Even Toys "R" Us is delaying opening one of the biggest toy stores in the world on Times Square in New York.
But this summer thousands of little girls will be clamoring, or so we presume, for the new Lindsay Lohan Barbie scheduled to hit toy stores in August.
When e-commerce swept through the world of tangible products, we saw all kinds of startups try to become successful bookstores and toy stores and electronics stores on the Web.
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Be it pink doctor kits in toy stores or steakhouses with lipstick mirrors in the desert menus, the pervasive nature of marketing entertainment to women accomplishes two insidious goals.
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But like many toy stores, it also had its limits - like the difficulty of stocking all the hot items (especially games) that have become the most sought-after gifts for many older children.
Gantner has spent every day of the last six months on the road, doing demos in schools, toy stores, shopping malls, street corners anywhere he can pull in the kids and light a fire.
Three to four times a week, Johnson is in toy stores with spiral notebook and camera in hand, measuring shelf space to see if a toy is hot (increased space) or is struggling (decreased shelf space).
Gantner has spent every day of the last six months on the road, doing demos in schools, toy stores, at scout meetings, shopping malls, street corners anywhere he can pull in the kids and light a fire.
Then there are more existential threats, like a digital generation that favors 99-cent iPad apps over traditional toys, a shrinking number of toy stores and the looming concern that DIY 3-D printing will render premade plastic toys obsolete.
FORBES: Life After Barbie: Why Mattel Isn't Scared Of iPads And Video Games
Because they are bought by adults as well as children, they are sold in computer and music stores rather than toy shops.
Discount department, toy hardware and sporting goods stores -- including Ace Hardware, Ames, Blain Supply, Kay Bee Toys, Meijers, Tru-Serv and Wal-Mart -- sold these bikes nationwide from October 1999 through March 2001.
Scouring stores for a useful toy, the father became as frustrated as his son.
Baugur's UK retail presence also includes fashion chains Karen Millen, Oasis and Whistles, jewellery stores Goldsmiths, and London toy shop Hamleys.
One of Iceland's biggest companies, retailing investment group Baugur, owns or has stakes in dozens of major European retailers including enough to make it the largest private company in Britain, where it owns a handful of stores such as the famous toy store Hamley's.
Until now, the group has been largely associated with mom-and-pop stores, spotlighting stories of small toy shops and booksellers who argue Internet merchants that aren't legally required to collect sales taxes enjoy an unfair advantage with shoppers.
The toy was named toy of the year in Australia and recently made Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The big toy chains were avoided and Beanies were sold to smaller, independent stores in bundles of three dozen or less.
Its posh, company-owned American Girl stores are as close as you can get to Apple Store profitability in the toy-selling business.
FORBES: Life After Barbie: Why Mattel Isn't Scared Of iPads And Video Games
It also explains why Babies "R" Us, a division of Toys "R" Us (nyse: TOY - news - people ), has partnered with Motherhood Maternity, opening maternity sections in 55 stores, almost one-third of all locations.
The El Segundo-based company is accusing the toy retailing giant of wooing Fuhu to sign an agreement to sell the Nabi exclusively through its 1, 600 stores and Web site last Christmas, using promises of millions of dollars in marketing and merchadising incentives as inducement.
FORBES: Fuhu, The Maker of Kids' Tablet Nabi, Sues Toys "R" Us
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