The Wooden Horse

Come Play with Us!

2009-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

What a busy year we've had! Between the toy shows in San Francisco, New York, and Pomona we haven't had time to post anything in nearly 4 months! We've gotton some really fantastic new toys in and our book shelves finally have books again! The most exciting news though is that once again we begin celebrating creativity and imagination this coming Monday as we participate in National TV Turn off week. All of our activities are free and open to the public. We do ask that you reserve a spot so that we will have enough supplies on hand. Please sign-up in store or by calling 356-8821. We'll call you the day of the event to remind you. The activites are as follows and last for about an hour:

Monday April 20 - Go Green! Come learn about our planet and how to take care of it. Explore with worms! Butterflies! And More! All for FREE! Ages 4 to 10. Event begins at 7:15 p.m.

Tuesday April 21 - Storytime! Popular teacher and story teller Susan Shirly will guide your imaginations with wonderful stories! Milk and cookies top off this FREE event. Ages 4 and up. Event begins at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday April 22 - Arts & Crafts! Let your creativity run wild! Color, decorate and make free cool stuff to take home. Ages 4 - 10. Event begins at 7:15.

Thursday April 23 - Play Games! Play exciting and sometimes silly parlor games with the Wooden Horse Staff. Don't worry parents you can play too! Games are divided by age group 4-6, 7-10, and parents. Event begins at 7:15.

Saturday April 25 - It's time for a Play Day! Please join us for a free afternoon of arts & crafts, games, races, and more! We'll have all sorts of fun in front of the store from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...ask for 10% OFF!

2009-01-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

We were enjoying that 70 degree weather so much we almost forgot it is winter. But the rain has finally arrived and with that you can get 10% off your ENTIRE purchase. The King's Court Shopping Center and participating merchants are offering 10% off when you mention the rainy day special. So slip on your galoshes and come see what is new in our store!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Everyone here at the Wooden Horse has been very busy. First off we had a fantastic holiday season, thanks to all of you! The beginning of the year is filled with inventories and reordering. Our shelves may look a little bare but we are working hard on bringing in a lot of new items as well as bringing back our favorites. The trade show season will be kicking off shortly so we are excited to see what new and exciting products will be released this year. Please keep checking in as we are getting large shipments of Lego, Melissa & Doug, International Playthings and Small World Toys in.

And the winners are...

2008-12-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Second Grade:
First - Tarun Sreedhar of Country Lane with The Scary Creatures
Second - Viraj Shitole of Faria with Harler the Ghost
Third - Brandon Baik of Silver Creek Academic Academy with House of a Mirror

Third Grade:
First - Madeleine Noel Murden of Daves Avenue with Count Catula
Second - Eva Szoboszlay of Old Orchard with The Ghost of Woodson Elementary
Third - Puja Vasan of Wahsington Open with The Witch's Tasty Poison

Fourth Grade:
First - Bella Tran of Matsumoto with The Ghost of Marilyn
Second - Saketh Nimmagadda of Silver Creek Academic Academy with Secret of the Sunken Vampire
Third - Danielle Guglielmo of Alta Vista with Horrid!

Fifth Grade:
First - Theresa Abalos of Matsumoto with The Stone of Temptations
Second - Megan Ritchie of Willow Glen Elemntary with Legend of the Boogey Man
Third - Amrith Krishnan of Mission San Jose with Alien Abduction

Sixth Grade:
First - Becca Bingaman of St. Andrew's with Poltergeist
Second - Ashley Ding of Matsumoto with A Head of a Mess
Tied for Third - Thea Rodine of Union with Buried Alive and Bella Wilcox of Rolling Hills with My Great Grandfather

The staff of the Wooden Horse would like to thank all 843 participants for submitting such spook-tacular stories. First place winners receive a $25 gift certificate. Second place winners receive a $15 gift certificate. Third place winners receive a $10 gift certificate. All other participants receive a $3 boo coupon. We will begin returning stories today. They will either arrive through the post office or will be dropped off at the school. Boo Coupons are valid through January 15, 2009. Gift Certificates do not have an expiration date.

-Rochelle

Watch us on Bay Area Bargains

2008-11-20T08:42:00.001-08:00

We just finished a long day of filming up at KRON for the upcoming holiday edition of Bay Area Bargains with Henry Tenenbaum. The episode will air six separate times on Thanksgiving Day at 11:30am, 12:30pm and 4:00pm as well as Friday, Nov. 28 at 5:00am, 12noon and 1:00pm.

See what special deals I may be giving out!

-Sloan

Spooky Story Contest Update

2008-11-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

We received 843 Spooky Stories this year! (For those of you keeping track that is exactly the same number as we received last year.) The staff submitted their top 5 stories to Sloan yesterday and she will be re-reading all of the finalists and choosing the winners in the next week. She has roughly 25 stories to judge from each grade level. We will return all the stories the first week of December. We will post the winners as soon as possible.

- Rochelle

Holiday rush has begun!

2008-11-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

It looks like the holiday catalog has reached the neighborhood mailboxes, we had a ton of the coupons turned in today. The holiday rush has officially begun! We have special coupons for the Plasma Car and Darda's Upside Down Overpass as well as our 15% off coupon on the back cover. It looks like the Elf on the Shelf book is going to be popular as we have had several customers requesting this book so far. We may need to reorder already! Also remember that this Saturday is King's Court Shopping Center's tree lighting event. All the beautiful trees will be decorated by different local organizations; there will be music, food and lots of families out enjoying the weekend. Please stop by and check out all the beautiful trees and vote for your favorite.

-Sloan

KRON taping today

2008-11-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

KRON Channel 4 just finished filming in our store for the upcoming Bay Area Bargains show with Henry Tenenbaum. The show will be featuring a few of our fabulous toys for the holiday season. The show will be aired 6 separate times on KRON at the following times: Thursday 11/27 (Thanksgiving Day) 11:30am, 12:30pm, and 4pm. On Friday 11/28 5am, 12pm, and 1pm. Thanks to all of our wonderful customers (especially the tiny ones) who were here and helped with the shots. Looking forward to seeing everyone on TV!

-Sloan

Catalogs dropped!

2008-11-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

Check your mailboxes this week, we dropped our holiday catalogs today! This year we not only have our 15% off coupon on the back, we have 2 additional coupons inside the catalog as well. We have a great selection of classic toys as well as some brand new items we're sure you'll love. If you don't receive your catalog in the next couple of weeks, please call the store and we can mail one to you. And due to a high volume of customer requests, we have brought our holiday paper out early and have officially started the holiday wrapping. The staff has been working diligently getting the holiday merchandise out including this year's Breyer Christmas horse, make your own Christmas cards, advent calendars from Lego, Playmobil, and more. The peppermint mochas are being served next door at Peet's too, yum!

See you soon!

-Sloan

Spooky Story deadline

2008-11-03T23:23:00.001-08:00

The deadline for all spooky story entries has officially arrived. We have received over 850 stories, almost exactly the same amount as last year. The staff has started the judging process and should have the finalists announced by the end of this month. Thank you all who participated, you will each receive your stories back along with a $3.00 "boo coupon" good towards merchandise in our store. Check back at the end of the month for a full list of winners.

-Sloan

Welcome new faces

2008-10-17T10:09:00.001-07:00

As the holiday season is soon approaching we are beefing up our staff to make sure we have enough customer service on the floor. I am really excited to introduce our newest team members; Drew, Britney and Holly. All three are extremely energetic, bright and eager to start learning about all the products. They are a wonderful addition to our team and I know they will be able to assist our customers well. We will be opening our holiday wrapping station the day after Thanksgiving so we are looking for good, hard working wrappers too (who don't mind working in the cold!). Stop by the store for an application if you are interested.

Thanks for checking in.

-Sloan

We received the Gold Medal from Breyer

2008-10-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

To celebrate this Olympic year, Breyer has created a very special, very limited series of models on the new hunter pony model called The Medalist Series. We have received only one Gold Charm at the store and she is beautiful! These are very rare as only 350 were produced. And for all the collectors out there, we have received the 2008 Holiday model as well and we will be displaying her in early November. Thanks for checking in!

-Sloan

Storytelling Events in October

2008-09-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We received our very first Spooky Story of the year yesterday!!! The deadline is 8:00 p.m. Friday October 31 and all students in grades second through sixth are invited to participate.
We are also receiving some wonderful new books. Graeme Base's latest, "Enigma: A Magical Mystery" just arrived today. Fans of his previous book, "The Eleventh Hour" will love it! We are expecting yet another shipment of Jennifer Alfonso's "My name is not Isabella" any day now. This local independent author's first foray into children's literature is a pure gem. We can hardly keep it on the shelf. Mary is busy ordering titles for the holiday season. If you have any favorites that you haven't been able to find be sure to let her know.
This month's story time is from 7:30 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday October 15. Sign-ups are required. Susan will be reading some of her favorite Halloween stories and as usual there will be milk and cookies to finish off the evening.

-Rochelle

We miss Stan!

2008-09-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Stan is the man... the man who checks in all of our products in the back of the store and we are missing him so much right now. Stan and his wife took a well deserved vacation up to Alaska but while he has been gone we have been getting non stop holiday shipments arriving. The boxes from Playmobil, Corolle, Manhattan Toy and Alex are stacking up in the back just waiting for Stan's return. Please hurry back, Stan! Melissa & Doug and International Playthings are on their way!!

Halloween is coming!

2008-09-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Halloween has arrived at The Wooden Horse! Come check out our new beautiful selection of costumes we have on display now; we have princesses, witches, pirates, knights and many more. Genevieve is working hard on all the window displays and unpacking all of our Halloween gadgets (mummy wind ups, spooky sticker books, scary plush dolls).

We are also gearing up for the Annual Spooky Story Contest. This is a creative writing contest we hold every year for students in grades 2-6. We receive nearly 1000 stories represented by over 20 different schools. The staff really enjoys reading these stories and the writers get a chance to win gift certificates to the store and every entry receives a $3 boo coupon. If you are interested in writing a story this year you can pick up an entry form at the store or on www.woodenhorsetoys.com.

Summer's over

2008-09-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

We hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and enjoyed the last of summer (although the weather is still definitely summer!). We had to say farewell to our summer help as most of the college students returned to school. But we do welcome back one of the customer's favorite employees, David M. from Spanish summer camp. We also welcome Mary back as she had taken some time off to travel the world. Mary will be taking over the book department buying and merchandising. The Wooden Horse is very pleased to have both employees back!

Since summer has ended, in the retail world that means we are looking towards the holiday season. We have just received one of our first Lego holiday shipments in today. Please stop by and check out all the new Legos; we have Speed Racer, Star Wars and the special 50th Anniversary edition with the golden brick! Hilary is working furiously in the construction room to have all the new Legos out by this weekend. To make room we have some discontinued Legos going on sale this weekend so make sure to check out those great deals as well.

Thanks for checking in and we'll see you soon.

-Sloan

First time bloggers, long time retailers

2008-08-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome to The Wooden Horse's first blog! We are very new to this but we have been told we "must" have a blog associated to our store. We are an old fashioned toy store trying to keep up with all the new technology, so here goes. We intend to keep our customers more aware of happenings both in our retail store and our online store and feel this is just another avenue of communication.

One piece of exciting news is that we have just been selected as "The Best Toy Store" by Wave Magazine readers for 2008. This award will sit alongside the awards from the Mercury News, Bay Area Parent and Metro Magazine. All of us at The Wooden Horse thank everyone who voted, it's wonderful to get the positive feedback.

I am still learning how to use this program so please excuse the look of the blog. We will be adding new entries and pictures every day.

-Sloan