Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Det är för tidigt…
Posted in Uncategorized on september 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Elskligen skriver om oss!
Posted in Uncategorized on september 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Vi fick en bra inlagg om våra leksaker på Elskligen – hon letar efter födelsagsprodukter till hennes snart 3-åring son. Du kan se produkterna som hon tyckte om – bilgarage, Bilibo, träpussel – dino, badkritor, paraply och bakverk. Du kan se hennes inlag här:
Regn, regn…
Posted in Uncategorized on juni 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
New Delivery (Almost) Underway
Posted in Uncategorized on februari 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We are in the process of organizing the next delivery from the US… but it is so difficult to get everyone coordinated. Everything needs to arrive at our consolidator’s at about the same time… but not everyone is equally speedy with shipments. The first time we tried a consolidated shipment, one company (who will remain nameless) was more than three weeks behind everyone else. Of course, we pay for storage while the order waits… and boats come and go… This time, we have things on the way from our old favorites – Adora, Set, Scratch-Art, Gamewright and Mindware – plus some new suppliers that we discovered at the German Toy Fair. Of course, it’s all ”hurry up and wait” at this point, because the boat won’t arrive until the beginning of April…
Website Update
Posted in Uncategorized on februari 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We got a new version of our website yesterday, and today has been full of seeing how the new updates will impact the site and how we can work with it. So far, the differences for us have been huge – almost like they took our wishlist and made all the changes we could have wanted.
The biggest differences for you – the customer – is that we can now list items in more than one place. We have so many products, but some are hard to classify, or could be found in different places. Hopefully, this will let us put the products where you will look for them. Even better, we can now have a better ”Nyheter” area. Before the upgrade, we could only feature the 20 most recent new products – but we had more than 100 new products come in during the last week alone, and more are arriving every day. Now we can feature the new ones easily.
Of course, every change comes with a couple of headaches… notably our ”top 20” list of bestselling products. Instead of showing the top sellers, it seems to show the products in alphabetical order…
And of course, there are still a few items remaining on our wish list…
Helpful Ideas?
Posted in Uncategorized on februari 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »
People contact me every so often… they want to start a web business and sell toys, too. They would like names of suppliers, information on profitability, how I do the site, etc. I guess there’s no harm in asking, but forgive me if I’m not always so helpful. So… I think I will be helpful, but in a different way.
I am an avid internet shopper. I am always looking for ways to make my life easier, and having things ”magically” arrive (rather than having to battle crowds, traffic, parking, not to mention dragging three kids in tow) is infinitely tempting. I purchase often from H&M, Lands End (US and UK), Amazon (US and UK), Hanna Andersson, Gap, CD-ON.com, dammsugarpåsar.nu, and many more. But there are so many possibilities out there – espeically in Sweden.
Here is a very short list of what I wish I could find online – actually what I have looked for over the past couple of weeks:
1) Brabantia Garbage Bags – we have three sizes of Brabantia garbage cans in our house, and the company makes wonderful bags that fit just perfectly. The problem is in finding them… and when I make the effort to look, the store is always out of the size I need.
2) Kids Outerwear – Cross is a great company with wonderful products… and so is Didrikssons and Reima… so why doesn’t anyone sell them on line (aside from used)? We seem to have a constant need for new outerwear year-round, between growth spurts and general (aka boy) wear and tear.
3) Merrell Footwear (especially for kids) – We love Merrell shoes, but they are really hard to find in Sweden. Here’s a great opportunity!
4) American Food Products – this might be tricky, as there may be rules for how to store and ship. I thought Grey’s would take care of my need for zip-loc bags and chocolate chips, but their website has never opened.
So – there’s a few ideas, and anyone who starts one of the above will be guaranteed a customer! Anyone have any more ideas?
Santa’s List
Posted in Uncategorized on december 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »
So… what’s are my children getting for Christmas this year? It is a bit difficult, since they are in the shop/warehouse often, and have a pretty good idea of the product range. Since they don’t know about the blog, I’m pretty safe in letting you know what they have coming to them – just don’t tell!




Wrap Rage? I hope not!
Posted in Uncategorized on november 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »
I read a NY Times article recently about Wrap Rage, and how the plastic clamshell packaging sends some 6,000 people to emergency rooms in the US each year. You know how it is – you are opening presents on julafton, and your child is so excited about the latest gift… but 15 minutes later, you are still unwinding twist ties from tiny wheels or prying small pieces from plastic sleeves. You can see how people either end up with stitches or excessively high blood pressure.
I thought about packaging again last night as I brought home a product for the boys to try – the Barbapapa ljusslinga – which does come in clamshell packaging. I left the boys in their room, in bed, with the lights out, and promised to return shortly with a surprise. As I stabbed at the packaging with a pair of scissors, I wondered if I might become one of the 6,000 unlucky souls… but I survived, the product survived, and it was a big hit. The verdict? Of all the clamshell packages I have opened, this one was not great, but not the worst, and the end result was well worth it. (The NYT reported that one toothbrush took testers more than 8 minutes to open!)
- The Barbapapa lights and their cousin Star are the only difficult-to-open clamshell packages we have.
- Roommates wall stickers come in plastic packages, but they are easy to open and can be used to store the contact sheets in case you want to take the stickers off and store them.
- Groovy Girls extra clothing comes in blister packages, which can usually be opened without (hopefully) injury.
- Some of the Alex bath squirters come in clamshell packaging, but it doesn’t look too bad to open.
Everything else is remarkably free of clamshell, twist ties and difficult-to-open containers. In fact, if you open up one of our products at Christmas, I hope that all you will need is scissors – and hopefully not even that! (And please, please don’t end up in the emergency room!)
Happy Halloween!
Posted in Uncategorized on november 2, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Super Clay
Posted in Uncategorized on oktober 20, 2008| Leave a Comment »