APBA International has announced two hobby retailer programs it says are designed to address current dealer concerns about taking on additional product lines during a slow sales period.

To take advantage of the upcoming holiday shopping season, APBA, in partnership with its authorized hobby distributors, has introduced an extensive product sampling program. During the month of November, every hobby store in North America will receive more than $100 in free product samples from APBA. Each store will receive APBA's MLB 2000 Classic game, MLB All-Star 2000 game, the MLB SuperStars 2000 game and the Card Collector 6.0 software program.

The company also announced a new APBA Premiere Hobby Store Program through its authorized distributors. The program is initially available to 200 stores interested in hosting special APBA demo, tournaments and in-store customer events, along with special appearances by the company mascot, APBA Andy.

"We understand the concern that some hobby retailers have in taking on new product lines," said APBA president Bill Bordegon. "That is why we are going to the expense of getting free sample products into their hands and offering programs that bring them new customers."

APBA also announced its product line was recently selected by Target to be featured nationally on one of its prime endcap spaces during the entire holiday shopping period. Excell Marketing will be servicing the endcaps each week. The company says the increased exposure for APBA will ultimately stimulate sales of the APBA line in hobby stores.