Located at 5960 Miami Lakes Drive, Safari LTD. has been a family-owned toy company since 1982. Beginning with Bernard and Rosemarie Rubel, Safari was founded on the principal of providing children with “toys that teach.” Inherited by their daughter and then their grandchild, Safari has grown alongside the family that operates it. Rubel’s grandchild Alexandre Pariente and his wife Christina now run the business together as CEO and president respectively.
“We are a third generation family company. It wasn’t meant to be, but we’re still here. It started with my grandfather and grandmother, then my mother came in and she worked here for 28 years. She was the owner for about five years,” explained patriarch Pariente.
Safari sells educational figurines of animals, both mythical and existent, world-wide. Their purpose is to have children interact with life-like models of their favorite animals from the wild.
Each sculpture is hand-painted and made to last with childfriendly components. Different sets offer various worlds of imagination for children ranging from toddlers to teens. Not only does Safari offer traditional animals like lions or elephants, but also storied creatures like dragons. They also have award-winning dinosaurs that for the past six years in a row, have won the Prehistoric Times’ Dinosaur of the Year award.
“We usually win teacher or parent awards too. We feel like we make award-winning products whether we get recognition or not, because we offer a product that’s really well detailed and well crafted,” Pariente said.
With 50 to 100 new options created once a year, Safari has an array of wild-life figurines guaranteed to capture the eye as well as the imagination. Customers can find the toys in zoos, museums, aquariums or parks in addition to toy stores.
Locally, Safari offers their statuettes in places like the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Science, Frost Museum, Miami Seaquarium, Zoo Miami and Lion Country Safari as well as Michaels and Hobby Lobby.
The trinkets can be used for a variety of purposes like crafts and school projects. Safari distributes to over 25 countries, some of which have been in partnership with the business for over 20 years.
“We have over 850 different items, and all of them are handpainted. The smallest one is about the size of your fingernail, and the biggest is about the size of your forearm. The process of selecting a figurine has many facets; customer demands, consumer demands, what we’re missing, competition and what we like to do,” elaborated Pariente.
In addition to educational figures, Safari also makes it a point to teach about preservation and the importance of nature’s role in the lives of future generations. The company plays an active part in not only raising awareness, but also by participating in beach and park cleanups as well as fundraisers for local conservation efforts.
For more information about Safari LTD. visit www.safariltd.com or call (800)554-5414.