Nieces and nephews

Earlier this month, I was back in Melbourne exhibiting at the Australian Toy Fair, our first trade show for the year. Ten years ago, Garry and I attended this event as Artiwood’s new owners for the first time. It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade already.

This year’s event was a mixed bag. Some smaller customers are doing well, while many of our largest customers told a different story. We heard that one of our low-cost brand competitors was up for sale, and another would love to sell up and retire. Others seem to be flourishing, or so they say. I sense that industry is undergoing a transition, but it’s hard to put a finger on it.

While I was in Melbourne, I caught up with my niece Brooke and her boyfriend Ben. They moved to Australia last month and are now actively job hunting. I took them out for dinner at Marmont in the Crown Casino complex. It’s replaced a fancy Italian restaurant that Garry and I dined at only once before. We took our largest customer out for dinner at Toy Fair several years ago.

I admire Brooke and Ben’s courage in relocating across the Tasman to start a new life. It’s not easy to move to another country without a job, where you don’t know anyone, and know nothing about its culture, rules and regulations. To inspire them, I shared my own story of starting a new life with nothing when I first migrated to Australia. I hope they’ll have a similar story to share in the years ahead.

I also had dinner with Mitch, Garry’s nephew, one night. Mitch and I then joined a group of industry colleagues for dinner at Bang Pop, our favourite Thai restaurant, on another night. I guess you could say this year’s tradeshow entertaining was all about family.