Editor's notes

If you couldn't make it to Florida last month for the sixth annual Kids Today conference, you really missed out. Fortunately we have highlights in this issue and we'll bring you more next month.

We had great speakers like Francie Brudner, Arnold and Fran Sude, Maria Bailey and Teresa Kroll and enlightening discussions from our retail panelists; our consumer panel with grandparents was a huge hit.

Here's what I took away:

The Internet is a touchy subject in this industry. Retailers who don't sell on the Web don't want manufacturers to let other retailers sell on the Web. Manufacturers should control Internet pricing and not give discounts to Internet retailers. The list goes on. Interestingly, the majority of the grandparents on our consumer panel not only use the Internet for research but they also shop there.

The tween market isn't going away anytime soon, in fact if anything retailers want to know how to entice them more. Appealing to them with product they can relate to, like Jami Myers does at Breuners Arizona with urban contemporary looks has been successful, but the challenge remains getting tweens in the door. One audience member said if the industry could translate the Abercrombie & Fitch store/brand/concept to furniture it would be a hit. I think it's not so much about the product for tweens, it's about the store environment and what's going on in it.

Francie Brudner talked about targeting mom by meeting her needs as a parent—feeding her aspirations, recognizing how busy she is, etc. She said if you build a relationship between your brand and a mom, she becomes your ambassador. This leads me to Teresa Kroll from Build A Bear.

I'd of course heard of Build A Bear before the conference, but never been in a store. When I got back from Miami, we took the kids. Most likely we'll go again and again. Though I enjoyed Kroll's speech, that wasn't what sold me on visiting a store. It was a conversation the night before when she told me how they treat their employees, how the company gives back to so many good causes and how, despite the fact they're in business to make money, the company isn't afraid to try new things and listen to its customers.

While my kids proudly show off the cat and monkey they built to everyone they meet, I tell my friends and family about the company and how cool I think it is. Talk about becoming an ambassador!