Profits from playthings
American toysellers spent most of the Christmas season last year in the doldrums. Profits plunged when sales of highly touted hand-held electronic games, which had been a smash success the year before, fizzled. But Toys R Us, the largest retailer of playthings in the nation, which monitors its check-out counters with computerized cash registers, by fall had spotted the public's disenchantment with such items and quickly switched marketing tactics. The company cleared the games from its shelves by slashing prices, then stocked up on the better-selling items, including Barbie dolls, Tonka trucks and footballs. The result: Toys R Us...