Otto Simon is a Dutch importer, distributor, and franchiser of toys and homeware, headquartered in

Almelo Almelo () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle o ...

History

The company was founded in 1911 by Otto Simon. At that time it was mainly a

peddler A peddler (American English) or pedlar (British English) is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of good (economics), goods. In 19th-century United States the word "drummer" was often used to refer to a peddler or traveling salesman; as exem ...

company, specializing in beads and glassware. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the emphasis shifted more to toys. In 1955 the company became a private company. Until 1970 the company was independent and grew into one of the largest toy importers in Europe. Domestically, it had a market share of 80%. Since 1997 the company has evolved from a wholesaler into a retail organisation, with its own toy formulas ''Speelboom'', ''Wigwam'', ''Technohobby'' and ''Early Learning Centre''. In 1999 the ELC formula was discontinued and in 2000 the formulas ''Wigwam'' and ''Speelboom'' were transferred to the new formula ''Top1Toys''. In 2003, Ruud Schiphorst became the new owner of Otto Simon. In 2021 Marskramer, Novy, Prima, Wholesaler Gouda and Toys2Play were acquired from the

Audax Groep Audax Groep is a Dutch print media and retail company, active also in Belgium. The publishing arm publishes magazines. It also produces and prints books, calendars, and flyers for other companies and builds websites. The Audax headquarters are loc ...

. In 2025, several branches of the bankrupt Blokker chain joined the Marskramer brand.

Brands

Top1Toys

Otto Simon's toy stores Wigwam and Speelboom were combined under the formula Top1Toys in 2000. The chain had 110 stores in 2021. On 1 April 2023, it had 101 stores.

Marskramer

Marskramer is a chain of 39 stores (in November 2020) that sell homeware. If the store is also a Toys2Play shop, it also sells toys. It was acquired by Audax in 2019 from the Mirage Retail Group. The chain has 47 stores on 1 April 2023. After some former Blokker stores joined the chain, Marksramer has about 60 branches in 2025.

Former

Novy was a homeware and appliances store, founded in 1997. It was a subsidiary of Marskramer with 15 stores (November 2020). These, too, often doubled as Toys2Play stores. The Novy stores were rebranded Marskramer after the acquisition by Otto Simon. Prima was a homeware and appliances store. It was a subsidiary of Marskramer with 26 stores (November 2020). Prima stores often doubled as Toys2Play stores. For example, in Dutch Limburg 2 out of the 3 stores were also Toys2Play. The Novy stores were rebranded Marskramer after the acquisition by Otto Simon.

References

{{reflist Dutch companies established in 1911 Toy companies of the Netherlands Almelo