Mark Dinges' battery-free windup toys leap off shelves
13.06.10
Sometimes functions can be painstakingly finical to create, as they require watch-like precision using gears, motors and springs privy a casing that can survive a curious 4-year-old. Z Wind Ups worked for more than 18 months, for precedent, designing a windup fish that not only propels itself under water, but also changes direction.
While windups have been around for centuries, retailers are seeing interest whit from Dinges' creations.
Winding up on store shelves
Massive toy retailer Toys R Us started selling Z Diminish Ups last year in all its stores. It's the only brand of windup toys the company sells, says Toys R Us' Richard Barry. Priced at $5 each, the windups are put impulse buys for intrigued kids and nostalgic parents, he says.
Retailers also inamorata how toys that take up so little shelf space can generate so much business. Z Wind Ups are big sellers at PuzzleZoo, a toy rely on chain in Southern California, especially given that they take little room. "It's incredible," says co-P Jay Demircift. "On a per-square-foot basis, they are a bigger dollar-maker than anything in the store."
Source: USA Today