Emma's Pick of the Week- Rubber Ducky

"Rubber Ducky you're the one! You make working so much fun!"

Emma's LOVES our new styling bud luxury duckies. They come in an assortment are wild styles like the cowboy duck, the tennis duck, the USA duck, Indian chief duck, the cube luxury duck, bloom duck, and so many more. Stop in and find out why Emma is in such a pant over these.

Emma's Pick of the Week- Chilling!

Emma's pick this week was our collection of unusual ice-cube trays! She just likes the idea of chillin'.

Chillbots- bot shaped
Cool Shooters- shot/glass shaped ice you can drink out of
Ice Palace- well a palace of course
Chill Pills- cause we all need to chill
Gin & Titonic - Titanic shaped cubes with boulders
Cool Beans- shaped like coffee beans
Cold Fish- looks like Koi shaped cubes
Frozen Smiles- dentures anyone
Cold Blooded- Fang shaped cubes

New Toy 2011: Airbolt, highest fastest air powered rocket

Find it in our stores or at www.offthewagonshop.com

New Squishables!

I've been buying toys for our stores for about 20 years now. I'm not sure that I could even pretend to count the number of times I've been told this or that toy is going to be the new big trend, or a huge hit for the holidays. Mostly I just ignore those comments completely and judge for myself. I also don't go looking in other peoples stores to try to glean off them what is selling.

Instead what I do is try to look at all the toys out there and bring in my very favorites. Sometimes I hit on something that becomes extremely popular. We were one of the first stores (in Akron at that time) to have the Ty Beanie Babies and we were one of the first (maybe the first) to have Webkinz (in our Stow store). In fact, I had both of those in for a while before they went real crazy. They were a little slow at first believe it or now. I started to wonder if they were going to sell well. Then all of the sudden it hit and from then on I couldn't keep them in stock.

That brings us to these Squishables. A fellow specialty retailer (not in this area) told me that these are blowing off the shelves. I took one look and was sold. These guys are so soft and squishy. I love the size of them... big enough to make a nice pillow! I don't think these will be on the scale of popularity with Webkinz or Beanie Babies (especially at around $40 a pop). I do think they are going to do very well though. Stop in and give one a hug.

www.offthewagonshop.com

Zombie Gifts

I'm not sure why it is that we are obsessed with zombies. Yes, they are kinda creepy, but seldom are they truly scary. There may be those that take exception to that, but it seems to me they are always a little hokey in the movies. I think it has to do with all the crazy makeup they have to put on to look like walking dead. Maybe it is the moaning. You tell me, what is it that people love about zombies?

Here are a few of our favorite zombie gifts.
1. Remote control zombie (my personal favorite). The remote is shaped like a brain. This guy moans as he walks.
2. Zombie mints - These mints are brain flavored... a true favorite for zombies.
3. Zombie Brain Gelatin Mold - Great for your Halloween party. Make a brain shaped cake or jello, add in a few gummy worms and you are set!
4. Zombie Finger Puppets - so you can act out your favorite zombie scenes at work or in school. (Stores easily in your pockets).
5. Zombie Juice Bottle - you supply your own juice, we supply the bottle.
6. OH NO Zombies Board Game - your trapped by zombies and you have to get out.

And there is more! No we didn't list them all here. Check out our website to see more Zombie Gifts.

It's Getting Ugly In Here!

We just got a big shipment of Ugly dolls in with some of the best new 2011 Ugly Dolls! Here is a quick rundown of a few of the newest ones.

Top row you see the new for 2011 Ugly pillows. They might be Ugly, but they sure are soft.

Kram Scrammy (bottom row, dk puple) .. "love information of any kind. If knowledge is power, then Kram Scrammy is uh, power hungry. But you have to help him learn how to take it easy and have a good time.. too much of a good thing and all that, you know? If Kram Scrammy gets to become a problem, take him phone booth hunting. He's nuts about phone booths, especially those old ones with the closing doors. Watch out for beepers though. Oh man, don't let him have a beeper. No no no."

Heu Googeuy (Pink, far left) has a big heart and giant mind. Small feet though, so please wait up. He's a shoulder to cry on and a pal in times of need. Mostly because he can't run away fast enough when the tears start falling, but if you can pin him down, he'll eventually give you some pretty good feedback.

Ikoy Yoki (green/teal, third row down) are everywhere. They are all around us. Some of us out there don't believe in them, but they most certainly believe in you. When you get into trouble, you can always close your eyes and ask for guidance from Ikoy Yoki. Not when you're driving or riding a bike though. Oh and they love snack offerings. Not in a spiritual way or anything, they just like to eat.

Groody (green, bottom right) is a pretty relaxed, easy going, energetic, stressed out, moody broody mess! AAAAHHHH! Did I just close that door? It was a ghost! Did I close the garage door? Did I send that e-mail to the wrong person!!!??? You get the picture…which is exactly why Groody has chosen you to be his pal. If you are willing to help him on his quest for inner peace he will help you on your quest for whatever dealio you got going. His first though.

And I could go on and on. But I won't.

Game Spot: Math Games

First up: Shut the Box. In shut the box you roll the dice and use mathematical equations to turn down the tiles. If you roll a 9, you can turn down the numbers 8 and 1, or 7 and 2, or 2,3, and 4, or just 9. You get a point for each tile you flip down. When a roll produces a number where no tiles can be turned down then the round is over. This game can be played using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or all of them.

Double Shutter is a variant of the classic game shut the box, but adds a second row of tiles nestled behind the first row. You can't use the second row until the tile in front is turned. Both games can be played alone or with 2 to 4 players.

Sumoku is a newer game in which each player gets 8 numbered tiles. You roll the dice to get your key number and build a line of tiles (without repeating colors). The line of tiles needs to add up to a multiple of the key number.

Weird Squirrel Fact

Squirrels can fall up to 100 feet without hurting themselves. They'll use their tail both for balance and as a parachute. On a side note: wouldn't this guy be less embarrassed if he at least had some squirrel underwear on?

Emma's Pick of the Week

Meet Emma! She is our resident "store dog". Well, she doesn't sleep here, but wherever Kyle is, there she is. Emma is a Bernese Mountain Dog. Every week we will feature a product that is picked by Emma... the last one she chewed or maybe one the ones she pulls off the rack. This week we are featuring the finger tentacles. These fun octopus like appendices are super rubbery and knubby. They are great for adding extra surface area with some fun textures for petting Emma. Thumbs up from Emma (or rather paws)! only $1.99 ea.

Meet the Staff

We decided we are going to be blogging on a regular basis here at Off The Wagon Shop. It will be fun and a little wacky. I thought I would start with a series introducing you to our staff. We have a fun crew, each with a unique story. There are only a few of us, myself (Michelle), Kyle (you see him in the store the most), Seth (he's new), Jenna (moving from our Hudson store to Kent), and Julia (our book and sanity keeper!). So we will start with me, and follow up in the next couple weeks with more on the rest of the staff.


I'm a mom of 3 kids, and wife of another one! At home I spend my time working mostly. Either I am cooking, cleaning (and that is spotty), taking care of kids, or I am on my computer for work. When I can carve out a few minutes I like to read out on the patio.

I came up with the concept of a quirky toy and gift store after contemplating a move to Kent Main Street for our store called My Little Red Wagon. I had been researching possible areas to move to and looked a bit into Kent, as that is my hometown. I love the concept of "Main Street" for independent locally owned shops like ours. It fits naturally that a unique downtown area, with unique and historic character would be a perfect location for a one of a kind store. My problem with the idea, though, is that I wasn't convinced the Kent was the right place for a younger kids store like My Little Red Wagon. So we made our move to a different location in Stow instead (and a store in Hudson as well). In the meantime, the folks we had talked to in Kent kept calling. They convinced me to reconsider and I then came up with the idea of Off the Wagon. I wanted to cater to an older crowd with a good sense of humor. As I continued to reflect on the idea I got excited about all the quacky products out there that hadn't quite fit into our My Little Red Wagon shop. Now that we have been open for 2 years... I am even more excited. Kent has a lot going on right now and is a super fun place to have a shop.