John Sands is an Australian printing company and former distributor of games and computer hardware that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

. In 1851, John Sands and Thomas Kenny founded Sands and Kenny in Sydney. The firm later became Sands, Kenny & Co., and then John Sands Ltd. American Greetings acquired John Sands from

Amcor Amcor plc is a global packaging company. It develops and produces flexible packaging, rigid containers, specialty cartons, closures and services for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical-device, home and personal-care, and other products. The ...

in December 1995 as part of a global expansion.

Distributor

John Sands acted as a distributor for

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

from the 1960s to the 1990s, releasing board games in Australia including ''Foxy'', ''

The Game of Life ''The Game of Life'', also known simply as ''Life'', is a board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, rol ...

'', ''Wonderland'', ''Mix & Match'', ''Stay Alive'', ''

Upwords ''Upwords'' (at one time branded as ''Scrabble Upwords'' in the United States and Canada; and '' Topwords'' ''Crucimaster'', ''Betutorony'', ''Palabras Arriba'' or ''Stapelwoord'' in other countries) is a board game invented by Elliot Rudell a ...

'' and ''I Wish I Were''. Also as a result of Hasbro acquiring MB in 1984 John Sands took on the Australian distribution of

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...

GI Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

, with the International Heroes branding from

Action Force Action Force is a brand of European action figures released in the 1980s that was based on the ''Action Man'' toyline. It was also used to introduce '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toys to European markets. Several publishing companies have ...

, Jem,

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature c ...

Glo Friends ''The Glo Friends'' is an American television series that originally aired in 1986 as a segment of '' My Little Pony 'n Friends''. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions in collaboration with Toei Animation, the 26 segments of ''Glo ...

until Hasbro Australia was established in the 1990s. John Sands Electronics, based at 6 Bay Street Port Melbourne, also distributed Sega computing hardware into the Australian market, including the hardware and software of the

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

SG-1000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nakay ...

game console and

SC-3000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nakay ...

computer. John Sands was also the distributor of

Corgi Toys Corgi Toys (trademark) is the brand name of a range of die-cast toy vehicles created by Mettoy and currently owned by Hornby Railways, Hornby.Mettoy Mettoy (an abbreviation of "Metal Toy") was a British manufacturing company founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann, who was later joined by South African-born German Arthur Katz who had previously worked for Ullmann at his toy company T ...

in Australia and New Zealand. It also has stationery products like Platignum Pens.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sands, John Australian companies established in 1851 Manufacturing companies established in 1851 American Greetings Printing companies of Australia

Distributor

See also

References

External links