Retro Toys - Who's Buying Them?
The shelves are packed with toys with a cross generational
appeal, but which demographic is buying most?
As Christmas looms ahead, thoughts move towards the hottest toys
this year and parents steel themselves in the annual slog to
make sure they get the sought after merchandise. And so do a lot
of grown men. The recent trend for retro toys has had an impact
on the sort of shopper we find in toy stores and online.
A two tier market has developed, stimulated by an increase in
retro culture. The TV schedules and multiplexes are filled with
remakes - The Dukes of Hazzard, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Starsky and Hutch, Bewitched, Doctor Who and Star Wars
have all made an outing in the last year alone. But as these
remakes and rehashes appear vying for an audience, the question
has to be asked - who is the audience? These films have a
cross-generational appeal - the kids they are strictly catered
for and the kids who watched them the first time around.
The impact on the commercial worlds is profound. The
merchandising industry which inevitably surrounds the movie and
TV world knows all too well of the two tier market and are all
too happy to fill some of the shelves for their newfound taller
customers. The web is a fertile marketplace for the bigger kids,
with DVD and film sites such as ">http://www.moviemail-online.
com catering for cult and retro films almost exclusively.
Similarly, a large number of online toy stores such as http://www.justtoys.com are
springing up with the intention of selling merchandise - Doctor
Who Toys, Star Wars Toys - with a specifically grown-up appeal.
With the trend for Hollywood to look retrospectively in it's
efforts to fill the multiplexes, the trend for retro toys looks
set to continue. A look at the forthcoming releases - King Kong,
Wonder Woman, Indiana Jones 4 - tells us that that the big boys
will be pushing you out of the way to get to their favourite
toys in Christmases to come.