Toys: The Queen Of Stickers

Children, especially girls, are stuck on stickers. That’s why Lisa Frank Inc. is hot. Founded in 1979, the firm is a household name among the younger set for making Day-Glo stickers as well as notebooks, pencils and stationery. The company expects to sell 20 million items this year, including 3.5 million stickers, doubling last year’s sales.

The company gets thousands of letters from young customers, many asking whether there really is a Lisa Frank. There is. The founder and chief executive is closely involved in creating hundreds of designs ranging from unicorns, Dalmatians and bears to ballet slippers and hearts. Says Frank: “Our company is more of an artistic passion than just a business.” The Arizona firm, which first distributed the products in department stores and later moved into discounters like Wal-Mart and Target, plans to expand soon into apparel, animation and video.