New York International Gift Fair: The Frontline For Sidelines

As Gayle Shanks, owner of Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona, emphasized at the BookExpo America education session "Buying, Selling, and Managing Gifts, Sidelines, and Other Non-Book Products 101," sidelines are best served fresh, although, of course, this doesn't preclude keeping around those top-sellers. At the New York International Gift Fair, held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from August 13 to August 18, there was plenty of everything, from the classics to the latest, hottest wares, displayed by approximately 2,600 exhibitors to over 40,000 attendees.

Last year, it was stripes, this year it's flowers and circles, and all the better if those circles are tiny sequins or any-size single or multi-paillettes (disks). Another theme this year is whimsy meets design meets function in everything from pillows, to office supply, to kitchen gadgets. Retro still reigns and kitsch is still king. And, of course, you have to carry it all in something, so totes and messenger bags were everywhere at the gift fair. With so many offerings, this week, BTW will focus on cards and sidelines for kids, and, next week, will focus on office, home, and travel.

Betty Bennett, of Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey, a gift fair veteran, said that she has learned how to successfully navigate the overwhelming volume of stuff at one of the largest gift fairs in the U.S. "Anything in the world can be a gift," she said. "You walk down the aisles and see beautiful leather goods, stationery, candles, crafts, hats, T-shirts with stupid sayings. It makes BEA look like a country fair. You have to cull out the things that would be interesting for your store. You find the vendors that you like and stick with them and then branch out from there."

She found a number of potential top-sellers for Bennett Books, a 4,000-square-foot store. The bookstore has a large children's section, and so Bennett concentrated on those items, looking for new products from such trusted lines as Melissa & Doug, Sassafras, and Think Fun.

Meliss & Doug Make Your Own Picture Frame

One trend at the show was make-your-own kits. Bennett ordered the Melissa & Doug Make Your Own Picture Frame, which includes a wooden frame, glitter glue, wooden accent pieces, stick-on jewels, craft glue -- everything to complete the project.

Kid's Pizza Baking Kit from Sassafras

The Sassafras booth offered a series of complete baking kits for kids to make pizza, cupcakes, cookies, pretzels, or "monkey bread." The cupcake kit, for example, includes apron, cupcake pan, sprinkles, frosting, cupcake mix, wooden spoon, paper liners, measuring cup, and rhyming recipe and instructions. Bennett said she discovered the kits at last year's show, and she noted that they were very popular. "I'm constantly reordering them," she noted. "Seriously, I bought the display and put it in a prominent place, and I'm always faxing new orders. I sell gazillions." New at Sassafras this year, and something Bennett quickly placed an order for, are animal-shaped backpacks on wheels. "Kids can take them to the airport when they go visit Grandma and Grandpa," she said.

Rush Hour from Think Fun

Bennett scouted the show for games and reordered Rush Hour -- the game only a kid could love. Players must navigate their car through traffic jams and gridlock in order to successfully leave the game board. "I sell a ton of that," Bennett said. It comes from Think Fun, purveyor of top-selling brain-teasing games.

Colorful Gel Gems

Another certain kid (and adult) hit was Gel Gems from Design Idea. Gel gems -- colorful, reusable, gel flowers, fish, stars, and dozens of other shapes -- stick to windows, mirrors, tiles, or any non-porous surface and can be used to create stained-glass-like, easily removable designs.

From Artecnica Bloom Card with a greeting in the center. Fairy Tail Card unfolding flower garland

The field of greeting cards at times seems impossibly vast, but some of the latest are three-dimensional variegated beauties. Artecnica produces several cut-out, flower-shaped cards, including the "Bloom Card," a pop-up, almost psychedelic, lotus flower that can be used as a greeting card, gift tag, ornamental sticker, or book mark. Also unusual and beautiful are the "Fairy Tail Cards," 75-inch flower garlands in various styles and colors with disks at either end to include a small note.

Banner garland from Knock Knock Wheels O' Wisdom from Knock Knock

Knock Knock, a California-based company, also offers garland greeting cards, but these feature words instead of flowers. They stretch out to 44 inches and bear typical messages like "Happy Birthday," and "I Love You," or racier comments like "Let's Get It On," and "You're a Hottie."

A popular seller at the fair was Knock Knock's "Wheels O' Wisdom," that can double as greeting cards. Knock Knock calls the movable cardboard wheels "Cordless Search Engines for Life." Users can spin the cards and "Dial an Excuse" or "Choose A Religion." So, for example, the "Yes, You're Probably Dying Card: A Hypochondriac's Key to Worst-Case Scenarios" tells the users that a runny nose could be diphtheria, or that they can obsess about kidney damage, but that they're probably just suffering from allergies.

Bennett said she relies on Peaceable Kingdom for great cards for kids. "They always use wonderful images from classic children's books... Sendak, Dr. Seuss. They're my favorite for children's cards."

Bennett said she largely counts on the fair to make some of her bestselling discoveries, which add to the store's bottom line. "With books, the price is on the jacket, but with gifts you can charge whatever you want. You can do very well."

Sideline items also help make Bennett Books unique, she said. "I have my own mix of gifts that no other store has. It's one way I can have my own identity."

Watch for more articles on gift items in future issues of BTW. And if you have any sidelines you'd highly recommend, send an e-mail to [email protected]. --Karen Schechner