Potpourri Grabs Another Title

On March 30, Potpourri Group acquired Young Explorers, a Loveland, CO-based cataloger of toys and gifts for children ages 4-10. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Young Explorers is the seventh catalog purchased by Chelmsford, MA-based Potpourri during the past five year.

The $150 million Potpourri’s other titles include needlecraft catalog The Stitchery, jewelry and gifts books The Pyramid Collection, In the Company of Dogs, and Nature’s Jewelry, and home decor title Expressions. Potpourri’s 12-month buyer file consists of more than 2 million names, most of them women.

“This acquisition enables us to enter the fastest- growing segment of the toy business and complements our offering of other gift titles,” says Potpourri chairman Jack Rosenfeld.

George McMahon, the former president of Young Explorers, will be a consultant to Potpourri and assist in producing the fall edition. Last fall, Young Explorers spun off Googles & Gizmos, a 56-page catalog that mailed to a 1 million customers and prospects.

Rosenfeld says that the deal was made possible in part by the expansion of Potpourri’s distribution center. By the end of April, its DC in Whitinsville, MA, -based distribution center will have doubled in size, to 200,000 sq. ft.

New York-based investment bank Gruppo, Levey, & Co. represented Young Explorers in the deal.