In addition to customizing by retailer, Gemmy also tailors its designs for geographic regions. A Scooby Doo who slowly arose from inside a big pumpkin was hot at Halloween. In one Christmas design popular this year, Santa climbs in and out of a chimney with the help of reindeer. "They have become a very popular fixture and people take them very seriously," he says.Ĭhoice inflatables usually incorporate an element of motion. As for repairs, he recommends package tape for quick jobs, or needle and thread for bigger ones. Smith of has added a workshop to his holiday-decorating symposium this year covering topics such as how to clean inflatables (he suggests power washing). At Christmastime last year, it sometimes took over an hour to drive down his block. construction superintendent, who says his neighbors sometimes complain when he displays his collection of 500 inflatables. "Wind is your worst nightmare," says Kyle Richards, an Omaha, Neb. Gemmy recommends not inflating them on windy days. But they do have a tendency to fall over and deflate in high winds, despite having cables designed to hold them to the ground. "The globe started popping up on lawns of mansions as well as of modest homes," he says.Ĭompared with stringing lights along the roof ridge, inflatables are much safer and easier to install. Stores began selling out of them, and soon they were showing up on eBay - mostly at inflated prices, of course.īut it wasn't until last year that inflatables took the form of giant snow globes with continuously circulating flakes inside - a turning point, in terms of the level of acceptance among consumers, according to Gemmy's Mr. The company's patent calls the product an "airblown inflatable," to distinguish it from a balloon. But by the following winter, Gemmy had figured out how to get a fan mechanism inside the bottom of the inflatable figure. Gemmy showed it to 30 retailers and had no takers. In 2000, Gemmy's supplier in China used a hair dryer at the end of a long hose to inflate a primitive prototype. The trophy fish turned its head and sang "Take Me to the River" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Its success got the creative minds at Gemmy thinking about the giant inflatable gorillas and dinosaurs that retailers sometimes use to announce grand openings and sales. Inflatables are a direct descendant of the Big Mouth Billy Bass, a novelty ornament mounted on a plaque that Gemmy created seven years ago. It takes Gemmy three months to get an inflatable from drawing board to store shelf. Over the past five years, the company's work force has doubled to 100, with most of the growth among its creative staff of artists and designers. "But it's the way to keep consumers happy."įounded in 1986, the closely held company declines to reveal sales volume or profit - or even to say how many inflatable items it manufactures a year. Senior vice president of marketing and product development at Gemmy. Wal-Mart,Īnd even grocery stores have a variety of other models. Sam's Clubs have an inflatable 12-foot-long train pulling a revolving carousel encased in a snow globe. has an inflatable Santa and elves in a NASCAR racecar. It makes exclusive designs for each store.Īssortment of Gemmy inflatables this year features Santa on a motorcycle and Santa at a workbench. Gemmy has also sagely played into the competition among big-box retailers to stand apart from each other with exclusive merchandise.
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