Pig E. Bank is back at My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com!

Pig E. Bank is back!

You may remember this popular item from Christmas, 2008. When you place a coin in the slot on Pig E.'s back, he will tell you what coin you have deposited and keep track of your savings on his LCD screen. The LCD screen also allows you to adjust your balance when making a deposit or withdrawal. "Pink Edition" Pig E Bank (pictured above) is a great tool to teach kids to recognize coins and count money while saving their pennies. Pig E. also comes in a flashy chrome style.

Turn your little spender into a big saver! Pig E. is available at our brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale, IL, or at our online store at www.MyFavToys.com.

My Favorite Toys 's Favorite Wind-Ups

As we receive wind-up toys from companies such as Toysmith, California Creations and Schylling, our favorites change every few weeks.

Our current favorites are the Neverfall Bumpercars (pictured above) nifty little characters in bumper cars that, well, won't run off the edge of a table or counter. They never fail to elicit a customer response such as, "How do they do that?"

Come check them out at our brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale!

My Favorite Toys Says: Deck The Malls With Boughs and Toys!

Let's face it...regional shopping malls have taken a beating recently from retail analysts who chirp about the recession-caused store vacancies.

So it's interesting to see toys on their way back to the mall for the upcoming holiday season. Sears is wading back into the business with toy stores within their mall locations in a few big-city markets. And this week Toys R Us announced 80 temporary stores to open in 80 major-market malls.

Hmmm...suddenly malls are "in" for toys!

Here at University Mall in Carbondale, IL, My Favorite Toys knew this already! We're headed into our fifth Holiday Season, grateful to customers through southern Illinois, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Missouri who have supported us!

The success at our locally-owned and operated brick-and-mortar store has allowed us to broaden our base via www.MyFavToys.com, our online store.

Yes, it's nice to know the "experts" now share our view that there is still life at the mall!

Tearing Up The Wind Ups

A wide range of customers enjoy the Schylling old-fashioned tin wind-ups at My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com. But we can't remember the last time someone bought several of them to take apart.

That was the plan of a young woman this afternoon, a metals work major at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. She's planning an exhibit on tin wind-up toys, so she decided she needed to know how some of the classics --- such as the Schylling Duck On The Bike--- work.

We'll look forward to her exhibit and will pass along the dates for blog readers within driving distance of SIU and our brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale, IL.

Best Pals, Katjan, and My Favorite Toys

A few days ago we posted a feature on Janet and Kathy Lennon's rag doll line available at My Favorite Toys, our brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale, IL and at our online store, www.MyFavToys.com.

Since then several customers have asked whether these are the same dolls as the Best Pal dolls and the dolls from Katjan, Inc.

The answer is "yes." The Lennons' company is Katjan, and the rag dolls are referred to as Best Pal dolls.

And, oh, by the way, we also carry the Best Pals CD, which contains a wonderful group of some of the Lennons' favorite childhood songs

Here Comes Timmy The Tractor From Local Entrepreneur, Angie Wyatt

It's always fun when we introduce a new product or line at My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com. Doubly so when the developer of the item is a local person and someone we know personally.

Such is the case with our new Timmy the Tractor line, introduced by Angie Wyatt, known to area TV viewers as the news anchor on WSIL-TV.

Angie married into a farm family, and "from raising cattle, to making hay, to growing a crop, I found all aspects of farming to be fascinating," she says.

When her son's first word was "tractor," she sensed a bit about her future! "After scouring the aisles of toy stores, I realized there wasn't much of a selection in character-type farm implements," she said.

As a result, Timmy, the soft plush, interactive tractor was born. A paperback book, "Hay Day," actually preceded the release of the plush Timmy, and that book will be the first of a series which will also include Manny the Mower, Ralph the Rake, and Bill the Baler.

We also carry Timmy The Tractor t-shirts in sizes 2T and 4T at My Favorite Toys's brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale.

A theatre production is another aspect of the Timmy series, and maybe even TV and big screen productions will follow.

We're pleased to welcome Timmy to our shelves and online offerings!

Spinmasters At Toys R US

DATELINE - WAYNE, NJ --- "Toys R Us' net earnings more than doubled in the second quarter of 2009, helped by lower spending levels and despite a drop in same-store sales."

“We are pleased with our performance for the first half of this year and believe our results clearly demonstrate that we can successfully operate and achieve results in any economic environment,” said Jerry Storch, chairman and CEO, Toys R Us Inc. “Our second quarter results delivered on our expectations, and the team did a great job growing margin rate while managing expenses.”

What a spin! Sales decline, so expenses (purchases and people?) are cut, and this is success? This, at the same time TRU is gobbling up FAO Schwartz and what was left of KB Toys.

What a contrast beween the "Monster Giraffe" and locally-owned, customer service- oriented mom and pop toy stores who understand the true stakeholders --- the community of kids, parents, and grandparents who seek quality products!

Want to know what we really think? :-)

Workin' Joe Bender At My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com --- A Labor Day Tradition!

Happy Labor Day, 2009 from My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com!

What would the day be without Workin' Joe Bender from Hogwild Toys! This item has been discontinued by Hogwild, but we still have them, and still at $8.95 each!

Workin' Joe has always been one of our favorites. As pictured above, Joe comes in a tin "real man's" lunchbox, and includes posable magnetic construction barrier and orange pylon. Now are you ready to work?

Lennon Sisters Rag Dolls at My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com

During the 1950s and 1960s, a staple of weekend TV was the Lawrence Welk Show, and a primary feature of that program were the Lennon Sisters. Viewers were treated to the angelic voices and sweet harmonies of Janet, Kathy, Peggy and Dee Dee.

Now forty years later, Kathy and Janet have introduced an adorable set of Best Pal rag dolls in beautiful outfits!

My Favorite Toys currently stocks all five girl dolls in the series as pictured above: the Kathy and Janet dolls, and the three multi-cultural dolls --- Lilly, Isabelle, and Sofia.

The dolls are the winners of the Creative Child Magazine Seal of Excellence, and are a delightful, nostalgic step back to the wonderful rag dolls of the past.

At My Favorite Toys at University Mall in Carbondale, IL and at our online store, www.MyFavToys.com, the dolls are sold at a $3.00 discount for $21.95 each!

My Favorite Toys = www.MyFavToys.com

Periodically we remind our friends who google our online store that we are www.MyFavToys.com. There are several My Favorite Toys brick-and-mortar stores with similiar website domains.

Yup, for the web store with thousands of quality toys, games, puzzles and puppets, it's www.MyFavToys.com.

Of course anytime you're within driving distance of My Favorite Toys, our flagship store at University Mall in Carbondale, IL, we hope you'll drop by and say hi!

The Monster Giraffe ....And My Favorite Toys

So the news comes today that Toys R Us has purchased the KB Toys web site and other KB "intellectual property." With TRU's takeover of FAO Schwartz a few months ago, it seems TRU really is the only national toy store left. What a shame.

Fortunately there is a healthy and growing body of locally-owned, independent specialty toy stores throughout the country linked through membership in the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association (ASTRA), of which My Favorite Toys at University Mall in Carbondale, IL and www.MyFavToys.com is a proud member.

Stores such as My Favorite Toys are in the community and of the community. We provide old-fashioned customer service. We offer play areas in the store for our young customers. We make our own decisions about what toys, games, and puzzles to stock, instead of those decisions being controlled at a corporate distribution center.

We are friends with local schools and community groups, and proceeds from our sales support the local economy, instead of being shipped off to a national office.

We are grateful for shoppers everywhere who are passionate about the importance of preserving local specialty toy stores as community assets! Thank you!

My Favorite Toys Has You Covered!

Yesterday we mentioned a couple of suggestions for "creative" bandages in our post on college care packages. Well, our staff Director of First Aid wants you to know that My Favorite Toys and www.MyFavToys.com have plenty of other "out of the box" bandages in addition to the BooBoo Kisses and Bacon varieties already suggested.

Consider the possibilities for your family's scrapes and skins! As pictured above we have bandages, 12-15 to a package, in these themes: Cowboy, Ninja, Bling, Pirate, Crime Scene, Bacon and Eggs, Skin Art, Fairy, Enchanted Unicorn, and, yes, even Toast --- that's right, bandages that look exactly like a piece of toast!

So whenever you or a loved one is reluctant to wear a bandage out in public, slap one of these babies on and you'll be, shall we say, the toast of the town!

Time For A College Care Package?

So the college kid has been out of the house at school for a week or two....and you know she's/he's missing Mom's brownies and laundry facilities.... and you're looking for the appropriate care package to make her/him smile?

Along with those edible treats, how about an AV Club Pennant for the dorm wall, or some Stickman In Peril stickers, or Waxed Cupcake Dental Floss, or a tin of BooBoo Kiss Bandages? These items, pictured above, are a few of the goofy offerings from Accoutrements, one of our favorite vendors.

When My Favorite Toys set up a booth at the Southern Illinois University Welcome Fest Event for new SIU students, the Accoutrement bandages were a big hit (we took the Bacon Bandages along)!

So check out all the fun Accoutrements items at our brick-and-mortar store at University Mall in Carbondale, IL, or, if you're not within driving distance, see them at our online store