Our Sweet ASTRA Marketplace & Academy Experience
3 min reading time
Over the years, Royal Wholesale has attended many industry trade shows as both a guest and exhibitor. These shows have centered around everything from candy and chocolate to snacks and fancy foods. We're always looking for new shows to attend so we can stay up to date on everything going on in the confectionery industry, but we also love attending shows in other industries as well to see if we can offer our services to a new group of customers. That's why on June 26th, we exhibited for the very first time at a toy show! Not just any toy show, the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy in Philadelphia! What could possibly be better that a sweet combination of candy and toys?
The ASTRA Marketplace & Academy is the #1 trade show in the specialty toy industry and it's easy to see why. More than 1,500 toy retailers and independent toy store owners spend three days exploring this massive show where they can learn new ideas, play games, and discover the hottest new toys from over 500 exhibitors!
For this particular show, we brought along some of our best novelty treats from Jelly Belly, Warheads, Toxic Waste, TrolliF, Kidsmania, Frankford Candy, Adams & BroFoks, PEZ & more! The attendees really enjoyed checking out all of our sweet treats that are perfect for selling in a toy store. Another highlight of of booth was our giant Jelly Belly BeanBoozled wheel! The brave souls who stepped up to take the BeanBoozled Challenge may not have gotten a tasty jelly bean, but their bravery was rewarded in the end with a free sample of delicious Jelly Belly Kids Mix Jelly Beans!
By day two of the show, when it seemed like everyone could use a little break, we invited show guests to stop by our booth for happy hour! We offered up some pretty sweet "drinks" including decadent Koppers Rum Cordials, Jelly Belly Champagne Bubbles, and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans in champagne, strawberry daiquiri, margarita and beer flavors!
Overall, we had a wonderful three days at the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. We met tons of great people, learned a lot about the toy industry and helped many guests find the perfect candies and treats to sell in their stores. We're looking forward to exhibiting at next year's show in New Orleans, Louisiana! Hope to see you there!
