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In March, the Toy Industry Association decided to move its 2007 Fall Toy Show to Dallas Market Center — which, at the time, was considered a shocker, as the Javits Center in New York City had been the preview convention’s longtime home. (And it still is for the annual February Toy Fair, which is booked into the Javits Center through 2010.) Said TIA chairman Daniel Grossman this spring, “We have listened to buyers and exhibitors alike and agreed that we can maximize the impact of this show by moving it to Dallas.”
TIA’s public relations manager, Adrienne Citrin, tells Unfair Park this morning that on Tuesday, the TIA’s board will vote on “whether or not we’ll enter into a long-term agreement” with Dallas Market Center. How long’s long-term? “I don’t know yet,” Citrin says. But she does agree with reports that the event, which took place two weeks ago, was a “success.” Indeed, from the sound of things, a long-term home in Dallas does seems almost an inevitability.
Reports Toy News Online today, the final numbers of the early October event 283 toy manufacturers and distributors showed their wares on some 148,000 net square feet of Dallas Market Center space — “a 60 percent space gain compared to last year’s show at New York’s Javits Center.” Also, “visitors included 775 buyers from 440 retail outlets. Among international buyers, 34 Canadian retail outlets and 110 other international retail operations attended.” Imagine if kids were allowed on the Toy Show’s floor; alas, not so much. –Robert Wilonsky
