Toy-buying isn’t what it used to be, some say

Parents and grandparents know what’s on the kids’ wish list: electronics.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

Playing Santa is a lot tougher these days.

“How would a grandma know how to buy this?” asked Martha Salvatore as she held up a package with a remote-controlled helicopter.

The 68-year-old Campbell resident recalled when her children were young. The presents were easy-to-understand stuff like dolls, footballs and puzzles. High-tech gadgets back then were dolls that talked when you pulled the string.

Now that she’s buying for grandchildren, dolls can be taught to learn words and respond to voice commands. Helicopters can be steered through the air. And video games can take you just about anywhere.

Salvatore can pick through this assortment only because her daughter is right by her side.

“I’m lost,” Salvatore said on a recent trip through the toy section at Wal-Mart. “I have to bring my daughter with me. I don’t know what to buy.”

Would-be Santas have to understand electronics today.

“Kids are drawn to the latest and greatest digital devices just as their parents are,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst for The NPD Group. “They appear to have no fear of technology.”

Many of the toys that Salvatore recalls buying as a young mother have been pushed aside on store shelves.

Action figures and dolls aren’t the hottest sellers anymore. NPD, which monitors trends for retailers, said sales of action figures and outdoor toys were down in the first half of this year. Sales of dolls were flat, after a decline last year.

The toy category with the biggest jump in sales this year was vehicles. Toy rows today have plenty of cars and trucks that light up and beep, but more advanced technology allows boats to zip through water and rockets to fly in the air. Or if you prefer retro, you can use your remote-conrolled device to steer a 1963 Volkswagen bus.

Another category with a big sales gain was youth electronics.

Salvatore’s shopping adviser, daughter Cindy Merlo, knew that some electronics education would be required. The 41-year-old Columbiana resident laughed when she picked an MP3 player that Grandma was buying for her daughter.

“My mother thinks this is a radio,” Merlo said. “I had to explain to her that a radio plays music, but with an MP3 player you load music. I can control it. That’s the good side.”

Salvatore didn’t say anything about the MP3 player being good for her granddaughter, but she sure had an opinion about the price of the device that fit into the palm of her hand.

“This is $50. This is all it is. It’s this big,” she said.

She remembers when Christmas meant lots of big presents under the tree.

“Everything was big,” she said. “Now, you get three small boxes, and it’s $500.”

Frazier of the New York-based research company said children are using consumer electronic devices at a younger age. The average age that children start using such devices fell to 6.7 years old this year from 8.1 years old in 2005.

Devices mentioned most as being bought during the past year are cell phones, digital cameras and digital media players.

Games and puzzles aren’t dead, however. The NPD report showed a slight gain in sales in this category during the first half of this year.

A trip through the toy aisles shows that games are alive and well. Monopoly, Sorry and Candyland are all there.

Many of the games, however, have been upgraded to the electronic age. Take Monopoly, for example. A new version, Monopoly Here & Now, replaces the multicolored cash with an electronic card. Each time you need to make a transaction, you swipe the card into a reader and the balance on your card is recalculated.

Michele Macias, 37, of Lowellville, said she’s tried some of the updated board games and hasn’t been impressed.

“I stick with the old games like Sorry and Yahtzee. Some of the new games are stupid,” she said.

Of course, when it comes to buying gifts for her children, she likes to get what they want. Mostly, that involves electronics.

She recently bought her 19-year-old daughter the Harry Potter game, but it was the version that’s played with a DVD. And her son was so anxious to get Rock Band, a video game, that he asked for it on his December birthday instead of Christmas.

“For him, if it’s not a video game, you might as well not buy it,” she said.

It seems like all toys talk, beep or buzz these days. But that’s not quite the case yet. On a Wal-Mart shelf, amid a row of voice changers and hand-held video games, sat an example of a low-tech toy from years past. It was a toy that didn’t take batteries but imagination — a stick pony.

shilling@vindy.com