Archive for the ‘Most Popular Toys’ Category
The latest rage is not a mountain bike with a new set of gears, or a road bike made of lighter material, but rather lowrider bikes – low seats, high handlebars, and lots and lots of chrome.
As the world around us continues to become more and more complicated, even our toys become more complicated – for example our mountain bikes are more complicated than ever with dozens of gears and choices between hard tails and soft tails and having to decide between disc brakes or v-brakes.
In such an atmosphere, it’s not surprising that the “retro-look” is back. Well, actually the retro-look never goes out of style, it just lies dormant for a decade or so before coming back. There really is nothing new under the sun.
Today, lowriders and chopper bicycles are resurging in popularity. They are certainly not for riding cross-country or downhill, but for riding on pavement or across soft beach sand, they are wonderful.
It’s more than just the high handlebars, generous seats, and fat tires that provide a comfortable ride, it’s the ability to express one’s individual tastes by decorating their bikes. These bikes have become fashion statements among the youths of the major urban areas of the country.
Chopper bikes first appeared in California in the early 1960s. They were built by kids, who wanted to copy the then-popular customized motorcycles called choppers. Why chopped? Because the bikes had been “chopped” – put together from several different bikes.
The most distinctive feature of the chopper bike is its handlebars… also called ape hangers, which extend high above the head of the rider. The seat or saddle, meanwhile is situated even lower than normal, and the pedals are pushed far forward.
The design of the chopper doesn’t stop there, of course. Enthusiasts pile on all the accessories they can think of, from chrome to gold to fake fur, from special paint jobs to sound systems.
If you’re mechanically inclined, you can put together your own chopper bike out of bits and pieces of others, but if you’d just like the look without all that fuss, there are chopper bike shops out there who can provide you with the bike, and all the accessories you need to customize it to your satisfaction.
The frame
Just like beach cruisers, you might think that these choppers with all their accoutrements would weigh you down, but that’s not the case as everything is made from space age materials for lightness. However, they typically only come with one gear, so riding up hills can be a bit of a chore.
But that’s not what these bikes are for. They’re for riding around the neighborhood, impressing friends, and indulging one’s creativity.
Our Kids Lockers are the perfect solution to organize toys, games, sports gear, schoolwork, creative projects and clothes for the little ones. Everything is neat and orderly. The children learn how to organize their things and it is a great solution for Mom and Dad too – more space, less mess !!
Modern Lockers
These fun Kids Lockers are excellent for storage and offer maximum functionality and sturdiness. They have a modern, eye-pleasing design that signifies quality and longevity. In addition to the extra storage space that will maximize space in the bedrooms or other areas of the home, your child or children will enjoy the cool retro-style look for their rooms. It will be their personal storage area.
Personalized Kid Lockers
We have found that children will become enamored with their Kids Lockers. They consider them to be personal and frequently the lockers are decorated with elaborate designs, stickers or drawings. Personalizing their own lockers, children are making a statement that to all who enter his or her bedroom that this “property” is theirs. The most cherished toys and games will be guarded in this personal and almost indestructible piece of furniture. Your child will view his or her locker to be the perfect guardian of his or her valuable possessions.
Sturdy Locker Construction
Our lockers are constructed of 24 gauge steel with 16 gauge doors. Locker dimensions are 54″ high, 15″ wide and 15″ deep. They are made from industrial sheet steel and are tough and durable, qualities necessary to withstand the use and abuse from children. They will simply outlast the childhood years of your children. When your children have outgrown their lockers then Dad can move them to the garage to store his fishing gear or tennis equipment. What a great long term solution !
Locker Choices and Amenities
You have a choice of louvered or solid door construction and our lockers come equipped with recessed latches and number plates. These lockers come outfitted with a recessed shelf, 2 single and 1 double coat hooks, the 4′ 5″ and 15″ wide units are available in 30 vibrant color choices. As a bonus, various types of locks can be used with the recessed latches so now your daughter can lock up her toys and play-things from her brothers! How many arguments and fights will that prevent?
Childrens Locker Designs
Our Kids Lockers have some very interesting features. Let’s take a quick look at some of the more popular ones. 1) They are designed to be sturdy and durable – tougher than your children. 2) They are also very easy to assemble. However, you can purchase the lockers preassembled by contacting our customer service department. 3) There are 30 vivid color choices to mesh with or match any child’s room. 4) There are two choices for the locker door – solid or louvered for ventilation. 5) The locker size is perfect for children. 6) They are attractive and become personal possessions of your children.
Funtional and Fun Locker Furniture
Enjoy the quality of our fun and functional Kids Lockers. It is a great solution to help keep the children’s rooms neat and organized. Mom and Dad won’t be tripping over their children’s toys nearly as often. And they sure help keep things organized when company arrives at the home.
Men and boys of all ages love toys whether they’re children playing with action figures or big kids playing retro games from their childhood or video games. One of the most popular gifts for boys of all ages has been the remote control car, a lot of remote control cars are modelled on real life supercars which sadly are as close as some guys get to driving them, but remote control versions are still really fun all the same.
Whether it’s racing them round the living room or building miniature stunt ramps out in the garden a remote control car will give a man hours of fun (or until the batteries run out). The popularity of remote control cars has seen a whole fleet of different vehicles released in miniature form such as boats, planes and helicopter.
Helicopters have been incredibly popular in recent years as its immense fun to whizz them past people indoors or outdoors and other vehicles can be just as fun. A lot of people may have been a bit sceptical of remote control helicopters as they need to be light enough to fly but also durable enough to withstand the occasional crash landing. Since they first came to prevalence the helicopters being sold now are much more durable and can take a few bumps when you’re learning to control the toy.
With powerboats and other water based remote control toys you can take your own miniature boat out onto a lake or pond to give it a spin, it may not be wise to test it on a river as you may never see it again but these tiny machines can get up to some impressive speeds on the water making them excellent choices for mens gifts.
Many of these remote control vehicles are battery operated and so you may find you need to buy a fair few batteries unless you opt for a set of rechargeable ones instead. Some remote control cars may even have built in batteries that you just have to plug into the wall charger to get your vehicle “refuelled”!
There are plenty of different remote control gift ideas available including some vehicles that you build yourself, adding a bit of time and attention to build your own car and then driving it around the house or garden.
100milligrams.com is offering its customers the perfect musical instrument: the Stylophone. This is both a modern and retro item. At a very advantageous price, the site also has the matching carrying case. You can buy them together for a better price or you can buy them at their regular prices. The instrument is available on other sites too, but only this one has the carrying case. The first handheld electronic organ returns more successful than ever and it can be a great present from children as young as seven years old as well as for adults.
The Stylophone offered by 100milligrams.com looks exactly like the original, but it is a better version. Since today’s technology is better than 40 years ago, the little instrument had to be updated. Apart from having all the original sounds the new version has three more sounds: Classic, Synth and Bass. There is also an MP3 feature that allows you to play along to the songs you like most and a vibrato knob. The instrument has a headphone socket and can be hand tuned. To make it function you only need three AA batteries and your imagination. It also has a two way adapter and a volume control. The site also offers a case for your little instrument. The case is designed specifically for the new model and its role is to hold and protect the instrument. The case is an exclusive item offered by the same site.
A re-make of the little synthesizer that appeared on the market at the end of the 60s, the gadget was considered a toy. The little keyboard functions by pressing it with the help of a little thin pen like utensil. Over 3 million pieces were sold when it first appeared becoming a popular toy for both boys and girls. Several versions appeared and some of them were used by musicians like David Bowie, Erasure, Marilyn Manson, and Pulp during the 90s.
The newest and improved version of the little synthesizer appeared in 2007 and is becoming as popular as 40 years ago. However there are still websites that sell the original model. Promoted as a musical instrument that anybody can play even if they do not have any musical training, both the old and the new model are being disliked by some people. But if you take it as a fun item before everything else, the miniature instrument made of all kinds of funky noises.
Even though 100milligrams.com is based in Hong Kong, they ship their items all over the world and accept Paypal as payment or the Visa and MasterCard credit cards. You can see the prices in their catalogue in US Dollars, Euros, Hong Kong Dollars and Australian Dollars. The site offers a lot of cool things for your personal use or things that can make great funny present for your friends. The Stylophone can be a great gift for everybody that love retro and vintage things. You can make funny music with it by playing one note at a time or by moving the integrated stylus up and down the instrument. The gadget is made in silver and gold tones thus being both flashy and funky. And for the ones who liked it a lot there are also books that provided songs written in the instrument’s way.
The 100milligrams.com website offers you exclusively the stylish little electronic organ called Stylophone. for some this is a dear memory for others a new cool thing, but for all a pleasant way of spending their time and playing their favorite songs.
By Blair Matthews
It’s been 23 long years since one of the most famous national soda brands in beverage history has last been enjoyed. And chances are at least some packrats out there still have a few old plastic cases of empty stubbies collecting dust in their basement with faded red and white logos that have seen better days. Well, the familiar logo is back, the dust has been swept under the rug and The Pop Shoppe is back in business. And if new owner, Brian Alger has anything to say about it, the brand is back to stay.
When the chain last saw the light of day, Ronald Regan was president, plaid pants were still considered cool, and Pepsi was on the brink of winning the cola wars against Coke.
Venturetek International Ltd., the parent company of Pop Shoppe International Inc., had fallen on hard times. It had seen fame and fortune in the ’70s the likes of which the original Pop Shoppe entrepreneurs from London, Ontario (Canada) had never dreamed possible. It was considered by many to be a popular staple for soda pop lovers. Most loved it because of the more than 30 flavors of pop that you could mix and match in cases of 24 returnable stubby bottles – complete with plastic red cases. It was cheap pop and had a simple concept that quickly caught on famously across North America.
Rapid franchise expansion across Canada, a promising venture into the U.S., and a record setting year made 1977 an unforgettable time for Pop Shoppe drinkers. Nearly every town in Ontario had a Pop Shoppe depot as the chain stretched from one end of Canada to the other. But less than five years later, its storied journey was coming to an end.
Sales plummeted, trading of Pop Shoppes shares was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the red ink was quickly becoming embarassing.
To this day, marketing people still try to pinpoint the reason for the chain’s demise. It wasn’t a simple explanation.
The consumer’s love affair with convenience was dawning and with Coke and Pepsi selling their products at reduced prices in supermarkets where consumers could do their grocery shopping and pickup soda pop in cans for less money, popularity of the Pop Shoppe had seemingly run its course. Company mismanagement and misdirection has also been cited as a reason for Pop Shoppe’s downfall.
The company slowly slipped away and embossed itself into beverage history much like its discounted pop had done in a sometimes unpredictable marketplace.
Fast-forward to 2005, and enter Food and Beverage Entrepreneur, Brian Alger.
Alger knew the history of the Pop Shoppe chain well and for years had thought, in the back in his mind, about bringing back a little part of his ’70s childhood. Though his expertise wasn’t specifically rooted in marketing fizzy drinks, it was something he knew he wanted to do if the circumstances were right.
Alger started the trademark process of bringing back the Pop Shoppe brand in the spring of 2002, a process that took about 18 months. Up to that point the Pop Shoppe trademarks had been abandoned since the brand had folded up shop in the early 1980s and the registration expired in 1994, Alger says.
The logos and trademark names laid dormant for more than 10 years and when Alger discovered they were available, the wheels started turning.
So why try to bring back a popular 1970s soda from the proverbial recycling bin more than 20 years after its heyday? Alger says it’s all about nostalgia. “Like a lot of people my age, we kind of grew up on the Pop Shoppe and have a lot of fond memories of it. I was surprised that no one held the trademarks and I felt there was a tremendous amount of brand equity still with the brand,” he says. “I thought there might be an opportunity there to resurrect what I think is one of the best known Canadian trademarks.”
As a teenager growing up in Burlington, Ontario, Pop Shoppe soda was the pop of choice in the Alger household. “That’s what we had at our school dances,” Alger remembers. “When I was in school I was a person who was a bit disruptive in class so there was a period in time that they would give me my lessons in the morning and then they would send me up to what I call a storage room to do my work so I didn’t bother anybody else. The room was a storage room for the whole school and there was no light inside… so they had to have my desk face the back of the room and leave the door open so there could be some light,” he says. If the desk had faced towards the hallway, Alger would stop people and talk to them. At the back of the room the student council had stored all of their cases of Pop Shoppe pop. “I would just sit there for hours on end and of course I wouldn’t do my school work – I would just stare at Pop Shoppe all day long. Who knows how that affected me later on down the road,” Alger says.
“Unfortunately they were pop-off tops back then rather than twist-tops so even if I wanted a pop I didn’t have an opener with me so it was a bit like torture.”
Of the nearly 30 different varieties of Pop Shoppe soda available in the golden age of the company, Alger was partial to cream soda, and root beer. It’s just a coincidence, he says, that those were two of the first four flavors he brought back to the market in late 2004. “When we looked at the pop market, we looked at what was really selling. Orange and root beer are top flavor sellers and I wanted to look at flavors that were distintive to the Pop Shoppe and that’s where we came up with Black Cherry and Lime Rickey.”
The Pop Shoppe’s porfolio of four flavors will grow by three more this spring when Alger adds Grape, Orange and Pineapple. One flavor absent from the line-up is Cola, a flavor that Alger and his flavor consultants are still working on to recapture the exact recipe that the chain originally used in the 70’s. Since there was no recipe book handed down to him when he bought the rights to the brand, it was up to him to find original bottles of Pop Shoppe (which he primarily found on eBay), then dissect and analyse the contents of each flavor. It’s taken countless hours of research to come up with the tastes that do the original flavors justice.
And the lack of a cola flavor is by no means because of Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s dominance in that market. “When the Pop Shoppe was around the first time, it was born out of necessity… Coke and Pepsi really dominated the market and consumers were paying a high price for soft drinks at the time. When Pop Shoppe came around,” Alger says, “it really filled that void.” These days, every grocery store chain has their own brand but in the 1970s that wasn’t the case. “Pop Shoppe filled two areas – they gave you a great tasting soda and they gave you value for your money.”
At first, Alger toyed with the idea of going back to the Pop Shoppe’s original concept of store front locations where consumers could drop in and mix and match their cases of 24 bottles for one price in returnable glass bottles. But after doing a lot of research and talking to people in the beverage industry he decided the stand-alone beverage store – using refillable containers – was an inconvenience for people; it was concept that had run its course years ago and just wasn’t economically feasible.
Alger is quick to point out though, that Pop Shoppe’s store-front concept wasn’t the reason that the chain self-destructed back in the early 1980s. It was mainly due to mismanagement within the company, he claims.
When the store-front idea fizzled out, he decided that he could market the soda through a distributor much the same way that other gourmet and specialty sodas are done. So with a working model started and the trademarks secured, plans began to take shape. While flavors and recipes were being researched, Alger considered the packaging that they should use. “I looked at doing 2 L bottles and 600mL plastic but that really doesn’t do justice to the Pop Shoppe heritage. I’m a big believer that soft drinks should be drank from a glass container – you’re getting the pure taste of the pop. If you drink pop that’s been sitting in a plastic 2 liter for six months, it’s not very good at all,” Alger says.
The problem he immediately found with going to a glass container was the cost involved. But, he figured with the power of the trademark behind it and the wave of nostalgia that people are currently feeling for the old brand, it was a worthy investment.
“The response has been tremendous,” Alger proudly declares. And to build on the nostalgic flavor he’s also currently working on bringing back the familiar design of the stubby glass bottle with the diamond embossing. “What my goal has been all along is to really make it as close to what it was as possible. We’ve certainly got that on the formula side of things and if we can work on getting the package back to that now, it would be great.”
Old Pop Shoppe In Your Neighborhood Might Not Be the ‘Real’ Stuff:
And for those soda connoisseurs out there who’ve been able to find old style Pop Shoppe soda for sale at their neighborhood corner store (in the old worn stubby bottles), Alger says you’re likely not getting original Pop Shoppe pop. When the Pop Shoppe declared bankruptcy back in the 1980s they liquidated all the assets of the company – including all the familiar old red cases and stubby glass bottles. Anyone who wanted to purchase the equipment or property was free to do so.
Some locations (at least one in British Columbia and a few scattered around the United States) bought the assets of the local bottler in their area and continued bottling soda pop using those same old Pop Shoppe glass stubbies. “They’re not able to market it under that name or say that it’s Pop Shoppe brand soda, but you still get it in those original bottles,” Alger explains.
And based on the analysis of the pop that was still being filled in those original bottles (Alger paid a company to analyse what was being put in them for him), it was most certainly not any soda pop that Alger would bottle. “It was absolutely horrible. The flavor profile was terrible – it was like someone made it in their bathtub and bottled it from there. I could not believe how bad it was.”
‘Bootleg’ pop in old Pop Shoppe bottles is an issue that Alger figures he’ll deal with somewhere down the road since he now owns the U.S. trademarks for Pop Shoppe as well. Though it’s within his rights as trademark holder to restrain bottlers from packaging their sodas in those old reuseable Pop Shoppe glass stubbies, it’s also a costly issue to try to curb. “My focus is getting the brand back out in the market and out into as many stores as possible and then we’ll look at doing something about that later on. For me, it’s an issue, but not a priority right now.”
A Pop Shoppe Collector is Born:
Before he began his venture into the beverage world, Alger admits he wasn’t much of a soda pop collector. Once he knew what his plans were for the old brand, his attitude about collecting changed drastically and a Pop Shoppe memorabilia collector was born. “I just wanted to secure as much memorabilia dedicated to the Pop Shoppe as I could.”
Alger has bought nostalgic items like bottles, openers, signs, and even a replica Eddie Shack Pop Shoppe jersey as seen in many of the old ads for the soda pop.
Which begs the question: will there be a new spokesperson named for Pop Shoppe and would Alger ever consider trying to bring Shack, the original spokesman for the brand, back into the fold?
“We’ve had some conversations with the design team and there’s no doubt about it – he was a huge part of that at the time. It may be something we do down the road but nothing immediate,” Alger confesses. “But it is a consideration.”
For the most part, Alger says he has more of an in-store marketing philosophy for the brand with most advertising and promotion done with point-of-sale materials and in-store specials. “Let’s face it, people are coming in ready to buy something – a lot of people don’t have their mind made up specific to a brand or a flavor so if we work hard on the inside of the store P.O.S. material than I think we can really grab the attention of people and let them know that the brand is available there.”
For Alger, the big kick-off for 2005 will be at this year’s Canadian International Food & Beverage Show in Toronto where Pop Shoppe will be well-represented.
Taking the brand into the electronic age:
The website for Pop Shoppe has created new buzz among soda drinkers and collectors alike who remember the brand with fond memories. “Lately I’ve been getting e-mails and calls from people who have memorabilia and photos of Pop Shoppe – it’s absolutely fantastic to see these things. Some of the e-mails I get from people that are so excited to see the brand back in the market are great. They see that trademark and they get a flood of memories and emotions. They’ll see that logo and it’ll take them right back to a summer at the cottage or whatever. I think that’s unbelieveable that a trademark and a brand can hold that kind of equity for somebody.”
Chatting With the Original Founder of Pop Shoppe:
Someone who can certainly relate to Alger’s situation of starting up a beverage company from scratch would be Gary Shaw, one of the original founders of Pop Shoppe when it was still a young fledging start-up company in London.
Alger was thrilled to have the chance to chat with Shaw recently about Pop Shoppe’s early days.
“This was a man that started something and didn’t realize how big an impact it would have. He and his partners began with $40,000 and it sky-rocketed from there. For them to have the vision to take it to where it was and to be able to identify the definite need in the marketplace for it was brilliant,” Alger says.
When Alger broke the news to him that he was about to bring the brand back from the dead, Shaw was excited.
“He’s a guy that says once he closes the chapter on something he moves on and from there he started up ‘Grandma Lee’s’ (another well-known Canadian company). He certainly speaks proudly of the accomplishments they made with the Pop Shoppe.”
If anything, Alger adds, Shaw was a little surprised that no one had attempted to take another run at the nostalgic favorite before now.
More Pop Shoppe Memorabilia Coming:
Alger urges Pop Shoppe fans to be on the lookout for some retro memorabilia that will soon be launched to coincide with the return of the brand. “We’re going to start working on some stuff – we’re going to look at some of the things that Pop Shoppe did in the past and look at doing some of those things. We’d kind of like to go retro like frisbees or yo-yos or things that fit in with that ’70s time,” he says.
Personal acquaintances of Alger and his fiancee got a special treat at their wedding back in November when they received a commemorative Pop Shoppe bottle produced especially for the wedding guests. It featured a wedding graphic on the corner of the label and came packaged in a giftbox.
Should the brand ever reach the levels of sales that it once did, Alger is mindful that some of the wedding guests may want to cash in on its success by putting their special wedding bottle up for bids on eBay. So he numbered each bottle and recorded who was given which bottle, just so he knows who to rib should he ever discover that someone is selling their special gift.
Currently there are about 70 bottles present and accounted for.
So what’s been the toughest part of bringing back a legendary soda pop? Alger says it’s the fact that he’s doing the entire project on his own – from distribution deals and financing to marketing and product development (which is rare in the cut-throat beverage industry these days). And dealing with a brand that most people remember means there are big shoes to fill with little room for error. “I take it quite seriously and I realize that there are a lot of people that have a fondness for that brand. I want to bring it back as original as it was and give people that 5 or 10 minutes in a day when they can think of a fond memory of Pop Shoppe and whatever else they were doing at the time,” he says.
But at the same time, he recognizes that his core audience is still that 13 to 17-year-old group of consumers that will inevitably make or break the Pop Shoppe venture. So far, Alger says he’s amazed that the kids are buying up Pop Shoppe – perhaps because everything retro from the past seems to be cool again, including clothes and hair styles. “I think the kids get de-sensitized by all of these other marketing companies that put these hardcore graphics on their packaging… when they see something like Pop Shoppe, it’s simple, but it’s got that nostalgic look to it. It’s just simple soda. I don’t want to market this like ‘if you’re able to drink this you’re going to be able to snowboard better or you’re gonna be able to jump off cliffs’ or whatever. It represents a simpler time,” Alger stresses.
And what about all of those packrats who still harbor cases of 20-year-old Pop Shoppe bottles in their garage or basement?
They’ve already started coming out of the woodwork.
“We had somebody that called us saying she had a couple cases of those empties and wanted to know how she could get refunded for the deposit. What can I say… if I had a need for them I’d certainly take them back. I told her that her best bet was to try putting them up on eBay,” he says with a laugh.
For more information about The Pop Shoppe, visit their website at: www.thepopshoppe.com.
Blair Matthews is the editor and publisher of the Soda Spectrum Series, a print magazine dedicated to soda pop collecting.