Toys On The Brain

Posts Tagged ‘news’

If you’re looking for deals this holiday season, you’re probably thinking you should head over to one of the many KB Toy stores near you that are closing. Well, you’d be… wrong. Yes, everything is on sale. Yes, they have a lot of stuff to sell off before they close. No, their prices aren’t very good. When you start out with prices significantly higher than other stores, 30% off only brings you down to around the same price as those other stores, and maybe a bit more.

So, while you might find a decent deal here or there, you won’t be able to return anything (their No Return policy is already in effect), and who knows where any of your money is actually going. My advice? Head over to Target or WalMart or one of the other big boxes when you find a good deal and get your dream toy there rather than rooting around in the overcrowded, understaffed, overpriced KB Toys (it’s a real wonder they went bankrupt, huh?)

As an aside, the KB Toys website doesn’t feature any of the sales that their stores do. Now that’s what I call logical. Not.

Well, I guess I was right when I said that the economy would definitely affect the toy industry. One of the first signs came today in the form of Mattel announcing the imminent loss of 1000 of its workforce. They blame a combination of higher production costs and lower consumer spending for the move.

My guess? It’s not the last we’ll see of announcements like this. The focus on high-ticket toys this holiday season is really going to come back and bite the toy companies in their butts. But in the long run, it will probably be good for us - fire sales on the way!

• Original Layoff Article from Yahoo

As painful as it is to admit for those of us who owned them back in the 80s, Cabbage Patch Kids are now 25 years old (oh god, I feel old). To celebrate, the company is re-releasing the original dolls.

Each one comes with “a Commemorative Certificate that has been personally hand signed by Xavier Roberts, the Creator of the Cabbage Patch Kids” and the buyer can choose to have a personalized “adoption certificate” if they order through the Cabbage Patch website.

It looks like people are already trying to recreate the Great Cabbage Patch Panic of 1986 by buying early and then trying to jack up the price on eBay and Amazon. I saw several for over $100. To avoid that insanity, buy directly from the website, where they retail for about $40 ($3 extra for the personalized certificate). Thankfully, I took quite good care of my dolls (with the exception of a tragically misguided event involving scissors and long, luxurious fake hair), so I don’t need to buy replacements to relive my childhood - I can just go in my mom’s attic and be there in an instant. For those of you not so lucky, get some before they run out!

• Cabbage Patch Kids 25th Anniversary Website

Buy Cabbage Patch Kids 25th Anniversary Dolls Online:

• at Amazon.com