Traffic was amazingly good, all things considered," said Kate Klimo, v-p and publisher of Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group, which showed its lines to key customers at its New York offices rather than on the show floor. "A couple of big accounts didn't make it. Most got in before the snow."
At the Javits, where the first day of exhibits coincided with the beginning of the blizzard, attendance was down. Sunday was fairly brisk, publishers said, and most out-of-towners made it from the midtown hotels to their Javits appointments eventually. But many of those commuting in from suburban New York or flying in on Sunday or Monday had to cancel.
"Before the blizzard it was slow, and after the blizzard it was slow," said Peter Alfini, v-p sales for School Zone, from the show floor. "We haven't had the traffic we've had at past Toy Fairs. The terrorist alert probably had something to do with it. Also, many customers put their plans to bed earlier this year than in past years and have finalized their plans for the fourth quarter already." But he echoed other publishers in saying that, despite the snow, order writing was at or above expected levels. "We did very well with order writing this year, surprisingly."
A full Toy Fair report will appear in next week's issue of PW.
