It is only September, but the Toymakers and designers of the world come together this week on El Segundo for an industrial conference to decide on the hottest toys for next year.
The city has long been a hub for the toy industry, because companies like to shop in the shadow of Mattel, the maker of Barbie. This week the industry opened a new Tower of Toys, an office complex with 65 showrooms for toy companies to present their products and discuss them with their wholesalers.
In his suite filled with a vast view of the commercial neighborhood near Lax, the Italian toy maker Matteo Sarnari is prepared for the upcoming fall attack of professional buyers, he hopes to buy his wares in bulk.
Sarnari is a business developer for educational toy maker Clementoni, who was founded in a small Italian village in 1963 and recently founded an American division to go to the American market.
“Of course this is the most important market in the world,” said Sarnari, 41 times larger than the Italian market where Clementoni sells educational toys. “The chance here is huge.”
A glow-in-the-dark “Stranger Things” puzzle is displayed in the new Clementoni showroom in the toy building.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
The company has licenses to make “Harry Potter” and “Stranger Things” theme puzzles and to join the line of board games, scientific toys and musical toys for small children.
El Segundo Beachhead from Clementoni is the new toy building, which was opened on Monday by the Toy Assn., A trade group for American toy companies.
Although the toy fair is the largest annual event in the industry in February in New York, the El Segundo Toy Showroom building is the only one in the country that works all year round.
Toy assn. President Greg Ahearn poses for a portrait in the toy building.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles is an important hub of the American toy industry, Toy Assn said. President Greg Ahearn. Many toy companies have its head office or are considerably present here.
Among the big players, the MGA Entertainment, based in Chatsworth, are the company behind Bratz and Lol surprise! Dolls, Canadian Toy and Entertainment Company Spin Master and Santa Monica’s Jakks Pacific, A maker of licensed toys such as Sonic the Hedgehog.
The headquarters of the industrial giant Mattel is located on a short walk of the toy building and appears in the view from the renovated office building of the 70s in a neighborhood that used to accommodate more space companies.
The toy building on Wednesday in El Segundo.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Because Aerospace has been reduced since the end of the Cold War, El Segundo has emerged as a hub for many creative companies, including toys.
The city is “incredibly useful” for the toy industry and people who do business, said Ahearn, because it is near Los Angeles International Airport and several large and small toy companies are located there. Among them are the American office of Moose Toys, an Australian maker of collectable mini figures.
“El Segundo represents the largest concentration of toy manufacturers in the US,” he said.
Toys is a huge company – the industry generated $ 42 billion in sales in the US last year. The sale remained flat compared to the previous year.
The opening of the toy building coincides with the annual autumn preview of toy manufacturers Hope will be on Christmas wish lists the following year, he said. “That is how far ahead our industry works.”
Clementoni Baby Toys is shown in their new showroom in the toy building.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
In the autumn example, retailers and licensors of toys such as Paramount, Universal and Disney join others in the toy industry to “descend on Los Angeles to see the product that will be available for Holiday 2026,” Ahearn said.
License Toys is a huge category, he said, while large entertainment providers serve brand rate, such as Star Wars Action Figures, Spongebob Squarepants Plush Toys and Pootpatrouing patrilleer patrol toddlertrycles.
Even online media personalities such as MrBeast and Mrs. Rachel have toy lines.
“They all usually have a certain degree of toy licenses and merchandising that is available to consumers as part of their plan,” said Ahearn.
A toy “Pen Creator Studio” from Clementoni is displayed in a new showroom in the toy building.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
The four floors of the toy building are designed to serve as a “Mini Convention Center” for the industry that is active all year round, said Nelson Algaze, Chief Executive of SAA Interiors + Architecture, which created space.
It has 65 showrooms and is so far the home of brands such as Crayola, Funko and Hasbro. Each floor has approximately 20,000 square feet and most showrooms are between 625 and 2500 square feet. The showrooms are almost 70% rented out.
Although it has lounges and meeting rooms, the toy building also has an element of confidentiality that is not usually associated with a conference facility, because some toymakers hide their products hidden their products that prevent passers -by looking inside.
Photography is usually forbidden.
Immediately looming over the industry is the consequences of President Trump’s rates on imported goods, which are expected to increase the costs of toys.
In April, the toys assn. With the US government, it insisted on providing an immediate postponement of rates on toys imported from China to keep them in the shopping shelves and to be available for the holidays.
“As we enter the critical holiday season, there is now some fear with what the impact of rates will eventually be,” Ahearn said.
Toys is displayed in the new Clementoni showroom in the toy building.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
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