What is Geomag doing to grab a greater share of the U.S. magnetic construction toy business?
Merakis: It’s been a tremendous challenge, but in the past year we’ve really tried to right the ship and figure out where we’re missing the boat here. We know our original high-quality patented line should be a primary selection by buyers and consumers. But trying to penetrate the U.S. market is so different than doing so in Europe, and I think there was a little bit of naivete on our part when trying to do that—not having the experience in knowing what the needs are for the American retailer and consumer in terms of pricing, packaging, marketing. I think in the last year we’ve looked at all those issues, and made an effort to find out what we needed to be doing and where we needed to be regarding all those areas. Playthings: What impact has the Magnetix recall had on your business? Merakis: The Magnetix issues really put a damper on things. No one was sure where the fallout was going to be; how things were going to shake out. But having taken care of all the things that we could actua
