In this month’s Talking Shop, Toy World finds out what has caught the eye of retailers during this year’s London Toy Fair, and what their goals are for 2024.

London Toy Fair was hailed a success, as it left numerous indie toy retailers enthusiastic about stocking their shelves with new products set to be released later on in the year.

Andrew Olley of Ely’s City Cycle Centre told us that he left feeling inspired by Jazwares’ stand and its new collections. He also explained how he found it useful to see the full range of products from each supplier in the flesh, as this helped visualise how it would look in the store and how customers might react.

Toy City’s Simon Steel in London’s Wood Green was particularly impressed with some of Epoch’s new products. Pati-school, in particular, is a range that he believes could do well. He told us how he thinks it is smart of Epoch to join the social media food trend, following the popular MGA’s Miniverse Make it Mini Food collectibles which launched last year.

Simon also discussed that although last year’s price cutting has put him off committing to too many forward orders in the early part of the year, he was pleased to see brands like Ty offer competitive price points to help maintain sales.

Dan Lovett of The Toy Box in Beccles came across new companies that he’d like to work with in the future. He shared that Canal Toys had some noteworthy products that he’ll be looking into in the run-up to Q4, including its Studio Creator Video Maker Kits, which enable users to create podcasts and Instagram and TikTok videos using their smartphones.

For Pat Murphy of Murphy’s Toymaster in Dungarvan, Golden Bear’s Fart Yoga game was a standout item. He shared with Toy World that the Soccer Bot, which was released last year, has been a great success in his shop and he’s eagerly anticipating another must-have that will be as popular amongst his customers.

To read the full Talking Shop feature in the March issue of Toy World, click here.