While the fallout from last year’s recalls continues, sometimes it’s nice to step away from the cries of the media and talk with people really involved with the business. It’s not that the news is wrong about the issues—lead and choking hazards are not minor issues—it’s just that there are a lot of good people involved with the toy industry working hard to offer high-quality toys.
Nico & Zoe (www.nicoandzoe.com), also known as Nico & Zoe Toys, is a two-mom, online business run by Stacy Harbour-Van Hoy and Pamela McCarty. The duo runs the entire operation from Web site design, to toy buying and shipping.
The site, which went live November 2006, first began when Pam had the idea to make soft dolls. “I wanted to do something new,” says her business partner, Stacy. “We had always talked about going into business together. Toys were an easy decision. We both have children and love to shop,” says Stacy.
The company’s goal was to offer high-quality, small-production toys available at one location. “As parents, we are always on the lookout for quality, locally made, funky toys, while still getting a good value for your money,” Stacy says. The toys sold by Nico & Zoe are from small companies and are included on a few key criteria: “an interesting story, good design, and of course, creativity and fun,” says Stacy.
When last year’s recalls began, the Stacy and Pam took a serious look at the business. “We checked in with our toy companies to be sure that the certificates of testing were in place, and all was free and clear of harmful chemicals or questionable processing,” Stacy says. “We have pretty high standards, as parents and toy retailers.” If a toy had questionable origins or processes, it was cut from the line. “Luckily, we have made wise decisions thus far, and none of our toys have been deemed unsafe,” says Stacy.
Being that all the companies Nico & Zoe work with are small and family-owned, Stacy feels her customers have less reason to worry than with large companies with ambiguous manufacturing methods. “If we have any question or concern about the method or factory in which [a toy is] produced, we just won’t carry it. It’s not worth the risk,” she says, adding that the company prefers to market toys meeting the European Union standard of safety, which Stacy feels are “ the highest standards around.”
While 2007 negatively impacted many companies involved with toys, Nico & Zoe had a good year even with the main promotion was word of mouth.
Now, Nico & Zoe are expanding, adding to their inventory, building their relationships, and bringing new products aboard. “We are always on the hunt for new and interesting toys to add to our collection,” Stacy said.
U.S. Made Toys (www.usmadetoys.com), is also an Internet-based family business. Live for five years, the company distributes items made in America only.
According to Tim Cooke, a partner in the business, the idea of a company that sells U.S.-made products exclusively came from a trip to a popular theme park where very few toys were made in this country.
After several months of research, the company was able to bring together a wide variety of toys made in the U.S. There are approximately 150 items for sale on the site and all are made in the U.S. According to Tim, if the item contains even one component made overseas, it is plainly stated within the product description. When the site began, it was the only retail company specializing in U.S.-made toys, he says.
Last year’s recalls didn’t negatively affect U.S. Made Toys. “Since all the products we carry are made in the U.S., and all of the recalls were for items made overseas, we did not have to do anything with our products themselves,” says Tim. “We did have to answer question upon question about where each toy was made and by whom and with what. In the past, it seemed few people cared. Now, some people wanted to know where every stitch of every doll came from.”
Tim says that while the recalls were painful for the industry, he was happy to see people really begin paying attention. In fact, in response to all the questions people asked, U.S. Made Toys added a page on the site specifically dedicated to product safety information.
As a distributor, Tim says the most important way to ensure safety is to continue working only with trusted companies. “As much as we’d like to, we don’t have the resources to visit all our vendors. However we have had conversations with all, regarding safety issues. Most of our vendors have independent safety testing done to verify that the materials they use are safe and to U.S. standards,” says Tim.
Like Nico & Zoe, last year was very busy for U.S. Made Toys. “For a while, the demand outpaced our capacity to fill orders,” says Tim, adding the site had to stop taking orders for a week in December to catch up.
While today the site continues to carry the classics, Tim says it is variety that keeps people coming back. “We’ve added several new items to the site over the last week, and will be working through the summer on other new products including some exclusive offerings,” he says.