Toy Fair 2025

It’s been ten years since Garry and I saw Artiwood, our current business, for the very first time. We met with John Daniels, the former owner, at the Australian Gift & Home Association (AGHA) Home & Giving Fair in February 2015. He’d put his business on the market with a broker just ten days earlier.

We met John in the Dome, an exhibition building at the Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush. This let us to see the business in action, review its products, and meet its staff and customers. It was also the first time John had exhibited using a new custom-built. You can see an image of it below.

The new stand certainly made a strong impression. It professionally presented the brands Artiwood supported and gave us a sense of their potential. After meeting with John, we prepared a business case and made him an offer. It took another 3.5 months to complete due diligence, raise bank financing and complete the transaction.

It’ll be ten years next month since I flew to Mullumbimby, via Coolangatta, to meet John again. I spent four days touring his Brisbane-based 3PL warehouse and conducting more due diligence. John hosted me in a small apartment he owned in town. He also took me to Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads during my stay. It was a superb introduction to the Northern Rivers region.

Fast forward a decade. This week, Artiwood exhibited at the annual Australian Toy Association’s Toy Fair in Melbourne. This year we funded a new custom stand. It’s the smallest stand we’ve had at this event, and the smallest we’ve ever built for a major event.

Once again Garry didn't fly to Melbourne. He opted out of the Reed Gift Fair last August to spend more time with his Mum in her final months. Although, after last year's Toy Fair, we'd decided four people on the stand were unnecessary. We coped fine with three of us in August - and again this week. If truth be told, I suspect Garry will never attend another Melbourne trade show.

Sadly, trade shows are no longer a primary marketing tool. As a result, we’re progressively trimming our show budget and spending our marketing dollars elsewhere. However, the week’s event still felt like a watershed experience. We scheduled meetings throughout the week with key accounts and strategic prospects. Collectively, these engagements felt more productive and more progressive than many of the interactions we’ve had previously.

Trading conditions are tough at the moment. Australian retailers are enduring another year of what’s technically a retail recession. If the quality of this week’s engagements is any indication, then maybe we’re almost through the worst. I’m equally encouraged to see our customer base quietly evolving over time.