Last night we made one of the most frustrating and difficult decisions we’ve yet made as a small toy start-up (or upstart, according to some).  As you may have seen on our site, we’re sold out.  The short story behind this decision is that as orders have been growing, we’ve also encountered challenges on the production side which have slowed the creation of our inventory.  Concerned that we might not be able to fulfill our December 23rd delivery promise, we’ve temporarily suspended purchasing.  Holidays?  What holidays?

Now, at this stage in our life, we’re a web only business.  We see the orders build in real-time, and we prepare, modify and adjust the business accordingly; we learn a lot, and we do so on the fly.  There are significant advantages to this approach, but of course, on a morning like this one, it saddens us greatly to put up the “Closed” sign, as it were, on our only storefront.  Ultimately, it’s our desire to delight you and your children (or nephews, nieces, grandchildren), and we’re working ’round the clock to fulfill that mission by getting you our toys.  To that end, we invite you to join our waiting list, not only so that we can inform you when the toys are available again, but also because we’ll enter you in our drawing for one of 5 Starter Sets ($50 value).  We’re requesting your patience, and we think these toys are worth the wait.

When we say that Tegu blocks are the world’s most advanced wooden block, we’re not kidding or being promotional for the sake of selling more toys.  Tegu blocks defy gravity, permit cantilevering, and provide discovery moments through problem solving with mysteriously invisible magnetic poles.  They help children define space, employ their creative genius, and flex their awesome imaginative abilities.  What’s better, this play-based learning is all achieved in a medium with which we’re all highly familiar: rectilinear shapes made of eco-friendly hardwood.  Some have said we’ve reinvented the wooden block.  Others have referred to our concept as a “wooden LEGO”.  Whatever the case may be, we’re delighted to have developed our blocks, and we hope you’ll give them a try when they become available again.

For those of you who have purchased our blocks already: thank you!  You will get your blocks by December 15th or December 23rd, depending on what we promised at the time the sale was made.  As mentioned, we’ve gone into overtime here to maintain that commitment, and again, we say thank you for your patience.  You and your children (or nephews, nieces, grandchildren) will be rewarded– we can assure you it’s worth the wait.  If you have questions on your order, do email us at service[at]tegu.com.  Thinking positively as you wait, you’ve got guaranteed supply of something that others can’t buy today!

Yes, these are the growing pains of a start-up business seeking social change.  They’re maddening as anything, but they’re testing the team and drawing us together in wonderful ways.  Our determination to create the next great toy has only increased as we’ve seen interest and purchasing test our nascent capacity to produce.  We’ll be in touch here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter to let you know when the store is reopened.  If you haven’t yet perused the site, we encourage you to do so.  We think you’ll find that we’re doing much more than creating special toys; we’re out to celebrate creativity and to change a nation with our business.

So, hop aboard.  Because despite delays, this toy company has left the station.

The Tegu Team