Colchester, CT-based cataloger S&S Worldwide, which sells games, crafts, and activities to schools, rehabilitation centers, and other institutions, has acquired substantially all the assets of Minneapolis-based toys marketer Sally Distributors. S&S paid cash for Sally, though the price was not disclosed.
The acquisition of Sally’s 3,000-item line of toys, gifts, and novelties enhances S&S’s product offering, says S&S vice president/general counsel Adam Schwartz. The deal also expands S&S’s reach to restaurants and amusement centers. S&S serves primarily the childcare, nursing, and physical-education markets. The company produces 38 catalog editions a year. Its education catalogs include S&S Brite Start and S&S Education; the recreation division includes the S&S Discount Sports and S&S Recreation titles; and the physical therapy unit mails the S&S AdaptAbility, S&S Healthcare, and S&S Primelife catalogs.
Sally mails 900,000 copies of its 104-page catalog a year; S&S mails about 5 million books a year. S&S plans to increase Sally’s circulation as well as fold its operations into S&S’s 300,000-sq.-ft. facility in Colchester. “Our investments in information systems and materials-handling equipment will allow us to serve the combined customer base of both companies from one central facility,” Schwartz says.