It promotes the role of the toy retailer and the value of toys to the consumer.

But with several toy retailers kicking off their summer sales this week, it need not cost the earth.

Toy retailers will fall into two categories - those who continue to invest despite the credit crunch or those who hunker down.

So what can toy retailers do to protect themselves and take advantage of the changing trends resulting from the downturn?

Toy retailers, which controlled consumer access to games, had concluded that video games were a fad.