Logistically centered Bentonville dubbed as North Pole for toys

Toys lined three city blocks around the Bentonville Square at the recent Toyland event, the most attended of all of the city’s popular First Friday outings. There were 36 toy suppliers – Wal-Mart vendors – set up under awnings to display the latest, most sought-after toys for area kids to see and test again this year.

“We estimate between 8,000 and 10,000 people visited this year’s event. It was the biggest yet in the five years we have hosted this popular outing,” said Brandi Wardlaw, event coordinator for Downtown Bentonville Inc.

She said it’s a family favorite and aside from seeing thousands of smiling kids, one local charity — Sharing for Caring came away the big winner as 80% of the toys on display were donated to them by the area suppliers. 

“The suppliers really enjoy being able to donate the display toys to a local charity. This year 4,600 children are being served by Sharing for Caring for the holiday and the area toy vendors have played a big role is making this a memorable holiday for those kids,” Wardlaw said.

While the square has been cleared of the wall-to-wall toy displays, Wardlaw said there are several activities schedule Saturday (Nov. 22) on the town square:
1 p.m.: Winter Wonderland Pageant
2 p.m.: Winter Holiday Market
4 p.m.: Live Music
6 p.m.: Lighting of the square
6:30 p.m.: Opening of Lawrence Plaza Ice Rink

REDMAN PERSPECTIVE
Mel Redman, CEO of Redman & Associates, said the event downtown each year is a win for the parents, kids and vendors.

“We used this event for directing marketing to see which toys the kids were most drawn to and how long the batteries would last,” he said.

His firm not did attend this year, but said they had taken part in the festivities since they began. Redman Industries is a toy importer for children’s ride-on toys which are made in China. Redman said despite issues with his manufacturer he does have toys for sale in Wal-Mart stores this Christmas.

Aside from the ride-on toys, Redman also secured shelf space at Wal-Mart and Walmart.com for a new child’s puzzle toy known as the Buzzle Ball. It’s akin to the Rubics Cube but was invented by Clay Judice of New Orleans.

“He contacted me to try and broker this toy into retail. He sold me the rights for a royalty on sales. I worked with Bentonville Plastics to develop the molds for the plastic toy, which is made here. We shipped to Wal-Mart Stores in August. It sells for $19.97. and we just completed an order for 12,000 of them, which were packaged and shipped form our Rogers facility,” Redman said.

REDMAN TOY ORIGIN
Redman spent 25 years with Wal-Mart Stores, helping to open the retailer’s business in Canada after the purchase of 125 Woolco Stores in 1993. He then worked as a senior vice president of operations in the West before returning to Bentonville as CEO Jack Shumaker’s assistant.

By age 44, Redman said he was ready to do something else so he retired from Wal-Mart but began consulting out of his home. For three years Redman said he worked exclusively in the Northeast as a broker for product suppliers. One of those suppliers was Rand International.

“In 2007, I was selling 6-volt ride-on toys for Rand International – the Spider Man licensing. By 2009, we took over the Rand business and Redman had seven items on the side counter day-in and day-out,” Redman said.

That’s how the retired retail veteran got into the competitive toy business.

Today, Redman is an importer of the ride-on toys which is a very competitive category. He’s a self-proclaimed small fish among the Fisher Price, Mattel and Pacific Cycle giants who each sell children’s ride-on toys. He said a sweet spot for Redman has been the affordability factor. He said the 6-volt ride-on princess toys sell for $59 at Wal-Mart which is affordable for most families, even if they need to use the retailer’s layaway option.

The bigger 12-volt versions have also been a hot item for Redman. He said these products retail under $175, compared to the $250 to $300 price tag for the major brands who often have layered on character-related licensing fees.

Redman said the toy business is a 365-day a year job, even though around 65% of the annual sales take place in the last three months of the year. His toy business is roughly 1 million pieces sold annually to various retailers,  with the majority sold to Wal-Mart.

IMPORT SCHEDULES
As an importer, Redman said he has to work with a manufacturer’s production schedule, estimating the number of toys needed for the holidays well in advance. He said the toys are made all year and shipped from Shanghai to Long Beach which is a 12- to 13-day journey overseas. 

Toys then have to pass customs and are held in storage for weekly shipments to customers. Going to coast to coast he said the timeline is another 14 days. He said to ensure toys are in stores for the holiday rush, plans are usually made one year in advance with the real build up occurring at least seven months out.

“It’s big math project to ensure the right amount of product is ordered and shipped in a timely manner so retailer shelves can be replenished,” Redman said.

That doesn’t take into account delays like the one being felt now with a shortage of drayage trucks and lack of chassis on which to move the containers, according to the Cass Freight Index report for October. Toy retailers, in particular, have been hard hit and everyone is feeling the effect of a three-week delay now at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, according to the report.

ALTERNATIVE PLAN
Redman has plans to use his large facility in Rogers as a logistics operations. The facility has 26 loading docks and he said it’s being used to package and distribute loads. He said 51 loads were recently processed in one night for Redman’s own products.

But, by marrying the brokerage business with logistics capabilities, Redman believes he found an upside for growth potential to his full-time staff of 30. He expects to share more details on this alternative plan in the coming weeks as well as an update on the pending litigation with his manufacturer in China.

Redman said the toy business is a job that can done from just about anywhere in the world, but Bentonville is unique because it’s home to Wal-Mart and is logistically centered in the U.S.