<http://www.thejournalnet.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=113&ArticleID=47738>http://www.thejournalnet.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=113&ArticleID=47738
Blue, pink or neutral? Some stores divide by gender
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
By JO ELLEN WERKING WEEDMAN
Daily Journal staff writer, jweedman thejournalnet com
Dec. 8, 2004
When Julie Wells sets up a dollhouse in her home, her 3-year-old daughter
plays with it, but so does her 1-year-old son.
She notices the same thing with the kids of her girlfriends and her
customers in the toy store she owns.
?All of my friends that have 2-year-old girls are buying trains, and we
have boys that come to tea parties occasionally,? said Wells, co-owner of
Imagination Station, a specialty toy store in Franklin.
As parents crowd toy aisles trying to find the perfect gift for their
young children this year, they?re likely to find boys? toys and girls? toys.
Barbies, Bratz dolls and kitchen sets are in the pink sections, while
guns, trains and Power Rangers are in the blue.
Puzzles, books and sometimes blocks are in what experts call a
gender-neutral section. But in some stores, items like blocks and Legos
are only available in the boys? section.
But many of the parents Wells talks to each day aren?t looking for girls?
toys or boys? toys; they want educational toys that provide a hands-on
experience for a child, preferably without batteries.
Many of the toys in Wells? store are in primary colors and not directly
marketed to one gender or the other, but some are.
A shelf is divided into two sections. One side is dollhouse accessories;
the other is spy equipment and toolboxes.
?This is the stuff grandparents come in looking for,? she said.
For retailers, making parents happy is key to good sales, and parents are
divided about what they want, a Purdue University researcher said.
Richard Feinberg, professor of consumer sciences and retailing, said that
whether to market toys based on gender is a hard decision for retailers.
For instance, Toys ?R? Us decided in 2000 after 10,000 interviews with
customers to create a Girl?s World and a Boy?s World section.
Feinberg said toys are typically a gender-segmented market, but some
retailers have gone back and forth.
He said retailers want to meet the needs of customers, mainly parents of
young children, but the way parents make choices about toys is confused.
?Some parents choose traditional gender toys, but some parents don?t want
them to (target a boy or a girl for a specific toy),? Feinberg said.
The parents Wells sees in her store mostly parents want toys that help
their children use their imagination.
?We?ve got a girl coming to one of our Thomas (The Train) play days
tomorrow, and she?ll have a blast,? Wells said.
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