Zany Brainy

Zany Brainy and Best Buy, two retail chains on East Coast expansion binges, plan to make their first forays into Maryland over the next week when they open new stores in Columbia.Both retailers will open stores in Snowden Square, the Rouse Co.'s enormously successful regional shopping center off Route 175 and Snowden Square Road.Best Buy, the nation's No. 3 consumer electronics chain, plans to open its Columbia store tomorrow. It has been expanding rapidly into territories of its chief rival and the No. 1 chain, Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc. Best Buy also plans to open three other stores in Maryland -- Laurel, Gaithersburg and Glen Burnie.

Five Below chain due in Columbia Five Below, a national retail chain that markets products priced between $1 and $5, has signed leases for three new locations: Gateway Overlook in Columbia, Crossroads Square in Westminster and Festival at Bel Air in Bel Air. The stores will open simultaneously during a grand opening weekend that begins June 1. The Philadelphia-based chain operates 56 stores in Delaware, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well...

Pokemon, the children's cartoon/video game/trading card game that originated in Japan, has meant millions of dollars in revenues for U.S. companies that sell Pokemon merchandise.Next up: Pokemon card playing leagues in all 50 states. Maryland's local leagues include ones sponsored by Outtabounds, in Crofton, and The Dugoutzone, in Eldersburg.Lisa Orman, spokeswoman for Zany Brainy, a multimedia toy store chain, says that all five Zany Brainy stores in Maryland -- including ones in Annapolis, Columbia and Timonium -- will soon sponsor Pokemon leagues.

DEAR MOTHER, I want to thank you, these many years later, for insisting that "educational toy" isn't an oxymoron. Sure, my sisters and I wanted Christmas toys that didn't remind us of school, but you were smart enough to know that learning can be fun. You made sure we had electronic toys (that is, battery-powered) that made learning fun. I remember one that looked like a bread box. You drew a card from a pack of questions and placed it atop the box between two wires. You inserted one wire into the question hole to the left, the other into the answer hole on the right.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - FAO Inc., owner of FAO Schwarz and Zany Brainy toy stores, said yesterday that sales and profit for the year will be less than its forecasts because of slower consumer spending. The company's shares fell 16 percent. Sluggish demand in the third quarter continued into the early part of the current period, FAO said in a statement. The King of Prussia-based retailer said it will give reduced forecasts for the 12 months ending Feb. 2 and an outlook for the next fiscal year when it releases third-quarter results in mid-December.

Five Below chain due in Columbia Five Below, a national retail chain that markets products priced between $1 and $5, has signed leases for three new locations: Gateway Overlook in Columbia, Crossroads Square in Westminster and Festival at Bel Air in Bel Air. The stores will open simultaneously during a grand opening weekend that begins June 1. The Philadelphia-based chain operates 56 stores in Delaware, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well...

Bob Keeshan will bring his brand of childhood magic to Maryland this weekend as he visits two Zany Brainy bookstores to sign copies of his "Family Fun Activity Book.Filled with suggestions on creative family play, the book's activities are largely derived from the playful fun of Mr. Keeshan's children's television show. He was the master of make-believe on "Captain Kangaroo" for 36 years.Mr. Keeshan wrote the book as a reference for games and activities that families can enjoy together, including clay craft projects, papier-mache planet projects, toilet paper body-wrapping races and giant milk-carton dice games."

Borders Books & Music will expand its presence in the Baltimore region, opening its second 20,000-square-foot "super store" with as many as 150,000 book titles under one roof in Columbia.In a deal announced yesterday, the Columbia-based Manekin Corp. said it also had signed Zany Brainy, a large-scale retailer that sells educational children's books, music and electronic merchandise, to a 10-year lease in Snowden Square, an enormously successful regional shopping center off Route 175 and Snowden Square Road.

MY NEW GRANDSON likes nothing better than to curl up with a good book. At least, that's what his parents were saying the other Saturday as 3-week-old Michael "read" his first book. Curled on a soft mat on the living room floor, Michael gazed for a few minutes at a hard plastic book propped open perhaps a foot from his little eyes. The book consisted of a few pages of black-on-white geometric patterns, with a few splotches of red thrown in for good measure. Asked for a review, he gurgled.

DEAR MOTHER, I want to thank you, these many years later, for insisting that "educational toy" isn't an oxymoron. Sure, my sisters and I wanted Christmas toys that didn't remind us of school, but you were smart enough to know that learning can be fun. You made sure we had electronic toys (that is, battery-powered) that made learning fun. I remember one that looked like a bread box. You drew a card from a pack of questions and placed it atop the box between two wires. You inserted one wire into the question hole to the left, the other into the answer hole on the right.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - FAO Inc., owner of FAO Schwarz and Zany Brainy toy stores, said yesterday that sales and profit for the year will be less than its forecasts because of slower consumer spending. The company's shares fell 16 percent. Sluggish demand in the third quarter continued into the early part of the current period, FAO said in a statement. The King of Prussia-based retailer said it will give reduced forecasts for the 12 months ending Feb. 2 and an outlook for the next fiscal year when it releases third-quarter results in mid-December.

MY NEW GRANDSON likes nothing better than to curl up with a good book. At least, that's what his parents were saying the other Saturday as 3-week-old Michael "read" his first book. Curled on a soft mat on the living room floor, Michael gazed for a few minutes at a hard plastic book propped open perhaps a foot from his little eyes. The book consisted of a few pages of black-on-white geometric patterns, with a few splotches of red thrown in for good measure. Asked for a review, he gurgled.

Pocket monsters and monster storms don't stand a chance against this kid. Summer's real blockbuster is a book and it's knocking out everything in its path. With the release of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" just hours away, anticipation is building to kinetic levels among the book's young audience. For them, New Year's will come half a year early tonight as celebrations around the world mark July 8 as H-day - the official release date of Book IV in the Harry Potter saga. At 12:01 a.m. Saturday Times Square in New York will light up with the message, "No more waiting.

Pokemon, the children's cartoon/video game/trading card game that originated in Japan, has meant millions of dollars in revenues for U.S. companies that sell Pokemon merchandise.Next up: Pokemon card playing leagues in all 50 states. Maryland's local leagues include ones sponsored by Outtabounds, in Crofton, and The Dugoutzone, in Eldersburg.Lisa Orman, spokeswoman for Zany Brainy, a multimedia toy store chain, says that all five Zany Brainy stores in Maryland -- including ones in Annapolis, Columbia and Timonium -- will soon sponsor Pokemon leagues.

THIS CHRISTMAS, the name of the reading game is phonics.Visit the educational games section of Toys R Us or Zany Brainy stores and you'll see shelves full of colorful electronic learning aids. They're calling out to you: "Phonics!"There's the Phonics Bus, the Phonics Traveler and Reading Blaster, designed to "teach your child to read with phonics."Want more? Little Smart Phonics From A to Z or the Phonics Desk Learning System, which "brings letters and their phonics sounds to life." Or Think & Go Phonics, a compact, frog-shaped toy that teaches reading to children as young as age 3. Or the Phonics Interactive Learning Kit.These are the latest examples of the phonics craze extended to toy emporiums.

Companies honored by Inc. to be recognizedThe Howard County Economic Development Authority will hold a news conference and reception Tuesday to recognize Howard County firms among Inc. magazine's top 500 fastest-growing companies.The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the County Executive Board Room on the fifth floor of Gateway Building, 6751 Gateway Drive in Columbia.The businesses featured include Cosmopolitan, RWD Technologies, Green Spring Health Services and ComPro Systems, Inc. In addition, Corporate Express was runner-up for Inc.'s Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the company's founder and president, Jirka Rysavy, was profiled in the December issue.

Pocket monsters and monster storms don't stand a chance against this kid. Summer's real blockbuster is a book and it's knocking out everything in its path. With the release of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" just hours away, anticipation is building to kinetic levels among the book's young audience. For them, New Year's will come half a year early tonight as celebrations around the world mark July 8 as H-day - the official release date of Book IV in the Harry Potter saga. At 12:01 a.m. Saturday Times Square in New York will light up with the message, "No more waiting.

Companies honored by Inc. to be recognizedThe Howard County Economic Development Authority will hold a news conference and reception Tuesday to recognize Howard County firms among Inc. magazine's top 500 fastest-growing companies.The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the County Executive Board Room on the fifth floor of Gateway Building, 6751 Gateway Drive in Columbia.The businesses featured include Cosmopolitan, RWD Technologies, Green Spring Health Services and ComPro Systems, Inc. In addition, Corporate Express was runner-up for Inc.'s Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the company's founder and president, Jirka Rysavy, was profiled in the December issue.

Bob Keeshan will bring his brand of childhood magic to Maryland this weekend as he visits two Zany Brainy bookstores to sign copies of his "Family Fun Activity Book.Filled with suggestions on creative family play, the book's activities are largely derived from the playful fun of Mr. Keeshan's children's television show. He was the master of make-believe on "Captain Kangaroo" for 36 years.Mr. Keeshan wrote the book as a reference for games and activities that families can enjoy together, including clay craft projects, papier-mache planet projects, toilet paper body-wrapping races and giant milk-carton dice games."

Zany Brainy and Best Buy, two retail chains on East Coast expansion binges, plan to make their first forays into Maryland over the next week when they open new stores in Columbia.Both retailers will open stores in Snowden Square, the Rouse Co.'s enormously successful regional shopping center off Route 175 and Snowden Square Road.Best Buy, the nation's No. 3 consumer electronics chain, plans to open its Columbia store tomorrow. It has been expanding rapidly into territories of its chief rival and the No. 1 chain, Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc. Best Buy also plans to open three other stores in Maryland -- Laurel, Gaithersburg and Glen Burnie.