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Seeing Stars

By Jenny Heinzen York -- Kids Today, 5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Welcome to the May edition of Kids Today.

This is one we are particularly excited about, because it marks the debut of a new feature – Retail Stars. We solicited nominations from all types and sizes of stores, and came up with a list of 10 who we think are models for everyone.

Now, I do have to clarify a few points, and I hope that I don’t make anyone mad in the process. Many, many of our nominees this year have appeared in Kids Today recently, or are regular contributors to our advisory board and retailer Q&A.

In the interest of bringing new faces to the magazine, and because we were limited to only 10 Stars this year, we did not select anyone who has been featured in Kids Today for the past three years. It certainly does not mean that those of you who were nominated, but not selected, are not stars in your own right. It was simply the best way we could come up with to balance our editorial needs. Check out the 10 we selected in our By the Numbers section, starting on page 10.

We are also excited because May is also the month for the ABC Spring Educational Conference. It’s a great time to see vendors and retailers come together, where they are able to spend some real quality time with one another. And we all get another taste of Louisville, where the primary ABC fall show will be held in 2011.

We received great response to our new products solicitation for this market – check out what’s new starting on page 20. This indicates to me that vendors are ramping up their product development in anticipation of an ongoing economic turnaround.

The just-finished High Point Market was well-attended and noticeably upbeat – a dramatic contrast to last April when the bottom had just fallen out economy-wise. All signs are pointing ahead, and while the path back up is certain not to be linear, there’s no question we are trending in the right direction.

We all had a great time in Louisville last spring despite everything that was happening. Just think how much better the mood will be this month. That’s certainly something to smile about.

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