Meet Doug Kale

We had the good fortune of connecting with Doug Kale and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Doug, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The success of the North Dallas Toy show comes from focusing on today’s toy collector and their families. Being a big toy collector myself and growing up in a house where my parents were into antiques and collectibles really helped to prepare me for starting and running my own toy collectors show. It also helped that my professional background is in marketing, publishing, promotions and social media. My wife and son who are also collectors, help me tremendously to grow the North Dallas Toy Show every month. I also brought in my long time collector friend, Gil, who is also a collector, to help me co-manage the show. He now has his family involved. It has become a true family atmosphere and we enjoy seeing hundreds of new faces coming in to the show on the first Saturday of every month.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’ve been doing collector shows and flea markets since I was 10 years old. I started out selling baseball cards, comic books and coins. That eventually grew to add Hot Wheels, action figures and Pokemon cards. Right after college I landed a dream job as editor-in-chief of Century Publishing’s Sports Card Trader magazine which later helped to launch Card Collector’s Price Guide and Comic Book Collector magazine. After the company decided to sell the publications to a larger competitor, I received a call from the largest sports card data and price guide magazine publisher, Beckett Publications to come work for them. So I moved my family from New York to Dallas, Texas. After a year into my editorial job at Beckett, I helped the company launch their Entertainment division. The biggest entertainment pubication was Beckett Pokemon Collector magazine. We launched this publication just as Pokemon was making it big in the United States. Our biggest issue of that magazine had a circulation of over 1 million copies. Then came Beckett Yu-Gi-Oh Unofficial Collector, Beckett Dragon Ball Z Collector, Beckett Official Terminator 3 Movie magazine, Neopets Official Magazine, Beckett Hot Wheels Official Price Guide and 25 other publications. I became the editorial director for this entire division. I also helped Beckett professionally grade some of their very first Pokemon cards when they launched their Beckett Grading Service. After I left Beckett I had all of this knowledge stored in my head and that’s when I decided to start the North Dallas Toy Show.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For some of the best home cooking and breakfast eateries, I would take them to Poor Richard’s in Plano, TX. For some of the best burgers, I would take them to Del’s Burgers in Richardson, TX. For the best barbecue, we have several favorites: Hutchins BBQ, Lockharts Smokehouse, and our secret place, Dieter Brothers in Lindsay, TX. We also love great mediterranean at Ali Baba. There are other great places to visit such as Ham’s Orchard for the freshest peaches, zucchini bread and peach ice cream in Terrell, TX. The Lavendar Ridge farm in Gainesville, TX has some of the most delicious-tasting lavender lemonade that you’ll ever have in your life. Plus, they now have lavender ice cream too!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate a special shoutout to my wife, Stacy, who is a big part of why I am successful in business and in life in general. She has helped me grow as a person and has offered so much excellent advice. She is my #1 go to person on everything. I don’t know where I would be without her. Next, my son, Daniel, who now has the same collecting bug that I have, also helps us big time with online promotions for the show. He’s been a great help. My good friend, Gil, helps at the front attendance booth with his family and making sure our vendors outside and up front find their booth spots. All of them help to make the North Dallas Toy Show run smoothly. 🙂

Website: https://northdallastoyshow.wixsite.com/toys

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northdallastoyshow

Twitter: NDallasToyShow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northdallastoyshow

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@toyshow9880

Other: We are also on Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/northdallastoys/ 

Image Credits
I have another image of myself that was used and taken by another photographer. Please let me know if you would like me to send you that one as well. Thanks, Doug