Aug 16, 2007

Christmas Comes Early to the Javits CenterBy Liz PeekNYSun.com

Is it too early to be thinking about Christmas? Not if you’re one of the 40,000 retailers or 2,800 vendors camped out at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center this week for the New York International Gift Fair.

The mood at the show is a little restrained, according to the owner of Ameico, Peter Kahane. With the bears charging down Wall Street not too many blocks away, people are “a little hesitant,” he says, “especially at the high end.” Mr. Kahane has been showing at the fair for 12 years, and says buyers are circling but are not as readily placing big orders as they did in years past.

Ameico makes colorful and creative high-end toys, such as a $750 seesaw whose pieces can be stored in a jigsaw-puzzle-like single slab until the next generation comes along. The elements are easy to assemble, making it a nifty gift for a family with a budding engineer. Our pick of Ameico’s lineup for 2007 is a portable mini golf set (9 holes) made of vibrant yellow and green plastic. With CEOs battling credit woes and unable to get to the golf course this summer, this $420 set could be a big Christmas winner.

Among the notable trends at the show was a range of products for monstrously pampered pets and their equally pampered owners. A Danish outfit called Pet Project offers “furniture you’d like to have in your home,” according to CEO Michael Ryding, but that your dog or cat will like even more. Mr. Ryding sells minimalist items such as a cube-shaped walnut veneer side table that sneakily doubles as a bed for a Pekinese and that retails for $675. (Just imagining the face of a guest who goes to put down a drink and is confronted with an outstretched paw makes this one worth the money.)

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