A Note from ASTRA Board Member Nick Tarzia Loss. We are all feeling it. Loss of business, loss of revenues, loss of customers, loss of children running through our stores and even the loss of a family member or a friend. We are living in a new world that has not finished changing. Losses will continue to pile up and life will continue to change, not gradually but abruptly. Changes are happening in ways we could have never imagined six months ago. Gone are the days of business as usual. We have been catapulted 15 years into the future. Now we are faced with a choice. To give up or to take on th ..read more

A Note from ASTRA Board Member Kevin McGrath For the last 30 days we have had our ASTRA community come shining through in this unprecedented time by sharing ideas, knowledge and concepts. I am so deeply grateful to be a member of ASTRA, and to witness first hand store owners and sales reps who are shaking up the status quo of toy retailing and not accepting business as usual. They are becoming true pioneers in a world that has changed dramatically literally overnight. In fact, no one is accepting business as usual — as a strong ASTRA family we all are thinking out of the box. I have said that ..read more

A Note from ASTRA Board Member Betty Burns You are not alone, you are an important part of this group, and we are here for each other. As an elementary school principal this is the message I strive to give my students every day. A sense belonging is fundamental and is a human need. My message to you today, as an ASTRA Board Member, is just that. You are not alone, you are an important member of this group, and we are here for each other. In my work with children, I explicitly teach that it is our collective social responsibility to build relationships and create belonging. Being part of the gr ..read more

A Note from ASTRA Board Member Jeanie Crone A Resilient Industry We can all frankly admit that these are trying times for our industry. It has driven us to think of a new way to do business and push away any thoughts of giving up. I have seen some creative solutions these past few weeks that reminds me of the resilience of our industry. If you have an e-commerce site, your store may have to temporarily close, but you can still ring the register through your e-commerce business. Some creative retailers, without the advantage of an e-commerce site, are offering free local delivery or curbside ..read more

A Note from ASTRA Board Member and Incoming Chair Amy Saldanha   This pandemic is impacting our industry in wildly different ways — in many cases based almost entirely on our geography. We see businesses with record sales, many whom are shut down entirely and every possible combination in between.Take Action Now Congress is in the process of passing aid packages to help small businesses meet payroll and other expenses — figuring out who & what is covered and how to access those funds is at the top of many action lists right now. Contacting your landlord, credit card companies, vendors, Sma ..read more

A Note from ASTRA Board Member Brad Ruoho These are unique times we face as we go through the coming days as a country. As a retailer it can be extremely difficult, wondering what will happen with what we have worked so hard to build. We have continued to discover that when times get tough, we can quickly implement ideas we previously felt were too difficult to start before. Here are a few of the things our company, Legacy Toys, has been working on that have worked for us. I hope they can help inspire ideas for your business: 1. Website Sales We were already planning on making e-commerce a b ..read more

Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing messages from the ASTRA Board of Directors, the 14-member governing body of ASTRA represented by a group of retailers, manufacturers, sales representatives and industry partners. Learn more about the members of ASTRA Board of Directors here.   These are unique times we face as we go through the coming days as a country. As a retailer it can be extremely difficult, wondering what will happen with what we have worked so hard to build. We have continued to discover that when times get tough, we can quickly implement ideas we previously felt were too d ..read more

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally written on March 9 with updates on March 19. We recognize this is an ever-changing story. When the Editorial Advisory Committee for Toy Times magazine met to talk about the upcoming June issue, we mentioned coronavirus.It was just a simple story idea at the time that we thought we should include as content. The original story was about keeping your work area clean and how production and fulfillment was going to be impacted going forward. That was only 16 days ago. How the world has changed in such a short time. It seems the story continues to evolve ..read more