Canoeist Launches A New Company

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 23rd, 2005, 8:51 am

This is way off topic from rowing, but to those who know me from rowing and erging, I wish to announce the start of my new company Bridge Street Toys. The black and white icon that you see regularly next to my name is from a photo of me playing with my Girder & Panel set when I was 5 years old. The Girder & Panel building sets were fantastic and had great influence on my intellectual development. I used to build structures of all types and became an engineer in college. However, these sets went out of production in 1975 and I could not find sets for my children. So my wife and I decided to bring these old sets back to life for the next generation of engineers. The whole family has been involved in bringing these toys back to the market. My daughter did a lot of the art work and the web layout. My son develops products and assembles kits in our garage. My wife is the backbone of the company and does much of the marketing, web coding, scheduling, procurement, and logistics. My part is engineering and production. Please visit us at <a href='http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/</a> Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] ebolton · Post by **[old] ebolton** » October 23rd, 2005, 10:17 am

Good luck with it! I think the fire station in Revere on the home page looks a lot like one in Beverly (corner of 1A and 97). Maybe a standardized design back then? Regards, Ed

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 23rd, 2005, 4:49 pm

It could have been a standard design, but the similarities may be because of design. Have you noticed how racing kayaks and skull hulls look quite alike? Maybe it is the same in fire stations. Brick was a popular building material of the period, so many fire stations of that period look similar. What did you think of the web site, Ed? Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] ebolton · Post by **[old] ebolton** » October 23rd, 2005, 5:14 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Canoeist @ Oct 23 2005, 03:49 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> What did you think of the web site, Ed? Cheers, Paul Flack </td></tr></table> I liked it. I'm a fan of building toys myself, but my own son never had much interest. We are products of our times, maybe. As a kid, I had never heard of Girder and Panel, but I had Lincoln Logs and some red plastic brick things similar to today's Legos. I hope your venture is a great success! Ed

[old] Bayko · Post by **[old] Bayko** » October 23rd, 2005, 5:15 pm

I want to buy but I need guidance. Ruth would probably be the right person for advice. I'm going to Connecticut next weekend to visit my 6-year-old grandaughter and I'd like to bring her some Bridge Street Toys. Could you please have Ruth pick out about $50-$100 worth of girl-friendly items and let me know. I could then use the website tomorrow morning to order and hopefully have them in time for my visit. Thanks, Rick

[old] TLCoons · Post by **[old] TLCoons** » October 23rd, 2005, 5:41 pm

What a fantastic idea, Paul! As an engineer, myself, I'm always looking for educational and inspirational toys to 'infect' the imagination of the children in my life. I never had toys like this but would have relished the opportunity. I only wish my step-grandson were a little bit older; at just under 5, I hesitate at the likelihood of having to witness the destruction. I'll be checking back regularly to see what gets added to the product line. kudos to you and best wishes -- tlc

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 23rd, 2005, 5:43 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(ebolton @ Oct 23 2005, 09:14 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> I liked it. I'm a fan of building toys myself, but my own son never had much interest. We are products of our times, maybe. As a kid, I had never heard of Girder and Panel, but I had Lincoln Logs and some red plastic brick things similar to today's Legos. I hope your venture is a great success! Ed </td></tr></table> Ed, I had the plastic bricks (American Bricks) too and also spent many hours building with them. I have considered bringing the bricks back for the next generation of builders if the Girder & Panel sets are a hit. Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 23rd, 2005, 5:54 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Bayko @ Oct 23 2005, 09:15 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>I want to buy but I need guidance. Ruth would probably be the right person for advice. I'm going to Connecticut next weekend to visit my 6-year-old grandaughter and I'd like to bring her some Bridge Street Toys. Could you please have Ruth pick out about $50-$100 worth of girl-friendly items and let me know. I could then use the website tomorrow morning to order and hopefully have them in time for my visit. Thanks, Rick </td></tr></table> Rick, We are very much interested in getting girls interested into building. Listening to Ruth is where we do our market research. Ruth suggested that we have girls design and build doll houses using our basic framework of simulated steel columns and beams. Then the girls would use thier computers to design and color custom panels to face the buildings to their liking. We are working on this project but it will be several months before we have sets like these ready to market. Until then, your granddaughter will have to survive using the basic building set. When we come out with the new set, it will be fully compatible with any set that you buy now. I suggest the Plaza set since it has many pieces and large buildings can be constructed in which to house small teddy bears, beany babies and small dolls. The on-water season is at an end. Are you going to join me on-line for some distance work? There is an on-line marathon next Sunday, but I won't quite be ready for it and I have to go to the boathouse to help put the boats away for the winter. Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 23rd, 2005, 10:21 pm

Rick, When do you need the set? My daughter suggests the large building set with the see-through windows and a few packs of do-it-yourself panels. The do-it-yourself panels are not avialable on the website yet because they are not here from the printers who are preforating and hole punching cardboard stock for us. We are expecting the shipment from the printers on Tuesday this week. The cardboard panels allow children to customize their structures by using ordinary markers or crayons. The children can be very creative and proud of their unique buildings. The HO scale modelers might like these panels too. Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] seat5 · Post by **[old] seat5** » October 23rd, 2005, 11:53 pm

Paul, as an "almost finished with my job" homeschooler (2 sons at Worcester Polytechnic Institute now, having graduated community college with AS degrees in Engineering Science as highschool seniors, and a daughter 16 now working on her Earth Science degree), I am going to forward your website URL to the heads of two homeschool email chains. I am sure there will be many families interested in your products and the timing is just great--right before Christmas. Most homeschool families invest in educational toys for the holidays. If I think of other ways to help you promote your stuff, I'll let you know. Good luck!

[old] Canoeist · Post by **[old] Canoeist** » October 24th, 2005, 8:54 am

Carla, Thanks for spreading the word about our building toys to the homeschoolers. Bye the way, one of our two full time employees is a recent engineering graduate from WPI. WPI is a great hands-on school for turning out students that are a good fit for a start up operation. Cheers, Paul Flack

[old] PaulH · Post by **[old] PaulH** » October 24th, 2005, 9:49 am

Paul, My wife and I were just talking about Meccano (similar to Erector Sets in the US I think?), but the fact that you can build a fire station makes this a winner for our son! A couple of comments on the website: 1. The top banner doesn't seem to render correctly in Firefox (the blue section stops after 'contact us') 2. In IE, Firefox and Opera some screens have the text "meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />" at the top (e.g. <a href='http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/abouttoy/index.html)' target='_blank'>http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/abouttoy/index.html)</a> 3. In the menu on the left the link 'what is girder and panel' should have a question mark. Otherwise I really like the feel of the site; well done to your wife for doing such a good job, and to all of you for taking this step! Cheers, Paul

[old] Bayko · Post by **[old] Bayko** » October 24th, 2005, 10:17 am

My order has been placed, following the guidelines that Ruth provided, and adding a VW Bug to boot. If anything is not in stock just send what is currently available so that I can bring them with me on Sunday and backorder the rest. We will happily provide feedback after we play with the stuff on Sunday. Cheers, Rick

[old] Mike McGuirk · Post by **[old] Mike McGuirk** » October 24th, 2005, 5:00 pm

Paul, Just this afternoon, I got a catalogue in the mail from a company called MindWare - "brainy toys for kids of all ages". Their web site is <a href='http://www.mindwareonline.com' target='_blank'>here.</a> I'll bet they would be interested in marketing your product. MM

[old] lowwall · Post by **[old] lowwall** » October 24th, 2005, 5:29 pm

Interesting product and overall the site looks OK. A quick perusal shows a few areas of concern: General You should have a captioned illustration showing a couple of basic pieces and how they interconnect. Use it liberally, certainly on the "What is Girder and Panel" page, also on the bottom of the main products page. Remember your audience is parents, most of whom have never used anything more advanced than Legos, they are going to want reassurance that the toy is not too complicated for them to explain to their kids if necessary. The word "Toys" in your logo appears to be a navigation element (same color and height as the other coices - it's even emphasized by being circled). I kept clicking on it when I wanted "Product." I would move it and/or change the color or background of your logo so Toys is clearly part of your company name and not the first navigation choice for "Bridge Street." Navigation Very confusing, it's hard to tell how pages relate to one another. I think you need to spend a little more time coming with with a hierarchy that can be reflected in your navigation elements. For example, should "science fair" be a product category or its own category, should "science fair book recommendations" go under books or science fair? Also, keep in mind that many internet users have subconsciously learned to ignore the top of web pages, especially if they are highly graphical. So it has become standard for the topics across the top to be replicated in the left pane navigation bar (nav bar). Also, the basic elements of the nav bar should always be there. You then expand the basic elements when appropriate for the page. For example, on the Products page, the nav bar should read something like: <table width='95%' cellspacing='1' cellpadding='3' border='0' align='center'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>CODE</div></td></tr><tr><td class='code'><div> Home What is Girder and Panel? Products (yellow to show that's where you currently are) Browse Products Sort by: Age 6+ 8+ 10+ Price under $10 under $30 under $50 over $50 need more help? Way Things Work Community Blog About Us Contact Us </div></td></tr></table> Other minor points: Your close-up images should probably be larger, at a higher resolutions they are almost indistinguishable from the thumbnails - around 550 by 400 are practical upper limits. Don't put up dead-end content (i.e. "Under Development."). It frustrates visitors and makes them doubt the professionalism of the underlying company. Use consistent colors for visited and unvisited links and don't use those colors elsewhere. For example, what does green mean on the Cool Books page? That's all I have time for. You can e-mail me if you have further questions alex (at) gostynska.com