Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"The best face wins the game!"

No, we aren't holding an infant modelling contest!  The above title is the tagline for the game Funny Faces, a great game we just received in stock here at Landis' Labyrinth.  As you can probably surmise from the picture, the game is about making funny faces, but the educational value is in how this is done.  You get a board with a series of different faces on it, and one player picks up a card with one of the faces on it that only they can see.  They have to then mimic that face, and their co-players need to figure out which face they're making.  It's fun, simple to learn, and a great tool for teaching children about facial recognition.  We receive many requests from customers for products that emphasize this, especially for autistic children, and this is a perfect game for that. We also love that it's for ages 4 and up, so the whole family can join in.

Another new game for us is Collector's Chess Teacher.  We've carried a variety of chess games designed to help beginners learn the game, and we added this one to the mix because the design of it is fantastic.  The chess pieces (which are in the traditional 3D shape) are all marked on the side with instructions on how many moves that particular piece can accomplish, as well as what directions it can go.  I personally didn't learn how to play chess until 2 years ago, and remembering all of those little details was my biggest challenge.  The great thing about this game is that the only reading involved is just for the names of the pieces (they're all labelled).  The directions are just numbers and arrows, so it's great for younger children and non-english speakers/readers.

Boardgames has become one of our biggest selling categories here, and we are constantly getting new ones and old favorites in, so if you have any recommendations, we'd love to hear them!  It's a huge market, and it's easy to overlook a winner, so let us know what else you want to see :)


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Chihuahuas with pants. Who doesn't love chihuahuas in pants?


Well, I can tell you who DOES love them... Calico Critters!  That's why they brought out the Chihuahua family and twins sets this year.  You know who else loves them?  Landis' Labyrinth Toy Shop. And that's why we have them both styles in stock right now.  As two of us own dogs who are at least 1/2 chihuahua, we are a bit partial to this new animal family from Calico Critters.  Of course, we realize that chihuahuas may not be exotic enough for some of you CC collectors.  If so, then you are in luck;  they are also releasing Koala and Kangaroo families this year as well (for non-US fans this might not be a big deal, but it's a big deal to us since they're new here in the states!).  If there was one animal that just had to receive the Calico Critter treatment, my vote is for the koala.  We're still waiting for it to ship out from the company to us, but they will be here.  And if for some reason, three new families aren't enough for you, they are also releasing the Border Collie family and twins set this year!  For as long as we've been around, we've never seen them release so many families in one year, so we are so excited for everything to come in.  They also did more triplets sets this year in the form of pigs and Chocolate Labs. 

Naturally, every family needs a home a places to go to relax and have fun.  That's why we ordered the Adventure Tree House, Discovery Forest, Lakeside Lodge, Supermarket, Ice Cream Truck, and Burger Cafe (not sure how the Cow family will feel about that one, but we're hoping they understand that it's nothing personal), in addition to some other play sets.  Calico Critters is one of our bestselling lines, possibly the best for girls 2-8 years old, so we're happy that they're doing so well that they can expand their line further.  They used to be known as Sylvanian Families prior to the 1990's, and still are in other countries, but due to a rights issue they were re-branded as Calico Critters here.  No matter what you call them, they're hard to resist, and as we've seen, most little girls (and parents) can't!

Friday, January 18, 2013

It's our BIRTHDAY! Come and celebrate both us and our community!



Love is all around at 144 N. Larchmont.
And love is literally in the air at 140 N. Larchmont.
We can't emphasize that enough.
















Can you believe it... our Larchmont shop at 140 opened 4 years ago today?  We're sure you all already know this (your calendars are marked, right? No?  Well, that's okay!), but in case you didn't, we are having a small celebration in honor of our big day with treats, balloons, and raffles going on.  Four fun, enriching, and happy years.  That's gotta be something like 28 years in small business years. During those four years, we've acquired a sibling in the form of our Manhattan Beach shop, which is coincidentally having a tremendous sale this weekend, as well as the arrival of our somewhat conjoined twin shop at 144 N. Larchmont this past October.  We've lost count of the times we've heard a child squeal with glee, "Look!  It's a TOOOOOY store!", or the ever popular comment of adults, "Hey!  I remember this!  I didn't even know they made this anymore... this is awesome!".  There have been approximately 1.5 million smiles seen, a few teary meltdowns over having to wait 'til a birthday for that certain Lego set that is soooo cool, and enough gift bags wrapped to stretch from here to Antarctica and back again.  None have come back with real penguins, just to dispel that rumor going around.  But most importantly, in those four years since we opened our doors, we've become a part of the Larchmont community and truly feel like when we see our regular customers coming in that we are greeting old friends.  We love it when people come in just to say Hi and tell us about what achievements their kids have earned since we last saw them.  We also appreciate the feedback that you have given us, and we've done our best to put it to good use.  Our new teen/tween/adult section across the register at 140 N. Larchmont was entirely your suggestion, and it's been a huge hit with us and our customers (we are so excited about some of the news goodies coming in for that section this spring).  And opening up our location at 144 N. Larchmont could never have happened had you not celebrated each and everyday with us that we are open.

The Alexandria House
 We are also indebted to the many friends we've made at our local news publications, the Larchmont Chronicle, and the Larchmont Buzz, for continuing to be a vibrant herald for us and the community.  We are also overwhelmed at the support we've received from the local schools and charities who we work with... our holiday season was made even more joyous by requests from them asking us for our presence and help at their holiday fundraisers.  One in particular that we feel deserves to share our special day with us is the Alexandria House, a transitional shelter (which is more like a home), for women and children located at 426 S. Alexandria Ave., Los Angeles, CA, just a hop, skip, and jump away from Larchmont.  We chose to celebrate the grand opening of our shop at 144 N. Larchmont by holding a fundraiser for the Alexandria House, thanks to one of our regular customers being so moved by the people there that she came into our shop with tears still in her eyes and told us all about it.  It is an incredible organization, and unique in that it allows women and children to live in a safe, home-like environment for 10 months to 2 years, as opposed to the usual 1 month that other shelters offer.  We were both shocked and appalled to find out that many women's shelters won't allow women with sons over the age of 12 to live with them, and the boys are forced to live at a men's shelter instead.  With only a month to try and rebuild their lives, and the possibility of their family being divided, the reality is that many of these women simply cannot escape from a terrible existence.  This is why keeping the Alexandria House open and thriving is so vital.  We had the honor of visiting their house this week, and the beauty and warmth of the house was easily matched by the residents and workers there.  This is one of the few places where women and their families can go who need help and get it.  They have a care center in the back for children who aren't in school yet to go to so that their mothers can work, and they provide support to the women to get them to a place where they can thrive on their own.  But because they do offer all of this, they do not receive much in the way of government funds.  They rely upon volunteers and donations to keep their doors open, and highly encourage anyone who is interested in learning more to visit them.  They even invited people in to come to dinner with the residents, and by the aroma coming from their kitchen (we came just before dinner), I would say you should take them up on that offer!  Please consider contacting them to see what YOU can do to assist them in their mission.  They even mentioned hoping that maybe some locals might volunteer the use of their pools during the summer so that the kids can swim for a few hours and enjoy the summer.  They are open to anything that will enrich their residents' lives.  We're coming up with some ideas at the shop for what we can do to help them, but we hope that you will come up with some of your own as well :) 

In the meantime, we thank you all for supporting small businesses and organizations, and with that support, we fully expect to continue to celebrate our doors being open to you!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Love is in the air, even if the air is freezing right now!

Bundle up, is all we can say, and get a nice cup of cocoa and play a board game by the fire.  It IS chilly outside, but we've got our shops nice and warm now and very, very Valentine-d.  After inventorying both Larchmont shops on Tuesday, meeting with some of our toy reps and finding awesome new items on Wednesday and Thursday, we finally got the chance to get out our Valentine's Day items and do up the windows in pinks and reds in preparation for the big day.  Now, you don't have to have a 'love interest' to enjoy the day... celebrate with your family, friends (one of my personal favorite Valentine's Days was one spent with a good friend making the most of the free Thai ice teas being given out at a local restaurant), or pets.  It should be a day about showing someone significant in your life that you care, no matter who they are.  That being said, should you want to give them a token of your love for them, we do have delightful items out right now that you should know about.

We can't help but notice that Larchmont has gone a bit Macaron-mad since 'Lette Macarons opened on the street (if you haven't been, it's worth treating yourself... they are GOOD!).  So when we saw these Macaron trinket boxes, we knew you'd love them.  Sadly, they are not edible, but they are a whimsical way of keeping your little treasures safe and are a great gift for nearly any age.  If you're looking for something more along the lines of what you'd put into a box, i.e. jewelry, we have a ton in stock right now, from adorable 'sweethearts' bracelets and Valentine's Day earrings, to more year-round adornment from Jewelry by Harlow, Simona V, Splendid Iris, and much, much more! Also, it wouldn't be a party without Hello Kitty showing up, and we do have some darling little jewelry pieces for HK fans of all ages, plus some stuffed animals, including some very special Chinese New Year plush with Hello Kitty.  And let's not forget that it's the year of the snake, so you can imagine how crazy these Hello Kittys are!  If you're looking for something less Hello Kitty and more... scented, we have Pacifica roll-on perfumes (we also just did a big reorder with them, so get excited), Soap & Paper Factory solid tinned perfume (we love their hard-to-find classic scents), and Soap Baubles, which I'm not sure if we've told you about this line, but it's the perfect teen or mom gift.  It's soap in the shape of gems that can either come strung up in a bracelet or as loose gems in a jar.  They smell lovely, and the packaging is beautiful and unique.

And, of course, we have Valentine's Day cards for kids to give out to their friends that come in scratch and sniff, paper airplanes, tattoos, and more.   Valentine's Day cards are infinitely more exciting now compared to when I was a kid (why couldn't we have had scratch and sniff?!?).

It may be a month away, but we'll say it now... Happy Valentine's Day!  And yes, we do love you all :)  Now come in and laugh at Hello Kitty's snake outfit...

Friday, January 11, 2013

When one door breaks, another is installed :)



For all of you fans of Larchmont Buzz, you may have heard the news that we were burglarized on January 8, 2013 at our 144 N. Larchmont location, along with two other local businesses.  While this has been an extremely upsetting experience to deal with, we are so thankful that nobody was hurt and no major damage occurred at any of the shops involved.  We are also thankful for the respect and love coming from our community during this time, and hope for everyone's sake that this intruder is caught quickly so that no other business is violated.  We truly appreciate your warm words and consideration for the well-being of your local merchants and the people that work hard to make them a positive asset to the Larchmont Village community.  On a lesser scale, we are also thankful that despite the disruption caused by the break in, we still managed to complete our inventory (yup, the break in happened a few hours before we all came in to do our annual inventory day... it was quite a day!) on time so we are already in the midst of reordering more awesome toys and games and finding new ones.  We have already found some incredible new lines that we are very excited about and hope you all will love them as well.  So stay tuned for more toy updates, and please check in with Larchmont Buzz for any updates regarding the break ins.  Hopefully they'll have some good news for us all soon!

Oh, and don't worry, we've cleaned up the glass and rode around the shop with the PlasmaCar a few times already :)  We foresee a great new year for Landis' Labyrinth and Larchmont Village!