Learning Express Toy Stores Award Outstanding Vendors At Annual Conference

Melissa & Doug Named Vendor of the Year; Toysmith Group & International Playthings Named Vendor of the Year - Honorable Mention!

DEVENS, MA (Tuesday, June 21, 2005) - Learning Express, the nation's leading specialty toy franchise, divulged over a dozen 2005 vendor awards at its Annual Convention and Vendor Expo held in New Orleans June 11-14. Learning Express store owners nationwide voted on vendors to be recognized for outstanding performance at a banquet on June 13th, held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Melissa & Doug was awarded for Best Retailer Customer Service, in addition to, the prestigious "Vendor of the Year" award for the third consecutive year. Toysmith Group and International Playthings were honorable mentioned!



Sharon DiMinico, Founder and CEO of Learning Express announced during the awards banquet, "Melissa & Doug are constantly producing high quality products and delivering retailer customer service thatýs just one step ahead of others. They go the extra mile to make doing business with them exceptionally easy."



Melissa Bernstein, Co-owner and Co-Founder of Melissa and Doug adds "At Melissa & Doug, we view our Learning Express customers more as family members than business associates! Each and every aspect of our organization is focused on the sole mission of making them happy and a permanent part of the Melissa & Doug clan. We view it as our responsibility to help these customers flourish and grow so we can all be successful for many years to come!!! Thank you so much for awarding us this honor."



Top winners in other categories included: Manhattan Toy, TY, and RC2 in a three-way tie for "Best Marketing Campaign", John Hinde for "Best New Vendor" and Toysmith Group and International Playthings for "Vendor of the Year - Honorable Mention." International Playthings, Manhattan Toy, Playmobil, Lego, Educational Insights, Ontouch, Beehive Jewelry and Plasmart also took home "Best Product"awards.



The popular Vendor Expo allowed Learning Express toy store owners from California to Boston to personally place product orders with over 100 toy, game, gift, and book, companies. Most shipments are scheduled to be sent in the third fiscal quarter to support the Learning Express Holiday catalog. Most vendors ranked this show as their number one show of the year in terms of revenues. Learning Express said it expects the orders written by stores to total a 25% increase over 2004.





Listed below are the 2005 Learning Express vendor winners:



Best New Vendor: John Hinde

Granted to a company that displays an eagerness to work within our franchise system and works closely with storeowners in developing strong relationships and best selling products.



Best Retailer Customer Service: Melissa & Doug

Presented to the vendor that displays quick responsiveness to discrepancies, quick order entry, communicates frequently, is responsive to returns and/or defectives, is always in-stock throughout the year, has quick turn-around from order entry to shipment and is overall accurate.


Best Marketing Campaign Award: Manhattan Toy, TY and RC2 (3-way tie)
Presented to a vendor for the sponsorship of an event or campaign that resulted in increased traffic and sales to Learning Expressý network of stores without a reduction in gross margin.



Vendor of the Year Award: Melissa & Doug

Honorable Mentions: Toysmith Group and International Playthings

Awarded for providing outstanding retail customer service, for developing new and innovative products, for supporting all our marketing efforts, for saying "yes"more than saying "no"and for holding Learning Express in the highest esteem.



Most Innovative Toy of the Year: Plasma Car from Plasmart
Based on originality, creativity and leading edge in design


Individual Product Awards
Best Infant/Toddler Toy of the Year: Farm Friends Bowling from International Playthings

Best Preschool Toy of the Year: calico Critters from International Playthings

Best Girl Toy 5+: Groovy Girls from Manhattan Toy

Best Boy Toy 5+: Zoo from Playmobil

Best Construction Toy: Star Wars from Lego

Best Game of the Year: Blokus from Educational Insights

Best Tween Item: CD Box from OnTouch and Swap watches from Beehive Jewelry



About Learning Express

Learning Express is the leader in the specialty toy and childrenýs gift category and has more than 100 locations in 30 states. They provide a fun and friendly shopping environment with sales staff out from behind the counter providing expert advice to parents. Their shelves are stocked with thousands of unique, stimulating and innovative products. Each neighborhood store offers many special services: a gift registry, a frequent buyer program, free gift-wrapping, free personalizing and local fundraisers. The company's headquarters is located in Devens, Mass., but each store is individually owned and operated by people who have a real passion for toys. For more information on Learning Express, please visit www.learningexpress.com or call 1-800-924-2296.

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