Abstract:
Nuremberg is a magic city. For one week each February this quaint but
bustling place becomes an international wonderland. Not only is a fortune
in toy business transacted but a very warm and human thing takes place.
Visitors renew old associations and make new ones. Germans, Amercians,
Britons, Poles, Belgians, French, Italians, Czechs, Swedes, Danes, Russians,
Orientals, and others are involved in the largest display of toys in the world;
and with each other,
Peoples attitudes toward merchandise become stereotyped after a number
of years in the toy business. But their attitudes and behavior toward their
one time a year friends take on a new vitality each succeeding year.
For American toy buyers the Nuremberg Spielwarenmesse (Toy Fair) offers
a convenience of shopping not found elsewhere. The slick, high pressure
salesmanship of New York is absent here. It is truly a buyers market. For
the American toy manufacturer, Nuremberg affords 4 he opportunity to broaden
his market and sources of supply as well as the chance to look for hew items,
and even more important, new ideas.
The exhibitions are held in five connecting buildings and there is an
ample sprinkling of restaurants, snack bars, and vendors purveying the popular
Nuremberg bratwurst. These are small sausages served with or without sauer-
kraut and mustard. The buildings are well lit and well heated. This year
these pleasant physical conditions were supplemented by unseasonably warm,
clear weather.
