On behalf of all the folks here at Ty’s, I’d like to wish you and yours a very happy Memorial Day, today! May your day be filled with whatever matters to you most, whether it be mindful remembrance, charred hot dogs, or both.

To help celebrate, we’re running a shipping special. You have through tonight to place a $29.99+ order at Ty’s Toy Box and automatically receive free ground shipping within the continental U.S. (some restrictions apply; see details).

Ever since Ty’s Toy Box and All Aboard Toys announced their merger, I’ve been spending some time trying to familiarize myself with All Aboard. You know, so that I can contribute something more meaningful to discussions about them than, “Huh?”

No, seriously, the truth is that All Aboard carries over seventy different lines, and between then and Ty’s I feel like I’m always scrambling to stay up on latest. My new strategy when someone asks me if either store carries a certain thing is to just say yes, because chances are, they do! And I can always check, later. (Note to my superiors: Just kidding! I always check first!)

Anyway, it turns out that there’s one area at All Aboard where I feel completely comfortable, and that’s their Community area. They’ve got all kinds of goodies over there, including a blog!

Their latest entry not only contains a LEGO Indiana Jones Mine Car Chase Video (which my son made me replay several times for him, thank you very much), but an exclusive interview with the clip’s producer. How fun is that? I mean, how else would you get this sort of education:

AAT: How many of the “individual” pictures were taken?

Producer: “Each second of video consists of thirty separate pictures, adding up to over seven thousand pictures in the total running time of approximately four minutes.”

That’s good information to have, especially after you’ve watched the LEGO Indiana Jones movie for the third time and your son is insisting that his LEGO guys want to make a movie, too.

Anyway, go browse around over there when you have some time. Good stuff.

If you missed the big news earlier today, stop the presses and hold on to your hats: Ty’s Toy Box and All Aboard Toys are joining forces:

Ty’s Toy Box, LLC and All Aboard Toys, LLC today announced the merger of their two companies, creating the largest independent toy destination for licensed character merchandise available online. Ty Simpson, current CEO of Ty’s Toy Box, will be CEO of a newly-formed holding company which combines the businesses of both entities, while Dave Carlson, current CEO of All Aboard Toys, will serve as Chairman of the Board.

“Unifying the licensing relationships and online retail breadth of both AllAboardToys.com and TysToyBox.com creates one of the top-five online destinations for character-based toys and merchandise,” says Simpson. “With approximately $26 billion spent annually on character licensed product and the Internet being the fastest growing source of this revenue, combining our efforts will be advantageous to our licensing industry partners and provide our customers with an unprecedented assortment of character-related products, including exclusives they can’t find anywhere else.”

Everyone at Ty’s is very excited about the new partnership, and big doings are certainly afoot. Stay tuned for more information. (It’s not quite as suspenseful as a soap opera, but a lot more exciting than buying from a Big Box store, honest.) In the meantime, join us in saying “welcome aboard” to All Aboard Toys!

Last week I asked folks if they wanted to win some Mr. Men/Little Miss and Noddy promotional items, and the answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

Sixty-five yeses, in fact. (Although the first comment was apparently an old friend of Ty’s trying to find him. Are you hiding, Ty? Maybe she just didn’t want to admit that she’s always wanted a Mr. Men luggage tag.)

Let’s face it: Free stuff rocks. Especially cute free stuff featuring characters your kids love. And with 65 entries for 5 prize packs, that means that your odds of winning were 1 in 13 (not bad). It’s not the Publisher’s Clearing House, but at least your odds of winning were a lot better.

Anyway! The random number generator has spoken, er, generated. Our contest winners are commenters number 4, 11, 58, 29, and 38! Hooray!

Oh, did you want to know who those were? Picky, picky. Okay, that’s ~moe~, virginia, RAN, desi, and DW! If one of those people is you, please check your email—I’ve sent you a confirmation and need you to respond with a mailing address so that Ty’s can get your prize out to you. You’ll each receive the Mr. Men and Little miss luggage tags, a Noddy keychain puzzle, and a Noddy pen.

Thanks to everyone who played! Don’t forget that there’s new merchandise being added to the Noddy and Mr. Men/Little Miss stores at Ty’s, so check back often.

And who knows… maybe we’ll have another contest here. I could get used to giving out cool stuff—I sort of feel like Santa Claus. Ho, ho, ho!

Stop looking at me like that.

It was just a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that both Noddy and Mr. Men merchandise has come to Ty’s Toy Box. If you have a preschooler, chances are you’re already quite familiar with these little guys. What I didn’t mention, before, is that both of these properties are owned by Chorion, and—as it sometimes happens—Chorion has issued some promotional items in association with these lines which they’ve passed along to Ty’s.

Promotional items are great fun, because it’s somewhat up to the discretion of the licensee (that would be Ty’s, in this case) as to how they’ll be distributed. For example: Starting today (March 24th, 2008), spend $50 at Ty’s Toy Box (either in the Noddy Store or elsewhere at Ty’s) and you’ll receive a Noddy keychain free with your order.

Nice, right?

I love getting a bonus-with-purchase item, myself. I do. But what I like even more is winning something absolutely free, because I’m cheap like that. And I figured that if that’s what I like best, it was a good bet that some of you Ty’s shoppers and faithful readers would like that, too.

So here’s the deal: Five lucky readers of the blog are going to win a promotional prize pack. Each pack contains a Mr. Men luggage tag, a Little Miss luggage tag, a Noddy keychain, and a Noddy pen. Have a look:

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment on this post by noon on Sunday, March 30th, 2008. Your comment should tell me which Noddy or Mr. Men/Little Miss item you think your child would like the most, and please be sure to leave a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win.

Winners will be announced on Monday, March 31st, 2008—one week from today. Leave a comment and you could be one of the lucky ones!

First of all: There’s still plenty of time to take part in Ty’s Easter Egg Hunt to win a giant stuffed Miffy doll! All you have to do is browse around Ty’s Toy Box and find the hidden Easter egg, each day, for your chance to win. (Congratulations to last week’s winners!)

Next, I want to tell you a little bit about two exciting new lines here at Ty’s which you may or may not have noticed, yet. I don’t know about you, but oftentimes I find that Ty’s is bringing in so many cool new things, I can’t possibly keep track of them all without a spreadsheet. Seeing as how most people are not going to resort to a spreadsheet to keep track of things (okay, it’s possible I’m a wee bit compulsive about this stuff), consider me your crib sheet.

If you haven’t met Noddy yet, you can learn all about this great PBS show for preschoolers over on their targeted site. They characterize Noddy this way:

Noddy is a little wooden boy who lives in his own little House-for-One in Toyland. Noddy got his name because his head is on a spring and when he gets excited his head just can’t stop nodding!

(In France, Noddy goes by the name Oui-Oui, which I know means “Yes Yes,” yet my inner 10-year-old boy finds it hilarious. Just sayin’.)

And then once your child becomes completely hooked on Noddy and his pals, come check out the Noddy Store here at Ty’s.

In addition, you may have noticed the new Mr. Men and Little Miss Store here at Ty’s, dedicated to all of those quirky little personalities starring in the book series and Cartoon Network series of the same title. (Oh, look! They even make a tote bag with my daughter on it! That was awfully nice of them.)

And you can of course learn more about the Mr. Men and Little Misses on their site, although they’re pretty self-explanatory, I think. (Hmmm… I wonder what Mr. Grumpy is like….)

Anyway, we’re excited to welcome Noddy and the Mr. Men gang to Ty’s, and hope you’ll enjoy them, too. And who knows—you might find one of those giant Easter eggs while you’re browsing!

If you’re a busy mom like me, right about now is the time of year where you start saying things like, “Wait, what? It’s March already? How did that happen??” I mean, on the one hand—Spring is coming! Which is great! But on the other hand—there are so many things that need to get done, and February (even a February with an extra day) is just a tricky little month, winking past so quickly the way it does.

Hey, you know what would soothe the sting of a mile-long to-do list? A giant Miffy doll!

Hmmm… that probably sounds familiar. Didn’t we do this before? Well, yes and no. We have given away these cuddly plush 27″ Miffy dolls before, but this is a new way to get your hands on one.

Through March 17th, 2008, Ty’s Toy Box will be giving away a giant Miffy to one lucky shopper every single day. And entering is easy; do you see that Easter egg up top, there? It’s nice and bright and easy to spot. To enter to win a Miffy, all you need to do is spot the Easter egg somewhere at Ty’s.

The only catch is that it could be anywhere. It might be hiding in the Miffy Store. Or the Ben 10 Store. Or maybe the Charlie and Lola Store! Really, the possibilities are endless. (Um, okay. Not endless. But have you been over to Ty’s lately? There are a lot of stores there.)

So—find the egg, then click on it. You’ll be asked to confirm where you found it (they’re tricky, those eggs), and after you do so, you’re eligible to win that day’s Miffy doll. Somebody has to win each and every day, so why not you? And if you don’t win one day… well, keep entering! You can enter every day during the promotional period.

And if you have any concerns over what you might want to do with a giant Miffy doll, well, Kathryn (whose daughter won one in our prior promotion) has a few illustrated suggestions for you.

If you’re unfamiliar with KidScreen Magazine, they’re the folks with their finger on the pulse of the kids’ entertainment industry. No, they don’t deal in things like stage moms and little girls in fake eyelashes (ewww), but they do cover all manner of what kids are into and where those kids’ parents will spend their dollars to support those interests. They’re the folks in the know, is my point.

Well, it’s time for the KidScreen Best of the Year Awards:

We polled industry players to get a read on who made waves in 2007 that would likely resonate for years to come, and the result of that fieldwork is the following shortlist of candidates competing in six categories - Producer, Distributor, Broadcaster, Licensor, Licensee and Licensing Agent…of the Year.

Guess who’s up for Licensee of the Year? Go on, guess! That’s right. Ty’s Toy Box is in the running for this auspicious recognition. KidScreen didn’t hold back with the admiration, either, to which we said, “Don’t. Stop. No, really—don’t stop!” In describing Ty’s, KidScreen said:

Since launching three years ago with a dedicated boutique housing all products Wiggles-related, the e-tailer has expanded at a rapid clip and now features products based on roughly 80 licenses. But what’s put Ty’s Toy Box in the running this year is the unique approach it has taken to helping properties kick-start their consumer products sales in a retail climate that’s, er, less-than-hospitable to brand-new IP. Acting as both retailer and licensee, Ty’s broke ground with The Doodlebops, producing quick-turnaround soft goods such as t-shirts for the preschool band’s online storefront in 2006. From there, licensor Cookie Jar Entertainment was able to take sales results of the Ty-produced goods to existing and potential partners, and build out a larger mass retail program.

To keep momentum going this year, Ty’s opened up TTB Marketplace to service licensors. The key to TTBM is its relationship with drop-ship software service CommerceHub, which enables Ty’s to expand the retail reach of its licensor partners and improve its own product development capabilities. Through the system, suppliers ship directly to online customers, cutting down on inventory investment for Ty’s. The e-tailer then takes the savings and plows them into developing product and retail programs for properties with fanbases clamoring for product that isn’t yet available.

Ty’s is one of only two retailers nominated in the Licensee category, and is in excellent company amongst the other nominees—Character Options, Jakks Pacific, Mattel, and Steve & Barry’s.

Who will win the title? Well, that’s up the public. The voting is currently open and winners will be announced in January. The prize is a Doodlebops guitar! Oh, I kid. The prize is the satisfaction of a job well done. And also bragging rights.

But this is certainly one of those situations where (as corny as it may sound), it truly is an honor just to be nominated. Who would thunk a little company in Kentucky would one day be rubbing elbows with an industry giant like Mattel, vying for a “Best of” award? It’s pretty exciting. Thanks, KidScreen!

Wondering what Cyber Monday will hold here at Ty’s Toy Box? Wonder no more, as there’ll be a whole new crop of specials for one day only on Monday, November 26th, 2007.

Did you know that Cyber Monday began as a marketing campaign, and was—initially, anyway—a hoax? There was no evidence to suggest that people did any more online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving than at any other time. But it has since become the very definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and now e-tailers everywhere gear up for a flurry of fingers shop-shop-shopping on this famous Monday.

Ready for a sneak peak at Monday’s deals? Read on to find out how planning ahead can score you some big bargain’s during Ty’s Cyber Monday Sale: (more…)

Let me ask you a very simple question. I know—we all know—that you love your kids and want to get them the things they love. Of course. And naturally you’d like to save a little money in the process, too. But just let me ask you something:

Is there some reason you’d rather head out on the busiest shopping day of the year at o’dark thirty just so that you can fight the crowds and the traffic, vs. staying in and ordering cool stuff online from the comfort of your own home (and possibly while still in your jammies)?

That’s right.

For the first time, Ty’s Toy Box is making their Black Friday specials known a few days in advance so that you can plan your day accordingly. (I recommend a cup of coffee while you finish your shopping online, followed by something like a cinnamon roll as a reward for having gotten it all done early and under budget.) Read through; bookmark what you need; and then get ready to rock on Friday, November 23rd, 2007.

Read on for the full list of Ty’s Toy Box Black Friday specials: (more…)