Where does he get those beautiful toys? Tim Holliday, co-owner of Children’s World, for years has brought the best children's toys into the homes of families in Southwest Florida. Now he will serve as treasurer for the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association and ensure store owners across the country are well-equipped for the task of keeping children smiling and happy when they play.

What is the role of ASTRA in the retail world? It’s really the only association in the country specifically designed to help specialty toy stores. We have a big convention and trade show with specialty toy manufacturers. For all toy retailers, it’s a major buying trip for the year. We also do launch and education programs, helping certify members in good ways to run a business. I’ve had a nice hand in that. And we work and do advocacy on protection laws to help prevent issues with kids but also not be ridiculous to the point where it’s impossible to enforce or for a small manufacturer to be able to work.

What are the most important things for the association in the immediate future? We’ve spent the last couple years working on a strategic plan. The education initiative has been a piece. Another piece is working on there being interest in opening new specialty toy stores. We are also working on the technology initiative on how to help stores, and we’ve got a member relations position we’ve created and filled. We are looking to utilize that to bring a three-legged stool all together so we can help each other and help grow the industry.

What is the role for specialty toy stores in today’s economy, especially with so many online outlets? Technology is great, and we are embracing technology, but want to make sure it’s the right technology. Some of the things kids can play online are not the best. Some have no educational value. But at our last meeting, we saw a product coming out in the fall that opens up like a board game, but you set it up and it basically lets a child make their own video game. It’s a connection between open-ended play and technology. Hands-on play is never going to go away, even with robots to do work for us. We still will want to pull out and touch a toy or a puzzle. In fact, we’ve seen a resurgence in families saying, let’s sit down, turn everything off and play games. We want to be a part of that.