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STATUS REPORT:
Sunday April 20, 2008 05:46 PM
NEWS FOR
April 2008:
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April 1: The balance of Educa's 2008 line arrived today (most of it
anyway). Now, to go along with the
Largest Jigsaw
Puzzle in the world at 24,000 pieces, they boast the
Smallest
1000 piece puzzle. Also,
Educa's first Large Format Puzzles are now in stock. They have 150
pieces that are oversized.
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March 18: Many new FX Schmid & Ravensburger Puzzles arrived today.
Included are 7 of the 2008 Large Format Puzzles, a few 500s, and one
2000 piece. Most of the new releases are now in stock.
-
March 7th: Large restock Sunsout
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March 3rd:
Restock (finally) of the BJ
Roll O
Puzz line of puzzle mats & huge shipment from White Mountain (full
restock, lots of new 2008 titles & 14
State Puzzles:
Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC
) .
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The
New Longshore Sure-LOX
Jigsaw
Puzzles arrived today. They currently
make 4 different
Planet Earth 500 pc. puzzles & 4 of the
Planet Earth 1000
puzzles based on the popular BBC TV Series. We also received their 6
Large Format 300 pc. puzzles, with one of the largest pieces of any 300 pc.
we've tested.
Their 500 pc. puzzles have are also large in comparison to other 500s. All
are in stock as of today, March 3rd.
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Buffalo Games has 5 new Large Format puzzles, 2 of which have arrived
(the others are due in March & April). They include photographs of locations in
Greece,
Austria, Hawaii, Tuscany, & Moscow; they look great!
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2
assortments of Large Format (they call them
EZ Grasp) from Hasbro. One group is photos of landscapes, pets and
other animals. The 2nd set is from the artist Wysocki. These puzzles are
generally not available on the Internet, because Hasbro sells them only
in random assortments and not individually. When we open a carton, we
have no idea what will be inside, not an ideal situation for Internet
sales, but nice for regular retail stores where shoppers always see a
fresh and unique selection. SO, we're trying something different by
offering them to you as random assortments of 6 puzzles for
$32.99 (Approx
$5.49 ea),
which is about half the price when compared to most
other Large Formats.
-
SunsOut restock and some (mostly the Large Formats) new 2008 puzzles
arrived.
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We
saw the SunsOut (USA) line today; it's fantastic. There's lots of new
Large Format Puzzles and loads of other great looking titles. Two of the
NEW 500 piece puzzles are really drawing attention, "True
Blues" which depicts 8 Presidents from the Democratic Party, and "Grand
ol' Gang" (both in Stock) that does the same for the Republicans. They appear to be
playing Poker... priceless!! :) Which presidents are included? You may
be surprised.. Also, SunsOut is bucking the trend of other
manufacturers, stating that there will be NO PRICE INCREASES for any of
their puzzles for 2008.
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The big news today is word from Educa (Spain) that prices are going up
significantly on their 2008 Jigsaws. This is due primarily to
devaluation of the US Dollar vs. the Euro. Increases range from 10% on
500 pc. puzzles to an unbelievable 27% on their 24,000 piece monster
puzzle that is the biggest made in the world. For now at least, we have
decided to absorb more than 1/2 of the increase in most cases. Note that
virtually all manufacturers have raised their 2008 prices, the US
companies because of higher fuel costs (for one), and foreign companies
due to the weak US Dollar.
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Some of the new 2008 Ravensburger and FXSchmid
(Germany) puzzles arrived today
(1/31). Surprisingly, their price increases are quite small. Half the
line shows NO increase at all while some items are approx. 10% higher.
Thanks Ravensburger / FX Schmid!!
* Great American Puzzle Factory has been acquired by Fundex. You
probably haven't heard of Fundex (yet) but they already have several
hits like the card game RAGE. They have also just acquired rights for
Gigamic (Cathedral, Quarto, Quoridor etc.) For the time being, few
changes are expected but these are aggressive moves and they suggest a
bright future for Great American Puzzles.
* We just previewed the Ravensburger / FX Schmid 2008 lines. They're
making a big push on something called "Puzzleballs", 3D spherical
jigsaws with either 96, 240 and 540 PLASTIC pieces. We are intrigued by
the 540 piece ones but at $40 retail, we're not quite convinced yet.
There ARE quite a few new LARGE FORMAT Puzzles, some nice new FX 500
piece puzzles, but otherwise, nothing to get excited about.
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We are very
happy to announce that we are now stocking the
SERENDIPITY & Springbok line.
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Famous College & Pro
Sports Stadiums Puzzles (9 New jigsaws from White Mountain)
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Economy Collapsible Puzzle Rollup for 500-1000 pc puzzles
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The Global Puzzle(s):
A great way to learn the countries of the world quicker and more
enjoyably than ever before.
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New:
Individual piece size
Buffalo
Ceaco
Crown Andrews
FX Schmid
CastorLand
Longshore Sure-Lox
Piatnik
Springbok
Sunsout
White Mountain
Wrebbit
