Anyone want a Papo fixture?

That's right... we are anticipating the arrival of a larger one for the Larchmont shop, so that means we either need to find a new home for the current one, or toss it.  We'd much rather someone took it home with them to use as their own personal Papo figurine display (or whatever else you can think to use it for).  So here's the deal;  give our cashier your name and number if you're interested, and when we get our new fixture in, we will be calling interested people back in the order that they gave us their number.  The first person we call that says "YES!" gets it.  We can't provide transportation of the fixture, so only leave your name if you have a way of transporting it right away and are seriously interested.  If we don't have any takers then we'll have to toss it, unfortunately, so please, let us know now.  Thanks for playing "Who wants a Papo fixture?"!

Reminders, Reminders!

Again, we'll be closed tomorrow (Tuesday, January 24, 2012) for inventory.  Thanks to all of you, our shop is quite low on merchandise so you've made the counting part much easier for us!  We were doing a few pre-counts today of our backstock and jewelry, and it occurred to me that we always forget to point out our lovely collection of "collectible" traditional baby gifts in our jewelry case.  We have a limited but fine selection of Salisbury Sterling silver keepsakes, such as baby cups, spoons, rattles, and teethers.  Giving this type of baby gift is rare nowadays, so if you're looking for something rather different from the norm and know of a parent-to-be who appreciates a classic gift like this, we do indeed have some. 

And speaking of the jewelry case, we finally found one of our old jewelry displays while cleaning, so we can showcase the Zorbitz Sweet Life Cupcake Necklaces to their full effect!  These little beauties feature a lead and cadmium-safe cupcake charm embellished with crystal sprinkles and, quite appropriately, a recipe inside of the tag for that cupcake.  They're only $10.95 so they're the perfect gift for tweens/teens/cupcake enthusiasts.  They're right up on our jewelry counter, so check them out next time you're in.

Who loves Hello Kitty? Who loves pink? Who loves... someone?

 (Our model is wearing the Hello Kitty Rhinestone Bracelet w/ Heart Charm Clasp, 

the Stretch Love Heart Bracelet, the Flashing Flower Ring, a set of Unicorn Valentine's Day Cards, and Julep the Monkey)

If your answer is yes to any of the above, then congratulations!  Your favorite time of the year is coming up in about 3 weeks.  We have tons of Valentine card sets (lots of scratch 'n sniff, tattoo, glitter, awesome), jewelry that can be worn year-round for all ages, and perhaps most excitingly of all... NEW HELLO KITTY!  We still have some beautiful jewelry in our case for the extra-elegant Hello Kitty fan, but we also have very fun, quirky jewelry, including two-finger rings, that thankfully are small enough for smaller fingers but also expand to fit larger fingers.  In addition to this, we have two mini purses, a mini gumball machine, notebooks, cherry blossom rings, 10 color pens, and more!  As always with Hello Kitty/Sanrio, we only have a limited supply, and once they're gone, they're most likely gone forever.  So come in soon and see what we have!

Uglydolls... They're Cuddly, They're Expressive, and Now They're Immortalized in Literature

Who says Uglydolls aren't educational?  Okay, so they're plush and don't do a whole lot other than look cool and double as a nice little pillow, but they've each got their own background and definitely emphasize individuality and friendship in their biographies located on their tags.  To add onto that, they also now have a series of books out designed to be educational and fun, and guess what?  That's right.... we've got them here at Landis' Labyrinth! We've had them in for probably about two months now, but we tend to forget about them since we don't offer too many books for sale and books in general are difficult to sell.  Not because they aren't great, but like boardgames, it's hard to know which one to get unless you know it already.  Thankfully, now that the rush of the holidays is over, we can sit back, relax, and catch up on some reading.  However, we know that most of you don't have the chance to do that while on the prowl for the perfect gift, so here's a bit of a review of the books so that you'll know what's what when you come in:

The Uglydoll Ugly Guides-  This is a series of (currently) four books that teach you the etiquette of the finer things in life, such as eating out or what do do when things do go quite to plan.  Being Uglydolls, naturally they make these lessons far more fun than Emily Post.  They even cover the all-important "Who pays for the meal?" question in the eating out book.  These books are truly fantastic at making kids aware of their manners and actions, but they make it fun and put the focus on the Uglydolls' interactions with each other.  I'd say the books are ideal for 5+ years, but you can certainly start reading them to your children around 3ish.  The illustrations are colorful and quite intricate... lots to look at and take in and great as a re-read as well.

The Uglydoll Ugly Boards-  Available in three separate books, these board books are meant for the youngest of Uglydoll fans (and believe me, they start early).  There is a numbers book, a colors book, and an ABC book.  But they aren't your regular B is for Ball kind of book.  In the ABC book, the left-side page has two letters on it with illustrations accompanying the noun, adjective, or verb.  Yes, they use verbs in this one, and for good reason.  The two letters on the left pair together to make the third letter on the right-side page a result of the first two letters.  Confused?  I'm not surprised.  Here's an example.... A is for Apple.  B is for Bargain.  C is for Checkup (because you ate too many apples after buying too many in the sale).  Get it now?  These are not your traditional early learning books.  They are definitely more complex, and while I wouldn't rely on them solely to teach these lessons, they're a fun accompaniment to add to the mix.  They're the kind of book that you can introduce young, and then as the kids get older, they pull it out from time to time and laugh at the jokes they didn't understand when they were toddlers.  And besides, it makes reading to them a lot of fun.  Again, great illustrations that will capture their attention.

And lastly, What Dat?  The Great Big Uglydoll Book of Things To Look At, Search For, Point To, And Wonder About-  This book gives hours of entertainment (and learning).  It's just like the title indicates;  It's all about the things you may see in regular, everyday places, like your bathroom, the beach, the store, etc.  They cover the basic items as well as a few less-seen items, like potpourri in the bathroom, or tabi socks in the bedroom (those are the split-toe socks from Japan).  To give you fair warning, they do feature a VCR in the bedroom, which will no doubt bring up the question, "What IS that?", followed by, "Why didn't you just use the DVD player?", followed by, "Wow, that's sad.".  I still have my VCR, and get made fun of for it relentlessly by my peers, so I can only imagine what a child would say.   This is the kind of book that will bring up loads of questions, so be prepared!  It's a

 lot of fun to look through, and I'd say this is a 4 years and up book.  Your children will have a most excellent vocabulary by the end of it.

And that's your lesson today.  We do have a few other titles from Uglydoll, but we need to maintain some sense of mystery here.  Have a great weekend everybody, and stop on in and check these books out.  We'll be here, the books will be here (unless someone is really easily influenced by this post and decides to buy them all), so we just need you!

Shhh... you're about to be amazed!

We all know how much we rely upon the internet.  Even us small brick 'n mortar shops use the internet to connect and communicate with our customers.  Which is why we're psyched to be one of the first companies to use a site called Wallet Rocket.  Their philosophy is simple... Follow the deals of only the businesses YOU love.  It's a great way to make sure you don't miss out on a sale or promotion, at the shops you're actually interested in.  We like it because you don't have to pay for a coupon that you might not use, and it's really wonderful for smaller businesses that aren't going to be airing commercials or sending out wasteful and costly flyers.  AND you can connect via Facebook, so it's a great way to get these deals to you, pretty much hassle-free!  Wallet Rocket started in the South Bay area, but they have big plans to expand, and hopefully by having a presence with them we'll continue to grow as well.  We're planning on keeping our deals available to both our Manhattan Beach and Larchmont Village customers, but in the event that it's only available at one location, it will be specified on our Wallet Rocket page.  So check out Wallet Rocket, and follow our page http://www.walletrocket.com/landislabyrinth and be the first to know about any awesome sales/promotions we've got cooking.

Who likes a giveaway?

We do!  That's why we're doing one.  As mentioned in a previous post, we love product suggestions.  So much so that if you come into either one of our locations between now and February 11th, we have a suggestions sheet out right at our counter for you to write down what you'd like to see in the shop that we currently don't have.  Every customer who puts down a suggestion (or 2 or 3) gets a small gift from us as our way of saying "Thanks".  As supplies are limited we can only give out one gift per customer, not suggestion, so bring the kids with you when you come in... we want to know what they think, too!  So come on in and give us the benefit of your toy/game wisdom.  We can't make every suggestion a reality, but we'll do our best :)

Before we re-stock everything in the shop....

Inventory must be held!  No matter how much we hate having to close for a day and count every single item in the shop, alas, it must be done so that we can straighten our numbers out.  So we will be closed all of Wednesday, January 25th.  We hope this won't be a huge inconvenience for all of you weekday shoppers out there, but we know that it is a pain to have to do.  But the good news is that we should be getting an insane amount of new stuff in the next few months.  Devoney and Ana are at the L.A. Gift Show all this week, and will be in NYC for the New York Toy Fair next month, so that means lots of great new toys and games for everyone.  And after redoing most of the walls this morning, I can safely say we still have plenty to tide us over 'til the new arrivals.  Still a good selection of games, Beyblades, Hexbugs, Calico Critters, Littlest Pet Shops, baby gifts, plush, and Hello Kitty (especially jewelry!).  So come on in and see what we've got, and please, if you know of something fantastic that we don't carry, tell us about it so we can see if it's available for us to get in.  Oh, and we just got our new catalog from the company that carries Calico Critters... there's some really cute stuff coming from them FYI.  So don't say I didn't warn you!

Time for some game recommendations...Trigger!

One of the best things about shopping in a small shop is that not only can you, the customer, see everything we have in a relatively short amount of time, but also that we, the faithful employees, can PLAY with nearly everything that comes in.  If there was ever a good reason to come into Landis' Labyrinth, it's for the board/card games.  We have a ton, and for the most part, we know how they're all played and can easily show you how YOU can play them (and if we don't know how to play them, well, it's a great chance for us to acquaint ourselves with them). 

One of our favorite companies, Blue Orange Games, makes a little game called Trigger.  Literally, it's a little game in a round tin measuring about 3.5" across.  It's one of TDmonthly Magazine's TDmonthly Top Toy Award Winners for January 2012, and for good reason.  For players aged 8 to adult (3-8 players), this game combined speed, general trivia, and knowledge of your own fellow players for a riotous good time.  I myself played this on New Year's Eve, and I have to say as I do with most Blue Orange Games, what you think should be a cinch to win isn't when you're under pressure to get the right answer quickly.  Basically, what you do is put the foam "target" down in the middle of all of the players (on a flat surface, of course), and then the everyone gets 5 cards, one side of which has the logo with a color on it, the other with 6 statements in different colors on it.  The statements are either general trivia, like "Kentucky, Wyoming and Jamaica are all American states", or questions pertaining to the players like " I have a Band-aid on one of my fingers".  Once everyone has their 5 cards, the youngest person in the group becomes the 'moderator' and reads one of the statements on one of their cards.  Here's where it gets fun.  If you believe the statement to be true, *gently* slam your right hand on the target; if false, then use your left hand.  If you hit the target first and you are correct, you win the card.  If you hit the target first and are wrong, you lose a card.  The job of moderator then passes onto the person next to them (doesn't matter which direction as long as you stick to it), and the next question will be based upon which color the last card's logo was (if it was a green card, the next statement will be the one in green on the moderator's card).  Sound confusing?  It isn't.  Really.  I dare you not to laugh during this game, because it gets hysterically funny very quickly.  This is one of the few games that people of all ages can play together, so it's an all around awesome group/family game. 

So that's our love note to Trigger.  And speaking of love, did you know that tomorrow at our Larchmont location it's our 3 year anniversary?  That's right, it's been 3 whole years since we opened our doors and we're thrilled to be able to continue opening them every day.  So come on in and show us some love and we'll show you some Trigger and everyone will be happy!