Sears stuck its toe back into the toy business on Tuesday, with 20 stores clearing space for kids to interact with the latest best-sellers and nostalgic throwbacks like tin tops. The retailer hopes the toy departments will fill a void left by the demise of mall specialty stores such as KB Toys.
“That’s what we’re hearing more and more from our core consumer, that they would like to buy (toys) in the mall,” said Julia Fitzgerald, chief marketing officer for Sears’ toy business. Fitzgerald said Sears will carry toys made by Hasbro Inc (HAS.N) and Mattel Inc (MAT.N) as well as Leapfrog Enterprises Inc (LF.N), which makes educational toys, and Schylling, a maker of retro products such as tin jack-in-the-boxes. [FULL ARTICLE]