Nothing stings quite like a broken promise, whether it’s between few people, or between manufacturers and their retailers/customers. Sometimes however, circumstances leave little option. Organizers of pandemic-cancelled events in 2020/21 may have hoped that the following year/s would be better. But COVID-19 keeps reinventing itself with new variant mutations triggering resurgent mass infection concerns. Liberties that were revived late last year are slowing being dialed back all over again on account of the Omicron strain. Already, the 2022 New York Toy Fair announced its bowing to the inevitable last week. Next on the global toy-expo schedule: the Nuremberg Toy Fair.
And again courtesy of The Brick Fan, we learn that Nuremberg Toy Fair 2022 is cancelling its early-February dates. Organizer Spielwarenmesse eG announced it last week, January 13. Much like in New York, COVID-Omicron concerns led to many company exhibitors jumping ship. SeG executive board spokesman Christian Ulrich noted that they “fought hard” to keep Nuremberg 2022 a live event. Unfortunately, pandemic control continues to deteriorate worldwide, making the support of the remaining committed manufacturers moot. As an alternative, the official Spielwarenmesse Digital website will be geared to host an online event. It will run during the original live-fair dates.
That makes it two major international toy expos where manufacturers like LEGO could exhibit their latest stuff for the year. Next on the 2022 timetable-slash-chopping block is London Toy Fair. Their organizers declared, also last week, that the event will push through. Regardless, since London Toy Fair is traditionally closed-doors unlike NY and Nuremberg, getting info there will be troublesome.