Adam, Dan, and I headed up the NJ Turnpike for an exciting trip to New York City to visit the New York Toy Fair being held in the Javits Center in Manhattan. This was Serious Shops' third year (and best yet!) visiting NYTF.

NYTF is a fantastic place to meet up with some of our current vendors, find new products and toymakers, and even catch an early glimpse of the next big thing in the toy world. Of course bringing home toy samples for the kids (and ourselves, of course) is a major plus!

The highlight this year had to be getting my photo taken with Robert Pattinson - you know, Edward Cullen from Twilight? 

Okay, it was just a cardboard cutout, but cool, nonetheless, right?!

We visited the amazing Lego display:

Best item of the show had to be the prototype of the soon-to-be released Rubik’s Slide puzzle on which we’ve spent the last few days mastering the easy level. 

I’m sure it will be a big hit this holiday season! Great brain teaser!

We collected catalogs, tested out puzzles, watched a skateboard demo, shook plenty of hands, walked what felt like miles of aisles, ate super-expensive mediocre food, saw some really unique toys, puzzles, & games, and overall had a really fun, productive time!

Next up: choosing which products to add to our line-up this year.  Stay tuned for new additions like Heye and EuroGraphics jigsaw puzzles!  I’m already looking forward to next year.  

We’re in the midst of our busiest season & so excited to be here!

Our extended hours are en force, holiday decorations are up, and everyone is in good spirits. The warehouse crew is super busy packing & shipping… just a few short weeks left until Christmas! 

We took some photos on Monday of this week - enjoy!

SeriousShops.com front office:

Monday's outgoing packages:

Monday's afternoon warehouse crew (nice job guys!):



SeriousShops.com holiday season outgoing packages in 2003!
(Why yes, that was our garage, and yes, we have grown!):

When the Plasma Car arrived here at Serious Shops, we felt the need to actively test it out before offering it for sale.

This was of course, solely to be certain our customers would be happy with their purchase.  Okay, who am I kidding? We couldn’t resist racing a futuristic looking muscle-powered scootmobile around the warehouse!  We don’t think you’ll be able to resist either… one ride on the Plasma Car, and you’ll be hooked!

We all gave it a good number of tries out in the warehouse – from the smallest weighing in around 40 lbs to the biggest weighing in around 180 lbs. Adam currently holds the record for fastest trip around the warehouse at 26.2 seconds!

The best part of the Plasma Car is the adaptability to different riders.  Little to big can ride; no matter how short (or long!) your legs are – with no adjustment required.  The Plasma Car holds up to 200 lbs; so Mom, Dad, and kids can enjoy – you just need to be able to turn the wheel! The ride is smooth and super-easy to control – just lean to turn & put your feet down to stop!  Exercise has never been this fun!

It’s cooler than a big wheel, safer than a scooter, and more fun than both combined! We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do!

Welcome to October at Serious Shops!  I’ve finished decorating around the office to welcome Autumn:

We’re all so excited to be moving into the 4^th quarter - you can really feel it around here. The weather is cool, the air is crisp, and everyone is busy!

My friend tells me she’s just made the switch from iced lattes to hot. Now, while I still drink mine iced every morning, the sentiment is understood: Fall is finally here & it’s Fantastic!

Aside from my decorating, here are a few more exciting seasonal things at Serious Shops:

Fall Garden Flags

Pumpkin Spiced & Maple Vanilla Lattes

Halloween Stuffed Animals

Today, we're making good on our new shoe subsidy program. We're paying warehouse workers up to $40 for any eligible shoes they've bought in the last 30 days and until 9/18/2009.

A lot of other industrial companies and safety minded firms are using similar programs to incentivize safety or to provide a nice perk to folks who are putting a lot of wear and tear on their shoes. Healthy feet are productive feet! We're not the first ones to try this program out, in fact, you could say we're following in the foot steps of other shoe subsidy programs (har har).

For a great place to pick up your shoes, try: http://www.zappos.com 

They sport free shipping, free returns, and excellent customer service. 

Not to mention they are run by one of my favorite business people - Tony Hseih

And, now for my obligatory goofy image that is sort of related to the post :)  
It's a picture of Shoe Money, of course!

At SeriousShops.com we pledge to deliver superior customer service support that includes responsive, courteous, knowledgeable, and friendly representatives matched with fair and lenient return policies. We promise to deliver expedient domestic and international shipping options at competitive prices. And, it is our primary objective to quickly and accurately fulfill our customer’s orders, in most cases, on the same day they are ordered. We will strive to differentiate ourselves markedly from the typical service provided by other online retailers and wholesalers. We will deliver all this, as well as a fresh and wide variety of intriguing products, all for aggressively competitive low prices!