Otto Simon is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

er, distributor, and franchiser of toys and homeware, headquartered in

Almelo Almelo () is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle of the rolling countryside of Twente, ...

History

The company was founded in 1911 by Otto Simon. At that time it was mainly a

peddler A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used fo ...

company, specializing in beads and glassware. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the emphasis shifted more to toys. In 1955 the company became a

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. Until

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

the company was independent and grew into one of the largest toy importers in Europe. Domestically, it had a market share of 80%. Since 1997, the company has evolved from a wholesaler into a retail organisation, with its own toy formulas ''Speelboom'', ''Wigwam'', ''Technohobby'' and ''Early Learning Centre''. In 1999 the ELC formula was discontinued and in 2000 the formulas ''Wigwam'' and ''Speelboom'' were transferred to the new formula ''Top1Toys''. In 2003, Ruud Schiphorst became the new owner of Otto Simon. In 2021, Marskramer, Novy, Prima, Wholesaler Gouda and Toys2Play were acquired from the

Audax Groep Audax Groep is a Dutch print media and retail company, active also in Belgium. Its headquarters are located in Gilze. Audax was founded in 1958 by Jacques de Leeuw. Jacques de Leeuw led the company until 2017 when he was replaced by his son, Hube ...

Brands

Top1Toys

Otto Simon's toy stores Wigwam and Speelboom were combined under the formula Top1Toys in 2000. The chain had 110 stores in 2021. On 1 April 2023, it had 101 stores.

Marskramer

Marskramer is a chain of 39 stores (in November 2020) that sell homeware. If the store is also a Toys2Play shop, it also sells toys. It was acquired by Audax in 2019 from the

Mirage Retail Group Mirage Retail Group (formerly Blokker Holding) is a Dutch company that owns several chains of stores.

. The chain has 47 stores on 1 April 2023.

Former

Novy was a homeware and appliances store, founded in 1997. It was a subsidiary of Marskramer with 15 stores (November 2020). These, too, often doubled as Toys2Play stores. The Novy stores were rebranded Marskramer after the acquisition by Otto Simon. Prima was a homeware and appliances store. It was a subsidiary of Marskramer with 26 stores (November 2020). Stores it had by Dutch province. Prima stores often doubled as Toys2Play stores. For example, in Dutch Limburg 2 out of the 3 stores were also Toys2Play. The Novy stores were rebranded Marskramer after the acquisition by Otto Simon.

References

{{reflist Dutch companies established in 1911 Toy companies of the Netherlands Almelo