Fall Toy Preview Event Kicks off Today at Dallas Market Center

Dallas, TX .– Nearly 1,000 buyers from long lead and mass market retail outlets are in Dallas this week to place their orders for 2010 holiday toys at the Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) Fall Toy Preview®.

An annual by-appointment-only event, Fall Toy Preview is designed to give toy buyers from the mass retail sector a central marketplace in which to meet one-on-one with their vendors 12-15 months in advance of in-store delivery. To participate, exhibitors must currently sell to mass market accounts; all products shown must be available for fourth quarter sales in the following year.

Fall Toy Preview brings leaders of the toy industry together under one roof at the Dallas Market Center today through Friday, October 9th.

“We are expecting buyers and trade guests from more than thirty countries to walk through the showrooms this week,” said Joan Wyche, TIA manager of buyer relations.

Many of the roughly 1,000 buyers pre-registered for the event represent businesses included on the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu roster of the “2009 Global Powers of Retailing,” including Walmart Stores, Inc. and Walmart.com, Target, Toys “R” Us, Carrefour, Amazon, Costco, JC Penney, Walgreen Co., TJX Companies, CVS Caremark, Barnes & Noble, and Kohl’s.

Participating retailers also represent a broad range of market segments, including electronics (RadioShack), fashion and apparel (Ross Stores), supermarkets (Albertsons, Winn Dixie, HEB), wholesale clubs (BJ’s Wholesale Club, Sams Club), department stores (Macys, Dillards), drug stores (Walgreens), book stores (Borders, Barnes & Noble), military exchanges (AAFES, NEXCOM), and more.

Overseas retailers – including Loblaw, Giant Tiger, Big W Discount Stores and the Hudson Bay Co – have also registered.

Among the more than 276 exhibiting toy companies are Bandai America, LEGO, LeapFrog, MegaBrands, Learning Curve, ThinkFun, Funrise and Radio Flyer.

“Now in our third year in Dallas, Fall Toy Preview continues to provide mass and long-lead merchandisers with the opportunity to meet and review product lines from their most important suppliers,” said Marian Bossard, TIA vice president of meetings and events.

In addition to the exhibitors and buyers, more than 1,000 trade guests – representing licensors, manufacturer’s representatives, marketing and product development executives from companies such as 20th Century Fox, Disney Consumer Products, Dreamworks SKG, Warner Brothers Consumer Products, and NBC Universal – are registered.

An Opening Night Party will benefit the Toy Industry Foundation and its important work to support children in need.

In conjunction with the show floor activities, educational sessions on TIA’s legislative, safety and Toy Safety Certification Program® (TSCP) activities will be offered on Wednesday, October 7th. During these sessions, participants will receive updates on pending state and federal legislation, up-to-date reports on implementation requirements imposed by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), and information on how the recently launched TSCP will help toy companies and retailers meet requirements established by the CPSIA and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).