Landbridge Toys – an introduction

I recently discovered a new toy website called Landbridge Toys. They are a new web presence in the toy industry but are no stranger to the toy business. The Owners of Landbridge Toys have run a successful retail toy store in Greenwich, CT since 2002. And they are no ordinary toy store, they only carry fine quality toys from around the world for children of all ages.

The Landbridge Toys website, while still under some construction in a few of the areas, is pleasant and well laid out. The navigation on the left allows you to search by type of toy, age range or brand and every toy has a great picture and detailed description. They even tell you the country of origin that each toy came from. You will notice that some of their toys come from China, and I know that there is serious concern about lead paint in Chinese made toys. I approached Landbridge toys about this issue and they assured me:

We work primarily with small toy designers located in Europe. European designers use the much stricter EC standard for the manufacture of the toys, regardless of the country in which they are actually made. They also manufacture in smaller lots, which allows for closer quality control. None of the toys we sell have been recalled. If a customer has any questions or concerns, they are welcome to contact us.

The toys you will find at Landbridge Toys are unique and very different from the usual toys you will find in the US, except for at some rare boutiques. Many are made of wood and few, if any, contain any sort of electronic parts or flashing lights. They are good, old fashioned toys that stimulate creativity and encourage imagination.

Landbridge Toys carries items for any age range, from newborn on up to adult and they are arranged in the following categories:

Accessories, Architecture, Art, Baby Toys, Books, Building, Decorative, Dolls, Food/Grocery/Kitchen, Furniture, Games & Puzzles, Gift Card, Imaginary Play, Motor Skills Play, Outdoor, Science, Sensory Play and Stuffed Animals

They also carry the following brands:

Automoblox, Baby Watch, colorme, Chronicle Books, Erector, Fascinations, Front Porch Classics, Grand, Little Theater, Haba, Hape/Educo, Hansa, HQ Kites, Jellycat, Kapla, Latitude Enfant, Le Toy Van, LIKEaBIKE, Magic Lamp, Marklin Trains, Mountain Boy Sledworks, Offi, OgoSport, Oregon Scientific, Papo, Plan Toys, PlaSmart, Pumgo, Ravensburger, Schleich, ShapeScapeS, Sigikid, Sterling Publishing,, Thames And Kosmos, Uberstix, UglyDoll, Vilac, WoodyClick (Hape) and Zabazoo

My favorite toy, is hands down, the life-size goat stuffed animal. Yep, you heard me. A LIFE-SIZE GOAT! The goat is made by Hansa, and all Hansa animals are made by hand in Germany and were designed using photographs of the animals. Pretty cool!

Landbridge Toys currently only ships to the USA and offers free shipping for orders over $99 (some restrictions apply). They also have a Wishlist service so you can “bookmark” all the toys that your kids want Grandma and Grandpa to get for them. If you don’t see a specific toy you are looking for by one of their listed manufacturers you can contact Landbridge Toys and they will try and order it for you. If you are looking for a specific item and it says “Temp Out of Stock”, they encourage you to contact them and provide an email address, so they can contact you as soon as the product arrives back in stock. Another nice feature of the site is that they have a product review section for each toy and offer you the option of writing a review as well. Once the site grows, I imagine this will be a wonderful tool for them, as consumer reviews are very popular (way to go Moms!).

So, if you have a minute, go check out Landbridge Toys and then come back here and let us know your thoughts. The Owners are interested in feedback about their site and this gives us the opportunity to help a small business that is selling great products, to grow and flourish.

So tell me, what do you think of their site?