We are particular about what product we pick up. You'll see some things that are well known in the children's market like VeggieTales or Bob the Builder. But 90% of our product are videos that parents or grandparents have never heard of. They don't even know that there's a whole world of children programming out there because of how the distribution is set-up, especially in the large chains and retails. Some of it will be strictly entertainment, but most of what we pick up are educational yet entertaining such as Kids Discover Bats. We distribute this video, produced by Bats International Conservation, to the museum stores as well as other outlets.

We take each product and we work very hard at finding the right space for it. As an example, we have four videos that deal with fire trucks and fire safety. Our research showed that there are three fire truck catalogs that deal with fireman apparel. We find these places so our videos are sold with these fireman boots. We work hard to find alternative forms of distribution.

There's two ways. Because we're known in the independent producers circle around the country, we get submitted products all the time. Producers find out about it and they'll send us a product. Also, we're avid readers -- we read children's periodicals, school library periodicals, as well as newspapers - and we will find products and then track down the producer and request a sample copy. But we're extremely particular of the products that we choose.

We look for videos and music that have non-violent and educational content as well as those that have received awards or endorsements from consumer groups like the Parents Choice Foundation. We look for titles that combine excellent content with first-rate productions quality. We focus more on live action videos. We have very little animation, except for VegeTales series. We strive hard to maintain high standards for our products. We look for quality of the production and the sleeve (packaging). Sometimes the product is great but the packaging is terrible.

It has to be a show that we feel really strongly about. When a customer calls on the phone, we tell them "We know that you loved the video The Big Boom, so why don't you try this new video that we just picked up called The Big Space Shuttle." When you hard sell your product, you are putting the integrity of your company on the line.

For the parents, grandparents, schools, libraries and other adults who trust our catalog and website for responsible choices in children¹s entertainment, we represent a very reliable source for these types of videos, audio products and software.

Because we represent independently produced products, we don't have the big Warner Brothers PR behind us so we do a lot of PR ourselves. We send it to our contact editors, such as Parenting Magazine, Publishers Weekly or School Library Journal. We are fortunate to have a lot of writers who believe in what we're trying to do. It doesn't matter how great your program is, if parents or librarians can't find it or can't read about it, they wouldn't even know about it.

So when you started your online business, you are already established in the children's catalog business.

Until two years ago our online business strategy was non-existent. We have had a website since 1996, but it wasn't until 1999 that we realized the value of having an e-commerce site tied in with our print catalog. Our choice of Yahoo! Store has brought us a large amount of business, and it has given us the ability to create a professional-looking site. We also save a good deal of money by building and maintaining our site in-house, instead of hiring some design company.

We only do 10% of business on the Web. That's just part of our company.

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