MILWAUKEE — The 35th annual Astra toy convention wrapped up at Milwaukee's Baird Center on Monday, drawing specialty toy retailers from across the country to preview and purchase products for their stores — including inventory for the upcoming holiday season.
The convention is hosted by Astra, a trade organization for independent toy retailers. Sue, the president of Astra, said the show stands out because of the type of buyers it attracts.
"Owners that own stores that come and they curate their products, they pay attention to what they buy. So they go through, they really take a look at the products and they buy. They buy for their current time, but they're also buying for the holiday season," Sue said.
Watch: Toy convention held at Baird Center:
Beyond the buying floor, the convention has a tradition of giving back to the local community. Rather than shipping unsold products home, many vendors leave their remaining inventory to be donated to area charities.
"It's really important to us. Number one, community in general is very important. So many of these vendors leave what they have brought to donate to the local community because it's really important to us that these good toys get in the hands of people that are gonna really enjoy them and use them," Sue said.
The charities set to receive donated toys include the Ronald McDonald House, Penfield Children's Center, Neighborhood House in Milwaukee, and Kids Matter Inc. With the show having wrapped up, the donated toys are now staged at the Baird Center for those organizations to collect. Donating locally also makes financial sense — shipping costs make it more economical for vendors to leave toys behind rather than transport them back.
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