Well , we are about to start the second half of the Fall ‘25 LA preview season just emerging from our “gap week” between the Target and Walmart/Sam’s meetings and the two plus weeks for Amazon, the balance of mass retailers, international retailers and international distributors. We go from a couple meetings a day during the first half to between 20 and 4O per day with key, LA-based licensors sprinkled in amongst the retailers and distributors. The word is that there will be more than 200 companies exhibiting products in showrooms around the El Segundo hub during the second half of the previews. That’s up from about 40 to 60 companies showing during the first half of previews. It will feel a bit like Hong Kong and Mody Road meets the Dallas Market Center with the neighborhood feel of HK with the volume of companies we used to see in Dallas.
There will be a lot of thinking and talking about what works and what doesn’t about LA for buyers and vendors. Can we get this process down to, say, two weeks? I’m sure there are enough smart people in our industry to figure this out.
So far, we’ve not seen buyers in the first two weeks commit more than four days to LA and several only two or three days. What that means is that only a limited number of vendors will be able to see buyers those weeks. Many vendors will still have to supplement LA with in-person visits to retailer HQs. At Basic Fun, we had a more than respectable showing in-person in LA but still had to go out a week before previews to do an HQ visit and were also out this gap week to HQs as well. In addition, there are meetings at corporate HQs set for early October so the previews are really a rolling eight weeks from mid-August to early October!
The biggest challenge for the 200-plus vendors that need to do all the previews for all the accounts, besides uncomfortable airplane seats and jet lag, is the disruption of personal time. For example, in many parts of the country during the last two weeks of August kids start school and some of us are missing putting our kids on the school bus, drop off the first day or helping our kids move into dorm rooms. On a personal note, I missed moving my own son into his dorm room at Boston College and will be missing my daughter’s 16th birthday and four volleyball games this year to be in LA. Of course, as the man said…. “this is the business we’ve chosen”! You gotta’ do what you gotta’ do here!
Those of us that have been around for 20-plus years know the travel drill, but in an age where some offices are still getting staff back in only a couple days a week, getting a new generation out to embrace the “road warrior” mentality isn’t going to be easy, and this industry needs a next generation big time!
So, as we all discuss among ourselves the next two weeks in LA at the cocktail parties and WIT event, bumping into each other along Continental Drive or on the Strand in Manhattan Beach, let’s be thinking about what–if anything–can be done to make the preview season more efficient and shorter for all before we have no one left to do the work!
On another note I’m very pleased to report Basic Fun’s imminent emergence from our restructuring process. We’ve entered into a complete settlement with our private equity partner. We expect swift and final approval from the court in Delaware within 30 to 45 days. We have the full support of all our partners and lenders and a dynamic new capital plan, which will enable us to continue to grow and look for new acquisition opportunities.
I’d like to stress that not one supplier, retailer, licensors or employee was negatively affected by the restructuring, and it’s been business as usual along the way. That’s very different than, say, what happened in the case of Toys “R” Us that went from a C11 process to a Chapter 7 liquidation or companies like Delta Airlines or General Motors who emerged from C11 processes but left many employees and vendors suffering loses. It’s certainly no fun to go through this type of process; it’s stressful on all involved, but sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward.
In fact, we’re taking several steps forward as we expect this year to be a record setting sales year for the company led by new introductions, as well as our carry forward brands. I remain the majority owner of the business and operating CEO, and our entire management team remains firmly in place. At Basic Fun we’ve got our head down and are pushing forward to build value for our stakeholders and partners.
Jay
Very insightful, as always Jay! Maybe I’ll run into you this week. I’m glad to hear your business is rebounding so well! Congrats–I’m sure it was challenging and a lot of work.