NEW YORK — The toy industry’s premier trade show, Toy Fair, will be packed to the brim with the latest in entertainment for all ages when it reopens at New York’s Javits Center from September 30 to October 3 after a three-year hiatus.
The Toy Association was forced to cancel its sold-out February 2022 show due to the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic. Organizers regrouped, moved the dates to late September 2023 and are now seeing a record response from the industry, according to Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Toy Association. “Having a show that’s been around for 118 years, but the last few have been absolutely crazy, we’re all excited to be back and reuniting,” he said. “And it’s going to be a bigger show than 2020, which is really encouraging considering there’s been a recession and a lot of change in the industry.”
The show is expected to attract attendees from more than 80 countries, with overall attendance up 6% compared to Toy Fair 2020. There will be more than 900 exhibiting companies (356 for the first time ever) from 38 countries, including big names such as LEGO, Playmobil and Build-a-Bear.
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Pasierb attributes those numbers to his association’s willingness to adapt to industry changes. “Actually, before the pandemic, when you look at the Toys “R” Us bankruptcy, the tariffs on imported products, all of those things, the blows have happened over the last five to six years. I think the key thing as a trade association and as a trade show is this willingness to move quickly. Our audiences expect very different things, our exhibitors expect very different things, and we’ve made all of those changes.”
The biggest change was moving the show dates from February to September, to take advantage of the holiday season. Attendees have asked for more products to be displayed in the show aisles, which has forced exhibitors to reduce their wall space and increase their display area. The educational sessions will be aimed not only at retail buyers and sellers, but also at other categories of attendees, from inventors and designers to entertainment executives and distributors. “We have 70 keynote sessions, which is basically a major conference within a trade show,” Pasierb said.
Of course, the holiday toy selection has been amplified “from the moment you walk into the Javits Center,” he said. “When Toy Fair was in February, it was after the main selling season and before the specialty buying season. So a little too late for some and a little too early for others. Now they can see what’s available now and what’s available through December. Eighty percent of toy transactions between buyers and sellers happen between late August and late February. So that small window of time is really ideal, both for the industry and for a trade show like ours.”
Contact Steve Pasierb at (212) 675-1141